Once while discussing slavery with seminary students, I was asked, "How could you possibly know what being a slave is like?"

My reply was simply, "I was a soldier."

What was my experience?

I went where I was told to go, lived where I was told to live, did what I was told to do because when I didn't...

I was struck.

I was beaten.

I was imprisoned.

I was forced to work.

My pay and rank were taken.

There was no reprieve, no "illegal orders" I could choose not to follow. The legality of ALL orders I knew would be determined at my court martial.

May we suggest that soldiers have it worse than slaves?

Soldiers are expected to die when they are ordered to do so.

—Andrew Hammer, Executive Director Foundation for the Study of Political Pathology