Major General Smedley Butler (USMC) won two medals of honor and the Marine Corps Brevet Medal. A model veteran, he was instrumental in foiling the Business Plot, when fascists attempted to overthrow FDR. Here's some of what he had to say about his service. (1/16)

He organized with both the Socialist Party, The American League Against War and Fascism, and the VFW "trying to educate the soldiers out of the sucker class."

"I believe in taking Wall Street by the throat and shaking it up." (2/16)

In socialist magazine Common Sense, he wrote: "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers." (3/16)

"In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism."

After this, Butler lists wars in which he participated and what business interests those wars served. I originally included it, but twitter's attention span is short, so we'll move on. Look it up if you want. (4/16)

In a similar speech for veterans in 1933, he elaborates:

"War is just a racket...Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses...The flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag." (5/16

"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its 'finger men' to point out enemies, its 'muscle men' to destroy enemies, its 'brain men' to plan war preparations, and a 'Big Boss' Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism." (6/16)

"It may seem odd for me, a military man, to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps." (7/15)

"I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed orders. This is typical in military service." (8/16)

You can read his comments in fuller context here, courtesy of the Federation of American Scientists. (9/16) https://fas.org/man/smedley.htm 

"Somebody beats a drum, somebody yells 'Patriotism' and the soldiers go out, carry the guns, get shot, and, when there is no war, do all the suffering at home. Peace times they suffer and in war times they bleed." (10/16)

We are divided...into two classes: On one side, a class of citizens who were raised to believe that the whole of this country was created for their sole benefit, and on the other, the other 99 per cent of us, the soldier class, from which all of you soldiers came." (11/16)

Butler's speech "You've Got to Get Mad" from which the last two quotes are taken can be read in full here https://semperfidelissociety.org/youve-got-get-mad-major-general-smedley-d-butler/ (12/16)

Finally, you can see General Butler speak to the Bonus Army about two and half minutes into this video. (13/16) https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Q65VmL5y-g8kEN1SE.html

You can read his short book "War is a Racket" here (14/16) https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf

General Butler is a figure is revered by military members to this day, and it is always dangerous to fetishize an individual. Butler did spend time as a cop, and certainly committed many war crimes. Place your heroes' tender necks on the altar of a better tomorrow. (15/16)

Still, his words on US Imperialism and on how war relates to class are still relevant today, and at the very least, your patriotic friends and relatives are more likely to engage with his words than with the words of European philosophers. (16/16)