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Army Promises Turn Sour

By VVAW

Archibald Montgomery wanted to learn Russian, so he joined the Army. He went to the recruiter's office, was painted a picture of an office in an Embassy, training in Russian and an assignment in Moscow or in Washington. Archibald signed on the dotted line.

He thought everything was fine. "I'd get a fabulous education in Russian," he said, "and use it for four years, come out, go to law school on the GI Bill and be set. It was a dream come true."

But the dream turned into a nightmare. After he was in the Army he didn't get the job he was promised. Instead he was sent off to a unit of the 9th Infantry Division in Alaska, and told that he would be a "voice interceptor," learning only some Russian words for numbers and military terms. An officer told him that he probably wouldn't even be doing that.

So what would he be doing? "I'm not even certain where I'm going or what I'll be doing. Counting polar bears? Test thermal underwear?" In fact it turns out that he will be loading trucks and digging ditches, not close to what he was promised.

Thousands of GIs found themselves in the same position. During the Vietnam War, many men joined the Army and volunteered for specialized fields, hoping that they wouldn't have to go to the war. But many did go and many of them didn't come back. Now with the all-volunteer army the same thing is happening.

With the economic crisis many join the Army, lured by the extensive advertising campaign about "the only jobs in town," and by the reality that there isn't work to find. But as the Montgomery case shows, once people get into the military, then the military does what it wants. The Army needs infantrymen, the backbone of their power. They've got to fill those slots, and if your name is picked, you wind up on the line, ready to fight for the rich man as millions of vets did during the Vietnam War. And it doesn't really matter what kind of job you have in the military either; the whole purpose of the military is to defend the rich man's system. Once a person joins the military, defending the riche becomes the primary MOS.

The Army will promise anything to get recruits only to do what they want to unsuspecting individuals once they're in. One high school graduate said that he was going to join the Army to get on the GI Bill. But he wasn't told that the GI Bill is drastically changed for new GIs, forcing them to pay $75 a month for using the Bill in the future. And there are countless examples of the same sort of military lies.

Montgomery, as a college graduate, had advantages in already knowing how to take up the legal battle against the military. The majority of military recruits don't have that kind of background. As Montgomery said, "You have to ask what they do to the average enlistee...the guys who don't know how to fight it, who sign up for one thing and get something completely different."

While it is important to understand, and know how to use the military "justice" system, hundred of thousands of GIs have resisted the hassle and harassment of the military brass over the years. The lies of military recruiters are no exception, as vets around the country help to expose them for the fairytales they are.