Part 6

The Achaians marched breathing passions, in silent fear of their captains.

– Homer, Iliad IV, 431

I may have been overly protected in my youth because I was totally unprepared for what happened to me when I joined the Army. This experience, with slight variation, was experienced by all the young recruits who went through basic training. Basic training was one terrible, bewildering experience. I expected concern, respect, understanding, friendship but, instead I was confronted by harshness, hostility and isolation in my surroundings; I was continually harassed, assaulted, aggravated by hateful, hostile, screaming sergeants.

I learned later to interpret the techniques used in basic training as a form of hypnotic mind control. The first thing that is done in basic training is to destroy the individual's sense of self, to destroy his confidence, to destroy his link to the outside world. Then, when the destruction is complete, he is rebuilt into a soldier, a robot, a weapon system.

In order for conditioning and hypnosis to be effective, the new recruits must have their emotions, their sensibilities worked upon until they reach a condition of increased excitement, anger, hate, disgust, anxiety, tenseness. Guilt is one short step after hostility and hate – after reacting wrongly. Then comes fear, and after fear more guilt and compensation; after compensation, which is surrender, the hypnotic state. Drill sergeants are trained to increase mental conflict and agitation and to manipulate these responses. Once the new recruits have been broken and indoctrinated into the military system, they remain in the hypnotic state due to the "feed-back" process. They remain sensitized to the agents of disruption of their mental faculties. The process described above may be better understood if presented as a diagram. Figure 1 is such an illustration.

The Hypnotic Process

Figure 1. The Hypnotic Process

Fear and terror are the principles which are used. Ideas are implanted into the mind through the medium of fear. As long as a victim responds with hate, hostility, resentment – any aggravated emotional response – he becomes fearful, he becomes conditioned. Increased emotional excitement disables the discerning, conscious mind thus causing the exposed subconscious mind to assimilate gross or subtle suggestions that are hurled at it. The angry, upset, frightened, clouded mind then acts upon the accusations converting them into reality. Later, when the tension is removed, the implanted suggestions remain.

During those dreadful weeks in basic training I couldn't do anything right. There was my way and the "irrational" army way. I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't. I could not escape the wrath of the sergeants. I was hounded, intimidated, assaulted, screamed at day and night. Believe me, I was one overwrought, frightened recruit. I had no idea that all this duress was for the purpose of setting me up, to manipulate my mind, to destroy my discipline, and to obey orders without question.

The constant harassment and my excited emotional state clouded whatever little perception that I had and I fell under the law of the sergeants who prodded me. I was compelled to act out their unseen intent, and I eventually became a part of the system.

The methods used to upset, to hypnotize and to control me were numerous and diabolically clever. I shall illustrate a few examples. Place yourself in the shoes of a new recruit; how would you react under similar circumstances? Remember, we cannot fight back. To fight back can lead to some very serious consequences: court-martial, jail with forfeiture of all pay, dishonorable discharge just to name a few. We cannot go "over the hill," that is, quit, because we signed a contract stating that we would serve our time and, besides, the police and FBI will go after us. The only course left to us that will diminish our agony, that will reduce, hopefully, the assaults against our minds and flesh is to conform, to surrender.

EXAMPLE:

Sergeant: Where is the balance of your rifle, private?

Private: Gee, I don't know. This is all the supply sergeant gave me.

Sergeant: Oh, a wise guy. Tuck in your gut, get those shoulders back, stand at attention while I am speaking to you. I don't like smart-ass answers. You are a meathead and I don't take wise cracks from meatheads. Is that clear, meathead?

Private: But, you don't understand...

Sergeant: What have you between your ears, meathead, a blood clot? How dare you call me a "ewe." That is insubordination to a non-commissioned officer. Report to me after drill, meathead; I have a special detail for you.

Barrack life was no different. We were rudely awakened very early each morning by the sudden turning on of the bright barrack lights, by obscene screams, by the pounding of clubs against the metal trash containers. What a rude awakening! Actually, this type of awakening really put us to sleep; it is hypnotic. And, this sets the tempo, sets the atmosphere for the rest of the day.

The endless inspections, the details, the drills, the parades, the salutings the screaming took their toll. We were no longer civilians, we became soldiers. We were destroyed as individuals and given new births; we were "born again" into the system. Once we capitulated to stress, that stress became a life supporting mechanism. We needed it, we were loyal to it. We defended the system; we needed the system to support our new identity. To be ostracized from the system, from the army, was a fate worse than death. We were soldiers who feared the sergeants, who feared the captains, who uncritically obeyed orders. We were completely hypnotized.

To sustain the hypnotic conditioning, to prevent deviation, the soldiers must be continually subjected to many rituals: Saluting, inspections, parades, bugle calls, reveille and retreat ceremonies, uniforms, medals, awards, flags, the reading of the Articles of War; the list is endless.

The military academies where officers are made are not different from the basic military training camps. Everyone must be made to obey orders without question, without criticism, from generals on down to the privates.

But, the military is an extension of the political system. The military system must obey the whims of the politicians, the whims of the bureaucrats without question. It is for the "good" of the State. The politicians, the armchair strategists brought about meaningless human and material waste, suffering and destruction, and our defeats in Korea and Vietnam. These defeats could have been victories; we had capable generals, but the military had to obey orders.

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