It seems like it's been happening a lot lately and it grieves
me to no end.
I have witnessed several incidents of homeschooling families
who have laboured for years to raise their children 'different' who have
separated from family, churches and friends in order to maintain the standards
and ideals they believed were right...
Only to hand over their sons to the US military.
What a waste!
George Lucas portrayed Imperial Stormtroopers as faceless
automatons, soulless killers that followed orders. In the recent film one of
the protagonists is a stormtrooper who becomes human (as it were) and removes
the helmet and breaks with the empire.
Not so our modern day Evangelicals.
Make sure they don't learn evolution in the school, make sure
they dress right, make sure they don't drink but...
It's okay to hand them over to being brainwashed and taught
to kill without question.
Raise them to hate big government...
But hand them over to the biggest and most wasteful
government bureaucracy in the history of the world.
And for what?
They couldn't tell you and if they try to, all they will be
able to spout out is state-sanctioned propaganda.
One of the families I'm thinking of has a son who has joined
the Marines. These were the same people who were on me because I suggested that
it might be okay to listen to some secular music and I gave John Denver's
'Country Roads Take Me Home' as an example. That was abhorrent to them. My
salvation was in doubt.
They wouldn't allow their sons to go the mall because they
might see improperly dressed women.
But now they let their son join the Marines?
I guarantee you they have a very romanticised view of what
military life is... what Marine life is like.
Let me tell you, their son is going to be exposed to some
things they would find shocking. The Marines are not a moral lot. I knew of
'clusters' of professing Christian Marines, a confused bunch if there ever was
one. They had a very difficult time separating Marine protocol and morality
from what the New Testament teaches. It was all a jumbled up morass that came
out in a confusing semi-Scriptural cacophony. Jesus was turned into the
Terminator as they saw it. The Cross isn't something to bear but something you
slap on your machine gun.
I'm afraid their son will either be overwhelmed. In a state
of shock and trauma he will be reduced to the fetal position and sucking his
thumb in the corner or in order to fit in he will follow along as the wretches
that are his comrades carouse and seek the services of women of the night. The
Marines (in particular) are treated like they're in prison most of the time and
so when let loose they often play hard, wanton and wicked.
They don't like loners. If you're a Marine it's expected that
you are part of the brotherhood. You feast together, fight together and you go
out and do other things together as well... things that shouldn't be spoken of.
I won't thank them for their 'service' but I will pray for
them. I pray that they can escape the nightmare that they've entangled
themselves with. I'll pray that they can extricate themselves before asked to
do something very immoral... though being part of the machine they are now
culpable for the deaths and violence inflicted by the American Empire.
I pray that they will leave the cult, and bear witness to
their folly and the evils of the organisation they belonged to.
It breaks the heart. In one case I remember that young man
when he was but a young innocent boy growing up in a Christian (albeit
Right-wing) household. Now he's off to 'serve' on a submarine, part of the mechanism
that would (if called to) reign down death on millions of people.
Recently I was out with my family and I saw some military
recruiters eyeing up my sons. They know not to speak to such people, not to
give their names or any other information. They know all too well my stories of
military recruiters, their lies and manipulations. I experienced them
personally and heard similar testimonies from dozens of others.
I was equally put off when I had just exited the dark nightmare
of the US military and while seeking access to a seminary I encountered the
official in charge of admissions and enrollment... who just happened to be a
military retiree who proudly informed me he had spent nine years as a
recruiter. It would seem he was hired for his skills. Apparently the seminary
thought the skill set and methodology that military recruiters utilise would be
appropriate for a school seeking to train gospel ministers.
Let's just say I was less than impressed.
Today he's found his true calling. He sells insurance.
The empires and nations plot their wars, lie and betray one
another. But what happened to the Church that this became something to
celebrate and participate in?
These parents celebrate their shame, posting their apostasy
and Molech worship on Facebook for all to see. Let's call it what it is.
And the posts are flooded with celebratory comments of praise
and gratitude.
Dark is the day in which we live.
See also:
As always with a professional military, a huge component/lure/draw of the military is the pay. Not that it's a lot, but you get health benefits, a consistent check, job skills, and a whole host of connections on the market after the 4+ years are done. Especially for guys with no particular skill set, no great academic record, it seems like a smart economic move. Unless Christians will support and praise the destitute over the self-sufficient because one chose retail over the cult, it's a grinding social pressure, especially when one has/wants a family. 40+ hours at McDonalds barely cuts it for an individual, let alone a household. But this goes back to your point about Vocation. American Christians shame people into sin. The love of money etc. etc.
ReplyDeletecal
I totally understand how people get pulled into it... lost people that is. Around here there are no jobs apart from McDonalds and you can't get 40 hours, so you'll have to get a 2nd job and probably end up working 7 days a week.
DeleteThe pay and security are very tempting. Of course I also remember very clearly that there were a whole bunch of really upset people in 1990 when they got deployed to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War buildup. They signed up assuming they would never actually have to fight.
Money and respectability.
The homeschool families I'm thinking of desire both and if you've got a semi-flaky 18-20 year old, it 'seems' like a respectably option... most people view it that way.
A couple of questions:
ReplyDeleteFirst, given that you were in the Air Force, how and when did you come into contact with Marines? My understanding was that on top of there existing a mutual resentment between members of both services, their duties are such that there's rarely, if ever, any reason for them to come into contact with each other. I guess you met them at a church or something. Must've been really awkward.
Second, about this kid who recently joined the Marines: when you last spoke with him, did he seem eager to go or was it more his father forcing him to enlist?
My guess is that if he doesn't completely abandon himself to the excesses of the Marine subculture you describe, then he'll probably be medically discharged on psychiatric grounds. Either way, if he's as fragile as you imply, then his experience will leave him worse for the wear.
When you're overseas a lot of the bases are joint operational situations. For example Aviano AB in Italy had USAF, Army... they were running helicopters and parachuting stuff, the Marines were there with EA-6B's among other things. There were also Spanish Air Force, British running AWACS, Italians etc...
DeleteYes, the Marines look down on everyone and in fact there's a lot of resentment and rivalry between the various branches. Yes, I met them at church. There was a small group of them. They had a hard time leaving the military behind, fraternizing with officers etc... was an obstacle for them. Of course as Christians that's all supposed to stop at the door... but it doesn't.
It doesn't in the civilian world either does it?
2nd question... I don't know. I haven't spoken with the kid directly. I would imagine they encouraged him and he was probably willing.
Either way he will indeed be worse. I hope he comes through it okay but shall I say not unscathed? I hope he's forced (as I was) to wrestle with the issues. I feel bad for him in many ways. He's kind of an innocent fresh-faced kid and has almost no knowledge of the world... not just the sinful world but just the world in general. Super-sheltered.
He's going to be in for such a shock I cannot even imagine.
As a follow up, you also had various reserves and National Guard rotating through. Base statistics are misleading. They don't count the temporary deployments which can be semi-permanent, continuously renewed and comprise hundreds and thousands of personnel... and yet they're not counted in official stats.
ReplyDeleteThe Germans also came through on occasion.
And Southern Air Transport ran a biweekly route. That was sometimes interesting.
In addition the base was a hub for the Balkan operations and all the cargo and personnel passing back and forth as well as a lot of the traffic flowing out of the Middle East. The military would charter civilian aircraft that would come through shuttling personnel to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait etc...
Working on the flightline I had a pretty good idea about everything passing through. We serviced the planes, meaning we were under them, aboard in the cabin or in the belly.
Somewhere on these websites I think I've told the stories about encountering the VIP flights and their staff... Secretary of Defense, Joint-chiefs, Congressional visits and Air Force One a couple of times. I have to confess there were times when it was pretty interesting but I wouldn't do it again or recommend it.