AWOL

In May 2001 ( 4 months pre 9/11) after finishing 4 years of a 6 year contract i went AWOL ( Absent Without Official Leave).

I was planning the first critical mass in Chico CA on a day i had scheduled for leave.  Then suddenly i got called to a special training starting the same day and same hour as my Critical Mass.

I rode the critical mass and send this letter my Commanding Officers

To Whom it may concern,

“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”
—Dwight D. Eisenhower

Below is a list of reasons why I don’t belong in the National Guard. I feel that it is my fundamental duty to question all my actions and refuse to do that which causes harm. (even if ordered to do so.) I have no national allegiance. Patriotism makes no more sense to me than racism or sexism. I feel that I am a citizen of the world with a duty to help everyone. I am a pacifist. I know there are many ways to solve conflicts, most of which have more fair and lasting results. War should be at best a last resort. These conflict-resolving strategies are continually ignored, or only given lip service because they don’t make people rich and because our demands are generally quite unreasonable. I, like two-term president and five star General Eisenhower, am a firm believer in the military industrial complex. I think that money and power play too large of a role in decisions about war, military budgets and our foreign policy. This happens via defense contractors, politicians and the corporate media. I think institutions, such as our government and army, are essentially self-serving. The best example I have of this is the way our government often treats its own soldiers after they are “used up”, refusing to treat or even acknowledge their illnesses or to take responsibility for their causes just to save face. Whether or not you agree with the above points is irrelevant because I do and I don’t think it would take much convincing to see that these views are not compatible with being a soldier. For obvious reasons I think this is best for the both of us.

Sincerely,
Ryan Libre

P.S. I do not plan to come to this drill or any other. I am not trying to be uncooperative it is just that I do not belong there.