Ex-JFK Student May Be Tried; Stirs Army's Wrath Second Time

A U.S. Army lieutenant who was forced to leave the Kenuedy School of Government last year after applying for conscientious objector status is being investigated pending possible court-martial for disobeying orders.

First Lt. Louis P. Font was ordered to withdraw from the School last March for reassignment only two days after applying for CO status on the basis of his objection to the Vietnam war. Font, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in the top five percent of his class, was at that time only three months short of completing the two-year program at the Kennedy School.

In what his congressman calls "vindictive harassment." Army officials are threatening Font with a court-martial on five counts of "willfully disobeying a lawful order."

The acts of disobedience allegedly took place when Font tried to submit a report on housing conditions to the commanding officers of the First Army. At that time Font's assignment was the inspection of enlisted men's housing on the base.

Font is charged, among other things, with failing to get the permission of the officer in charge before entering a building. Font said, "If I did this all the time I would have to get General Westmoreland's permission to enter the Pentagon."

The charges will be investigated by an officer of the First Army, who willrecommend either dismissal of the charges or a court-martial.

The officer who will make the decision is a subordinate of General Jonathan O. Seaman, commander of the First Army, whom Font has accused of war crimes.

Font is one of the founders of the Concerned Officers' Movement, an anti-war officers group. He has also called for a war crimes tribunal to investigate the two top officers of the First Army.

Font's letter to his congressman detailing the conditions in some of the barracks at Fort Meade has led to an investigation by the House Armed Services Committee.

Ouch

Font said last night, "Over the last month I struck a vital nerve in the military and now it's turning against me with no holds barred."

One of Font's superiors allegedly told a member of the Concerned Officers' Movement, "I'm going to cut your head off and put it on a tray like John the Baptist, and I'm going to put a skewer through Lt. Font, put an apple in his mouth, and put him on the same tray."

Pending the results of the investigation, Font is forbidden to leave his barracks except to go to work or to church.