A Wrinkle in the Long Gray Line: When Conscience and Convention Collided. Cary Donham, Cary Donham
A-Wrinkle-in-the-Long-Gray.pdf
ISBN: 9781667874326 | 254 pages | 7 Mb
- A Wrinkle in the Long Gray Line: When Conscience and Convention Collided
- Cary Donham, Cary Donham
- Page: 254
- Format: pdf, ePub, fb2, mobi
- ISBN: 9781667874326
- Publisher: BookBaby
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Overview
On August 6, 1970, a New York Times front page headline read: "West Pointer Seeks Discharge as a Conscientious Objector." A Wrinkle in the Long Gray Line is the story of that West Pointer, Cary E. Donham, who after three successful years at the military academy, chose to follow his religious and moral beliefs despite the overwhelming odds against him from the military establishment. This memoir is well sourced from a range of materials including news articles, numerous contemporaneous letters to his parents, data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and of course his own experiences. Growing up in a small town in Southern Illinos, Mr. Donham excelled in sports, academics and had strong religious roots. Influenced by his father who was an officer during WWII and knowing that all young men faced military service during the Vietnam War, he eyed West Point as a way to serve the country as an officer, like his father, to the best of his abilities. He eyed West Point, but admission required a Congressional appointment. Mr. Donham was named as an alternate much to his disappointment. But as West Point was expanding its student body during the Vietnam War, in April 1967, based on his overall stellar qualifications, he was selected to attend the academy as a "qualified alternate.". He accepted. And so began the academic, spiritual and moral journey of Mr. Donham. Beginning with his first year – often referred to as Plebe year - Mr. Donham describes, with humor and irony, the constant pressure, hazing, as well as the military training new cadets undergo during their first eight week summer aptly named "Beast Barracks. Simply surviving was the goal of most new cadets. And he did indeed survive, and excelled during his second year, called Yearling, with military training at Camp Buckner, and the brutal schedule of academics that included calculus, physics, chemistry, history, French, and military tactics. The end of Yearling year was a decision point for cadets with two possible paths to take: stay or go. And for Mr. Donham, his inner voice started to grow louder making that decision all the more critical. Once junior year started, a cadet who left the academy did not return to the draft pool as in the first two years. Rather, a cadet who resigned or was expelled went directly into the Army for three years as an enlisted person rather than an officer. Mr. Donham was in the top 10 percent of his class in academics. It seemed a waste of his academic success and opportunities ahead so stayed and prepared for his next round of summer military training. He would be a squad leader for the second half of Beast Barracks, helping shape new cadets so they could succeed during Plebe year and thereafter. Part of a squad leader's duties included teaching new cadets how to use a bayonet, physical drill with a a call and response during the drill: "What is the spirit of the bayonet?" "To kill, sir." Leading this drill stirred something deep in Mr. Donham. A casual call and response about killing repeated over and over. He felt conflicted with not just the casual nature of it but with his religious upbringing to love your neighbor and turn the other cheek. But he was there to do his job as squad leader and put aside his doubts to complete his squad leader duties. Despite lingering moral questions, Mr. Donham saw a path to finishing at West Point. His academic standing gave him options upon graduation, even a possible path to graduate school. And then the realities of the Vietnam War hit close to home. One of his high school classmates had been killed in Vietnam and then on October 11, 1969, the Vietnam War protest intruded on West Point. Students from Vassar and other nearby colleges marched at the academy and did not stand during the National Anthem. Then he, like the rest of the country, learned about the indiscriminate murder of civilians at My Lai in Vietnam, including the involvement of the then West Point Superintende
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