[Originally published by Laurence Vance at LewRockwell.com on February 13th, 2009. Re-published with permission.]
The following letter was sent to a Christian young man I know who was considering joining the military. He hasn’t joined as of yet, and I hope and pray that he doesn’t. I am posting this letter publicly in the hope that it might persuade some Christian young men I don’t know from joining the military.
Dear ______:
I have been told that you are thinking about joining the military. I hope I am misinformed. I understand that you are having trouble finding a job, but think that, as a Christian young man, you are making a big mistake if you join today’s military.
First of all, you were raised in a Christian home and went to Christian schools your whole life. You will be needlessly exposed to much wickedness in the military. You will unnecessarily face temptations that you have never been exposed to. Why put yourself in this position? It is a fact that there is a network of brothels around the world to service U.S. troops stationed overseas. I know that you are a clean young man and have a girlfriend, but don’t deceive yourself into thinking that you can remain clean in the military. Because I write on war and military issues, I have scores of veterans, Christian and otherwise, who have written me that will back up everything I am saying.
Second, it is one thing to join the military out of a sense of patriotism, but how does joining the military for financial reasons make you any different than a mercenary? I know that sounds harsh, but would you consider joining the military if you had a good job right now?
Third, the senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have no end in sight. There is no guarantee that you will not be sent to Iraq, Afghanistan, or some other God-forsaken place where you could be in danger of losing life or limb. And for what?
Fourth, you can’t trust military recruiters. Like a car salesman, they are trying to make their monthly quota. They have been caught on tape lying to young men, even telling them that no troops were being sent to Iraq anymore.
Fifth, I know that you have a very low opinion of the new president, Barack Obama. I share your opinion completely. As a member of the military, Obama would be your commander in chief. You could be sent anywhere to fight for Obama. Are you willing to fight and possibly die because Obama thinks it necessary to send American troops into some other war?
Sixth, in the military, you will be expected to blindly follow the orders of your officers. Independent thought is not tolerated. Please consider the words of U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler (1881–1940), a two-time Congressional Medal of Honor winner: “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 Butler became disillusioned with military service and wrote a famous book called War Is a Racket in which he said: “War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”
Seventh, the purpose of the U.S. military is to defend America. But not only is the military not being used in defense of the country, it is being used to guard the borders, patrol the coasts, and defend the shores of other countries. The purpose of the military has been perverted by the interventionist foreign policy of the United States. There are American troops stationed in 147 countries and 10 territories. I know this for a fact because I have researched this in official Department of Defense documents and written about it on many occasions. The current use of the military is contrary to the American Founding Fathers’ policy of nonintervention in the affairs of other countries.
Eighth, joining the military may have an adverse effect on your future family. I know that you have a girlfriend that you are very serious about. You should know that the breakup of marriages and relationships because of soldiers being deployed to Iraq and elsewhere is epidemic. Multiple duty tours and increased deployment terms are the death knell for stable families. What makes you think that the military will never send you away from your family for an extended period of time? You know that the possibility exists, so why gamble with your family? And then, as if being away from your family wasn’t bad enough on you and them, some soldiers come home with such physical and/or mental problems that they are unable to return to civilian life. Debt, doctors, and divorce lawyers soon consume their finances.
Ninth, joining the military means that you may be put into a position where you will have to kill or be killed. What guarantee do you have that you will be in a non-combat role? Can you in good conscience pull the trigger against any “enemy” that the U.S. government sends you thousands of miles away to kill?
And finally, you would have problems even if you went into the military as a chaplain. Taxpayer-supported chaplains have to serve two masters: God and the state. Compromise is inevitable. He that pays the piper calls the tune. To become a chaplain in the U.S. military, one must obtain an ecclesiastical endorsement from an organization approved by the Pentagon as an Endorsing Ecclesiastical Organization. According to the chaplain requirements, one of the things that the endorsement should certify is that a military chaplain should be “sensitive to religious pluralism and able to provide for the free exercise of religion by all military personnel, their family members and civilians who work for the Army.” I know that you are a conservative Christian and are averse to compromising your religious convictions. You will, however, be expected to do just that. As a chaplain, you would be expected to ask God to bless the actions of U.S. troops even if they were fighting in an unjust war. Can you in good conscience do this?
Please remember that if you join the military, there is no getting out until your enlistment period is up. I hope and pray that you don’t make the mistake of joining.
In Christ Jesus our Savior,
Laurence Vance
If any readers are veterans, consider themselves to be Christians, agree with the sentiments expressed in this letter, and would be willing to let me append their name, branch, and rank to any future use of this letter, please contact me. The fact that you “served” and I didn’t might be what is needed to help persuade some young man (or woman) to not join the military.
Laurence M. Vance writes from Pensacola, FL. He is the author of Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State and The Revolution that Wasn’t. His newest book is Rethinking the Good War.
In reading this letter, especially on the final point, I’m reminded of Mormon’s letter to Moroni in Moroni 9, especially verse 21: “Behold, my son, I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me.”
Isn’t that the same dilemma that military chaplains face nowadays?
I joined the service just out of High School, with the Air National Gaurd. I did it to pay for college and to gain unusual experience. I gained unusual experience all right and found the morale to be quite low among enlistees like myself. My experience was not all it was cracked up to be and I would never support my own daughter (if I had one) in doing as I did. Luckily, I found a good husband during my enlistment and heeded his advise not to re-enlist before we had children. I would have been sent out–as my brothers were–leaving children behind–even in the Air National Gaurd! Beware and do all your research–you will be accountable for your own ignorance when knowledge is so readily available on the subject…
I am a Vietnam veteran. At that time, if you wanted to avoid killing people on the other side of the world, your options were: 1. try to get a college deferment 2 try to get a hardship deferment 3. leave the country 4. be drafted, or 5. enlist.
The US military sprayed defoliants all over the place in Vietnam…even places where they were going to build a semi-permanent post. I was staioned on a mountain called Vung Chua just outside of Qui Nhon and before they built the place, they sprayed the top of it with Agent Orange to kill the vegetation. Agent Orange contained dioxins that were the most deadly poisons known to man at the time…and the U.S military never bothered to tell us.
We had a basketball net set up in the contaminated dirt wearing shorts and sneakers. Would you play basketball in a toxic waste dump? We wouldn’t either had they warned us about the dangers. And the higher ups KNEW of the dangers because the civilian scientists back in the states had been telling them about it for years…that it was harmful to human health! The problem was the corporations were making a lot of money selling Agent Orange (along with other defoliants) so the use and abuse of Agent Orange continued.
Finally, when the military was forced to stop using it because of widespread condemnation, the corporations that financially benefitted from its’ use dumped all responsibility for the crime they had committed against humanity (Agent Orange is an indescriminate killer…that’s what makes its’ use a crime) onto the lap of the American taxpayer. The veterans were forced to use VA hospitals if they couldn’t afford private medical insurance…some of them are decent…but some are a nightmare!
The VA disability system is a joke at best! If you lose your job because of a service connected disability, you may be “awarded” $400 or $500 a month; you are forced to sign up for Social Security benefits too or you will not make it. Try living on that. It’s a cruel system and the meat grinder (military service) keeps pumping them out and we have tens of thousands of veterans living in humiliation because of the stigma of Social Security disability. It’s funny in a way because while you are contributing to the Social Security swindle, they make it sound like it is one big happy insurance plan. After you are on it, it becomes “public assistance”. Humiliation for you, big bucks for the corporations!
I could go on and on, but I think you get my drift. The “education” that you get? That was a joke too. The money didn’t pay anything but tuition and books…I always had to hold down a job to make it thru college. That’s why all I could ever achieve was an Associate’s degree and I never got a job with that degree.
My strong advice to the young man would be to steer a course as far away from the military-industrial complex as he can. If you aren’t planning on entering one of the “professions”, then focus on learning about agriculture, carpentry, plumbing, and the new energy technologies that are soon going to be all over the place providing good jobs and independence for humanity. Do something worthwhile that you will be proud of when you are old (like me). This economic mess will eventually be straightened out, so steer towards a job that will be here for the future.
I’d have to disagree strongly, but respectfully, with almost everything the author wrote. I joined the Air Force after having served an honorable mission for the Church and spent 11 years serving my country.
I had only joined the Church just a few years earlier. I left for my mission after having been a member of the Church for only 20 months. I was the only member in my family and I had to pay my own way to go. As a result, I came home totally broke, no job, no skills (aside from being able to preach the gospel in French), no car, no money for college.
I found a minimum wage job in a department store with no future and no opportunity for advancement. I met my sweetheart during that time and we were married. I needed to get education and training to be able to take care of a family. The military seemed like an attractive option, but one I had been unwilling to consider.
In the service, I was challenged spiritually but it strengthened me. (Don’t join the military if you’re weak or uncommitted to living the gospel.) People in the military are just like the people anywhere else. There are good, honorable people, there are those who will stab you in the back to get ahead of you. In general, the good prevails, just like in life outside the service.
The officers and senior NCOs respected that I had standards and stood by them. I won many awards because I had good presentation skills. My mission taught me to be poised and confident speaking in front of people.
At times, the military is a stupid an organization as any government bureaucracy anywhere can be. Nevertheless, it does what it’s designed to do. It is effective at destroying the enemies of the United States when the politicians have the will to let it do its job.
While in the service, I was able to get valuable training. I earned an Associate’s degree from Community College of the Air Force. I worked in security, intelligence, and eventually in the emergent field of information warfare. While I was in, I had good health care benefits for myself and my family, good housing, and competitive pay. I traveled to many states as well as Alaska, Germany, and Hawaii.
There is a need for good, honest, faithful latter-day saints in every field, including the honorable profession of arms. I have two sons, both returned missionaries, who followed in my footsteps. One of them deploys to Iraq in just a week or so.
I am proud to have served. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have stayed in until I was eligible to retire. The promise of big bucks on the outside didn’t measure up to the loss of a sense of mission, purpose, and camaraderie with my fellow airmen. I’m proud of my sons who serve our country today. If good people cede the battlefield and only allow the wicked to fight our battles, how can we ever expect a favorable outcome?