Dear Soldier,
If you’re a tough guy Marine, or some other variety of brave military badass, I have some questions for you. First, I assume that you take pride in your courage, and your willingness to put yourself in harm’s way in order to defend truth, justice and freedom. And for that, I commend you.
But I have to ask, what are the limits of your bravery? Who are you willing to fight, and in what situation, to protect what is righteous and good? For example, while you may be perfectly willing to do battle with people on the other side of the world when your higher-ups tell you to, would you ever be willing to forcibly defend the innocent from your fellow Americans, even from your fellow soldiers? If your commanding officer told you to commit violence against someone who seemed to be no threat to anyone, would you have the courage to disobey such an order? If you saw your fellow soldier victimizing an innocent, would you be brave enough to defend the innocent? Or does your courage begin and end with your ability to follow orders?
To put it more bluntly, are you actually brave? Are you actually courageous and righteous? Or are you just a politician’s thug, mindlessly doing the bidding of the most evil people on the planet, while telling yourself that you are somehow serving your country, or fighting for freedom? Are you only “brave” enough to unthinkingly do as you’re told, but not brave enough to think for yourself, to question what you are told, and to disobey immoral orders?
Sure, the military pays lip service to the notion that you have the right to disobey “unlawful” orders, but you know damn well how those above you, and many of your fellow soldiers, would treat you if you did. You know damn well that those who issue the commands you receive will think that they, and they alone, get to decide what is “lawful,” and more importantly, what is moral.
You also know full well that few if any of your fellow soldiers have the balls to actually disobey an unjust command. Of course, all of your training, and theirs, was designed to make you forsake and ignore your own conscience and judgment, and to act as a mindless robot, doing whatever you are told to do by the military machine. Even one of the most decorated Marines in history eventually figured this out.
“Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.” - Major General Smedley Butler
When someone thanks you for your “service,” do you eagerly go along with that lie? Or do you really believe that you are somehow protecting the freedom of the American people? Do you even have the courage to open your eyes and see what is going on—what you are a part of?
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.” - Major General Smedley Butler
Why would you ever imagine that unquestioningly doing what someone else tells you to do is courageous and noble? How long will you keep telling yourself that what you do has anything to do with freedom and justice? How long will you keep pretending that you are not part of the biggest terrorist organization on the planet? The ultimate act of cowardice is to use the excuse of “just following orders” and “just doing my job” to dodge personal responsibility for your actions.
“Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you are told. Obedience is doing what is told regardless of what is right.” - H.L. Mencken
A lot of very good, very brave, very principled people join the military. But once a soldier has seen first hand what is really going on—once he sees that he has unwittingly been used as a pawn by some of the most despicable people on the planet—the only genuinely virtuous and courageous act he can take is to quit the military.
But are you brave enough to face the truth? Are you courageous and badass enough to disobey the commands of sociopaths and tyrants? Or are you just a stupid trained dog, without the ability or willingness to question what you have been told, too scared to listen to your conscience and do the right thing? No matter how noble your intentions may have been when you joined, as long as you wear that uniform you work for the very people who pose the biggest threat to the life and liberty of the American people. As long as that is the case, you are no friend of freedom or justice.
