Do you know of any JW's that was DF/DA for going to the military?

booker-t

I think that I only know of 1 guy that I grew up with that was DA'd for going to the army. Is this an isolated case or is it a common problem among young JW's men and women going to the military and being DF or DA?

jwfacts

A brother in Hobart, Tasmania went to the military. I don't know if he was disfellowshipped for that, or d/f and then joined shortly afterwards. I think he did it to spite his super righteous elder PO father. Interestingly the father has since stopped going to meetings.

Dr Jekyll

I was going to go into the Navy. Stupidly I told someone and the elders got to me the night before my interview. I got a lecture on Christian neutrality and blood guilt and a warning I would be DF'd if I went through with it.

In the end they talked me out of it.. Looking back I wish I'd have gone.

blondie

I don't know of many young men and women who are non-JWs that are entering the military. So given the smaller subset of those who are JW children, only a few have entered the military, some were baptized and were announced as DA'd (now 'no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses') but nothing was said about the unbaptized ones.

Personally, I don't see much difference from entering the military where you have a small chance of actually killing anyone; to being a JW and praying for the death of 6.5 billion people, men, women, and children (the wicked), and soon, soon, soon.

Blondie

(Notice they don't announce that they "are no longer Christians.")

Sunspot

Yes, there was a brother in the hs late teens who had stopped attending the boring and mandatory meetings and had two "pioneer" parents. He signed up and joined the military and was subsequently kick to the curb not too long after.

It just so happens that two of this pioneer couple's other adult children have committed suicide and one daughter has led a very....uh....shall I say...promiscuous lifestyle and has presented them with many grandchildren of unkown paternal heritage.

Funny how I have more pity for their children than I do for the "long-suffering" pioneers.

(sorry for the rant---I only meant to answer the original question but got on a roll going down memory lane.)

Annie

james_woods

This is going to be a "names have been changed to protect the innocent" story -

Many years ago, I was aware of a young guy who served in Bethel to get out of the draft. ( In the day of VietNam, depending on your draft board, you might pull a ministerial deferment for either Bethel or Special Pioneer, mainly because you were technically a paid clergyman...even if the "pay" was about $12.00 per month. As I recall, regular pioneer usually would not hack it, because it was considered unpaid voluntary work. )

Anyhow, after the Nixon lottery system he gets an automatic out because, like me, he drew a really good birthday number.

So, he pulls out of the hated Bethel service and heads back to the promised land of his native California (or wherever). Homeboy is no longer quite so welcome in the old congregation - some people just did not buy into this little facade. He bums around for a while, ends up with worldly GF, plays around at the yacht club as a wannabe boat polisher, and drifts away from da-truth.

Ends up joining the Coast Guard! - KaBam - letter gets read as soon as they found out about him.

James

ellderwho

I was DA'ed for worldly behavior, I think I joined the Navy about 18 months after that. What a great expeience!

troubled mind

Yes , my oldest brother . We grew up in a divided household my mom was a witness , my Dad was career military. Each of us kids were born at a different Marine Corp Base. When my Dad retired we moved closer to his parents (non witness ) in Illinois . My brother got baptized at 16 , (interestingly the brother that went over questions with him told my mom he didn't think he was ready ). By his senior year of school he was working and stopped attending meetings , day after graduation he and his friend signed up for the Marine Corp under the buddy system . My mom told the elders. One zealot elder, after several failed attempts of getting my brother to meet with them, tracked him down at work and had him sign a letter saying he Da'd himself. They announced at the hall he had Disassociated himself from JW's. I was 10 years old and I remember standing in the back of the hall in the entry way crying because I loved him so much, and now my mom said God was going to kill him at the big A. She also told me that if Armaggedon came while he was in the service he may turn on us and have orders to kill us ! ( A glimpse at why my mind has been a bit troubled over the years ! )

blindersoff

Yes

Forscher

Yes, I know several.
One was in my congregation when he decided to join the Army post-Vietnam War. The other joined the army rather than go to prison during that war. He is now an elder. The first one stayed out of the organization.
Forscher

Do you know of any JW's that was DF/DA for going to the military?

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