Number 15
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THE OLD MOLE PAGE NINE
GI'S HIT BACK
A new mood of disillusionment, disaffection, and defiance is spreading in the Armed Forces. AWOL
rates have risen sharply. Reenlistment rates have fallen, especially among the blacks. Thousands of servicemen have deserted and settled in foreign countries. "Incidents" occur wherever troops are stationed; black
GIs have refused riot duty; actual insurrections have broken out on several domestic bases and in stockades
at Long Binh and Danang in Vietnam.
More than 30 underground papers for GIs have appeared. Five are edited by veterans and circulate internationally; the rest are produced by active-duty GIs and circulate on the bases where they are written.
GIs have marched in anti-war demonstrations. Movement coffeehouses are active outside of five major bases (and more are being organized).
Disgust with an unpopular war of conquest, disgust with the degrading conditions of life in the service,
these experiences are eroding morale and discipline, and turning men against the military.
Excerpt from an interview with one
of the Ft. Hood 43, reprinted from the
Fatigue Press.
Were you in Vietnam?
Yes, I was there a full year as an infantryman.
Did you receive any medals?
I got a few besides the three usual ones. I
got two purple hearts, a good conduct ribbon, an air medal, bronze star, and an army
accomodation medal. I used to say, "I'm
going to make it." Don't get me wrong,
I said I'd do my two years and get the hell
out, but I figured, while I'm in, I'll do my
best 'cause I know the Army's fair. You
know I was actually brainwashed. I have
a perfect record, military and civilian. It
was only after I came back from Vietnam
that things began to affect me.
What affect did riot control training have
on you?
-Conversation with a Pfc, FLGordon,Ga.
"Well, I went through high school
and I thought I'd taken a lot of shit. You
know - the usual — stupid punk, do this
do that why don't ya study, why don't
ya make yourself useful, blah, blah, blah.
Cops always telling you to move on. So
I couldn't take it at home and I went down
to my friendly neighborhood recruiter.
He told me all about fun, travel and adventure, so I signed on the dotted line.
Well, I thought I'd turn over a new leaf-
try to learn as much as possible — then,
you know, I could get some cool job when
I got out and be a man and all that shit.
WOW - you just could not believe what
it's like. You probably hear a lot of bitching, but you could listen for months and
you couldn't feel it. ... Anyway so I
lucked out and got assigned for training as
an electrician. I thought I just had to
serve my time and then I would be able to
get a job,you know, as an electrician. Well,
I'm an expert on one special kind of radio
receiver. And the Army is the only place
in the whole world they use that radio.
Some training — most of it's like that —
so specialized that you can't apply their
training to any other kind of job. Man:
FT A. You seen these underground papers?
Yeah, well we were passing the one from
our base around a lot. I don't write for
it — I'm not so good at that stuff — but
my buddy does. Sure they hassle us about
it, but hell, they hassle you anyway and
we got to do something. Stick together.
Like the paper says, you know we got to
defend our interests. The Army is scared
of guys getting together like that. They
tried to split everybody up, but that won't
stop it. They can't stop us. Yeah, I know
where I'm going. I just got the orders. I'm
going to Nam
This is something that's hated by both
black and white. I came back from Vietnam and don't feel like putting up with
that old bullshit. Another reason I hate
it is because I know how riots start. They're
my people out there and the officer who's
instructing a class gets up there and says
forget you're black or white, you're Army
and you have responsibilities. You know,
I'm not going to stay in the Army for the
rest of my life and I'll be living with the
same people they want me to take up a
rifle against. Same as you, I wouldn't expect you to go out and fight your family
and friends just because the Army tells
you to. As a matter of fact, like at the
University in New York, with the students
taking over the school, I wouldn't go there
either. Those people are defying the system, and the system's a bastard.
Dear Ally,
Here I am drunk, sick, tired, hungry, mad, lonesome, flat broke, homesick, no
mail, no friends, damn few rations, out of cigarettes and I missed bed check last night.
I'm in debt, poor character rating, pay all messed up, no clean clothes laundry rejected, leave disapproved, and restricted for a month. I was three days AWOL and I
lost my shot record, got guard duty tonight, K.P. tomorrow, C.Q. next weekend, got
a mule drivers M.O.S [Military Occupation Speciality] and a "Dear John" letter.
I'm thirsty, sleepy, my shoe strings are broken in three places, just gettng over
the flu, my watch quit running, I got an ingrown toenail with cold feet, I'm about
to shit in my pants and the latrine is off-limits until after the inspection and some son-
of-a-bitch just asked me to re-enlist! ! ! !
A 1 C    Turkey....
Shakedown, Ft. Dix.
When 1 left on the plane for Nam, 1
was half-scared and half-curious. You hear
guys rap, but you don't really know what
it's about until you hit the jungle. And
so there I was fighting to stay alive and man,
when you're in that spot, you don't think
about morality — what's right and what's
wrong. But, when )r»u're alone during those
endless nights on watch, questions begin
to glow before your mind. What are we
doing over here? One minute the peasants
are your friend and the next minute, they'll
stab you in the back. Who do the people
really support? The government is corrupt
as hell — everyone's out for a buck. Man,
it makes you wonder what we're fighting
for. And then one of those guys you've
been closer to than any other human being
in your life, the guy you told your secrets
to gets killed, and you get angry and want
to kill every gook in sight. You would hear
at home about the protestors and think to
yourself, those dirty bastards, shouting
off their mouths. Why don't they come
over here and see what it is really all
about. It's like them telling us, we're
fighting for a wrong cause, dying for nothing - and man, that's tough to take. It
put me in a bind because, deep inside, 1
knew the war was wrong. The way I figured it out was that my anger was in the
wrong place — it should be against our own
government for keeping the war going. ,
From the Fatigue Press, Ft Hood.
I went to a gas station in Killeen to
rent a trailer to haul some furniture. A
conversation sprang up while the attendant
was fastening the bumper hitch to the car.
I discovered that he is in the military too
and stationed at Hood. Quite curious as
to how he managed two jobs, I pressed him
for further information and discovered
that he is a baker. He works for twelve
hours seven days a week at the gas station
and does his baking early in the morning.
I asked how much the gas station job paid
a week. The answer was $47.00!. .. This
works out to 56£ per hour. After a few
more questions, I realized that this is sort
of standard rate for unskilled labor in the
area.... I learned that a civilian holding
the same job receives more money — 75£
an hour, about xh minimum wage. When I
asked why he didn't do anything about it,
he replied that even though he could get
his employer busted by the Labor Board,
he would be out of a job and jobs are not
plentiful.
As I drive thorugh Killeen and see
the loan sharks, inflated price car lots,
pawn shops, and various gyp joints, frustration buildsinme at the inaction and
subservience of the GIs and civilians who
are being subjected to this merciless pillaging
Towns such as Killeen are the natural product of unbridled exploitation and
greed, where the rich are free to ravage ,
rob, plunder and control the working class.
Their filthv fingers pick our pockets and
use the money to build more establishments
to further steal from us, while keeping our
wages low enough to prevent us from breaking from our ugly, obscene, financial binding.