Read: A Letter Written By A Career Military Man Resigning From Defense Position In Protest

July 23, 2013 by Sam Rolley


Brandon Toy resigned from his job working for defense contractor General Dynamics as an engineering project manager building Stryker armored fighting vehicles on July 16.



In an open letter announcing his departure from the lucrative defense position, Toy outlines everything that is wrong with a Nation that allows all of its foreign policy decisions to be steered by the billion-dollar military-industrial complex:
I hereby resign in protest effective immediately.
I have served the post-911 Military Industrial complex for 10 years, first as a soldier in Baghdad, and now as a defense contractor.

At the time of my enlistment, I believed in the cause. I was ignorant, naïve, and misled. The narrative, professed by the state, and echoed by the mainstream press, has proven false and criminal. We have become what I thought we were fighting against.

Recent revelations by fearless journalists of war crimes including counterinsurgency “dirty” wars, drone terrorism, the suspension of due process, torture, mass surveillance, and widespread regulatory capture have shed light on the true nature of the current US Government. I encourage you to read more about these topics at the links I have provided below.

Some will say that I am being irresponsible, impractical, and irrational. Others will insist that I am crazy. I have come to believe that the true insanity is doing nothing. As long as we sit in comfort, turning a blind eye to the injustices of the world, nothing will change. It is even worse to play an active part, protesting all along that I am not the true criminal.

I was only a foot soldier, and am now a low level clerk. However, I have always believed that if every foot soldier threw down his rifle war would end. I hereby throw mine down.

Sincerely,
Brandon M. Toy
Stryker Engineering Project Management
General Dynamics Land Systems
Sterling Heights, Michigan

Toy previously served in the Michigan Army National Guard as a multiple launch rocket system fire direction specialist, team leader and vehicle commander. He was deployed as a military policeman to Baghdad, Iraq, from 2004-2005.

During his deployment, Toy explained on a post to the website Iraq Veterans Against the War, the veteran was involved in carrying out missions that made the American occupation of Iraq no different than a terrorist occupation.

“The realization that I unwittingly participated in training, equipping, and transporting death squads, infuriated me. Long story short: I want to take all those negative feelings and the knowledge my disillusionment has created, and turn it into resolve,” he writes. “I want to spend my time and energy fighting our country’s true battle: winning back control of our own government. In other words, I want to help rid the US of WMD, bring democracy home and fight the terrorists within our own government.”

Toy is one of many veterans returning from Mideast front lines with the notion that the U.S. government has not been the solution in bringing peace to the world’s most dangerous locales, but the direct or indirect cause of many of the most deadly military conflicts in recent years as it meddles in Mideast affairs.

H/T: Common Dreams

http://personalliberty.com/2013/07/2...on-in-protest/