The Forgotten Soldiers

The Forgotten Soldiers

Appeal for the Forgotten Humiliated Soldiers

(if you have already read the introduction about ‘Ursula’ elsewhere, please continue after the picture)

She has got nothing on but a pair of knickers. The same goes for the other few young women in the waiting room. They are all so lightly dressed – and they all seem uncomfortable with the situation. Constantly men with files are running back and forth, and some of them can’t help having a quick glance at the young ladies while passing.

After a long waiting at last it is Ursula Müller’s turn. A man in a white coat stands in the door and calls her name. For the young woman it’s indeed quite stressful to walk across the room in such an almost naked state. However, she’s got no choice: after all, the examination for which she has come is a legal duty, and if she hadn’t turned up she could not only have been punished but, worse, police would have ‘escorted’ her to another ‘appointment’. Would the young woman have tried to avoid even that, she could very well have ended up in prison. Not a nice prospect really. No, going to jail Ursula wouldn’t fancy. After all, she hasn’t done anything bad. In fact she has done nothing at all. She has only grown into an adult or at least almost so – that’s all. Seventeen she is, and in another few months she will be eighteen.

As the young woman then finally enters the examination room she finds herself in the company of two men: one whom she believes is a doctor and another she reckons must be his assistant. However, it’s all a guess; none of them has introduced themselves.

Now something will happen that Ursula never will forget: her body will be thoroughly inspected and assessed – that’s why she was ‘asked’ to come. Nothing will go undetected: head to toe it will be – mouth, teeth, breasts… just everything. In the middle of it all, half naked as she is, she will be asked to do twenty squats – with blood pressure before and after. Bit strange really – as if her blood pressure, due to the forced condition, hasn’t gone through the roof already, regardless of being ‘asked’ to do squats or run a marathon.

After the young woman had been through all the initial procedure something comes that she has feared all along, actually for years. The last protection of her privacy will be removed. ‘Take off your knickers, please!’ Ursula’s cheeks turn red and hot; she stands there helpless, doesn’t know what to do. No, she doesn’t want to do that. ‘I don’t want to be stark naked in front of two men,’ she thinks to herself. It’s too embarrassing a prospect. ‘No, don’t do it!’ a subconscious voice screams at her.

Ursula is gripped by a terrible anxiety as she notices the young man behind the desk looking in her direction with a slight smile on his face. In the same moment the now impatient doctor repeats his order. With sharpness in his voice he commands: ‘KNICKERS OFF!’ The young girl at this point obviously see no option but to do as she is told. The little resistance she might have had is gone; she is defenceless. Now she is completely naked; she stands in the middle of the room, totally exposed; she feels the last slight protection of her human dignity has disappeared. She wishes she could sink through the floor; she feels so embarrassed and humiliated.

Ursula’s most intimate parts of the body are now to be zealously scrutinised und inspected. The doctor starts to check her genitals, and he is doing it with great thoroughness. After all, it must be tested as to its functionality, or so it seems. He repeats his movements not just once but twice. In this moment Ursula’s most private parts sort of belong to another person, something she would never have allowed had she had had a choice. Then another order is heard: ‘turn around, bend forward and spread the buttocks!’ Automatically, now without resistance, the girl does as she is told. Her bum is now being thoroughly inspected with a little torch. She is, however, lucky: a finger in her anus she is spared (other ‘patients’ have to experience that to).

Ursula has had more luck this day as she has only been inspected by one doctor not two, which often can be the case. Sometimes also two assistants can be present, as new staff from time to time have to be trained for the job. Indeed, it can be quite crowded around the ‘object’.

Finally Ursula is allowed to put back on her knickers and leave the room. As she returns to the waiting area the other girls out there note that her face is like a tomato. Rest assured, they will soon, one after another, have the same experience.

Of course, this story never happened as it was here told. After all, that’s not a way to treat young women. Completely out of order it would have been – impossible, simply perverse. Most people would share that view. Some might even ask: what fucking pervert has written such nonsense?

Yes, what do I actually want to tell with such a story? In fact this: that a story like the one about Ursula not exclusively is to be found in the sick fantasy world of a sadomasochistic old bugger – actually it has all a very real background. To make the story true we only need to swap the genders of all people involved. Having done so, it all turns into reality. Then we can also give it a name: a ‘military medical induction’ or, in German, ‘musterung’. We now talk about a legally enforced medical where young men, mainly by women, as cattle on a market place, are examined, inspected and assessed for forced military or civilian service.

At least one thousand times this scenario has been repeated all across Germany every day for the last one hundred and fifty years. The number of similar examinations and controls has, however, been much higher, as not only have young men been selected this way or discarded as possible candidates for forced service, a process which can mean repeated requests to make one self available for scrutiny, but in all barracks and by all civilian authorities responsible for ’employing’ conscientious objectors all of it in every detail have been repeated not only when starting but also when leaving service – and sometimes even in between. On top of that comes and will continue to come thousands of identical checks of young men who, for one reason or another, totally voluntarily or due to civilian unemployment, have chosen the military as a temporary or permanent employer. Also these individuals (contrary to their female colleagues…) are constantly exposed to the same kind of intrusive ‘examinations’.

Of course, testicles and backsides of young people can hardly have anything to do with defence of a country. Even for the defence authorities themselves that seems to make sense, as, certainly, nothing in this area would serve as a reason for anybody to be excluded from forced service or for that sake not to be accepted as a volunteer. Despite that, however, eager officials continue to order these parts of the body to be checked as to their optimal function – as said not only repeatedly before but also after ending the service. After all, the foreskin might have got stuck since the last examination…. Better make sure it hasn’t.

No matter what, how odd it all might seem, all what we talk about here is in Germany fully legitimate and established. All right, economic woes due to the recession (not calls for human rights) will soon end conscription. But, on a smaller scale the abuse will continue as usual – now with ‘volunteers’ as sole victims. Again and again the call will sound: strip! Again and again the state and its willing helpers will reach out after young men’s testicles and foreskins, and again and again they will be commanded to turn around, bend forward and spread their buttocks. And (isn’t it remarkable?), all of a sudden nobody seems to see a problem in it any longer. Nobody will see it as an assault – as they certainly would, had ‘Ursula’ really been the victim. No, ‘so are the rules, and that has to be tolerated.’

All right, this particular story was about Germany, but, unfortunately, that country has no monopoly on degrading military medicals: for hundreds of years, all around the world, willing doctors have ‘forgotten’ the oaths they once swore, joined the armed forces and allowed themselves to be used to humiliate and abuse their ‘patients’ – all of it with only one purpose: to create obedient, subservient soldiers.

Mental anguish due to such humiliation is widespread. After having researched the subject in Germany, I would state it’s pandemic (though very well hidden away). And, why should it not be the same elsewhere? After all, many Americans will remember the days of the Vietnam War draft offices, and most Russian men will be painfully aware of their own armed forces’ outstanding abilities in the field of degrading strip examinations. For them it can hardly be a surprise that (according to official statistic) 231 recruits committed suicide in 2008 alone. There will be other reasons behind that shocking number – mainly bullying and extremely harsh conditions – but I am certain that perverted medical ‘examinations’ played a big part in why many of those young men tragically chose to end their own lives.

Due to all this, in the name of millions of defenceless victims and victims to be, no matter if conscripts or volunteers, the civilised world must demand that at least health professionals refuse to further participate in ruining young people’s lives. We must demand they stop performing abusive and degrading medical ‘examinations’ which pure objective is to remove the last remnant of dignity from vulnerable recruits. Also, we must openly recognise and acknowledge the harm this kind of universal abusive treatment through the years has done to millions of men’s mental well-being and sexual development. We must place the shame where it belongs  – on the perpetrators, not on the victims. More than anything else, state authorised sadomasochistic abuse must stop no matter where it takes place. We can all help make that happen. A few words from you to responsible authorities could be a good start in that process. After all, that was how Amnesty International once started – a call in favour of the forgotten political prisoners and a call against torture and degrading treatment of people in captivity.

This is a call for help for all those forgotten and humiliated soldiers whose lives have been ruined not just by futile wars but also by perverted medical ‘examinations’ in the name of oppressive military establishments. Write them a line or two; keep at it. Future generations will be grateful for your help. Get in touch:  lgp@gmx.co.uk

Lars G Petersson