On Veterans’ Day 2022

Ever listen to Nonviolence Radio, read one of our amazing transcripts, or take one of our self-paced courses? Then you've run into the work of our team member Matt Watrous, who is also a veteran.

Here's his story in three questions:

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What drew you into the military?

Matt: I lived in a remote area where it was difficult to find employment without having transportation, and I couldn’t afford transportation without being employed. So, I joined the Army Reserves, thinking it’d help pay for college and maybe a vehicle.

I went to basic training before I finished my 12th grade in high school and had a hard time re-adapting when I came back to school. It was two very different worlds. A few teachers wanted nothing to do with me after that. I barely graduated, and wouldn’t have without the encouragement of my recruiter.

After high school, I went on active duty instead of college because I wanted to see more about what the military was about and get medical experience. And it was a world where I was accepted and respected.

[“These are off my uniforms. Reserves, Cavalry, and MEDDAC. Note the one in the middle is a bit faded and frayed. I seldom wore the caduceus because I was wearing hospital scrubs. The heraldry tells a story of my military journey.”]

What was your service?

Matt: Army Medical Specialist.

And how did you get interested in nonviolence?

Matt: Like most – through violence. My father was prone to anger and violence, and I realized I could be just as angry and more violent but chose against it. I didn’t understand it at that young age, but I knew I had beaten him with his own hands without playing his game or escalating it. He never hit anyone again. (The only fight I’ve only really been in, has been with myself.)

In the Army, I volunteered to support a tank battalion deploying to Kuwait for ‘saber-rattling’ exercises. Only 4 medics from my platoon went. They kill, we heal, hooah! – was our platoon motto.

Medics have a separate chain-of-command, through the doctors. One day I had a bunch of sick troops report to me on sick call, so I put them all on bed rest. Everybody on my sick call went on bed rest that day. I needed everybody to stop touching each other until I understood what was happening. The troops were thankful, even if they didn’t have the bug. The company immediately fell below 70% strength, and I had to notify the tank command.

They ordered me to rescind my medical orders, and I refused. No war games today. We were all exhausted. My friends were sick, it was really hot, and I was out of IVs and the aid station was too (it’s a bit of a nightmare scenario.)

I learned the power of compassion can stop the tanks from rolling, and nobody could stop me. War is unhealthy! Go to bed! …it was a unique position to be in. I felt like I was grounding them and telling them they couldn’t play with their friends. They whined and stomped their feet at me, like children in battle-rattle. There was talk of writing me up for mutiny and insubordination.

As the illness rampaged through the task force, my company stood out for being more operational than everybody else – my war was different than theirs, but I won my battles. Everybody came home mostly healthy, and with no missing pieces. I was acknowledged by both the doctor and the tank command for it later.

After that, I reenlisted and was sent to the Mother/Baby Ward in a hospital where I worked for a few years – I was one of very few male staff, and I learned so much. I got to tell a general, "Nobody outranks this baby. Is that clear? We all follow their orders from this point on. Here’s the standing orders…" It’s what I told everybody. It was an interesting experience to serve the mothers and newborns.

And then as a civilian, for seven years I worked in a locked dementia unit. Truly, a crucible for learning nonviolent combat – because of the short memories of combative people, it’s easy to try different strategies and tactics. Withdraw and reapproach in a different way.

And through transcribing, hearing stories from survivors of gang-rape, genocides, residential schools, war atrocities, disruptive marketing campaigns, political schemes – I stumbled upon the words of Michael Nagler, (and spelled it ‘non-violence’ the first time I heard it).

Suddenly, there was a whole slate of words I’d never heard or typed before, ‘ahimsa,’ ‘restorative justice,’ ‘third-party intervention’ …this behavioral theory and explanations of how some of my ‘abnormal experiences’ actually work, names and histories I’d never heard, like Abdul Ghaffar Khan and the Khudai Khitmatgars, and how much I have to learn still about the histories of the world. It helped me piece together how we all got into this predicament, and what I can help do about it.

As my understanding of the definition of nonviolence kept growing, I knew it was something the world really needs to understand better too. All of it.

From my perspective, the language of nonviolence is an antidote to apply to all the pain and suffering, from within and throughout.