MORAL INJURY AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION: SAYING NO TO MILITARY SERVICE by Alice Lynd with the assistance of Staughton Lynd

August 5, 2015 | 50 Years of GI Resistance, Current Events, Draft Resistance, Featured, Veterans & Families

Dear Reader,

Is this article intended to help people to think about the issues? Yes. Is this article intended to tell anyone what to do? No. People have to live with the consequences of their own decisions. If you are in the military and believe that what you are doing conflicts with your sense of right and wrong; or if you are a veteran and are suffering from what you experienced while in the military; or if you are troubled by what we as a society are sending young men and women to do, we hope it will be worth your time to read all or parts of this article.

The revised and expanded 98-page article, “Moral Injury and Conscientious Objection: Saying No to Military Service,” is now on line. To read parts/entire article or print, please click this link: http://historiansagainstwar.org/resources/militaryservice.pdf

Copies of the chapter on “Moral Injury” may be obtained as a printed pamphlet at no charge except for shipping from

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1972: 50 Years Ago

March 30-July 1972 The PAVN (People’s Army of Viet Nam) and the NLF begin a major offensive. The goal of Easter Offensive, officially known as The 1972 Spring – Summer Offensive, (also called the Nguyen Hue (Nguyễn Huệ) offensive) was to win a decisive victory in 1972 or at least improve the revolutionary position for future peace talks. The 3-pronged attacks began in the north, center, and south of the country. Massed North Vietnamese Army artillery open a shattering barrage, targeting South Vietnamese positions across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Upwards of 20,000 PAVN troops cross the DMZ, forcing the South Vietnamese units into a retreat. The Southern defense is thrown into complete chaos. Intelligence reports had predicted a Northern attack, but no one had expected it to come across the DMZ. A week after the launch of the offensive, Nixon decides to respond with a massive air campaign against the North. The campaign was by far the largest and most comprehensive of the war, using a wide variety of aircraft as well as new ‘smart’ bombs. The US committed 74 tactical squadrons to the attack. In addition, six aircraft carriers were assigned to the bombing mission as well as over 100 B-52 bombers. For the first time, the US places mines in Haiphong Harbor to cut off the North Vietnamese from foreign support.

The South Vietnamese with heavy American air support are able to turn back the attack after a month and a half. The city of Loc Ninh (Lộc Ninh), located close to the Cambodian border subsequently became the capital of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (PRGSVN), a distinction it held until it was disbanded after the war. While US bombing and a stiffened ARVN defense was able to turn back the PAVN and NLF offensive, it remains politically impossible to reintroduce sufficient U.S. combat troops to stem the PAVN drive. With his policy of Vietnamization at stake, Nixon implements a massive buildup of air power in Southeast Asia and a broadening of the eligible targets.