Download PDF of this full issue: v29n1.pdf (9.3 MB)

Growing Up With the Military: Born To Kill Commies

By John Miller

November 8, 1976. Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Cheyenne, Wyoming. This time and place would mark the birth of what some refer to as the "Air Force Brat," and what others might call a born and bred commie-killer. Actually, it's the time and place of my birth, a day that all communists would come to fear.

When I was young, my father worked in simulator programs, and this sparked my interest in flying and planes. It was at this time that I started to think about possibly being a pilot of some sort. Later, my father began working on the F-16 program, one that would eventually prove quite lucrative not only to the United States, but to other countries like Turkey and Israel. At the time, however, I had yet to grasp the concept that these sorts of relationships could have potentially negative repercussions. My lack of knowledge (I was only a kid for Pete's sake) in the areas of politics, imperialism and colonialism hindered me from seeing the "us" and "them" dichotomy that was forming in my mind.

Television played a vital role in the shaping of my psyche, and further embedded these ideas. My father's position in the Air Force was just as influential, as I had access to many a cool picture of fighters, bombers, and the ordnance that they could potentially carry. Who wants a picture of a commercial liner unless it can carry cluster bombs and sidewinders? This exposure, as well as my interest in drawing, led me down an interesting path. Not only did I begin drawing such things, but I started to add some commentary to make them seem a bit more realistic.

This commentary, of course, was most often directed at communists and Middle-Eastern "terrorists." Buying into the Cold War military ideology, my drawings appeared to be from some sort of strange McCarthyesque children's book tentatively titled "Kids Draw Commies." For instance, I would draw a picture of an American fleet of bombers destroying a Russian submarine accompanied by lines like "Die Gorby Die!!" After watching movies about crazed Libyans and Soviet invasions of North America, one begins to internalize such images. Living on or near the bases, and therefore being constantly surrounded by and immersed in such an environment, it is difficult not to buy into at least some aspects of that way of thinking. As a result I adopted a general dislike, and furthermore a great distrust, of those Others.

Fortunately, one of those Others would become a close friend and aid in the reversal of my earlier misconceptions. His name was Sahem, and he was from Jordan. Hailing from this country, however, he could very well have been a figure running from a laser-guided bomb I had just launched from my very own F-16. It was soon after this meeting that I began to question the stereotypes I had always encountered. Also helpful was the environment in which I attended junior high and high school. They had become much more diverse, racially, ethnically, and economically, and this exposure proved invaluable. It was at this point that racism and classism became most visible to me, and unfortunately the former would materialize as a fist in my stomach.

As my general knowledge increased, I began to question such ideology more generally, but some aspects were harder to shake than others. I always had a feeling that Vietnam was wrong, and I believe that this was a result of media portrayals as well as the manner in which my father would refer to it only in a negative, regrettable tone. Now my involvement in and support for organizations such as the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative and Vietnam Veterans Against the War allows me to continue critically interrogating my past, as well as the past and dominant ideologies of this country.

These organizations as well as my schooling have allowed me to see things that I have been blinded to in the past, and that is greatly appreciated. No more do I look forward to killing "commies." Upon looking back I could regret such a thought, but instead I look forward with social justice and its greater struggle in mind.

John Miller is a member of the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative
and soon to be a union organizer in Chicago.