Vet reflects on objector experience

Conscientious objection to war dates back to the American Revolution but some do not discover that their conscience objects to war until they are an active spoke in the war machine.\nBloomington resident Joe Bourne, who attended the "Truth in Recruiting" forum Monday at the Monroe County Public Library, said he did not act on his conscientious objector upbringing until he was entrenched in Vietnam War work at an Air Force base in Mississippi between 1969 and 1971.\n"As the 1960s wore on and the war wore on it got worse, and they needed more people because more people were being killed. I remember writing a poem during college about the men who killed in Vietnam. It began with a number -- 20,000 have died," Bourne said. "By the time I graduated I had to change it to 40,000. And there were a lot more after that. We all had to face the fact that if we were of reasonably good health, and I was, that we would have to face going to fight in that war."\nBourne said he enlisted in the Air Force while he was a junior at a Catholic college to avoid the draft, but his internal moral, ethical and religious C.O. beliefs did not surface until he finished basic training in San Antonio during the aftermath of a hurricane. His unit was left stranded on an old military base for three or four weeks before they were shipped to Mississippi. \n"That is the period I was given, really by God, to reflect upon who I was, where I was, what I was, what I believed in," Bourne said. "And that's really when I came to the realization that wherever I am sent, whatever I was trained to do, I had voluntarily become a part of this machine, if you want to call it that -- the great force that was at war because of the decisions of politicians and because of people whose beliefs weren't in line with mine.\nAnd so I had to decide: 'what was it I could do to express my own ethical beliefs at this point after I had already gotten myself this far?'"\nBourne said he met with several military chaplains before he found one who really listened to what he had to say and helped him begin the process of navigating the military bureaucracy under a C.O. claim. He said he soon could not bring himself to attend M-16 training and he was later honorably discharged due to his C.O. convictions. \nCurrent Iraq War veterans who believe they might qualify as conscientious objectors face ever increasing hurdles in attempting to plead their case.\nJ.E. McNeil, executive director of the Center on Conscience & War, said the G.I. Rights Hotline receives about 300 to 400 calls per month from U.S. soldiers inquiring about C.O. statuses, of which, only a small number qualify because not everyone believes "all wars are wrong."\n"Different people have their (C.O.) beliefs triggered in different ways. One guy was in Abu Grahib (prison) as an interrogator and he found that unacceptable," McNeil said. "Another guy had it triggered when he was in Afghanistan and he had a child in the sight of his weapon. Another guy had it triggered when his ship landed in Japan and he went to Hiroshima. Each person has a different experience."\nFor some people it's during boot camp and they're asked to chant: 'What makes the grass grow green -- blood, blood, blood makes the grass grow green. What makes the weeds grow -- brains and guts, blood makes the grass grow green.'" \nMcNeil said the controversy at Bloomington High School North and the Monroe County Community School Corporation decision to postpone indefinitely alternative viewpoints of the military to high school students violates the "limited forum" subheading of the No Child Left Behind Act. She said federal law prohibits military recruiters from targeting American youth under 17, and community members interested in hearing about C.O. should contact the American Civil Liberties Union to learn how to negotiate with MCCSC high school principals. \n"I talk to Iraq veterans all the time who say I have to live with what I've done," McNeil said. "I've talked to Iraq veterans who got into trouble for refusing to shoot civilians upon orders. I've talked to Iraq veterans who had their commanding officer brag about raping Iraqi girls. War is not fun and games."\nBrown County resident Hank Swain, who also attended the "Truth in Recruiting Forum," said he does not believe there is anything wrong per se with being "clouded in the camouflage of patriotism" so long as Americans understand war brings out the best and worst of human beings. He said his experiences in World War II have resulted in his having to live the rest of his life knowing he has contributed to the loss of life and destruction of property.\n"Many people try to justify war as simply an extension of personal conflict. It is not. War is organized hatred," Swain said. "Now take away all the patriotism, all of the war hoopla that gets you fired up to go kill people you don't know and destroy their property. Every time somebody says 'aren't you willing to defend your country?' I wish they would say 'are you willing to go kill somebody you don't know for your country and against whom you have no offense?"