Ann,
You have totally destroyed my life. Thank you. I am a reserve soldier in [state redacted], and a member of the intelligence community. I knew deep down in Iraq in 2004-2005 (I was a semi-practicing Baptist) that something was terribly wrong with America. Hell, I knew it when I was in college in the 90s, but it became starkly obvious that we were headed for economic collapse. To clarify, I was handpicked by my commander to join the Warrant Officer Corps this past summer. Through reading and reflecting on what you have written I have decided to leave the army that I have loved and served in for 13 years. Perhaps I am not as brave as you are because I have chosen to wait out the next three years of my contract, then find something else to do. My story is a long an convoluted one and I won’t bore you with all the details, but for me this decision has been especially harsh. I am a second generation Cavalry Scout, my father and I both served with the 1st of the 7th US Cavalry; he fought in the Philippines in WWII and I served in Iraq. If you could see my last half dozen NCOER’s you’d probably think that my evaluators thought I could walk on water. I loved the army, and still do to a certain extent, but I can no longer wear the uniform knowing that I am lending my skills to this government which directly attacks the Constitution that I swore to uphold. I told one of my friends recently that my ‘problem’ was that I was giving the regime legitimacy every time I put the uniform on. Every senior person I have talked to about this thinks I am either nuts, anti-social, prejudicial to good order and discipline or something of that stripe. All of them are waiting on their precious pensions or are too afraid to have THEIR commanders come down on them. I pointed out that we swore to do this at the cost of our own lives, so what is a promotion, or a career or a pension compared to that? Is any of those things worth your soul? I had the opportunity to double my pay and pension and cover myself in glory one more time, but I have chosen to really tork off my chain of command by asking to rescind my application to WO School and not reenlist. To many of my friends and co-workers, this is a complete 180 and hard to understand.
The last straw (there have been many others) was during an anti-suicide briefing when a young lieutenant stated categorically that the army could NOT hold your mental health status against you if you sought treatment for PTSD because “the government would never do anything illegal.” Rather than slap him, (mind you this is right during the Snowden blow up) I walked out of the briefing and had a Sergeant Major and SFC berate me for being a jackass. The worst part is, he was probably factually correct, because many now believe that whatever the government does IS legal by virtue of them being the government.
I am not a wise man. I am covetous, lustful, foolish, wrathful, arrogant, lazy, proud… you name it. But I refuse to fall any further. [Oooh-Rah, Sir.]
I ran across your video on the Vendee massacre while researching French while at DLI in 2012 and it really shook me up. I just wish I’d had the courage to make this choice then rather than now.
Je vous remercie beaucoup pour votre courage et votre exemple.
Le Dieu est Roi.
SSG J