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| Soldier-Brothers Take Opposing Views on War |
| 2003-03-05 |
| Brothers Travis and Taylor Burnham are both in the Army yet find themselves on opposite sides of a looming conflict with Iraq: one is willing to fight and the other is not. Travis, 24, is stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., where he applied for conscientious objector status in January. Taylor, 27, is a combat engineer in Kuwait waiting for a potential invasion of Iraq. "I know how a mother might have felt in the Civil War having sons on both sides," said their mother, Judith "J.P." Burnham, a social work professor at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn. "I'm very divided. I support both of my sons," she said. She keeps a yellow ribbon on her office door for Taylor and a war protest sign on the wall for Travis. Travis describes himself as a pacifist. In high school, he was kidded about being not aggressive enough for sports. During basic training, he refused to chant "kill" with the other soldiers. More recently, he marched in anti-war protests and spoke openly about his objections. "I'm opposed to taking the life of another human being," he said. "I understand there are situations where we react to human instincts and in self-defense, but to aggressively and collectively destroy another human life, my conscience won't allow me to do it." His mother says older brother Taylor has reservations about the war, too, but understood when he enlisted that doing his duty might mean using violence. In joining the military, the two men followed the example set by their father, Jeff, and oldest brother, Preston. They enlisted in peacetime to earn money for college, gain discipline and see the world. Travis joined the Army in 1999 after he dropped out of college and ran out of money while traveling in Europe. He sought help from his father to return home. "I told him I'd send him $300 if he'd join the Coast Guard," recalled the elder Burnham, an engineer and a member of the Coast Guard in the 1960s. "I think it's a good thing for young men or young women to join the military, learn a skill, get some discipline and contribute to the country's safety." But the Coast Guard had a 22-month waiting list and Travis was impatient. He signed up for a five-year hitch with the Army and is now assigned to the 10th Mountain Division as a photojournalist. "It was the Clinton administration, the economy was strong and war didn't seem to be on the horizon," Travis said. "Not once did any of the recruiters I spoke with mention war, enemy, shooting or death." "I thought it'd be like joining the Boy Scouts. Hiking, camping, singing 'Kumbayah'..." His older brother also joined the Army for direction. He attended college but was uninspired and drifting. He decided to enlist in 1998 after a five-year stint studying environmental biology in Maine. Now assigned to the 814th Division at Fort Polk, La., Taylor has been in Kuwait since Valentine's Day. Security concerns have kept him from contacting his family since he left the United States. The Army is investigating his younger brother's conscientious objector application. The process involves 26 steps and usually takes at least 90 days. Travis has already been interviewed by a chaplain and a psychiatrist. The Army can refuse him, grant him a discharge or move him to a position where he would be unlikely to have to fire on an enemy -- like the position he already has. "We can't push him much farther back than being a public affairs guy," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty of the 10th Mountain Division. "He's a photojournalist. I don't know of any photojournalist in the history of the U.S. Army who has ever killed anybody." The Army has granted two voluntary discharges to conscientious objectors this fiscal year, according to its records. Last year, it granted 17, and the year before nine. The highest number in recent years was 59 in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. As he waits for word, Travis worries about his brother. He met with Taylor in December at Fort Polk and told him how he felt about a war with Iraq and what he planned to do. There were no hard feelings. "There was no, 'How can you do this to me?"' Travis said. "He pretty well understood and he accepted it." I don't know about the rest of you, but having a "conscientious objector" in a volunteer army chafes my butt. You don't sign up just for the college money, travel, and opportunities without accepting there's risk, duty, and responsibility on your part as well. |
| Posted by:Dar Steckelberg |
| #16 my name is jesse weir and im in the 50 th en co camp laguardia korea.i know taylor and im with him i just wanted to say whats up and rachel,dizzy lou and charlie say hi also. |
| Posted by: jesse weir 2003-12-8 1:48:42 AM |
| #15 A retro-hippie,should have been given the boot in boot camp.A simple fix for this is a D.D. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-03-06 07:34:48 |
| #14 don't worry, after the armed forces read about it on Rantburg, he's gonna have a very sorry time of it. |
| Posted by: anon 2003-03-06 04:33:58 |
| #13 They should dishonorably discharge the little pile of dog sh#t, then garnish all future earnings until he's paid back all of the training costs and any money for college that the taxpayers have wasted on his sorry, pimpled behind. I wouldn't even wish him on the French! |
| Posted by: Doug C. 2003-03-06 03:15:55 |
| #12 "Not once did any of the recruiters I spoke with mention war, enemy, shooting or death." And I guess that they forgot to tell you the Spirit of the Bayonet during basic training, too. And you probably thought that all of those man-shaped target silhouettes on the M-16 range were just there by accident. Just a lying, pathetic weasel. Send him to France. He'd really fit in there. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2003-03-05 18:49:49 |
| #11 Makes you wonder why he joined the army at all eh :) |
| Posted by: Kiwi 2003-03-05 18:42:58 |
| #10 I'm with all of you on this moron. He should have to view the brutal side of Saddam's regime. Maybe then he can learn that sometimes you have to take life to preserve and protect life and that certain things are worth fighting (and potentially killing for). He's just an individual, micro version of the U.N. and the French: atrocities don't trouble them in the slightest (as long as they are someone else's problem). Freedom from oppression is just an abstraction to all of them. They are the worst kind of shallow, cynical moral thinkers wrapped in a veneer of "moral superiority." |
| Posted by: jonesy 2003-03-05 17:58:50 |
| #9 Dar - you're on the money - this A-hole joined when it was cushy and he was out of parental tolerance - now he wants out - he should dig the latrines of those who fight |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-03-05 16:54:16 |
| #8 Good call, Kathy! Let this guy film some of the gaols, torture chambers, acid vats, and all of that to produce a "Why We Fight"-type documentary, and see how badly his conscience troubles him after that. |
| Posted by: Dar Steckelberg 2003-03-05 16:53:51 |
| #7 He's an idiot, not a conscientious objecter. But if the Army's got any sense, they won't put him anywhere near the shooting anyway. They should assign him to take pictures of the Iraqis released from Saddam's torture chambers after we take over. Education often cures idiocy. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2003-03-05 16:07:14 |
| #6 ... a number of Brit COs also served on bomb squads. I can respect that. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-03-05 15:30:50 |
| #5 We did too.... and a couple of them won Medals of Honor. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-05 15:26:28 |
| #4 I'm not a military lawyer, but my understanding of CO status is that it is based on religious aversion to taking life, not objection of getting killed. From what's written here, this man is not a CO. BTW I believe that in WWII, the British used their COs as medics and stretcher bearers, which strikes me as a very fair thing to do. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2003-03-05 15:10:05 |
| #3 A photojournalist? Public affairs? Hmmm exactly the kinda guy you wanna hire for that job. Please don't shoot at me with that camera, it huuurts! |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-03-05 14:06:12 |
| #2 Hay, pal - it's EASY to get out of the Army. Provided you don't mind a dishonorable discharge... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-03-05 14:04:07 |
| #1 I take it Travis is the...ummmmmm... dumb one? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-05 13:54:05 |