Comrade Aaron Bushnell was a man of integrity. Although I didn’t know him personally, I get the sense that we would have probably been close friends and comrades.
As a former Sergeant who served in the U.S. Army for almost a decade, I can relate strongly to the guilt that Comrade Bushnell felt from the realization of his complicity. I too, much like Aaron, was prepared to take my life in an act of defiant protest against the crimes I realized I was committing. I was going to shoot myself at a range in front of my battalion command team as an act of desperate protest.
I’m glad I didn’t follow through on that plan, because now I’m able to commit myself to the cause of liberation. I also get an opportunity to raise my children with these values — something that dead people can’t do. I bring this up not to make it about me, but rather to emphasize that l know exactly what drove him to commit self-immolation.
I never met Bushnell, but it pains me I will never have an opportunity to meet someone with whom I feel so much solidarity. What I see, besides a younger me, is someone willing to forgo a comfortable life of privilege, an awesome DevOps career, and a whole life in front of him. He was willing to forgo all of this so that he could offer himself in service of colonized people he’d never met, half a world away, simply because he viewed them as human beings deserving of liberation. Comrade Bushnell’s selfless love for humanity is the highest example of all that a Communist should strive to be.
I can’t change the fate of Comrade Bushnell, but I do know that I can reach the other Bushnells in the military. I know they’re out there. They aren’t common, and I never met one while I was in service. But I know they exist, because I was one. And Comrade Bushnell martyred himself as one. They’re out there, and they would make invaluable servants to the cause of liberation.
All comrades, civilian or military, are worth more to our struggle alive than dead. This is not said to detract from Aaron’s heroic sacrifice, but it has to be made clear: burning yourself alive does not disrupt the flow of weapons. It does not impact things materially. As Marxists, it is the material which we care about.
It is in that spirit that I want to reach out with a heartfelt plea of solidarity to all United States Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. To put the bottom line up front: I challenge you to be bold, fearless and principled, just as Aaron was. I will close out this brief letter assigning you a mission and laying forth my commander’s intent. You are responsible for executing the principles of mission command to reach the desired end-state.
My commander’s intent to you, American Soldier, is to disrupt the flow of weapons to the Zionist Entity (so-called “Israel”) by whatever means are available to you. The desired end state of this operation is for the United States Military to cease the shipment of arms to the Zionist Entity. It’s a broad vision; I trust in your creative faculties and outstanding leadership to fill in the blanks, draft up your own OPORD, and iteratively implement the Military Decision Making Process. Only you know what you are best equipped with and able to accomplish.
With that said, ensure that you are creative in your thinking, intelligent in your planning, and do not limit yourselves. Be realistic, but be bold. The revisionist Michael Harrington developed the poisonous slogan “Left Wing of the Possible”; I’m telling you fuck that, the sky’s the limit, and the world’s your oyster.
You may feel scared. You may ask yourself “This would be disobeying orders, I’d get in so much trouble by my commander!” And while I completely understand where you’re coming from, it’s also a misconception. Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states that soldiers have a duty to obey all lawful orders. Genocide is illegal, according to both United States Law and Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The penalty for those found guilty of Genocide is life imprisonment, with the possibility of execution.
Just Following Orders is no excuse under the law. Neither is rank. A private can be just as guilty as a general officer. This is the precedent that the United States herself set during the Nuremburg Trials. Ask yourself if you want to risk being executed after being found guilty of genocide. The only defense against such charges is an explicitly refusal to comply, or better yet, active resistance to such illegal orders.
Signed,
An anonymous NCO who wants you to do the right thing
TO CONTACT THE NCO, PLEASE EMAIL ANONYMOUSNCO@PROTON.ME
