Auburn man's anti-military statements draw reaction

Emotions are running high after Auburn native and antiwar activist Matthis Chiroux likened the U.S. Army to the Fourth Reich and accused it of encouraging fear, racism and sexism.

“When you hear somebody compare our military to the Fourth Reich, you kind of realize that this guy isn’t really worth listening to,” said Janine Babbitt, whose husband Maj. Erich Babbitt, an active duty Army National Guard member, has been deployed in Afghanistan for about a week.

Chiroux, who made headlines a year ago when he refused a deployment to Iraq, made his most recent comments during a service at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Sunday.

An Opelika-Auburn News story about the event published Monday has attracted nearly 60 comments as of Wednesday night from people on both sides of the issue.

“It made me feel embarrassed and sad, not only that he’s a representative of Auburn, but that he’s serving with the military and he would have this stand with our military and country,” Babbitt said.

Her husband has been part of the military for the past 15 years, she said.

“This is our first deployment and we have nothing but great things to say about the Army,” she said. “You’re hoping that you are striving for a greater good and a greater cause and to have peace. He (Erich) volunteered because he felt like it was his turn to serve his country.”

Janine points out that America has a volunteer Army, and that it was Matthis Chiroux’s choice to join.

“We’re not drafted in this military, we volunteer to join it,” she said. “This gentleman, Matthis Chiroux, he obviously has the right to say what he wants to say because we live in a free county … We live in a free county because of the men and women who have fought to make it a free country.”
U.S. Army Capt. David Van Horn, an Alabama National Reservist and full time AGR soldier who returned from Iraq last year, and Robert Chiroux, Matthis’ father, are among those who took exception to Chiroux’s statements.

Van Horn said Matthis Chiroux is entitled to say what he wants, that it is a free country, but that being deployed in combat in Iraq is different from deployment as an Army journalist.

Van Horn said his men saw action about every other day in Iraq, and they were going “over the wire” almost every day while deployed.

“What this guy is pitching is the ugly American,” Van Horn said. “He would be pitching this if there was a cold war or a hot war. I would warn strongly against people buying into anything that hasn’t been seen first hand. Until you’ve been there, you’re not going to know.”

Sunday, Matthis said he was taught how to kill by the Army.

Van Horn said every soldier goes through basic training, whether he’s going to be in combat or not.

“Everybody has to have the basic skills to be a rifleman in a pinch,” he said. “He got the standard training everyone gets. If he got overrun he’d know how to shoot a rifle.”

While in Iraq, Van Horn said he and his men did not take part in intimidation tactics with locals. He said they tried to do right by them, including providing Iraqis with medical support, shoes and supplies.

He said having good relationships with Iraqis made his men safer.

“The army is not trying to make criminals out of people. It falls on deaf ears for someone like me who’s been out there and run the road and seen it. American soldiers aren’t built to be terroristic… It’s not who we are as people. My guys are too damn good,” Van Horn said.

Van Horn said what Matthis Chiroux said is “between him and his God and his honor.”

Matthis’ father, Robert Chiroux, Ph.D, is also speaking out. In his talk Sunday, Matthis accused his father of physical and emotional abuse. Robert denies the allegations.

“I will remain silent no longer. I respect free speech and the right to peaceably protest, but I seriously doubt my son’s convictions to the anti-war movement or any other cause except where he can profit from it. I am disappointed with my son and the effect this has had on our family...Our family does not condone Matthis’ rhetoric and would caution anyone who might consider providing him financial assistance,” his father said in a statement provided to the Opelika-Auburn News.

Sunday, Matthis admitted that tangles with law enforcement as a juvenile landed him in jail and subsequently in the Army. Matthis contends he did not a have choice in the matter, but his father said otherwise.

In his statement, Robert Chiroux said, “My days as his custodial parent ended when after yet another infraction Matthis and I met with his probation officer and an army recruiter whom I had invited.
Matthis choices were laid out for him and he did not hesitate in his choice to join the army. He was, in fact, quite glib.”