"The Biggest Gang in the World"

by Susan Galleymore

AWOL soldier, “Tom”,(1) fought to get in to the military… and now he’s fighting to get out. Tom grew up in a troubled family and spent several years in foster care. At thirty years old, living with a wife and child in a community that offers few economic opportunities, Tom wanted to “do the right thing”: serve his country, be part of something bigger than himself, work towards the American dream for his wife and children -- at least provide them with health insurance. It took a year to persuade his Army recruiter that the two misdemeanor charges against him when he was 18 years old are ancient history and that he’s had no more trouble with the law since.

Basic training was tough but nothing in comparison with what awaited Tom at Ft. Hood, Texas, his permanent duty station. He befriended “John” who was similarly older than most of the other volunteers. Together in 1st Cavalry Alpha Company, 3/8 Cav. Greywolf Division, Tom and John’s troubles began immediately when they refused to take the petty gibing meted out by much younger non-commissioned officers (NCOs). John went AWOL within three weeks and Tom has not seen him since. Tom remained on base and complained about his treatment. He was told to suck it up…or else.

“Or else” included:

• Threatening messages left on his home answering machine.
  Tom: “One Sunday when I got home after church I played my phone messages. My wife and son heard Sgt. S. threatening me and they were very upset. Next day I replayed the message to battalion Chaplain P. who was so concerned that he called the Army’s Equal Employment Opportunity representative. Chaplain P. was a good guy I’d met before when he addressed a roomful of men and asked that we see him before doing anything rash like committing suicide. After the meeting with EEO, Chaplain P. called 1st Sgt. C. who smoothed things over. Then 1st Sgt. C. called me into his office and belittled me for “telling on them.” Then he told me to “get the hell out of his office.” I also approached Chaplain K. for help but he wouldn’t even talk to me.”
• A beating by eight soldiers one of whom, Specialist O. told Tom, “You’re now in the biggest gang in the world.”
  Tom: “I was in a local restaurant and, when they came for me, I ran through the parking lot with them after me. Then I stopped, put my hands up in the air over my head, and got down on my knees. When they reached me Specialist O. hit me with his fist in my sides and back about 7 or 8 times. First Sgt. C. watched and directed the attackers to pound my torso and limbs -- where bruises wouldn’t be noticed -- and to avoid marking my face. When he yelled, “Stop. He's had enough,” they returned me to barracks. There they forced me stand in the same place for four hours in front of everyone -- as if I was some kind of trophy. First Sgt. C. said if I moved he would let them take me down hard again.”
• Five days in a psychiatric ward on Darnall Army Community Hospital and a diagnosis of cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder with mood swings.
  Tom: “Sure, I was moody. I was so frustrated and angry all the time that my wife threatened a divorce. I couldn’t believe what I was going through and I was scared of myself and of what I might do. Here I was, a volunteer, trying to work within a system that I thought was the best in the world and that offered me the best opportunities. Yet, I was treated like an unruly kid. I felt like I’d stumbled into a communist labor camp in some crazy dictatorship. And it wasn’t just me: other soldiers were getting similar treatment. I attempted to talk to the Inspector General but Command Sergeant Major N. blocked my access into the IG’s room.
• A regime of Depakote (usually prescribed for seizures although Tom’s regime was prescribed for “mood stabilization”) that he took for four days.
  Tom: “I stopped taking the drugs when I realized that, really, I was the victim in this situation. By taking the drugs I was complicit in victimizing myself. I was right to be angry. They were wrong to drug me for it.”

Tom refused to return to Alpha Company and was sent to Bravo Company in the same building. “That wasn’t a real change. Bravo Company knew about me and many of them avoided me like the plague. But a few volunteers from both companies came in secret and thanked me for standing up to the brass.”

Tom’s medical team advised, “He is recommended for a chapter 5-17 administrative separation. [His] condition is currently causing industrial impairment. … He should have no access to weapons and is non deployable.” Nevertheless, Sgt. B. ignored this medical advice, issued Tom a weapon when he returned to barracks, and told him to prepare for combat simulation training at Ft. Polk, LA.

In desperation, Tom went AWOL (Absent without Leave) nine months ago and is seeking a medical discharge. “I’m not going back but the military is not processing the papers to discharge me! I don’t understand this as I have medical records that state as clear as day that I should be chaptered out.”

Tom’s abuse by the very personnel he’d expect would cover his back in combat – or whose backs he’d be expected to cover – is not uncommon. There are many “good apples” -- ethical and upstanding military personnel – but is there also an unchecked infestation “a few bad apples”? Meet Robert, Eden, Mohammed, and Janet:

• After going Absent without Leave (AWOL) from Ft. Benning, Georgia, “Robert” awaits news that he has been Dropped from the Rolls (DFR) so that he can be discharged at Ft. Sill, OK. Robert was 17-years-old when a temporary downturn in his high school grades sapped his confidence and he enlisted in the military to “learn to be a man.” In Ft. Benning’s boot camp he quickly realized military life was not for him. Despite the military recognizing Robert’s inappropriateness for the soldier’s life they lectured him about his fitness as a man and lied that his single mother was sick and tired of his feminine ways and didn’t want him back in her home. Robert attempted suicide and thereafter was shadowed 24/7 by drill sergeants. Due to return home for Christmas he asked his mother if he was still welcome in her house. Robert never returned to Ft. Benning and won’t talk about the humiliation he suffered at the hands of fellow soldiers and NCOs. He is currently under the care of a psychotherapist. When he is sufficiently recovered his mother will drive him to Ft. Sill to process out. Meanwhile, she will stay in a hotel close to the base -- on-hand in case something triggers the trauma Robert suffered at Ft. Benning and he attempts suicide again.
• Army National Guard Delayed Enlistment Training (DET) inductee “Eden” tried telling his recruiter that he was no longer interested in serving in the National Guard. He sent registered letters to that effect informing the recruiter, the commanding officer, and his congressman that he would not attend drills. Nevertheless, the recruiter continued calling his home and his work place, pressuring and threatening Eden that “he’d be paying legal bills for the next twenty years…if he was lucky enough to avoid a 10-year-jail sentence” for changing his mind. It is unlikely that Eden’s recruiter did not know Army Recruiting Regulation USAREC Reg 601-56, 3-1c, that states recruiters will not threaten, coerce, manipulate, or intimidate those wishing not to continue with the military nor will they obstruct separation requests. Yet this recruiter called, threatened, coerced, manipulated, and intimidated.
• “Mohammed” was assigned to Ft. Lee, Virginia when his harassment began. He’d enlisted in the military to provide a better life to his family. Fellow soldiers quickly began calling him derogatory names – “rag head,” “sand nigger,” and “hajji” are perennial favorite amongst our troops – and accused him – because he is an Arab American (born in the U.S.) -- of being “a spy for the enemy.” They turned up in his sleeping quarters with weapons slung over their shoulders and told him he’d be the first “A-rab” they’d shoot in the combat zone. Mohammed said, “The thing that amazed me is that the military will enlist anybody these days: addicts, gang members, bullies. These folks bring their lifestyles and ideologies with them and find a receptive environment. I went in there with a full commitment to do my best. What I found was a nasty environment that I could not thrive in.”
• At Ft. Jackson, South Carolina new recruit “Janet” awaited an Entry Level Separation (ELS) with bandages on her wrists while the military command debated releasing her. Janet should never have been talked into joining the military. Before signing up, the psychologically fragile 20-year-old told her recruiter – over an alcohol beverage in a Texas bar -- that she’d attempted suicide at least once before. The recruiter told her that “all that stuff” didn’t matter, that the military would “get her head right,” that she’d “have a ball,” that she’d “get a life.” It took just three days in boot camp for Janet to realize it was not the life she wanted. She tried to leave quietly, without a fuss, without the military spending any more tax-payer money transforming her into a “FS” (Future Soldier). But she was nabbed by her drill sergeant and verbally abused. She slit her wrists and, as her wounds were bandaged she was told that, if she tried “this stunt” again, she’d be deployed to Iraq without training. After that, and until she was released, two drill sergeants slept in a front office with her to keep an eye on her at night.

Janet just wanted out of a situation for which she was manifestly unfitted. I worked for her release and, after encountering Drill Sergeant R. on the phone, I emailed Ft. Jackson’s Public Affairs Officer stating: “As a counselor I try to communicate professionally with members of Ft. Jackson. In return, I expect, and often received, similar professional communication from Ft. Jackson personnel…. On January 29, 2007 at 2:15pm PST [I spoke to] Drill Sergeant R. of Platoon Charlie 120, Unit 24, [and] found him rude, unhelpful, discourteous, and disrespectful. He also successfully blocked my talking to any other, more courteous personnel. … DS R. falls woefully short of decent communication skills and shows no respect when talking to the civilians who pay his salary.”

I received a return email: “We appreciate your concern with the Solider in question [Janet]. I want to ensure [sic] you that we take the utmost care of each and every Solider -- including this Solider and the other 42,000 plus that pass through our portals. … I am very sorry for the incident concerning DS R. You can be assured that this matter has been addressed.” It took over three weeks to obtain Janet’s release from Ft. Jackson, actually very fast for the military.

Some believe “hazing” is a normal initiation rite in organizations that engage in standardizing behavior. But when does hazing turn into abuse? Is hazing still hazing when the hazed consider suicide the only way out? Are the “few bad apples” that we see on the evening news blossoming in the orchards of our taxpayer-supported military? Should those who volunteer to serve in our military -- reported even by top brass to be “at the breaking point” -- be abused with impunity in a taxpayer supported institution that espouse values of patriotism, valor, honor, and courage – yet apparently enacts the opposite?

Meanwhile, Tom and Mohammed are AWOL pending discharge. Both find that the normal discharge process is delayed. Tom has been waiting nine months and Mohammed over 50 days just for their federal warrants to be issued, a process that usually takes 30 days. Sadly, in the richest, the most democratic, the most diverse country in the world, Tom and Mohammed offered their bodies, their blood, their mental health, and their lives…for an affordable education, for economic opportunities, for better lives. Now both look forward to the issuance of their federal warrants -- even if this means jail time. Each says, “I just want to get this over so that I can get on with my life.”

Tom asks, “What would American parents say if they could see what was happening to their kids in the military that they pay taxes to support?

(1) While I was tempted to disclose the names of military personnel who engage in or ignore abuse, I disguised all names for equal anonymity. I sent copies of this article to Public Affairs Officers at the identified institutions so these matters can be reviewed according to Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).