Court Battles

The US Army’s war on me did not go very well for them.  Across two years and numerous appearances in Federal Court I was able to defend myself against the paper trail they had created to show that I was actually in the Army at 16, err, 17, err, exactly when did I sign up?  They really fouled up badly before the judge.

God’s intervention in my life came at the beginning of this whole mess.  I was so stung to have been considered a sociopath, I was actually driven to seek the meaning of life, the universe and everything!  I became a Christian at the beginning of October 1973, long before I ever heard of the row between my mother and the MPs.  I also joined the local Hutterite commune.  By the time of the final verdict in the case, I had been apart of the commune for 16 months and had become an elder, as well as the youth pastor for a local congregation.   Yeah, big changes in my life’s direction!

January 1975 rolled in with the resolution to this stalemate.  The judge was sort of stuck.  It was obvious that the Army was not going to back down and it was also obvious I was not a war protester – I had volunteered in 1973 to serve as an unarmed medic, in writing and I had copies, as well as, signatures of rejection to the offer.  The Army would not hear of me being unarmed, nor ‘dictating’ terms of service.  But, the judge had done some homework and his resolution was very unique.

He ordered the prosecutor for the Army to stand and asked him these questions:

“Are you aware that Kris is a Hutterite in good standing?”

“Yes, but it is just a ploy to dodge us.”  (I had no clue what was meant by this at the time.)

“Are you aware that the Bill of Rights expressly excludes the Amish, Quakers and Hutterites from ANY form of Military service?”  (Really?!!!?)

“Yes.”, he answered very quietly.

“Are you aware that Kris is not a US citizen?”

“Yes, but we have the authority to draft foreign nationals in times of need.”

“Are you aware that Kris is an East German national?”  (I never thought much about it since I had never been there!  And, only the US Department of State thought I was.)

“Wha……..?”

“Are you aware that the East Germans are acting as advisers to the North Vietnamese Army?  And you want to possibly send one of their own to kill them?”  (Inflection here was “are you insane!”.)

The Army prosecutor just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

“Case dismissed.” 

An arrest warrant was issued on the recruiter for forgery and violation of my civil rights…..  His court martial cost him his stripes and a reassignment as a recruiter to Wyoming.  The $50 bounty, once made public, was discontinued – however I have heard that recruiters now get a bounty again.

As for the bad guy in this tale, he went into hiding since his picture was so widely published.  He remained safely hidden until 2002 when he was caught on a shopping trip and now lives the rest of his days in a maximum security prison.

The US Government changed immigration laws so that anyone may retain three nationalities.

As for me, well, the story was not completely finished yet…