DISENCHANTMENT IN THE RANKS
Conrad, Thomas & Marchino, Michael
Disenchantment in the ranks Congress zaps the GI activists Thomas Conrad and Michael Marchino Congressional hawks, concerned about growing disenchantment in the ranks of the new "volunteer" armed...
...The Navy resisters also raised political demands and called attention to the fact that the Midway was secretly carrying nuclear weapons in contravention of an agreement between the United States and Japan...
...In midsummer, shortly before the Midway was due to leave port, eighty sailors disembarked and held a press conference, explaining why they refused to sail...
...Ostensibly aimed at halting military union organizing activities, the sweeping law could penalize virtually any collective action by enlisted people, civilian support groups, or counseling agencies...
...The law forbids any demonstration against Government policy intended to induce members of the military to attempt to change the terms of their enlistment...
...In addition, the volunteers are raising fundamental questions of soldiers' rights and constitutional freedoms...
...European military buildup, were several Americans in uniform...
...The willingness of individual soldiers to go over the hill and risk a less-than-honorable discharge is only one indication of the problem...
...Though it was only belatedly recognized, GI resistance in Indochina played a significant role in crippling the American military machine and forcing the United States to disengage from the war...
...Knowing that today's volunteers want something in return for enlisting, the recruiters make promises of good vocational training, attractive duty stations, useful work experiences...
...The revival of soldier activism, little noticed outside the Pentagon and Congress, is symbolized by an incident that occurred last May in Washington, where NATO heads of state met to discuss issues affecting the Atlantic military alliance...
...In the event of a war in central Europe, U.S...
...Disenchantment in the ranks Congress zaps the GI activists Thomas Conrad and Michael Marchino Congressional hawks, concerned about growing disenchantment in the ranks of the new "volunteer" armed services, have rammed through a piece of legislation so repressive that not even the Pentagon can stomach it...
...Fourteen blacks were arrested and jailed after a barracks fight left six Marines injured...
...In the course of the trial, it became clear that Klan members had carried on their activities with the tacit approval of the post command...
...One of the most publicized cases of confrontation in the ranks concerned the existence of a Ku Klux Klan chapter at Camp Pendleton, California, in 1976...
...forces would probably sustain heavy losses — and no one is more aware of this than the soldiers stationed there...
...The law is aimed at GI activism, which threw a wrench into the Vietnam war effort and now has begun to resurface in a milder yet still serious form...
...Although enlistees don't face the immediate prospect of combat in an unpopular war as their counterparts did a few years ago, GI activism nonetheless is on the rise...
...As in the case of Vietnam, active dissent in the ranks can curb the interventionist tendencies of the American military-corporate empire...
...GIs are called upon to service, maintain, and guard NATO's nuclear arsenal in Europe...
...The Army claims Vitu was "demonstrating," an act which is illegal because it infringes on the "status of forces" agreement that prevents U.S...
...The increasing attrition rate is another indication of the level of conflict within the ranks...
...GI resistance today has the potential of opening one of society's most oppressive closed institutions to public scrutiny...
...Midway, based at Yokosuka, Japan, where sailors protested the beating of a black crew member...
...Army as well...
...The official response to this type of renewed activism was the Pentagon's new regulation to squelch military unions, followed this fall by the new law to squelch freedom itself...
...But there was a deep significance in the presence of the American GIs...
...Servicewide levels have receded somewhat in the past two years, but they are still astonishingly high: In 1977 —six years after the American withdrawal from Indochina r— there were more than 130,000 cases of unauthorized absences and desertions...
...military command to prosecute the war...
...The media paid attention mainly to President Carter, who had decided to attend the NATO gathering rather than the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament, then in progress in New York...
...The large demonstrations and thriving GI newspapers characteristic of the Vietnam era have all but disappeared, but insubordination and individual incidents of resistance continue...
...Most of the separations from the army were classified as "adverse" for reasons of "apathy" or "defective attitude...
...The debate over the neutron bomb which rocked Western Europe had political fallout in the U.S...
...Step by step dissolution of soldiers' rights threatens us all and will only make it easier to start and prosecute the next war...
...Organized protest activities are another...
...The new law is designed to prevent a recurrence...
...support for the repressive regime of President Park Chung Flee, calling on their commander-in-chief to honor his stated commitment to human rights...
...In selling the volunteer military to America's youth, the Pentagon has been tripped up by its own deceptions...
...Command racism and unbearable working conditions had created tensions that smoldered on the ship for months...
...Recruiters were given the task of finding the right mix of well-adjusted, tractable enlistees who would not sign an anti-war petition, talk back to their officers, or go AWOL...
...The United States mothballed the Selective Service System in 1973 because its unpopularity had made the draft unworkable...
...In South Korea the following year, seventeen members of the Second Infantry Division petitioned President Carter to end U.S...
...Mingling with the peace demonstrators outside, protesting the Thomas Conrad works for Friends Peace Committee in Philadelphia...
...Today's military activism is more muted, mirroring the situation in civilian society...
...Unauthorized absence rates continue at high levels — Navy absentee and desertion figures for 1977 were the highest ever recorded...
...One such case in 1974 involved the U.S.S...
...Many volunteers who joined the service rather than face unemployment lines have concluded now that they were the victims of high-pressure salesmanship...
...One of the most telling indicators of the level of conflict is the disciplinary statistics...
...Michael Marchino is program director for SANE in Philadelphia...
...During 1977, the military separated some 40 per cent of its first-term recruits before they completed their initial period of enlistment...
...GI opposition has arisen despite command attempts to play down the strategic importance of the new weapon...
...To be sure, the gradual resurgence of activism within the ranks does not approach the level of GI dissent during the Vietnam war, when disaffection among American soldiers reached staggering proportions...
...Attrition discharges are an easy way for the military to dispatch potential troublemakers and critics without fanfare or fuss...
...The problems encountered by today's GIs are spawned by the very volunteer system that was supposed to remove the causes of soldier dissent during the Vietnam war...
...Most were eventually found guilty and given stiff sentences...
...One of the circulators of the petition, Private John Vitu, was arrested for soliciting signatures outside his barracks in Mannheim...
...Failure of the military to deliver on these promises has produced much of the unrest that plagues the volunteer army...
...their participation in the demonstration represented a high-water mark in the level of U.S...
...Many dissatisfied recruits still "vote with their feet" by simply walking away from their units...
...In those years, mutiny, desertion, and other forms of open and passive resistance crippled the Pentagon's once-proud fighting force and severely impeded the ability of the U.S...
...troops from engaging in political action in foreign countries...
...The Pentagon, too, is concerned about the rising tide of GI discontent, but felt the movement could be kept under control with a regulation promulgated in 1977 to forbid collective bargaining in the armed services...
...But the new law, promoted by hardliners on the Senate and House armed services committees, goes much further — despite the fact that the American Federation of Government Employees many months ago called off its efforts to organize active-duty military personnel...
...soldier activism in recent years...
...Activists in one unit launched a petition against the bomb and the idea eventually spread to other units...
...By launching an ambitious public relations program and providing generous enlistment incentives, the Pentagon attempted to make the "New Volunteer Army" irresistible...
...The pitch relies heavily on imagery...
...GIs have the unique capacity to act as whistle-blowers, exposing injustice in the ranks and uncovering larger contradictions in American military doctrine...
...The new law, passed in the last days of the Ninety-fifth Congress, is so tough that men and women in uniform could find themselves behind bars for simply sounding off in a barracks gripe session...
...Jointly Filed complaints, membership in change-oriented organizations and soldiers' committees, and even barracks gripe sessions could be outlawed...
...Some 360 GIs walked away from their units on an average day...
...It was believed that a volunteer army, fed by recruitment, would provide enough qualified soldiers who wanted to serve...
...Recruiters, often with the cooperation of guidance counselors, have invaded the public schools, offering Junior ROTC and pre-enlistment testing enticements, "free" sports clinics, visits by military bands, and other giveaways...
...But after five years the volunteer force has failed to live up to its rosy expectations...
...Gimmicky incentives, come-ons, and misleading promises abound in the military's pitch...
...Before the drive was over, several hundred signatures had been collected...
...Volunteers have found new ways of expressing dissatisfaction and resistance...
Vol. 43 • February 1979 • No. 2
