Examiner.com/AP: Live round fired at soldier during training exercise
I came across this story in the print edition of the Lawton Constitution this morning but the story isn’t on their website, however it on the wire now which is how I found it.
I’m glad to see the Army is investigating this incident, but I have two questions that I doubt that CID will ever get around to asking…
1. What compensation is the family of Daniel Patrick Fisher going to be getting? The Army killed this young man, this son, this husband. The least the Army can do is pay appropriate compensation (oh, say $10 milllion or so).
2. This question is the one that really haunts me — Most of the soldiers I speak to day in and day out as a GI rights attorney tell me that Basic training is a living hell for them. Many of them are horribly depressed, even suicidal during Basic training. What I want to know is how can we as a society live with ourselves, knowing that the last days of Daniel’s life were likely horrific and would likely be considered to be child abuse if he were 2 years younger. How can we live with ourselves knowing this?!
And now he is dead.
19 years old. When I was 19, I was dumb as bag of hammers. I thought I was in love and had my life together but I was really a mess, just trying to figure things out. I think most 19 year old are just trying to make it, trying to figure out their way in life. Thankfully I never got ensnared by the recruiters but so many young people are, and they wind up being maimed (physically or mentally) or even dead. And we all are to blame.
How can we let this go on? When will it stop? I’m sorry if I’m expressing too much emotion here but tonight I just can’t get the stories out of my head. I had a soldier tell me yesterday that when he was in Basic training, he was continually on the verge of tears and that when he was alone he would sob. He would cry most of the night, even though he was bone tired because of what the Army was doing to him and how they were destroying him and his spirit. This is so ****ed up. — I know that anger isn’t the answer but right now it is the only emotion that comes. I want to know why God lets this kind of crap happen and why we as human beings stand silent while this kind of evil takes place.
What percentage of basic training soldiers do you have an opportunity to talk with in a professional capacity?
I’m guessing it’s such a miniscule fraction of a single percentage point as to be statistically irrelevant.
And the ones who do come to you — that horribly tiny percentage of recruits who are simply not cut out for the service for which they have volunteered — are of course going to be filled with stories of how “horrible” and “hard” basic training is.
But, again, they are a tiny, tiny, minority. Yet you conflate their stories of woe to make it seem like the horrors of basic training are a universal truth.
But they are not. For many, many more men and women — true warriors — basic training is one of the best times in their entire life.
I know when I graduated from Basic at Ft. Knox back in 1991, I was on top of the world. In fact, looking back, it’s still one of the absolute best periods in my entire life.
Without having read too far into your blog, I get the distinct impression that you yourself have never actually been through basic training. Have you?
With all due respect, if basic training is one of the best times of your life, then your life must really suck.
I actually had a friend who was hanging out with me tonight (who is a recently discharged soldier, thankfully freed from the American killing machine) and he said that can’t possibly imagine how anyone would enjoy being mistreated and abused.
But sure, I do agree that my sampling (probably 50-100 in the last year) is not a representative sampling. But I don’t think that is an insignificant number either. If that many folks are willing to go AWOL and face possible UCMJ sanctions (including theoretically the death penalty, as is permitted under the UCMJ), then I think one has to believe that the Army is a living hell for many people.
A few examples of what has happened to some of my clients…
1. Being physically assaulted
2. Being sexually assaulted and then be told that it was your fault.
3. Being harassed because of one’s gender, sexual orientation, race and/or religion, and then have that harassment continue without the command even trying to stop it.
4. Being treated like one is sub-human.
5. Being told by a chaplain that “the army doesn’t care about your family, we merely tolerate them”
6. Being denied adequate medical care.
7. Being told to “drink water and soldier on” is an appropriate medical treatment for chest pain.
8. Being given nothing but advil for a fractured foot.
9. Being abused further when one is depressed and suicidal.
10. Having one’s life be threatened by fellow soldiers.
11. Having one’s life be threated by a one’s drill sergeant.
12. Being subjected to psychological torture, including being forced to watch videos of carnage from Iraq.
13. Being told that all Iraqis are “sand-niggers” and “doon-coons” by an African-American drill sergeant. (talk about irony)
14. Being told that all Iraqi men are “fags.”
15. Being told that if you are told to shoot, that you shoot even if you will be shooting children.
16. Being forced to chant cadences full of racial and ethnic slurs.
17. Being denied the opportunity to see a counselor or seek other mental health care.
This is the reality of Basic training and AIT for most soldiers. It is hell on earth.
And to answer your question, no I haven’t been in the military.
I don’t have to drink poison to know it is bad to drink poison either. I don’t have to experience it first-hand to know that I will never be in the military.
And if there was ever a draft, I would refuse to serve. I would rather be dead than serve in the military. I should also add that besides the fact that the military is a hellacious horrible place to be, I don’t believe in war because of my beliefs as a Mennonite follower of Christ.
ok…so im in college. A freshman. I joined the national guard to pay for school. I leave for basic training in may. im horrified. i hate the thought of being miserable and brainwashed. i hate this whole thing….any suggestions?
Hi Adam,
I definitely can help you. Please call me asap at 405-476-5620 or shoot me an email at girightslawyer at gmail dot com.