Unquestioning obedience is expected of modern man in almost all domains of life, at least those that are of essential importance, no matter what aspect it is. The highest stage of that obedience is that which prevails in the armed forces where the pledge of a random officer's order is the soldier's life, or at best health.
This slavish, animalistic practice has been going on since armies existed, but unlike before when professionals, mercenaries and voluntary paramilitaries took on the burden of dying for the master - the era of the nation-state gave birth to a monster called `mobilization` where there is a gathering of the entire male population that is arbitrarily defined as capable of war, from case to case from 12 to over 70 years of age.
And so, dying became less discriminatory, millions could finally be sent to certain death.
Resistance to this monstrous practice has existed since its introduction, but has always been minimized by history and banished from the media. It briefly entered the Western public during the Vietnam War, the conflict in Indochina that was totally exploited by the media. And that resistance was called Fragging, a difficult word to translate, which if one tried, could be translated as ``Fragmenting it.'' The term comes from the explosion of a fragmentation hand grenade, a suitable weapon for killing officers because it leaves no traces and forensics is powerless in the attempt to locate the perpetrator.
As the Vietnam War progressed, it became clear that professionals and volunteers would not be enough to defeat the Viet Cong or even the Viet Minh, and therefore recruitment by lottery, popularly called ``Draft,'' entered the scene. Although incidents of killing and wounding officers had existed since the beginning of the war, they were rare and not paid much attention, but after the start of the Tet Offensive by the Vietnamese forces and the protracted war - the liquidations of American officers by American soldiers became commonplace.
It can be safely said that this was the most human side of the war. One can imagine a cadet at West Point Academy, carried away by warlike fervor and patriotic madness, issuing stupid orders or taking it out on the recruited soldiers. But fortunately, there were hand grenades that would suddenly greet such an officer, while sleeping, eating, during transportation... and there were also those most interesting situations when a hand grenade was thrown into the toilet where the officer was shitting, ending his life in his finest hour...
The Army and Marines even started keeping detailed statistics in 1969, almost five years after the start of the war, and the data as of 1972 show about 1200 cases of Fragging, with over 100 officers sent to hell and over a thousand others unfortunately surviving, although they were wounded. It is not known how many cases there were until 1969 and 1973 or after the `Vietnamization` of the conflict until the last Huey was abandoned from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon in 1975...The military courts and police had a serious problem finding and punishing the `culprits` because it was never possible to say for sure whether the explosion was an enemy action, an accident or a deliberate act. Still, it was a heavy blow around the corner. Therefore, only 74 convictions were recorded, which varied from suspended sentences to long prison terms.
This phenomenon also spread to the Australian contingent and other `coalition` forces, although on a proportionally smaller scale. The already low combat morale has reached a new low...If resistance to maniacal criminals with epaulettes on their shoulders, ready to send thousands of young people to their deaths without batting an eye, can be perceived as beauty, then throwing a hand grenade into a tent or canteen where officers and non-commissioned officers are hanging out is something magnificent.
(Roger Mortis, 131)
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