Kill the Music: The Left-Footed Soldier

Hendrix enlisted in the Air Force in May of 1961 at the age of eighteen. After basic training, he served as a supply clerk for the 101 Airbourne division stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY. He received a medical discharge in 1962, but until the summer of 2005, some of the important details of his dismissal were hazy. According to his family, he received a medical discharge after injuring himself in a parachute jump. But according to a portion of his military records released last year, he had actually received a less-than-honorable discharge for homosexuality.

Perhaps taking no chances, the Army added other issues to Hendrix’s discharge case, including insubordination, sexual perversion (masturbating in a latrine), and poor marksmanship. Sgt. Louis Hoekstra, his supervisor, swore (in an affadvit) that Hendrix was “a habitual offender when it comes to making bed check, having missed bed check in March, April and May.”

While many in the press smirked about how one of history's most infamous ladies’ men posed as gay in order to get out of the Army, they missed the potential importance of other parts of his military records. Hendrix’s dialogue with the base counselling service began in December 1961, after he told the base shrink that he had sexual fantasies about some of his bunkmates. From December to May of 1961, his superiors said that he could not focus or concentrate on tasks. In fact, he seemed to be spaced out on something. As Hoekstra explained:

At times Hendrix isn’t able to carry on an intelligent conversation, paying little attention to having been spoken to. At one point, it was thought perhaps Hendrix was taking dope and was sent to be examined by a medical officer with negative results [sic].

Specifically, the army cited Hendrix’s missed bed checks as the most damning evidence against him. On the surface, the bed checks fit the profile of a sad sack soldier, an image that Hendrix went out of his way to live up to. But on a deeper level, they could very well have some meaning in terms of his future life. The first missing bed check occurred on March 31, 1962. For this offense, the Army court-martialed Hendrix, and busted him down to the rank of E2. For the subsequent offenses, occurring April 14, and May 23 the Army ordered his confinement to Building #6781.

The bed checks are curious for three reasons. First of all, Sgt. Hoekstra said Hendrix habitually missed them. Yet, there were only three, and they came late in his military career, all over the course of seven weeks. Secondly, I have yet to find out what building #6781 housed. One might assume that it was either the brig, or his quarters. But given Hendrix’s previous counselling, it might also have been a hospital facility.

What really screams at me is that the Army busted Hendrix down to an E2 for the first offense. His superiors didn’t bust him down to an E1, the rank he would have held when he entered the military, or bust him down again for the second offense. More important, in his discharge proceedings, the Army characterized Hendrix as the world’s worst soldier. Yet, at the same time, the army promoted him not just once, but twice within a span of seven months. True, that wouldn’t have surprised anyone had Hendrix proved himself an exceptional soldier. But the Army stressed quite the opposite. Furtheremore, he had earned his Screaming Eagle patch.

It’s possible that Hendrix simply didn’t like the Army after awhile, and decided to get out anyway he could. He might very well have screwed up on purpose hoping his superiors would eventually give up. Perhaps his superiors finally decided to oblige him by citing any reason they could to get rid of him.

But Hendrix’s confinement to this (at least for now) mysterious Building #6781 for a period of two weeks at a time reminds me of something similar that occurred to Lee Harvey Oswald. While stationed at Atsugi Air Force Base in Japan, Oswald took out a gun and deliberately shot himself in the foot in front of witnesses. He stayed for two weeks at the base hospital. Although he should have been court-martialed for the offense, he was not.

Ex-spy Frank Camper, in his 1997 book The MK/ULTRA Secret alleged that the Marines didn’t prosecute Oswald because Lee shot himself under orders. The ruse was a means by which Uncle Sam could then subject him to narcohypnosis, a form of mind control that combined drugs and hypnosis. (See the earlier post on Candy Jones)

Camper’s book is highly speculative in nature, so it should be taken with a pillar of salt. I would also caution you to regard any speculation regarding Hendrix’s possible subjection to narcohypnosis during his remand to Building #6781—perhaps as a measure to “cure” his putative homosexuality—as equally tenuous. Nevertheless, narcohypnosis would explain a lot about his life in the Army and afterwards. Sgt. Hoektra swore that he appeared to be on drugs. Drug tests on him turned up negative. However, if Jimi got spaced out on drugs used for narcohypnosis, most Army doctors wouldn’t know what to test for. Like Candy Jones, whose behavior had become erratic due to the constant triggering of layers upon layers of hypnosis, Hendrix flaked out quite a bit, and had difficulty concentrating—something else sworn to by Hoekstra and everyone else.

It would also explain one other thing. Under a narcohypnotic trance, the learning curve shortens drastically. Imagine passing state medical boards after only thirty-one hours of study, and you'll get the drift. Could Hendrix have accidentally gained or improved any skills that dramatically over a short period of time?