A Tale of Two Vets

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

CNN had a very poignant story on the internets today about two veterans of the war in Iraq. The men featured in the story were Andrew Kinard, a young enlisted Marine, and Army LTC Raymond Rivas. Both men received serious war injuries, both were on a panel last April that discussed veteran's health care with Congress, and each experienced their own life-changing event on July 15th of this year.

Andrew Kinard is a bright and energetic young man who is on his way to Harvard Law School. He is ambitious and driven. Many of his friends believe that he will one day become the President of the United States. Whatever Andrew accomplishes in life, it will take extraordinary effort - because Andrew lost his legs in an awful IED explosion in Iraq. In fact, he lost his entire body below the hips.

LTC Ray Rivas got too close to several blasts and developed symptoms that included difficulty in talking, reasoning, and remembering. He was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, and a later diagnosis revealed that he had emerging Alzheimer's Disease. He required help from friends for ordinary functions like bathing, eating, and dressing himself. Ray Rivas was also in a lot of pain.

On July 15th Andrew Kinard celebrated with friends at his "going away" party as he prepared to leave Washington D.C. and head to Harvard. That same evening Ray Rivas sat in his car in the parking lot at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he wrote several suicide notes to family and friends and then killed himself with an overdose of prescription drugs.

Andrew Kinard and Ray Rivas each had their lives irrevocably changed as they helped to carry out the world view of a cabal of ego maniacal characters who were too chickenshit to go to war themselves a generation ago. I grieve for Ray and his family, and I am hopeful that Andrew can live all of his dreams despite his monumental handicap. I hope that Andrew does make it to the White House. If he does, and if the subject of war comes up in his presidency, Americans will at least know that their leader understands the true costs of war.

The Apology

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Steven Green, the former U.S. Army private who led the brutal attack on an Iraqi family in order that he and his friends could rape the pretty fourteen-year-old daughter, was convicted last week of the raping and killing the girl. He was also found guilty of murdering her parents and her younger sister. The jury could not come to a unanimous decision to impose the death penalty on Green, probably due in large measure to their knowledge of some of the abuse that he suffered as a child. Some jurors may have also factored in the devaluation of human life that accompanies war - who knows for sure? Because the jury could not act in unanimity, the judge was obligated to sentence young Mr. Green to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

And I am much like those jurors. Where is the line that serves as a boundary between an abusive childhood and an evil adulthood? At what point did that pathetic child finally become an irredeemable monster? Would killing him right any wrongs? Will permitting him to live decades in a cage and finally die in a cage accomplish anything either?

Today Mr. Green apologized to the relatives of the family that he murdered. He didn't have to, because his verdict had already been determined. But he chose to express his shame to those family members gathered the courthouse in Paducah, KY. While his words were simple, they rang with sincerity. Mr. Green said:

"I helped to destroy a family and end the lives of four of my fellow human beings, and I wish that I could take it back, but I cannot. And, as inadequate as this apology is, it is all I can give you...I know you wish I was dead, and I do not hold that against you. If I was in your place, I am convinced beyond any doubt that I would feel the same way...I know that I have done evil, and I fear that the wrath of the Lord will come upon me on that day. But, I hope that you and your family at least can find some comfort in God's justice."

Steven Green said that he now sees the Iraq War as "intrinsically evil because killing is intrinsically evil." He added that he was sorry that he had anything to do with either.

Amen.

A Tale of Two Army Lieutenants

by Pa Rock
Former Army Lieutenant

Lt. Ehren Watada and Lt. Scott Easterling, while having very divergent views on the war in Iraq, have both elected to take controversial stands on matters of conscience, views that are likely to end the military career of each man.

Lt. Watada has been in the news since June of 2006 when he declined to deploy to Iraq with his unit. Watada, who was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA, said that he is not a conscientious objector, but has a personal objection to the war in Iraq that is a result of research he conducted in preparation for deployment. He said that after reading several books and articles on the history of Iraq, perusing international law, reviewing the evidence used to justify the war, and speaking to returning veterans, he came to the independent conclusion the war in Iraq was wrong and that he could not in good conscience support it.

Watada volunteered to go to Afghanistan, because he could rationalize a justification for that conflict based on its direct relationship to Septbember 11th. The Army declined to let the young lieutenant choose his own assignment. Then, in an effort to avoid a buttload of controversy while still maintaining a semblance of authority over the rebellious officer, the Army offered to send Watada to Iraq and give him a desk job. The lieutenant, whose objections to the war were not based on personal cowardice, refused to take part in the Iraq War in any capacity.

Ehren Watada was court-marshaled on five counts in 2007, but that ended in a mistrial. When a new court-marshal was attempted, an appeal was made on grounds of double-jeopardy. Three of the five original charges were then thrown out, and the other two charges, relating to conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman, are still pending - nearly three years after the lieutenant declined to deploy with his unit.

Lt. Easterling just surfaced in the news this week when he announced via a "to whom it may concern" letter, that he was joining in a court action challenging Barack Obama's claim to the presidency. Easterling, a former civilian contractor in Iraq, said that as an officer he has to uphold the Constitution, and that the Constitution specifically states "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

This angry lieutenant stated (quite erroneously) that "Barack Hussein Obama....has absolutely refused to provide the American public his original birth certificate, as well as other documents which may prove or disprove his eligibility. In fact, he has fought every attempt made by concerned citizens in their effort to force him to do so." (You know it's a deep bias when they include the "Hussein!")

Just so you know: The Associated Press has reported that Obama's birth certificate was presented last year during the presidential campaign. Factcheck.org examined the original document, raised seal and all, and reproduced an announcement of Obama's birth from a 1961 newspaper that included his parents' address in Honolulu. Just for the record, Hawaii was a state by 1961.

(That "controversy" appears to be settled far more definitively than the one about where George Bush was during 1972, or why he never used his combat pilot's skills in Vietnam!)

The "Obama is not a natural-born citizen" movement is somewhat like those crazies who run around claiming that, for reasons unknown, it was the United States government that actually knocked down the twin towers. Pure nonsense, but an opiate for the asses!

Yesterday U.S. Senator Richard Shelby from Alabama, a state not noted for its intellectual breadth or depth, stirred up the same hornet's nest with remarks to a gathering of Republicans in Cullum, AL. When the local newspaper took him to task over it and his remarks got national play, he quickly began to back-peddle. What may seem to be well-reasoned political insight to the good old boys of Cullum, comes across as just plain goofy when the audience is expanded nationwide.

This much I know: It is the company grade officers (lieutenants and captains) that have the actual hands-on control of most army personnel. These young officers are the ones who make the monkey run. Their authority rests on their ability to present as good soldiers and to motivate others to participate in the cause, whether they have philosophical disagreements with that cause or not. You can't tell the army "no" and get away with it, because if "no" becomes a viable option, the monkey may soon quit running at all.

Lt. Watada will eventually be out of the military. He will be free of the United States Army, and, just as importantly, the Army will be free of him. Lt. Easterling is also destined to leave the Army earlier than he had planned. Just as Watada can't pick and choose which orders to follow, Easterling will learn the importance and immutability of the Chain-of-Command, a chain where every link must be honored and respected. He may not approve of his Commander-in-Chief, but if he is to remain in the service and defend the flag, he will have to respect his duly elected leader. Based on his rhetoric, I suspect that Lt. Easterling will be unable and unwilling to do that.

Casualties of War

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The Defense Department has announced that at least 24 members of the United States Army committed suicide during the month of January. That number exceeds the total of all U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan during the same period. When asked what gives, multiple generals have sputtered that they don't know, but they're sure gonna find out!

Which means, of course, that the problem is going to be relegated to committees, workshops, special trainings, and other mind-numbing steps that will have minimal impact on the actual problem - and kick it on down the road for a couple of years.

So just what is the actual problem?

Suicides in the military, not just the army, have been a growing phenomenon ever since our troops went to the Middle East in 2003. The military was quick to point out that only one-third of January's army suicides had formerly been in the war zones, and another one-third were there at the time of their self-demise. That leaves one-third with no connection to the war - no connection other than they were probably on deck for a combat tour sometime in the near future.

The military was also eager to note that sometimes these deaths appeared to be the result of relationship issues, leaving the impression that those are not combat-related. That statement is deceptive. Most of the suicides were young people (as reported by the military), and young people are often in young relationships, or marriages, with young families. It is a stressful time of life.

A deployment in the army is usually a minimum of twelve months, and they have recently been as long as eighteen months or more. One deployment can be a very aggresssive factor in destabilizing or ending a marriage, especially an untested one. There are long distance disagreements over money and child-rearing, issues associated with shifting roles, jealousy, distrust, and infidelity both at home and in the war zone. That's all from just one deployment - some members of the army have done three, four, and five deployments. Sometimes couples learn how to manage the pressures of deployments, and sometimes they don't.

When the deployment ends more problems emerge. The kids have learned that the parent who remained at home is the "go to" person when a decision needs to be made. The one who remained at home has assumed complete management of the family, and it is often tough to let go of that responsibility. It is not unusual for a soldier who has been sleeping alone on a small cot or bed for twelve months - being constantly on edge and listening for the sound of in-coming - to wake up panicked in the middle of the night when he or she realizes that there is someone else in the bed. The "fight or flight" instinct takes over, often with the soldier lashing out physically at the bed partner. The physical and emotional abuse of family members can be, and often is, a direct consequence of combat stress.

The American Medical Association's Archive of Internal Medicine said in March of 2007 that almost one in three veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who sought medical treatment at the VA were diagnosed with mental health problems. There are others who need mental health services but are not seeking treatment. Unfortunately, some leaders in the military perpetuate the myth that those who seek treatment for mental issues are weak, and consequently many who need those services feel pressured to "man up" and shut up.

So yes, the war is playing a significant role in the climbing suicide rates. We will officially learn that after a couple of years of research and several long-term studies. We will learn that after the war is over and the pressing need for warm bodies eases up. We will learn that after hundreds more have needlessly died.

These young people, like those shot dead in the desert, are truly casualties of war.

Selling Out Our Veterans

by Pa Rock

I am a fan of the G.I. Bill, and moreover, I am even a product of the G.I. Bill. After serving four years in the United States Army in the early 1970s, I got out and went back to school. For the next forty-eight months the government gave me a check every month to help with my school expenses. That money provided me with the opportunity to earn two additional degrees and also put a lot of food on the table for my family. I didn't look on those monthly payments as a gift from my government, rather I saw them as deferred income. When I entered the service I did so for a complete package of benefits that included things like salary. medical and dental benefits, 30 days vacation a year, and assistance with college expenses. I gave the military four years of my time, and in return I had an expectation of collecting all that they promised me.

Congress cut back drastically on the G.I. Bill after the Vietnam debacle was over, and new enlistees were offered a much more meager package of college benefits. Congress and the President usually forget the veterans quickly once the crisis has passed.

Over the past few years the Bush administration has appeared to be absolutely inhumane in their treatment of veterans returning from the Oil War in the middle east. Many tried to get out after their enlistments were over, only to learn that they were being drafted into continued service through the back door with a program called "stop loss." Stop Loss allowed the military to keep individuals from leaving service because they were still needed for the war effort. That way Dear Leader could prance around bragging that we didn't need a draft (drafts are messy affairs that attract public demonstrations and outrage) while keeping the military ranks full by holding veterans against their will.

And when they got out, veterans were routinely hit with poor medical care in inferior facilities (Walter Reed Army Hospital, Ft. Sill - to name a couple). And then the news media began finding veterans of Dear Leader's wars living under overpasses and out on the streets. If our government had been treating dogs and cats the way it managed the needs of our brave veterans, the public outcry would have closed the capitol!

So some in Congress, seeing that the current administration was too dumb and uncaring to do right by our veterans, decided that Congress would take the lead in changing things. One idea that turned into legislation was to fund an effective G.I. Bill. Oddly enough, the hawks, those who are always ready to send other people's children into war, fought the plan. George Bush (who didn't go to Vietnam even though he let his government train him to be a fighter pilot - and who can't remember where he was in 1972) opposed it. Prick Cheney (who used five or six student deferments to stay out of Vietnam - and then managed to get Lynn pregnant so that he could also use a family deferment) opposed it. Even John McBush (who did go to Vietnam and whose son did fight in the Oil War) opposed the new G.I. Bill. And the Veteran's Administration, the agency that is supposed to look after the needs of our veterans, opposed it. (VA honchos are appointed by the President - see how that works!)

So why did these public servants oppose legislation that would be of enormous benefit to people who had actually put their lives on the line for their country (unlike Bush and Cheney)? Their stated reason was that the new G.I. Bill was too good and would cause people to get out of the service so they could go to college. (If somebody could get that load of crap trucked to the Midwest, I would like to have it spread over the pasture at my little farm in the Ozarks!)

Long story short (sort of): The bill passed and has been enacted into law. So our veterans can all rest easy knowing that they are in for some quality schooling. Well, don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen! Yesterday, in a stupefying case of passive aggressive behavior, the VA announced that it would be privatizing the implementation of the new program. They are hiring private companies to manage the G.I. Bill. (And we all know what a stellar job private companies did in managing the Oil War!)

So troops, when you are safely out of harm's way and out of uniform, and you think that you have bent over for Halliburton and Black Water for the last time - think again! They're back!

My Tour of the White House Kitchen (for Noreen)

by Pa Rock

The tale of my visit to the White House kitchen begins during August of 1814. The War of 1812 was still going on and the British were intent on winning the war, or at least leaving their Yankee cousins some payback for twisting the British lion’s tail. President James Madison was away from the White House helping to wage the war, and he had left his First Lady, Dolley, back in the capital with orders to save as much of the country’s valuable papers as she could in the event that the British advanced on Washington D.C. Word came to Dolley on August 23 that the British would soon be in the city – she had to flee. Saving several trunks of government papers and the large Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, Dolley Madison hopped into her carriage and barely escaped capture by the approaching British soldiers. When the British reached the White House, they executed their payback on their uncouth American cousins by torching the President’s house and burning it almost to the ground.

(Necessary Digression: Recounting that bit of actual history begs these questions: How long would the Iraq War have lasted if Dear Leader had been required to help lead our brave troops into battle? Indeed, would that war have even been initiated if the Commander in Chief had to actually put on a uniform and engage in the fighting? Enquiring minds want to know!)

Pitch forward to May of 1999. Our social work graduate group from the University of Missouri went to Washington D.C. for several days to lobby Missouri’s members of Congress on issues that we had been researching, and to also attend some workshops with the Child Welfare League of America where one of our members was serving an internship. Pat Tyler, one of my best friends and a classmate, had a cousin who was an Air Force pilot and was assigned to Air Force Two – making him Al Gore’s pilot. Pat’s cousin arranged for our group to take an evening tour of the White House.

Our tour guides that evening were two young Air Force enlisted men whose regular duty involved working at the White House. We were somewhat of a rowdy crew, and most of us were old enough to be the parents of our guides. Upon reflection, I believe that we were probably somewhat intimidating, and they were struggling for ways to keep us entertained and under control.

Evening tours get to go places that are off limits to the day tours. We got to step up to the door of the Oval Office and look in. We were taken to the small theatre-type room where press conferences were normally held. While in that room most took a turn stepping up to the podium and making some smart-ass remark. Mine was “I did not have sexual relations with that woman!” We quickly became right at home in the President’s house, pulling books off of shelves, sitting on the antiques, and generally keeping our guides on edge.

They eventually made a decision to get us to a more controllable location. One of the young men suggested that we might be interested in seeing part of the original White House – the one that John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James and Dolley Madison had occupied. He said that a section of an original outer wall had survived the fire and was now part of the White House kitchen. So off we marched into what was the equivalent of a very nice basement. The kitchen was active with several people involved in preparing food for the following day. Toward the rear of the work area was an old block and mortar wall that had seen many coats of paint over the years. Everyone got to rub their hands on the wall and issue appropriate ooh’s and aah’s. Soon thereafter we were shown the door!

Later that night our guides met most of us at a bar downtown where they thought that they would finally be able to relax. But that wasn’t going to happen because we were having too much fun! One of the young men inadvertently let it slip that one of his functions was to announce the President when he stepped into the room for a press conference. He was the voice that boomed, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.” It took several drinks to get him primed, but he finally stood and made his announcement in the packed bar! (I’m sure that the next morning he wished that they had never let us out of the kitchen!)