Soldier of Misfortune
By Frida Berrigan, The Progressive. Posted November 18, 2004.
Jeremy Hinzman joined the military, and then realized he had made the wrong career decision. But getting out of the army is easier said than done.
Jeremy Hinzman joined the military in early 2001. Like many others, he was attracted to the military by "the prospect of being able to go to college without incurring debt and be a part of something bigger than myself," he says.
He completed basic training, and in July 2001 moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with his wife, Nga Nguyen. He was a "White Devil": a member of the 82nd Airborne's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
But during basic training, he began to have doubts.
"There is a strong, innate predisposition against killing," Hinzman says, "and the military breaks that down." In target practice, he recalls, we "started out with black circle targets. Then the circles grew shoulders and then the shoulders turned into torsos. Pretty soon they were human beings."
Hinzman can pinpoint the moment he realized he "made the wrong career decision."
"About five weeks into basic training, we were on our way to the chow hall shouting 'trained to kill, kill we will.' We were threatened with push-ups because we were not showing enough enthusiasm.
"I found myself hoarse yelling this and, when I looked around me, I saw that most of my colleagues were red in the face, but totally engrossed." Then he understood that the military was not just training him to kill, but "to kill with a smile on my face." He had to get out.
Easier said than done.
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http://www.alternet.org/rights/20533/
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