Our Military Has a Racism Problem
We were 40-some-odd bald heads and Army-regulation hair buns sitting neatly, like ducks in a row, in the far end of a “bay” of 60 bunk beds. Most of us were 17; not even one was over 30. And we traveled here across the country for basic combat training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
I remember the scene well. Our eyes were trained on the man at the desk in front of us, an infantryman and a multi-tour Iraq War veteran turned drill sergeant. We sat on the floor with our M16s resting in our laps, waiting with rapt attention, prepared to hang onto every word he said. This was “Sergeant’s Time,” a time for NCOs to touch on whatever instruction they found most relevant. Even then, I knew basic training was pure indoctrination. But I never expected it would ever go this far.
The subject was Iraq. It was always about Iraq — about that “real war” we might have to experience one day. But this time, his voice lowered, and his hawk eyes scanned our platoon for, I presume, a brown face. “Nobody here’s Muslim, are they?”
No one replied, and he continued. “Sometimes they send in some kid who knows Arabic to serve as a translator,” he told us. “But the truth is that I don’t trust them.”
This experience came rushing back to me last Sunday when I re-watched Apocalypse Now Redux.
