My Voluntary Release Request Memorandum

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MEMORANDUM

1001-1 (Fotohinia)

June 06

OC Sp Coy

VOLUNTARY RELEASE REQUEST FOR A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

1. I am writing to make a voluntary release request to leave the CF at the soonest possible occasion.

2. I no longer wish to serve in the CF because I have a conscientious objection to war, the military, and the use of force by nation-states. As per DAOD 5049/2, I request to file my voluntary release for reasons to do with a conscientious objection and be subjected to the processes there-writ.

3. The reasons behind my conscientious objection are as follows:

1. Over the past year I have been doing my Master's in War Studies at the Royal Military College in Kingston while I was there on OJT at the LFDTS. During the course of my studies I gained an entirely new and much more refined understanding of what war is. I have been profoundly moved by what I have learned. Specifically, studying the philosophies of nineteenth-century German writers.

2. Study of such writers has made me view the world and the military in a very different light. Just as Spinoza, who was supposed to be the star of his synagogue when he was a child, lost his faith through too extensive reading of scripture, I, through a very close study of war over the past year, have concluded that it too is an artifice of humanity that can and should be put aside entirely. My belief in the whole capitalist system, which the military is only a pond of, has been extinguished by my study of history. In this sense, Clausewitz was right to say that war was an extension of politics; what this also implies is that a volunteer soldier is also a subscriber to the type of political system that fosters the military he is a part of. This, I hope, will not be construed as an attack on Canada alone; my criticism bears a far broader thrust. For Canada, as well as all nation-states, is nothing more than an artificial construction of a collection of individuals. It does not rise above but from the people. As a result of this artificial nature, we can, for example, call ourselves Canadians, Ethiopians, Swedes, and Quebecers with equal conviction. But then, what does the military fight for if not for Canada? The philosophers that I have studied argue that the military is a protector of a specific class and style of civilization, which benefits a particular fragment of the world's population while contributing to the devastation of the disenfranchised majority. It is in this scope that I feel an unalterable sense of alienation from the responsibilities of being a soldier. I can no longer permit myself to bear arms, with the implicit agreement to kill, for an entity whose fundamental function I can no longer sincerely accept.

3. I have no institute, church or living person I attribute to my change in views. So there can be no letters of support from such sources for my decision to leave the military. The only sources I can cite are in print and in bookstores. Having enquired about the secular nature of my conscientious objection with the drafters of DAOD 5049/2, the Director of Human Rights and Diversity (DHRD), specifically, Lt. Col. Carey, and explained in detail my views and how they have changed since I joined, I was assured that my objection is equally valid as one supported by a priest or any other counselor.

4. I hope that I can depend on your support, frankness, and understanding.

5. For your consideration.

S. Fotohinia

2Lt

PAT Pl, Sp Coy

Inf Sch

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