Fort Bragg soldier flees to Canada [Traitor alert!]

Independent Weekly ^ | February 11, 2004 | Patrick O'Neill

[Constitution Day]

Fort Bragg soldier flees to Canada

Jeremy Hinzman enlisted to make a difference, then learned what being a soldier is really all about

By Patrick O'Neill

(First of Two Parts)

February 11, 2004
NEWS FEATURE

On New Year's Eve, Jeremy Hinzman sat in a McDonald's on N.C. 401 in Fuquay-Varina explaining his precarious situation. On Dec. 20, Hinzman, a U.S. Army specialist stationed at Fort Bragg, got the news he had dreaded. His unit--the 504th Brigade, 2nd Battalion--would be shipping out to Iraq shortly after the new year for an indefinite deployment in the war on terrorism. Last year, Hinzman, 25, the father of a 1-year-old son, was deployed for more than eight months to Afghanistan. When he left, Hinzman's son, Liam, was just 7 months old. When Hinzman returned, Liam was walking and didn't remember his father. While he didn't see any combat in that first deployment, Hinzman said he had a bad feeling about going to Iraq.

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Hinzman, his wife, Nga Nguyen, and their son, Liam

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In Iraq, Hinzman, said he felt like he would have to do some things he'd regret. During Christmas leave, Hinzman, who is a member of the Fayetteville Friends Meeting, discussed his options with his wife, Nga Nguyen. He could go to Iraq--an option both he and Nguyen rejected. He could refuse the deployment order and face court martial and a likely prison term. Or he could follow a plan of action that thousands of young men like himself had taken during the Vietnam War--he could flee to Canada.

He chose option three. On Jan. 2, Hinzman and his family packed up their small car with a few essentials, leaving almost all of their possessions behind. They left post housing under the cover of darkness for the 17-hour drive to the U.S.-Canadian border. Quakers living in the U.S. made contacts in Ontario, and the family was set up with places to stay until they moved into a Toronto apartment on Feb. 1.

A story in the Feb. 7 edition of the Toronto Globe and Mail, says Hinzman is believed to be the first U.S. soldier to file for refugee status in Canada for refusing duty in Iraq. The report says Hinzman's case is "the first echo of the 12,000 deserters and 20,000 draft resisters who came north more than 30 years ago to escape the Vietnam War."

Before enlisting, Hinzman said he was searching for some meaning in his life, and the military--which had a "higher purpose"--was better than working just for the sake of making a buck. "I guess I just kind of sold my soul for the college money," he said. "That's probably a little too blunt. I had this notion that, "Hey, I'm going to go and get paid to exercise, shoot weapons and jump out of planes,' and that sounded real fun. It didn't matter to me at that point.

"I was just young, and I didn't feel I was really going anywhere."

Hinzman admits he got in over his head. When he joined the Army, he said he was expecting Al Gore to be elected president. The terror attacks of 9-11 were still an unimaginable horror. But the Iraq war forced him to reassess his values.

"It's a political decision, which as a soldier I'm not really entitled to have," he said. "But I feel that if I had gone to Iraq I would be in a sense putting myself into a criminal enterprise and becoming a criminal because it's a war--or an act of aggression. I don't think it can be called a war--based on false pretenses in terms of weapons of mass destruction, the links to al Qaeda and bringing democracy to Iraq.

"Because if democracy was to happen in Iraq, the Shiites would take power, and they would by no means be a friendly government towards the U.S. or its interests. So I don't want to risk my life for that, and I don't think the government should risk the lives of our country's young for that, and also to line the pockets of big corporations. I mean the obvious example is Haliburton.

"It's kind of, to me, messed up to go destroy a country's infrastructure and then have an auction to see who can rebuild it. It just smells bad to me, and I don't want to be part of it, nor do I want to kill people or be some place where I wasn't wanted. There are a lot of governments and leaders in the world that we don't necessarily like, but we're not going there. For example, Zimbabwe--we don't do anything about Robert Mugabe. I mean he's just as bad a tyrant as Saddam Hussein was, but why aren't we there? It's obviously about economics. I don't want to be a pawn in that game."

Hinzman, a native of Rapid City, S.D., admits he was not a typical soldier. A Catholic convert who also follows Buddhist teachings and enjoys the silent worship of Quakers, Hinzman was a military misfit from the get-go. His fellow soldiers were weirded out by his meditation regimen and his choice to not eat meat.

For the most part, Hinzman said he kept his political and moral views to himself, "although I won't deny I was known as the liberal, and this is in a culture where everybody watches Fox News. There aren't very many vegetarians in the Army, so that would open up a whole bag of tricks."

Hinzman's peers would ask a logical question: "Well, if you can't eat an animal or if you can't kill an animal, how can you kill a human?"

"They did ask those kind of questions, and it did raise their eyebrows," Hinzman said. "That's one of the reasons that got me thinking that I was in the wrong place. If you think logically, that makes sense. If you can't kill an animal, how can you kill a human?"

Hinzman also felt uncomfortable with the Army mindset that encouraged misogyny and violence. Particularly, he remembers the indoctrination of the troops during basic training. During exercises, the new recruits would drill using macabre chants.

"When we were marching around chanting songs like, "Train to kill. Kill we will,' or during bayonet training they'd ask, "What makes the grass grow?' and we'd say "Blood, blood, bright red blood.'

"When we would thrust [the bayonet], the drill sergeant would yell that, and we'd have to scream back. People would actually get hoarse yelling this crap. I could never really get into that stuff. Some people ate it up because I think there is an opportunity in groups to kind of let go of your inhibitions and do wanton things...

"It's all presented, at least on the surface, as, "Oh, it's just in humor, and no one's around listening to it,' but I think that really does put that mindset in a soldier that they're killers."

The atmosphere was surreal, he said. "It's what you think about when you think of a dystopian novel, just all these mindless drones walking around, and the sad thing is that they were individuals with thoughts and feelings, and, at least when they're at work, that's lost much of the time."

The military mindset also fosters a rejection of feminist/maternal values, Hinzman said.

"It's a very misogynistic place to be in," he said. "Everyday conversation, it's like a gangsta rap song the way women are referred to by people you would never suspect of talking that way. There is a lot of domestic violence in the Army, and marriages don't work and women are objectified."

The circumstances required enormous self-discipline, Hinzman said. "I would have this constant dialogue with myself," he said, "and sometimes I'd have to force it because when you're around something enough, when you're in an environment enough, you do tend to become a product of that environment.

"Like for instance, I swore all the time, and I would have to make these resolutions that I'm not going to swear because that's the first step on the road to losing yourself; your autonomy. It's almost expected that you're going to refer to women and the enemy in negative terms, objectifying the people you fight against so they no longer have humanity. I had to bite my tongue constantly."

While he would occasionally have meaningful conversations with his peers, for the most part, Hinzman kept to himself.

"When you're at work you put on your game face, especially as a lower enlisted person," he said. "You don't really talk about the moral ramifications of what you're doing. Everyday discussion is kind of stultified."

In Part 2 of this report, Hinzman tells about his failed effort to be placed in a noncombat assignment as a conscientious objector, and what the future looks like for him and his family in Canada.

[Howlin]

Profile of an Al Gore voter!

[sharkhawk]

I thought the reason that Vietnam War draft dodgers could go to Canada was that they did not have a draft, and the extradition treay we have with Canada requires it to be illegal there also? Desertion was a different story, because that was also a violation of Canadian law. Maybe I misunderstood, but I think the US Government should request extradition, since this is desertion in the face of hazardous duty.

[Leatherneck_MT]

There should be a questionnaire that is filled out prior to anyone enlisting. Plainly stating what they will be required to do as a member of the US Armed Forces. Namely, you will be required to kill other human beings. Do you have a problem with this?

Personally I think this is a situation where the kid got scared and ran and is using this political BS to cover his fear.

[Constitution Day]

You've just got to see this.

[TaxRelief]

at the Fayetteville Friends Meeting,

Aha! The Quakers in Fayetteville are the key organizers of the upcoming Mar. 20, Antiwar protest. Perhaps he's just one of their easily manipulated puppets.

[Feckless]

Traitor maybe, Coward for sure. Too bad he's already reproduced, sliming up the gene pool.

[Kenton]

A guy who was a friend of mine in high school pulled a very similar stunt back in 1969 to avoid deployment to VN.

My buddy always had a lot of similar justifications as this guy for bugging out, always managed to sound like he had made a "moral" decision. After he split, he lived in Montreal as a hippie ex-pat until Carter declared an amnesty, and all the wandering children got a free pass to come back. So he did.

Today he would be 58. And by the time you get to 58, you can't make excuses to anybody anymore, let alone yourself. And until the day he dies, he will always be branded a deserter and a coward.

Good luck with your conscience, kid.

[Tacis]

Yet, be careful! This is exactly what the ultra-left wing, neocommunist media has been hoping for. Wait until you see their extensive coverage of this sensitive young man. They will write pages about Bush's failure to do this and that.

And then, the media will build excuses for the guy (he did go to Afganistan, after all) and attack anyone who is a Republican who doesn't accept the media's logic. I can already see the propaganda piece that Molly Evens will write.

There is little we can do about this. But, it should not be taken lightly, especially, if there are several others that we do not yet know about.

You know, Hanoi John will be talking trash about this and promising amnesty if elected! These aren't dopers avoiding the draft by going to Canada, this guy deserted!

[COEXERJ145]

I'm not well versed on the UCMJ. Isn't death still one possible penalty for desertion in time of war?

[TheBigB]

Related thread about this little p*ssy.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1075482/posts

[Constitution Day]

Thanks for the info.

I wish he would be dragged back by a team of ex-military bounty hunters that would teach him a little lesson on his way back to face court-martial.

[ibheath]

I know that is possible. However, why feed and house this crybaby? Let Canada's welfare system deal with him.

Because he has deserted his post in a time of war, and I don't want some future puke leftist president pardoning this pig before he gets his just desserts for deserting.

[theFIRMbss]

>On New Year's Eve, Jeremy Hinzman sat in a McDonald's on N.C. 401 in Fuquay-Varina explaining his precarious situation

He'll just say fast food
screwed up his brain -- he'll get off,
then sue McDonald's...

[Snuffington]

Nope not a traitor. He's a deserter. Important difference.

We used to shoot deserters on sight. Traitors got a trial and a hanging.

[Constitution Day]

I found this story through an old link on Carolina Journal and could not believe it!

Yes, he is a pussy (lol) and this is just chock full of good stuff.
He even gets a dig in at Halliburton.

[steve8714]

He can still send money to MoveOn.
This guy is too dumb to allow in a combat zone. Being a Friend would have gotten him a legit CO and discharge.

[Constitution Day]

Thanks.

I missed that one; this Independent article was the first I heard of the loser.

[steve8714]

You have insulted all pussies.

[SwankyC]

At the time of Vietnam there was no draft in Canada, therefore avoiding the draft was not an offense in Canada and the draft dodgers could hide out here without fear.

Sounds like that extradition treaty aint so strong. My guess is there is no death penalty up there too so you dont extradite murderers who face the death penalty?

[SBprone]

I'd be willing to give this idiot a pass if only he didn't have such a big GD mouth!

It's not enough for him to run out on his country and his obligation, he also has to attack everything he left behind in order to justify his foolish choice.

When this guy's legal situation is settled I want him to wish he had kept his big mouth shut!