Yo! Youth OutLook

To: Commanding Officer

From: Carlos XXXXXXX

Service Number XXXXXXXX

Re: Application for Conscientious Objector Status

My mom has told me about her parents and her experiences in El Salvador. Soldiers came in and shot my grandparents and my aunt. My mother hid with my older brother. She was also in the plaza when Archbishop Romero was assassinated. That made her decide to risk her life to come here – she wanted her family to be free from war and killing.

I have always been against war and against violence as a way of resolving things, because my mother saw the violence close up and gave me her strong beliefs.

For seven years, I've been a member of the Berkeley-based Native Youth Group – which promotes non-violence and respect for indigenous culture. Learning to dance, drum and lead ceremonies gave me a great appreciation for my native heritage.

In high school I was involved in non-violent struggles for social justice as a member of Youth Together (YT) – a multi racial organization of students and their adult allies working to fight racial conflict and change the conditions in schools that lead to violence.

As a organizer with YT I worked against Proposition 21 – the California initiative that made it easier to put kids in the penitentiary – and for the Equity Initiative at Berkeley High. I helped to design and create a Student Learning Center that opened in the fall of 1999. The SLC was supposed to address the racial gap in grades, graduation rates and college opportunities at BHS.

It had tutoring, after-school programs for homework help, computers, and counseling services. We even threw parties and had poetry events in C400 – the SLC. Because of cut backs the SLC is now the on campus detention area.

After graduation I worked as a campus security guard at BHS – I was the only Latino. Because I knew the students and could speak Spanish, I served as a intermediary for the Latino community and administration at Berkeley High. Many of our parents can’t speak English well and when their kids get in trouble anything can happen.

While at work I was approached by the Marine recruiter. He was with a friend of mine who had enlisted. The recruiter told me all the jobs that were available to in the Marines. He told me I had a choice to be in combat or not.

The recruiter came back to the campus several more times insisting that I go take the test to see how I would do.

The recruiter assured my mother and I that I would not participate in war. He said I would receive a good education and job training. He told me it would be cheaper than going to college. Since my position at BHS was temporary, I didn’t know if they would hire me back this year. The Marines had jobs. I decided to take the test.

When I went to take the test and the physical they told me I was enlisting. I was not aware this was the enlistment process. I found out later that my job at BHS was going to be cut so I thought I made the right decision, even though it was kind of made for me.

I got to boot camp this fall. In boot camp they would yell, “I don’t care what your job is, you are going to war.” At first I thought that they were just messing with our heads, doing scare tactics or trying to make us tough. But then I began to realize that they were serious and that no matter what they had told me before, they were getting us ready for war. I got trained as a radio operator in a combat unit, but I thought I was going to learn about computers.

During training the sense of being completely opposed to what was going on around me got stronger and stronger. I realized that everything I believe is the opposite of what was going on there.

I have also been subject to racism and dehumanizing treatment. I have been told in the harshest ways that I cannot speak Spanish in uniform, that “the Marine Corp don’t pay you in pesos.”

When my mother and I spoke to the recruiter, he spoke to us in Spanish and he was in uniform. He was the same man who assured both my mother and myself that I would not participate in war. We were told that the Marines are a big band of brothers, and that everyone looks out for each other, I have found that not to be true. For us, it is every guy for himself.

My beliefs about war and violence have changed since I got here: they have become stronger and more pronounced because I have seen what the training is and where it is taking us.

For more info on gaining conscientious
objector status, contact the gi rights hotline at (800) 394-9544 or girlrights.objector.org 1 of 1