US deserter flees to Canuckistan

[Clutch Munny]

If he doesn't go back on his own, I suspect we'll send him back...

...he began having doubts three days into basic training.

"The cadences they made us sing were … 'I went to the playground where all the children play; pulled out my Uzi and I began to spray,'" he said.

Spears said he signed up to be a truck driver, but was trained to kill using practice targets shaped like women in burqas with bazookas on their shoulders.

[California Tanker]

Probably. Canada's asylum courts have taken a different view on the current deserters to those from the Vietnam days, mainly because there's no draft today and everyone willingly signed the dotted line.

"And just the way they talked about going over there and killing people that made it seem like it was … hunting animals or something, hunting deer,"

What, he thinks that the Army should train troops that shooting people is inherently bad? The problem is that humans usually start with an inherent unwillingness to kill, that needs to be minimised in order to become an effective soldier. See Marshall, Grossman.

but was trained to kill using practice targets shaped like women in burqas with bazookas on their shoulders.

See above. Not only could it be men in burquas with bazookas on their shoulders, but women have been involved in the fighting too. A troop needs to be ready to shoot anyone who is a threat regardless of gender (or age), despite any inhibitions about shooting women. Otherwise he could become a dead troop, as could his colleagues. The operator here is 'with a bazooka'. Nothing else is relevant.

He asked his commanders for conscientious objector status, which would allow him to leave the army for reasons of conscience.

Optomist. To be discharged as a CO requires approval from Dept of the Army, and is almost never done. Much more common is a reassignment to a role where there is no expectation to fight: Medical orderly, chaplain's assistant, etc. (That said, I've run into chaplains who've picked up rifles when the need struck.). One CO was awarded the Medal of Honor, and never picked up a weapon in his life.

Basically, this guy was an idiot. He signed on in the middle of a war, knowing full well that part of the job description is to shoot people. Ever since Jessica Lynch et al were captured, it's been driven in that there is no such thing as a trucker who doesn't need to shoot.

NTM

[Watser?]

Originally Posted by Canuckistani newspaper

Spears is the second U.S. deserter settled in Ottawa by the War Resister Support Campaign. The first was 22-year-old James Burmeister.

I mentioned James Burmeister here, there was a long interview with him in a Dutch newspaper.

[Clutch Munny]

I don't know about an idiot -- he might just be a kid, and under-informed. Recruiters have certainly been reported to say whatever it takes to get folks to sign on the dotted line these days. It would hardly be surprising if a recruiter did not make a point of saying that even you were joining up to be a truck driver you might find yourself shooting women.

[BDS]

What would anyone have against shooting women?

[erimir]

Originally Posted by California Tanker

What, he thinks that the Army should train troops that shooting people is inherently bad?

Ummmm... well, it is, isn't it?

Not that it isn't sometimes necessary, but I certainly don't want them telling troops that shooting people is inherently good. It is to be avoided if possible.

[California Tanker]

It would hardly be surprising if a recruiter did not make a point of saying that even you were joining up to be a truck driver you might find yourself shooting women.

I doubt he would have. Still, if you're going to make a life-altering decision like 'join the Army', don't you think there is some form of personal responsibility involved in finding out a little bit about what the job might entail? That truckers are involved in firefights is not exactly a closely guarded secret. The little guidebook that recruiters give out explaining "This is what you can expect in Basic Combat Training" says pretty clearly "You will spend a few weeks on the range, and a few weeks on field exercises." What sort of a leap of logic is required to say "Hmm. I wonder if we'll have to shoot" or "I wonder why they're training me, a truck driver, for combat?" Let alone the various news reports of and photos of blown-up trucks, ambushed convoys, and whatnot. Or even the word "combat" in BCT.

but I certainly don't want them telling troops that shooting people is inherently good

True, the answer is somewhat in the middle: Shoot if required, not if you don't. But the default start position for 99% of people is "Don't shoot", and the troops need to be desensitised from this position, as opposed to turned away from "Shoot everyone, ask questions later" which is the default start point of very few people. Is it unreasonable to have a training regimen which is designed to break down the startpoint of the majority?

NTM

[erimir]

No, I don't think it's unreasonable.

But I do think that what you suggested in that question wasn't ridiculous. But of course, you were probably being hyperbolic anyway.