Coming from a military family, Jared Hood enthusiastically joined the military in 2000. Four years later he made the conscious decision to go AWOL, stating “I can no longer serve a government that can justify an occupation.” He was angered and felt betrayed by the lies of his government and a citizenry that was all too willing to accept them. “Being in the army forced me to wake up to the lie I had been living my whole life and the lies I had been fed by my family, society and government and I was outright disgusted. I still am.”