By Buster W. Newton
199th Light Infantry Brigade
1969-1970

I think I can safely assume that many American soldiers serving in wars in foreign lands have contemplated being captured. Serving fourteen months in Vietnam, I certainly thought about this possibility on more than one occasion. In fact, every time I was sent into the field to do a coordinate survey for a 105 artillery firebase, I thought about being captured. Doing a coordinate survey placed my survey team in isolated areas with minimal security. Standing out in the middle of a jungle many thousands of miles away from home, I couldn't help but think about being captured. As I looked around at the thick brush surrounding me, I had no idea how many enemy were lurking in the tree line, waiting to grab me as soon as it was safe for them to do so. Then I would come to my senses and realize that I was an American soldier. If I were captured, I could be assured that my country would do everything possible to return me safely home. Comforted with this thought, I went about doing the artillery survey. I'm almost certain that most American soldiers placed in this position have felt this way. The thought of the nation's support is what helps the individual American soldier plod forward in unsafe and frightening circumstances.

That was many years ago and another time in history. Yes, those were comforting thoughts that had made me feel protected and secure. I believed in America's commitment to its citizens and soldiers. This commitment to each other's safety and freedom was the country's strength. America, the nation in which I was born and raised, was the greatest land on the planet. Founded on the philosophy that all citizens had inalienable rights, I lived my life secure in these thoughts. I was the proud member of a nation that believed in justice for all. I knew my right to own property, my right to pursue happiness, and my right to exist freely were guaranteed by the United States government. America cherished its citizens. Thinking these thoughts, I went about my artillery surveying duties in a variety of isolated areas in Vietnam, confident that I had my government behind me.

Then, almost three decades after I returned safely and 'uncaptured' from Vietnam, I experienced the -- what I once believed -- impossible. I was captured in my own country! How could this be? Going on almost three years, I have been asking myself this same question over and over.

For almost five decades I had believed that I had certain rights as an American citizen. Mere suspicions, such as 'I think this person is making too much money; therefore, s/he must be doing something criminal'; or mere allegations that are precipitated by envious people or people trying to lie their way to an easier criminal bargain; or mere associations that make you guilty because you know someone who confessed of a crime were not enough to punish an American citizen. No, these were tactics used by the Gestapo in Germany or the KGB in Russia. These government law enforcement agencies in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia were extremely successful in persecuting millions of innocent humans based on mere suspicions, allegations, and/or associations. The United States of America has laws that will not allow its law enforcement officials and justice system employees to destroy an innocent citizen's life based on such flimsy reasons. No, there needed to be substantial evidence. There needed to be fairness and the due process of law that were required to be done first before an individual was convicted and punished. Such procedures as a right to know the accusers and accusations and the right to a speedy trial and then the precious right of being innocent until proven guilty were thoughtfully written into the American Constitution to protect its citizens from an abusive government or an evil force that ignored human rights. No one can appreciate these wonderful rights until they are denied.

For almost fifty years I lived with the belief that I had these rights simply because I was born and raised in America. Americans are fortunate because we are born with these humane rights. America does not hesitate to tell the rest of the world that the United States is the champion of human rights. I believed this completely. Being an Army brat raised in the military and being told by my father throughout my early youth that my family had had relatives in every American war since the Revolutionary War, I had no doubts of my love for my country or the pride I felt in being an American. Although the Vietnam War was a very controversial war, I did not hesitate to do my duty when I was drafted because this was my country. As I wrote earlier, I knew when I was in Vietnam that I could depend on my country to protect me even if I were captured. Life was so secure believing that my country was fair and just and believing that I had inalienable rights as an American citizen.

Then, on March 18, 1996, I was captured in America. I became a prisoner in my own country. The fear of being captured in a war, such as the Vietnam War, was the fear of losing your rights. As a prisoner of war you would have no rights. You would be unable to move about freely. You would be unable to pursue your happiness. You would be at the mercy of the forces that captured you. What a horrible way to exist! No freedom . . . no rights . . . no opportunity to defend yourself . . . no right to pursue your individual happiness. I was fortunate and escaped being captured in Vietnam, but I wasn't so lucky in America.

You can't imagine the horror I felt when I left the elevator on the 17th floor of the office building in which I conducted my business and was met by an FBI agent who handed me a Search and Seizure Warrant with sealed affidavits. This 'legal' piece of paper allowed the government to ignore my rights as an American citizen. This 'legal' piece of paper stated that based on allegations of the misuse of federal funds, I was being investigated. There was no mention of the specific crime I committed; there was no mention of who my accusers were; there was no mention of what the accusations were other than a vague reference to allegations of the misuse of federal funds. Yet, these allegations were more than enough reason for the FBI to raid my office and seize my records and equipment. These allegations were more than enough for the local newspaper to write a very slanted article concerning the raid that publicly denounced me as a dishonest businessperson. These allegations were even more than enough to allow the Veterans Administration officials to terminate all my authorizations to provide academic remediation services to disabled veterans. Why, this had been my career and life for over twenty-one years! The termination of these authorizations destroyed my business and my career by taking away all of my business. All that was needed was allegations that I still do not know who made them or what they were, and this investigation has been going on for almost three years at the time of this writing.

I know I did nothing criminal. I know I followed the directions and regulations provided to me by the employees of the Veterans Administration. I kept accurate and detailed records of all my business transactions. I spent hours every week providing the appropriate officials all of the information required by their office. I was providing an excellent service to disabled veterans that I was very proud of doing. The veterans were very positive about receiving the services. Then, due to vague and mysterious allegations, I had my business forcibly taken from me.

There was no due process of the law. All of the rights that were guaranteed to me in the Constitution were ignored. There was no right of being innocent until proven guilty. The federal law enforcement officials and court employees decided I was guilty. They were so convinced of my guilt that they raided my office, seized my records and equipment, terminated my authorizations to do business, and destroyed my pursuit of happiness. They had allegations to support their actions, and these allegations were more powerful than the Constitutional guarantees that were written for every citizen. I was not given any charges. I was not convicted of any crime. I have not been given any piece of evidence concerning any crime that I did. Yet, these federal officials have the right to destroy my livelihood and in the process make a public spectacle of my private life.

There was a federal employee who made referrals to my business and a computer storeowner who confessed of making 'ghost' invoices for computers that were never purchased for disabled veterans. The money received for these computers that were never bought was split between these two individuals. This was a crime they committed. They both confessed of doing it. It had nothing to do with me. I had no control over their actions. Yet, I'm assuming, since the guilty federal official who confessed of the crime made referrals to my business, that I'm guilty by association. My business was successful, so its success could not be because I worked hard to make it that way. It had to be because I was doing something criminal. This, I guess, is what the FBI agent and VA officials who raided my office suspected anyway, or they would not have taken the action they did. No, if they had any doubts of my guilt, they would have quietly, without disrupting and destroying my business, reviewed my business transactions to determine first that there was reasonable cause to destroy me based on evidence and the due process of law. They would have given me charges, and then I would have been able to defend myself, knowing what it was that I was being accused of. As it was, I was denied this humane opportunity. I was assumed guilty of something, so the government officials -- not a jury of my peers hearing evidence -- decided I needed punishment. Their actions destroyed my livelihood. Their judgment and their decisions took away all that I had worked for in over twenty-one years. My pursuit of happiness was ignored because of suspicions, allegations, and associations. It was not based on evidence and wrongdoing. It was based on government officials having the 'legal' means to do it. The actual fact of criminal activity had nothing to do with it because there was no criminal activity on my part. All of the rights I once believed were mine by virtue of being an American citizen were totally ignored. The truth is I had no rights. I was a prisoner in my own country.

The forces that captured me were the government officials. Using the strange laws that have been passed that allow our government officials to circumvent and navigate around the Constitutional guarantees to each American citizen, these officials were able to make the determination that I was guilty and were able to punish me. They took away my rights; they took away my freedom. They captured me. These government employees who took these actions decided I had no right to pursue my happiness. Without charges, without a conviction, without a trial, and without any due process whatsoever, they took my career that I had worked so hard to have. These government officials made a prisoner of me in my own country.

There is no appealing to the law or to the courts to help me. These are the forces that have made the decisions in the first place. I have not received any fair treatment from them since this happened. Their actions, as I've already written, have taken away my rights. When I've made appeals to family, friends, and associates, they empathize with my loss but are convinced that the government can do what it wants. I'm left struggling with this loss alone and alienated. I'm very much like a prisoner in a foreign land left without any rights. The media has shown no interest in this story. Like the federal officials, the media must think I'm guilty of something or else it would be shouting the story of lost rights. Only the government officials and the media will not tell me what it was that I did criminally to deserve my loss of rights. Surely, after almost three years of investigating my records, someone could tell me something. In my isolation, I look around at my fellow American citizens who are busy going about their business to support themselves and their families. They, like me at one time, are convinced of their rights as American citizens. Yet, the truth is they have no rights if the government decides to flex its muscles against them. To them, I'm some sad person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm an exception to the rule. The Constitution is there to protect them by the due process of law. That is . . . until they become captured.