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A rough draft of the spiritual autobiography of Joseph B Wilson. The history that lead to Toteg Tribe.
Copyright 2003 by Joseph B Wilson
- I began to consider getting out of the Air Force because of the harassment I had been
experiencing. The trouble was that I had just re-enlisted in order to accept the assignment to
England and had three and one half years to go. I thought about applying for a humanitarian
discharged based upon nonviolent religious beliefs (which could be supported by sworn
statements by others in the movement). Ed begged me not to "give the Craft a reputation as
pacifists." Since I wasn't really a pacifist I finally chose not to follow that course of action. I did
decide to discuss the matter of the OSI and related problems with the base chaplain. I made it a
habit of visiting him every couple of weeks. Although our religious orientation was obviously
different we got along well and respected each other's approach to Divinity.
The period of time between then and early 1972 is a blur. I can't tell exactly when certain events
happened, probably because I compounded the problems I was having by drinking too much most
of the time. I didn't drink at work, but afterwards would go to the Non Commissioned Officer's
(NCO) Club and drink in the bar before going home, then continue to drink there.
Once a friend of mine, who was within one month of the end of his enlistment, was arrested on
suspicion of using marijuana. Because of my position I was able to find out the evidence they had
against him and furnish him with that information, thus enabling him to beat the charge.
The OSI knew I was the person who provided him with that information, but couldn't bring charges
against me because they had no hard evidence. They did call me in and read me my rights, at
which time I told them I wanted a lawyer. I was appointed one, spoke to him, then we went back in
for the interview. The Special Agents again read me my rights and asked me the question. My
lawyer said "My client declines to make a statement at this time." End of interview, and end of
problem, for the time being.
In spite of this habit I was still able to write numerous letters, and my correspondence with Tony
Kelly grew to many volumes of pages. We discussed philosophy, religion, the Earth Mother, sexual
habits of human beings, and how everything fit together. Membership in Pagan Movement grew to
about 300 at one time, but most of the members didn't want to contribute any thoughts -- they just
wanted to read what we produced or attend our meetings as participants or observers. Although I
didn't mind that, Tony objected strongly and when he took over leadership of the Pagan Movement
began to do things to make those who were what he called unproductive drop their membership.
I also wrote numerous letters to the editor of the Stars and Stripes Europe, the military newspaper,
and the Overseas Weekly it's civilian nemesis. Whatever the military tried to cover up and the
Stars and Stripes glossed over, the Overseas Weekly would publish with the glee of a tabloid. In
October of 1970 a reporter from the Overseas Weekly came to attend Pagan Movement's
Samhain festival. Since we didn't hide anything or try to be silly and secretive, we received an
excellent two page write up and photo feature, which provided good publicity for us. In the same
issue was the story of a scandal at RAF Upper Heyford which the Information Office had tried to
gloss over and cover up. Captain Jungwirth told me that I faired better than he did in the respective
articles. I told him that was because I practiced what was taught in journalism school about
openness and honesty being the best policy, and he tried to be sneaky and evasive.
Sometime towards the middle of that year I discovered, because of my access to classified
information, that the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing to which I was assigned stock-piled nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons and flew sorties with these weapons armed and ready for
detonation. I don't know what sort of Top Secret agreement the United States and the United
Kingdom had, but the Status of Forces agreement between the two countries specifically
prohibited those weapons from being on British soil.
I was deeply disturbed by this, so wrote a letter to my boss, the Wing Commander, telling him of
my upset and requesting to be relieved of my position as Historian so I wouldn't come in contact
with that kind of knowledge again. He immediately relieved me of my duties and stripped me of all
access to classified information, although he left my security clearance intact. I was hoping to be
reassigned to the information office, but Captain Jungwirth didn't want me there. I guess I'd made
an enemy of him.
The Wing Commander had me transferred to another unit on base, illegally had me stripped of my
Journalist-Historian specialty code, and put me in the "temporary" position of a publications clerk,
with a low skill level. He left me in the position where I believed my rank (and therefore pay scale)
could be taken from me with only an administrative action. The base Administrative Officer, for
whom I now worked, hinted to me that I was being processed for a discharge at the convenience
of the government because I was "unsuitable for military service."
