The horror of war is felt on and of the battlefield. Sometimes through people you do not know. 

 

While researching the Department Of Defense ordered nationwide halt to military recruitment, I found a Houston Chronicle article describing the suicide of SGT Nils Aron Andersson. He was the last of 4 Army Recruiters in the same Recruitment Battalion to commit suicide in a three year period. Andersson was a 2 tour Iraq veteran. On March 5, 2007, after around 3 months of dating he married Cassy Walton. The next day March 6, 2007 he killed himself with a gunshot to his temple. Cassy found his body and tried to give him CPR. Diagnosed as having a bipolar disorder; Cassy killed herself the next day March 7, 2007.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5788103.html

 

The story is as sad as they come. Unfortunately the events that led to this tragedy are not uncommon in the lives of far too many military families. I want to mention 3 items from his story.

 

First: Andersson’s father describing fears and moments of dread thinking about the safety of his son in Iraq. I know it well. Now he faces his son’s death here at home. His words; “Because the only thing I’m sure of in this world is the father’s supposed to die before the children.” are true for all parents. It is one of my few fears. 

 

Second: The Officers and Senior NCOs in his Battalion sucked. No, much stronger words are needed. They are FUCKED UP!!! 

 

From article:
If recruiters failed to sign up enough prospects, their commanders told them they were failures, Rodriguez said. “They tell you, ‘That’s why your buddy in Iraq doesn’t have a full battalion, because you’re letting him down,’ “he said.

The stress took its toll. Back in Iraq, Rodriguez had nightmares about his time recruiting in Houston.

 

“The pressure recruiting puts on you wears you down so badly,” he said. “We often said that we’d rather be in Iraq than recruiting. It’s true.”

 

Having nightmares while in Iraq about recruiting in Houston is fucked up. Of course a Command like that does not care about troops. Thus, even though Andersson’s superiors were notified of his PTSD, he was not properly monitored nor Command motivated to continue with treatment. 

 

FYI: The Army Times article I reference below reports that the investigating office has recommended disciplinary action against Battalion and Brigade level leaders. What kind of action is yet to be seen. I think at least the punishment for manslaughter is in order.

 

Third: this happened nearly 2 years ago and the DOD is just now taking this stand down action.

Army Times

Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered a stand-down of the Army’s entire recruiting force and a review of almost every aspect of the job is underway in the wake of a wide-ranging investigation of four suicides in the Houston Recruiting Battalion.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/01/army_recruiting_suicides_012709

Notice it says wake of a wide ranging investigation and not in the wake of the four suicides. Is it a coincidence that the stand down comes at the same time the Army is scrambling to deal with an epidemic of 24 suicides in the month of January? Now they are trying to cover their ass all over the place. I am really hurt right now and mad.

They had to see this coming.

From NBC’s Courtney Kube
Just one week after the Army announced that more U.S. soldiers killed themselves in 2008 than in any other year on record, the U.S. Army announced today that they had 24 possible suicides during the month of January

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/05/1782403.aspx

NYTimes
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: January 29, 2009
Suicides among soldiers in 2008 rose for the fourth year in a row, reaching the highest level in nearly three decades, Army officials said Thursday

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/30suicide.html

Army Suicides in January Outnumbered Combat Deaths

By Bruce E. Levine, AlterNet. Posted February 11, 2009.

The U.S. Army recently reported that for the month of January in 2009, the number of soldiers who committed suicide surpassed the number of soldiers who were killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. While there were 16 U.S. combat deaths, the Army believes that there were 24 suicides (the Army has confirmed seven suicides, and it believes that investigators will confirm an additional 17 other deaths as suicides). The number of suicides in January 2009 is more than five times as many as the total in January 2008.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/126114/army_suicides_in_january_outnumbered_combat_deaths

And what about Cassy? It was known that she was bipolar and suicidal. She should not have been left alone for a prolonged length of time. She easily bough the hand gun she used to take her life. Does anyone care for anyone?

So much pain.

President Obama called on long time White House correspondent Helen Thomas saying to laughter, “All right, Helen. This is my inaugural moment here. I’m really excited.”

Little did he know that the veteran newswoman was about to hit him with the hardest question of the night.

“Mr. President, do you think that Pakistan are maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists? And also, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?”

I jumped out of my seat, ‘Damn, let’s see how he answers this question!”

Answer Question 1. (easy)

“Well, I think that Pakistan — there is no doubt that in the FATA region of Pakistan, in the mountainous regions along the border of Afghanistan, that there are safe havens where terrorists are operating. And one of the goals of Ambassador Holbrooke, as he is traveling throughout the region, is to deliver a message to Pakistan that they are endangered as much as we are by the continuation of those operations. And that we’ve got to work in a regional fashion to root out those safe havens. It’s not acceptable for Pakistan or for us to have folks who, with impunity, will kill innocent men, women and children. I believe that the new government of Pakistan and Mr. Zardari cares deeply about getting control of this situation. We want to be effective partners with them on that issue.”

Inaudible question

“Well, Mr. Holbrooke is there, and that’s exactly why he is being sent there, because I think that we have to make sure that Pakistan is a stalwart ally with us in battling this terrorist threat.”

Answer to questions 2. (hard)

With respect to nuclear weapons, you know, I don’t want to speculate. What I know is this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle East, everybody will be in danger. And one of my goals is to prevent nuclear proliferation generally. I think that it’s important for the United States, in concert with Russia, to lead the way on this. And, you know, I’ve mentioned this in conversations with the Russian President, Mr. Medvedev, to let him know that it is important for us to restart the conversations about how we can start reducing our nuclear arsenals in an effective way so that — so that we then have the standing to go to other countries and start stitching back together the nonproliferation treaties that, frankly, have been weakened over the last several years.

“Why do we have to speculate –”

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, all right.

“on who (inaudible)?”

He then moves on to the next question.

I think he did the best he could do with that question and perhaps gave us some insight into his think on the point of Ms. Thomas question. I am sure most people totally missed this question. The little news coverage I’ve heard or seen did not comment on it.

So who does have nuclear weapons in the Middle East? Some people may say Pakistan and India, but that would not be correct because they are not in the region traditionally called the Middle East. And more to the point, it is widely known that both of those countries have nuclear weapons. Ms. Thomas was asking a real political question not a trivia question.

Caren Bohan of Reuters earlier asked a question about Iran. In his response the President reprimanded Iran for, “their development of a nuclear weapon, or their pursuit of a nuclear weapon…” Notice that the President distinguished between development and pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Ms. Thomas question was pointed directly at Israel. President Obama did not want to and did not answer the question. Unfortunately for him the little he did say confirms that the U.S. either does not know if Israel has nukes and has decided not to do something about it or our government has confirmed they have nukes and has decided to do nothing about it. To raise this point Ms. Thomas attempted to ask why do he need to speculate? Either there is a country with nukes in the Middle East or there is not. If you are not sure shouldn’t we be talking why you are not sure and what countries might have them? Iran has already been ruled out. So tell me again where is the speculation?

Why is this important? The U.S. claims that our biggest problem with Iran among others is their pursuit of nukes. It is widely know that Israel might have nukes. Their official policy is one of nuclear ambiguity also known as nuclear opacity. They have neither confirmed nor denied their possession of the weapons. Why should Iranians take serious the prospect that it is OK for Israel to have nukes or be ambiguous about it and not OK for Iran to have nukes? Or whatever kind of nuclear program they want to have perhaps short of nukes? These are real question and impinge on other aspects of credibility when dealing with nations in the region who are in conflict with Israel. Nuclear opacity turns out to be the game Saddam Hussein was playing and was invaded by the U.S. as an result. We seem ready to invade or pressure all nations who play that game but Israel. Not a good place to start when calling for strengthening the Nuclear Proliferation  Treaty. Notice that Obama’s answer spoke directly to the treaty and his intention to gain more credibility by working with Russia to diminish the U.S. ad Russia stockpiles. It may also give him more room to approach Israel behind the scences and as well as Iran.

I think Obama was caught off guard a bit by the question. I speculate that it was the first time as President he found that if he tried to answer a question directly he would need to lie and he was not prepared to do that. All Presidents lie. It comes with the job. He will have to get use to it.

Press conference transcript.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/02/obamas_first_white_house_press.html 

 

Long before the rivalry between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton I began to be critical of Bill Clinton on issues of integrity, race and gender. He continues to disappoint me. He did it again tonight.

 

Flipping the channels on boring TV, I caught some of Bill Clinton’s appearance on David Letterman. When I came in they were talking about the economy. After awhile I thought to myself, Bill has not really mentioned Barack. Then when Letterman asked who could possibly want to be President at such a terrible time like now, Bill made a joke saying something like, “According to game theory this is the best time because it can only get better.” Then he said, “I enjoyed being President and would not want to do it again, but both John McCain and Barack Obama should relish the opportunity right now.”

 

I thought to myself. Well that’s the 1^st time I heard him mentioned Barack although I heard him mention Hillary several times. Of course she is his wife. But why did he say McCain 1^st. I got a little perturbed and walked in the kitchen to do some dishes. While in the kitchen I thought, since I did not see the interview from the beginning, perhaps I am being a little harsh and I should stop being judgmental. 

 

Bill went on to talk a little bit about Sarah Palin and the excitement she brought to the race and how Joe Bidden, he and Hillary are good friends. He said that when Obama announced Bidden as his running mate Hillary said Joe was a good pick. I believe that came up because Letterman asked why Bidden said Hillary would have been a better pick. Bill said that there is nothing to make of the comment. Joe has always been a good ally, helping him during his Presidency and the comment should simply be attributed to friendship. I thought Bill handled that well.

 

I think the last question asked by Letterman was did Bill think the election would continue to be close? Bill basically said no because it’s tough being a Republican right now with 2/3rds of the nation hurting and worried. He said he thinks it will widen a bit after the debates because Barack will perform well. People will go in the ballot box thinking that they like McCain and respect his service, but they really need to see change, and Barack will win. So by the time the interview was over I decided my thoughts about his lack of mentioning Obama were unfounded. I still thought it was a bit weak, but passable.

 

Then Chris Rock sat down. He first joked about the high intellectual level of the discussion and how when he talks to Bill he tries to stay away from heavy stuff. He keeps it on topics like basketball and other sports. Then he said something like, “He really did not want to say Obama’s name did? He did everything he could not to say his name. He kept talking about what Hillary would do. Somebody needs to go tell him that Hillary ain’t running. She lost! Hillary lost!

 

So, either both Chris and I are over sensitive or Bill is still upset. What do you think?

For more see this blog: http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2008/09/chris-rock-on-clinton-on-lette.html

Is Joe Bidden a good running partner pick for Barack Obama? I guess only time will tell. But my answer is…..not! I once liked Joe Bidden. Not that I dislike him now. Many years ago I was watching him talking about something and I realized this guy likes to hear the sound of his own voice. I think listening to him talk about how the U.S. should respond to the September 11, 2001 tragedies made me have different feelings about him.

Other than disagreeing with Bidden and for that matter Obama on Afghanistan, American exceptionalism and imperialism, the biggest reason I think this may be a bad pick is that he will probably say something stupid and put his foot in his mouth. Like when he called Obama clean. If he is going to act as attack dog he is going to talk a lot. That gives more and more opportunity for him to make a mistake. Well like I said time will tell.

I guess the Hillary Clinton supporters who have not come over to barrack are pretty pissed. Like Cokie Roberts said, on the news show This Week, something like, there are plenty of old White guys for Obama to pick. I guess he had no choice there. But why did he have to pick one of the windiest of them all?

So now it is time for McCain to make his pick. Romney seems to be in the running. Ugh…I don’t really like him. For some reason he just seem weird to me. I would rather have him than Rudy G. Rudy is dangerous, very dangerous

Hi Ya’ll,

I’m going to try this again. I have not tried to blog in over a year. It’s been so long that when I tried to blog here this morning it appeared blog.com was gone. The site seemd to be down, so I stated another blog at blogspot. Thank goodness this is still alive and kick’n.

So here I am again. I first tried in 2004 when my son was thinking about going in the Army. I did not keep it up. A lot has happened since then, like he went to
Iraq for a year. He had a son, got married and had another son. So I am a grandfather. One child died from a genetic spinal degenerative disease. My son is out of the Army. He and his wife have split up and he is trying to go on with his life after this traumatic episode with marriage, war and death. he is doing OK, but he is thinking about working for a contractor KBR in Iraq.

Of course I am not happy about it, but one can only advise your children, they are going to do want they want.

So here I am again trying to blog and this time I hope I can keep it up.

I am prompted to try again by the Presidential race, specifically with Obama’s VP pick Joe Bidden. More about that later.

So here we go.

peace

 

 

Yesterday, Feb 27th, I participated in my first open act of civil disobedience as part of the Occupation Project. I along with St. Louis local chapter President
Chuc Smith, three other veterans; Jim Allen, Harry Wyman and VFP office manager Cherie Eichholz and Military Families Speak Out Member D. Ridgley Brown visited Representative Russ Carnahan’s office to continue our conversation to persuade him to vote down any bills that continue to provide funding for the war in Iraq. Jim Allen and I decided to sit-in to protest Carnahan’s refusal to pledge not to continue funding for the war. As a result, Jim and I were arrested.

 

This was not the first time Rep. Carnahan a Democrat has been approached on this subject. He has been visited several times by many members of his district and others who want him to take a leadership role in Congress to de-fund the war. I have been to his office more than once and on Friday February 23^rd, I along with veterans Woody Powell, Catie Shinn, Cherie, Chuc, and National Guard member and Appeal for Redress signer Brian Hill with Iraq Veteran Cloy Richards sat down with Carnahan and discussed de-funding. Carnahan’s basic rap is that he is against the escalation and believes the war must come to an end. He cannot promise to vote against a bill he has not seen. He thinks that Jack Murtha’s plan to restrict the ability of the President to continue the war via oversight and placing high standards on troop readiness before deployment is promising and he does not want to de-fund the troops. We explained that de-funding the war is not de-funding the troops; legislative restrictions on the President will not end the war. Giving money to the President for the war will only prolong the war and Bush has told us over and over he does not intend to end the war. The American people voted for new congressional leadership to end the war and de-funding is the quickest route to make that happen. We also told him that Democrats should put the President on the defensive by de-funding the war and make him explain why he continues to wage war when Congress has demanded a change of course based on the mandate from the American people. We emphasized that everyday Congress spends looking for less direct ways to end the war on average three US service members die and many Iraqi children, women and men.

 

Unfortunately, we reached little agreement beyond the obvious, the war must end. It appears that most Democrats and Veterans For Peace are on a different time table.

 

So our entering Rep. Carnahan’s office Tuesday is part of weeks of outreach and meetings to change his mind. I decided that this time I was not leaving until I received a satisfactory answer. Thus I was willing to risk arrest. There are many who wonder why risk arrest. They ask, “Do you really think being arrested will make a difference?” Well, my objective is not to be arrested. My objective is to persuade my Representative’s or Senators’ to vote to de-fund the war. Yes I am willing to risk arrest and I do not know if my refusal to leave and subsequent arrest will make a difference. However I do know that inaction will change nothing. Up till now I have done all I can do short of civil disobedience. I have marched. I have given out materials and made countless talks and speeches. I have called and written congress. There are other creative ideas I hope to develop and I will continue to do all of the things I have done in the past. But yesterday was the time for me to put a little more on the line. I am not rich, so I cannot get their attention with large campaign contributions. I am not famous so I cannot awe them with my notoriety. So all I can do is visit, dialogue and sit-in.

 

The journey to civil disobedience has been one of reflection and hesitation. Of course I ask will it make a difference. One cannot be sure. But for me it has also been a question of conditioning and survival. I did not come to this decision easily. As a Black male in America who has been trained to be wary of the police it has not been easy to decide to willingly put myself into their hands. I have spent most of my forty-two years trying not to be arrested. I have plenty of examples of police misconduct against Black men. In the late 90’s the sodomy of Abner Louima and the shooting death of Amadou Diallo in NYC heightened my fear of being pursued and in the custody of police. In 1997 Abner Louima was arrested outside of a Brooklyn nightclub for unclear reasons. He was beaten in the squad car in route to the station, beaten in the station and eventually sodomized in the station restroom with a plunger. Two years later in 1999, Amadou a Guinean emigrant walking home from a meal, unarmed and innocent of any crime was gunned down by four police officers in a barrage of shot at 41. He was struck 19 times. It was a case of mistaken identity. The plain clothes officers attempted to stop him because they thought he fit the description of a since captured serial rapist. Another terrifying story took place on November 26, 2006. The circumstances of the incident are still under investigation; however it is clear that Sean Bell a young man leaving his bachelor party at a nightclub in Jamaica Queens with two friends died in a firestorm of 50 shots from five undercover police. One of his friends was critically wounded. No gun was founded on Sean or his friends. Sean was scheduled to marry later that day. These three incidents are the extreme and thankfully rare, but real. The names of these three men stay with me and remind me of dangers I face.

 

In the week before my participation to occupy Russ Carnahan’s office I received the January/February edition of The Crisis magazine, a by monthly periodical founded in 1910. It is the official publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP. An article entitled ‘A New Day?’ examines “whether gains in Black political power will improve the lives of average African Americans.” Well that’s me so I read the article. While there are promising facts in the article describing unprecedented political gains and individual achievements there were other items that gave me pause as to whether or not I should occupy my reps office.

 

Statistics show that Black men were the most incarcerated demographic group in the country, with the highest incarceration rate in the world. According to a recent Justice Department report, 12.6 percent of Black males in their 20s were behind bars. Federal government statistic show that Blacks have an 18.6 percent chance of going to jail at some point in their lives, while less than 4 percent of Whites will spend time locked up.”

 

I asked myself, do I really want to add to these sad numbers.

 

So what motivates me? Why have I decided to move forward with this tactic? I am motivated by the death of tens of thousands perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in this war. I am most motivated by the life of my only son who is a soldier in the 101^st Airborne who has already participated in one tour in Iraq. I am motivated by the death of his second child, my 7 month old grandson who died on January 3, 2007 of a genetic disease. I am motivated by the fact that when I ask Goddess why my grandson died and when I peer through the pain of his death in search of reasons and people to blame, I can only find the reality and cycle of life. People die from disease. It is natural and for the most part not any one person is to blame. I could look and perhaps find human created environmental factors. But if these factors do exist they are many steps removed from causing death. Unlike the firing of a gun or dropping of a bomb where one can easily observe cause and effect and can witness who fired the gun or dropped the bomb. Having sat and cried with Iraqi and American Gold Star fathers and mothers and feeling a glimpse of their pain, I thought I had an idea of that pain. How foolish of me. I did not know the emptiness one feels. Or I should say there is an empty space I feel that will never be filled because Jeremiah my grandson who once lived there is gone for ever. Where I must accept the reality of life, Gold Star Parents must face the reality of war, a human activity caused by human actions. Where I can find no one to hold responsible for my anger and pain, an Iraqi can hold my nation, my son and me responsible for their pain. This is the sense of urgency I hope my small act of civil disobedience will help convey to Representative Carnahan and Senator McCaskill.

 

Lastly I ask myself, if not now when? After nearly four years of protest, over 3,100 dead US service members, ten to hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis who are guilty of nothing but living in Iraq, obvious lies by our leaders that took us to war, possible war with Iran, an election for a change in direction, no change of direction by our President and an indecisive Congress who needs to be pushed in the right direction; when would be a better time to give civil disobedience a try? We are at a critical moment. Congress will soon vote for a $90 billion appropriation that could fund the war until the end of President Bush’s term. After this vote, Congress will have little power to end the war. We need to flood Congress with letters, phone calls, e-mails and faxes demanding they end funding. We must show up at their door in force. If enough of us sit-in they will end the war. If we don’t they won’t. Maintaining a majority and a gaining the presidency is the priority of the Democrats. Ours is ending the war. You do not have to commit an act of civil disobedience to participate in the Occupation Project. Stand on the corner while others enter the office. Be present when occupiers are taken away or released from custody. Every small act makes a difference. We need more acts to move them forward. Add yours.

 

Thanks

 

Michael T. McPhearson

Executive Director

Veterans For Peace

So my son is back and I visited him this past weekend. I spent great quality time with my son and his family (wife and two sons). He seems to be doing very well. No signs of PTSD, at least not yet, so far so good. I am very happy he is back and I know I am blessed. He and his family are blessed. 

I also know that there are many, many mothers and fathers who are not so blessed and will never see their child alive and there are many more that have their child, but the kid is not the same person who left. There are families who wonder everyday if that day will be the last for their love one. They wonder how they will make it through the next 24 hours. What is most amazing is that many of these young people who are trying to make it from day to day are being asked to return to Iraq. Many of these young people have tried to commit suicide, but this matters little. They are being ordered to go back.

Some flee and some go back. I ask why are soldiers who are contemplating or have tried suicide being forced to return to combat. I already know the answer. Our civilian leaders say support the troops, but the truth is that they don’t give a damn about the troops. They only care about their policy objectives, no matter how outlandish, misguided, dishonest or unjust. It does not matter. Just do as you’re told. You are expendable. You are a pawn in the strategic game of power. Do your job and your family will be rewarded with a military funeral, a flag and if they (you) are lucky a burial in Arlington.