A Soldiers Story

As I sit in the Emergency Room of the Carl R. Darnel hospital on Fort Hood, Texas in the early hours of the morning, back pain crippling me; I am unmistakably reminded of the punishment my body has endured over the last 23 years of service. I mention this not because I want sympathy or any special recognition. I am not the type of Soldier who chases medals or General Officers coins. Quite frankly I could care less. Most of my awards can be found in rubber-maid boxes or stuffed in some desk drawer and covered in dust. I didn’t do the job for the glory, and most certainly not the pay (although I must concede that the pay has gotten better over the years). I did it because I believed from the time of my first memories that we, as a country were somehow special. We were respected around the world as the guiding light of freedom, human rights and respect for an individual’s personal religious beliefs. I believed it to be an honorable profession to defend these ideas. This in no way makes me any different than many thousands of other Soldiers with the same ideals.
On 23 May 1988 I reported to Fort Knox Kentucky for Basic Training. After a brutal first week of learning the basic Soldiering skills which included how to wear the uniform, how to polish your boots and how to figure out your left from your right, and of course the “correct” way to do a million push-up’s, the Christian agenda of indoctrination began. On Sunday the 29th of May 1988, after the morning meal was inhaled, our Company fell into formation and was given the “opportunity” to leave the Company area in order to attend church services. I thought nothing odd of this, as it seemed reasonable to support Soldiers religious practices if possible. I was not one of those who felt the dire need of spiritual enlightenment. So I relegated myself to the Company area to catch up on some rest and work on reassembling my wall locker that my Drill Sergeant seemed to think looked better in the hallway mixed in with everyone else’s uniforms, underwear and socks. Those going to church services were released. This is when the reality of being less than Christian set in. I and one other were not let back in the barracks as I had so naively planned. In fact we were led to a small creek down the street. The order was given to us that we were to remove all the rocks from the creek bed along an area about 5 meters wide (bank-to bank) and about 50 meters long and almost up to my hips in water. The Drill Sergeant gave overwatch of our rock plucking endeavor reminding us that this could happen again the following Sunday unless we just went ahead and ”get us a little Jesus.”In a well coordinated attack clearly planned to give the most psychological impact, the Drill left the area to “use the Latrine”. Out of nowhere appears another Drill who was clearly not happy that I was removing “his Rocks” from “his creek”. As I began to reinstall said rocks to their sandy home at the bottom of “his” creek I was gently reminded that Jesus would set me free. Admittedly the following Sunday I became a Catho-Bapti-Capalion of the Latter-Day Non Rock Pickers. Just keep me out of the proverbial creek without a paddle! I was not very happy about the coercion methods used to get us to go to Church but I was a young Soldier in a high stress environment. I felt at the time that it was better to play by their rules, go to a service and ignore the whole thing. At the very least I might have myself a little Jesus cracker and an adult beverage before I had to go back. Lemonade from lemons…

Of course this happened over 23 years ago, so how is this relevant one may ask? It continues to this day, or so I hear. Personally I believe the training and ultimate successful graduation of every Soldier, Sailor, Air Man or Marine from Basic Training should be contingent on a comprehensive examination of the US Constitution. All of us raise our hands and swear to support and defend it from all enemies foreign and domestic. But how does a Service Member know who or what is acting contrary to the Constitution if they don’t understand or for that matter ever read the document? Subversion of the Constitution can be covert or overt to the point it leaves you literally scratching your head and wondering if the incident actually just happed and you witnessed it. Case in point:
Many years pass and I am no longer Joe Snuffy Private. At this point I have time at the plenty of education under my belt , I have a little rank on the collar and I am presented with an opportunity to attend Warrant Officer Flight Training Program (WOFT) at beautiful Ft Rucker Alabama.. I complete the necessary 6 week hazing event hosted by the US Army Warrant Officer Corps (as it should be,,,a right of passage) and ask my father, a retired senior Air Force Officer to pin on my WO1 Bar prior to starting the actual flying portion of the training . My father being the man that he is will not walk past a deviation from what he perceives as right without making someone aware of his displeasure. So, here we go folks…Public ceremony, Active Duty Chaplain is called to open the ceremony with an invocation. I am standing looking straight ahead because I have a gut feeling its coming folks…The lump in my throat is getting bigger, mouth is going dry…AND THERE IT IS IN ALL IT’s GLORY!!!!! IN JESUS NAME WE PRAY
WHO IS WE? I AM NOT WE. I AM HE, THE ONE THAT DID NOT PRAY IN JESUS’S NAME. What gives you the right to pick and choose the deity I will cannel my wishes though without the slightest hesitation or decency of consultation?. Now as a full fledged, member of the I don’t believe in Santa, The Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny or God, it does not have the same affect on me as lets say my Senior Air Force Officer father , yes the Jewish gentleman for whom you just prayed through Jesus (probably considered to be the very definition of that little “NO GODS BEFORE ME” commandment thingy some guy named Mosses kept talking about)and now he has committed a mortal sin via a proxy server (the Chaplain).

(name withheld)