Rumors And Propaganda

If you can stick with me for a few moments, I have a short story to tell you.

In May of 1968, I enlisted in the US Air Force. Coming from a military family, I wanted to serve my country, but did not relish the thought of slogging through the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam during an unpopular war.

During my Basic Training, there were numerous classes in addition to the physical training. More than any other of these classes, the one that still stands out in my memory was called – in typical military nomenclature – “Rumors And Propaganda.” Just another 2 or 3 hours of trying my hardest not to fall asleep (something you really didn’t want to do in any Basic Training class) – or so I thought.

During this class, a rumor started circulating (odd coincidence, huh?) that once we had completed BT, we would be shipped back to our home states, and become part of the Air National Guard squadrons at the closest Air Force Base. Naturally this had all the guys excited because it meant we’d be only ‘part time’ soldiers who would report to duty one weekend a month and be called to active duty only if needed.

Halfway through the class, we had a 15-minute break, during which the main topic of conversation was this ‘rumor.’

The class reconvened, and after about 2 minutes, a Senior Master Sergeant (not our usual instructor) strode in, turned and faced the class. He raised the clipboard he was carrying, looked at the class, and began..

“Gentlemen! I’ll make this brief.” He looked down at the clipboard, and began to ‘read:’

“By order of the President of The United States of America: Upon completion of your basic training at this station, you will turn in your Air Force uniforms which will be replaced with U.S. Army Greens. You will be reassigned and transported to Fort Hood for Army Orientation, and you will then begin training as U.S. Army Combat Medics.”

He strode back out of the room leaving us all in stunned silence.

A few minutes later, our regular instructor came back into the room as if nothing had happened. He began where he’d left off before the break – most of which I’ve long forgotten. The next few minutes in that class, however, have stuck with me ever since. His next statement went something like this: 

“Gentlemen, if you take nothing else from this course, take this: A single sentence, true or false, can totally change your outlook, and demoralize you in a few seconds. And ANYONE can look utterly and completely “official” while dissimilating false information designed to demoralize you and reduce your capacity to perform your duty.”

The guy sitting next to me and I looked at each other with our mouths open, then turned to look at our instructor. I must have looked like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on me, because he looked directly at me: “Question, Airman Shelley?” “Yes sir…. So…. That sergeant that walked in and made that announcement…..” The instructor grinned, looked to the side door, and said “C’mon back in, Sarge!” Whereupon the sergeant that made the announcement walked back in, crumpled the paper he had ‘read’ from, and tossed it in the trash.

The collective sigh of relief from the classroom was probably heard as far away as New York.

There are few things that have stuck with me like that demonstration of how effective misinformation can be in demoralizing and promoting feelings of hopelessness and defeat – in only a few seconds.

During times like this, the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation is akin to throwing a bucket of gasoline on a campfire – with much the same destructive result. Especially now, with global instant communications via the internet. It’s extremely difficult to know what sources to trust, sometimes, and great care is needed. Making a broad statement like “These are known facts” do little to sustain whatever ‘information’ they are attached to. Where did these “known facts” come from? Who “knows” them? Remember – ANYONE can post stuff on YouTube or Facebook.

Do I have the answers? No. I wish I did. But the best thing I can leave with you is one of the last things our instructor passed along in that class:

“Don’t believe anything you hear – and only about half of what you see.”

Take care, respect your communities’ requirements, stay healthy, use common sense, and most of all, DON’T PANIC. Together, and supporting each other, we’ll get through this.