(photo - on the Panel - Elizabeth Falzone - GSFSO/ MFSO - WA chapter and Rich Moniak - MFSO - Alaska chapter listen to two days of testimony)
(photo - Stacy Bannerma, wife of returning Iraq veteran - WA Natl Guard, gives testimony)
Now Playing: Cartoonist is Tony Auth and site is www.slate.com
Cartoonist is Tony Auth at site Slate.com
Posted by SwanDeer Project
at 8:30 AM PDT
Military Families Speak Out Washington State Chapter
Military Families Speak Out Washington State Chapter
One of the features of military families in this war that differs from previous wars is that there are more young married soldiers.
Here are some statistics:
-- in Iraq war, soldiers often married, with children
-- 55% of military personnel are married. 56% of those married are between 22 and 29.
-- One million military children are under 11.
-- 40% are 5 or younger.
-- 63% of spouses work, including 87% of junior-enlisted spouses.
Source: Department of Defense and National Military Family Association.
There are a number of paragraphs that are just grand, but here's the best one, which is worth quoting in full:
As a matter of general principle, I believe there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government
... too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think that it will give some comfort to the enemy to know that there is such criticism.
If that comfort makes the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it as far as I am concerned, because
the maintenance of the right of criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy,
and will prevent mistakes which might otherwise occur.
Drink in those words.
That's not William Fulbright two years into the Vietnam War.
It's not Ted Kennedy last week.
It's Mr. Republican, speaking -- when? Not mid-1943, or even March 1942
Taft delivered this speech ... on December 19, 1941!
That's right: Twelve days after the worst attack on American soil in the country's history,
perhaps with bodies still floating in the harbor,
the leader of the congressional opposition said to the president, 'we will question, we will probe, we will debate.'
By Michael Tomasky,
The AMERICAN Prospect online
Order and send postcards to Congress - Fund our Troops, Defund the
2007
2006
(photo Lietta Ruger, MFSO- WA, in support Lt. Ehren Watada, June 2006, Tacoma, WA)(photo - Jenny Keesey, Judy Linehan, Lietta Ruger - from MFSO-WA in support of Lt. Ehren Watada June 2006, Tacoma, WA)
(photo - Lietta Ruger, Judy Linehan, Jenny Keesey - from MFSO - WA chapter, June 2006, Tacoma, WA)
(photo - Judy Linehan, MFSO - WA at support rally for Lt. Watada, June 2006, Tacoma, WA)
(photo - right is Stacy Bannerman, MFSO -WA; organizing team) Representative Brian Baird, Washington state 3rd Congressional District, in blue shirt comes out to talk with MFSO members at 'Operation House Call')
2005
2004
Online video, audio and article still available at Newshour website.
photo - Sue Niederer, MFSO. Her son U.S. Army 2nd Lt.Seth Dvorin, 24 yrs old was killed in Iraq Feb 3, 2004.
photo - Nancy Lessin, MFSO Co-Founder
photo - Lietta Ruger, MFSO - WA
photo - Stacy Bannerman, MFSO - WA
This is one of WA state casualties; Army Spc. Jonathan J. Santos, Whatcom County, Washington died Oct 15, 2004
Contact us
click here - MFSO Membership Form – to join Military Families Speak Out or
MFSO - Become a Member
Membership in MFSO is open to anyone who has a family member or loved one serving, since August 2002, in any branch of our Armed Forces
* The Reserves
* The National Guard
* Returned from serving but still eligible for redeployment under stop loss.
There is no membership fee. Donations are welcome.
People who are not eligible for MFSO membership may join our Supporter Group. You are welcome to attend meetings that are open to the public, volunteer to help with event preparation and participate in our community actions and events. Supporters may purchase MFSO t-shirts and wear them with the "Proud Supporter of MFSO" button. Buttons may also be worn without the t-shirt.
Our Supporters provide emotional encouragement and physical help to our MFSO military families who are under extreme stress, especially if their loved one is in Iraq or Afghanistan We welcome your involvement, please contact us.
click to see the list MFSO chapters other than Washington state forming around the country.
LEILA FUJIMORI / LFUJIMORI@STARBULLETIN.COM "We're going to miss him bad, but watching the kids missing him is worse. He's going to miss out on a lot." Extended tours disappoint and irk isle military families » Reserve and Guard could also get longer deployment By Leila Fujimori and Gregg K. Kakesako Some families do not like a new Pentagon policy that extends deployments by three months of Hawaii-based soldiers who will be going to or are already in Iraq. More than 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division will spend three months in addition to their standard 12-month deployment in Iraq, under the policy announced yesterday in Washington.
Families were displeased with news that Hawaii-based soldiers who face deployment to Iraq or are already there will have to wait an extra three months before coming home. "I really don't like it," Ashley Cruz, 19, whose husband will be deploying in November, said at McDonald's restaurant in Wahiawa. "I don't think they should be there at all. They need to pull everybody out." Cruz is expecting their first child in August, and the Arizona couple just arrived in Hawaii a couple of months ago. She's made a couple of friends so far and plans to stay in Hawaii. The Pentagon announced a new policy yesterday in Washington that will result in the more than 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division spending an extra three months in Iraq. The soldiers, the majority of them assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team that left here last summer, are among the 15,000 troops affected by the policy announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Under the policy, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours, three months longer than the usual standard deployment.
Many Schofield Barracks soldiers and their families were expecting such an announcement after the Pentagon last week extended by 45 days the tour of the division's headquarters unit, which included its commander, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon. The Tropic Lightning soldiers deployed to Iraq last summer in what was supposed to be a yearlong assignment. Yesterday's announcement covers all of the Schofield Barracks soldiers in Iraq, including Mixon's headquarters unit. The Pentagon's announcement does not affect the Marines Corps, the Air Force, Navy or the National Guard and Army Reserve. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the deployment extensions are a "difficult but necessary interim step" to stabilize Baghdad. Celina Malone, 22, said she'll take her 1- and 3-year-old daughters home to Georgia when her husband leaves Schofield for his first deployment. "We're going to miss him bad, but watching the kids missing him is worse," she said. "He's going to miss out on a lot." Daughter MacKenzie Malone, 3, piped up: "I don't want him to get hurt." But 22-year-old Spc. Mike Malone Jr. will leave his family sooner than November. He's off to California in July for training, returns in October, then deploys in November. Hawaii Air National Guard Capt. Rosemarie Ader, 33, said she may volunteer to serve in Iraq to spare others who have deployed multiple times. "My brother-in-law has been there three times and my sister has three kids," she said. "If I can bring a husband or a wife home, yeah, I'd like to do my part in the war." Ader said the lengthier deployment is not fair to people like her brother-in-law, an Army ranger in the infantry, who is already slated to go a fourth time after his return in August. Amber Marcotte, 21, whose husband deploys in November, is expecting their first child in August. "He's going to miss the first year of our baby," she said. "I'm just waiting for him to get it all over with," she said.
|
Gates announces longer tours in Iraq
PAULINE JELINEK; The Associated Press
Last updated: April 11th, 2007 01:47 PM (PDT)
WASHINGTON - Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours - three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
It was the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush's revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.
"This policy is a difficult but necessary interim step," Gates told a Pentagon news conference, adding that the goal is to eventually return to 12 months as the standard length of tour in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said the new policy does not affect the other main components of the U.S. ground force in Iraq: the Marines, whose standard tour is seven months, or the Army National Guard or Army Reserve, which will continue to serve 12-month tours.
Gates acknowledged that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making life difficult for many in the military.
"Our forces are stretched, there's no question about that," Gates said.
He said the new policy also seeks to ensure that all active-duty Army units get at least 12 months at home between deployments. He said it would allow the Pentagon to maintain the current level of troops in Iraq for another year, although he added that there has been no decision on future troop levels.
Soldiers will get an extra $1,000 a month for the three extra months they serve, he said.
Without changing the standard tour length to 15 months, the Army would have been forced to send five brigades to Iraq before they completed 12 months at home, Gates said.
Some units' tours in Iraq had already been extended beyond 12 months by varying amounts. The new policy will make deployments more equitable and more predictable for soldiers and for their families, Gates said.
"I think it is fair to all soldiers that all share the burden equally," he said.
There are currently 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and when the buildup is completed by June, there would be more than 160,000, officials are calculating.
Washington state media reports:
Seattle Times - Ft. Lewis to feel the strain of longer Iraq tours
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Soldiers' war tours extended
Most at Fort Lewis resigned to 15-month separation
Tacoma News Tribune (Tacoma, WA - Fort Lewis) - Longer combat tours announced today will hit home at Fort Lewis
The Olympian (Olympia, WA) - Two Fort Lewis brigades affected by tour extension
The Columbain (Vancouver, WA) - Ft Lewis Strykers will have their Iraq tours extended by 3 months
Tri-City Herald (Mid-WA, Richland, Pasco, Kennewick, WA) - Gates announces longer tours in Iraq
Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA) - Gates extends deployments 90 days in Iraq, Afghanistan
(items shared by Lietta Ruger)
“I think the problems are systemic,” said Steven Engle, head legal counsel for soldiers going through the disability physical evaluation system at Fort Lewis, Wash. “The rules are inequitable.”
In some cases, he said, they may even be illegal.
And the cases that are coming to define the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and musculoskeletal injuries — are the ones most affected by unfair or unclear rules coming from the service’s top-level Physical Disability Agency, Engle said.
The rules undeniably keep soldiers’ disability ratings low, but Engle said he could not claim that as an intentional outcome.
“I have no evidence to make that allegation,” Engle said. “Locally, I know they’re good and honorable people. I’ve never met anyone from the Physical Disability Agency.”
Engle, a civilian in charge of two Army reserve JAG officers who also assist soldiers through the process, said he is speaking out about the inequities because the Army’s legal command wants to fix the problems stemming from the fact that the Army “grossly oversimplifies” Defense Department guidance on rating disabilities.
Military Times asked the Army Physical Disability Agency March 27 for comment on Engle’s charges. At press time on April 5, a spokesman for the agency said officials had been too busy to respond. They did, however, provide some statistics requested by Military Times.
The most troublesome cases involve injuries that can’t be proven with medical evidence, Engle said. One major issue: soldiers with PTSD must prove they witnessed a traumatic event.
In its guidance for preparing psychiatric reports on soldiers going through the physical evaluation board process, the Physical Disability Agency cites various ways soldiers can prove they have had a PTSD-level “traumatic stressor”: statements from a commander or from fellow soldiers, awards with citations, statements from the soldier’s family showing behavior changes, police reports and sworn witness statements.
“Where a data source includes information based only on what the soldier has related,” the guidance states, “you should not use this data source as supportive collateral information.”
That seems to contravene the Army’s own regulations. AR 635-40 states that if there is no proof against a soldier’s claim, “reasonable doubt should be resolved in favor of the soldier.”
Engle said decisions on PTSD ratings should be based on the same information as all other mental disabilities — a psychiatrist’s formal diagnosis.
Putting the burden of proof for PTSD on the soldier, he said, “is grossly unfair.”
In one case, he said, a soldier watched a buddy die in Iraq and has since suffered nightmares, played the event over in his mind continuously, and remains hyper-alert to possible danger.
To help prove he had PTSD, the soldier was told to contact the family of his dead friend to get documentation that the friend had died. Then, Engle said, he was told to prove he witnessed the death.
“He just couldn’t … do it,” Engle said.
According to the guidance for psychiatrists, even if a soldier proves he witnessed a traumatic event and afterward develops PTSD symptoms, it may not be PTSD, but rather strong emotional reactions to other stressors.
“It is easy (but could be wrong) to attribute symptoms to PTSD when the symptoms begin after witnessing horrifying events,” the guidance states, and then lists other possible causes for the soldier’s symptoms: contentious relations with his commander, marriage problems, financial difficulties, a history of poor job adjustment, significant personality problems or disciplinary action.
It also suggests a soldier may not remember being diagnosed or may have been told by his parents that he had a mental disorder.
“There may be situations where a soldier does not report any history of having been seen by any health care professional ... for any mental disorder,” the guidance states. “However, in taking the soldier’s history, it may become clear to you that the soldier’s current mental disorder began or existed prior to the soldier’s being on active duty.”
If that’s the case, the soldier is labeled with a disorder that existed prior to service, found unfit, and if he has been in for fewer than eight years, is discharged with no severance check, no medical benefits, and no access to care from Veterans Affairs.
In one case documented by Military Times, a soldier with a brain tumor was considered to have a pre-existing condition even though there was no medical evidence to prove it. Because he had been in for less than eight years, he received no disability benefits from the Army.
Soldiers with traumatic brain injuries face a similar situation: If they can’t prove with medical evidence that damage was done, they may be rated as only 10 percent disabled, well below the threshold required to earn lifetime medical retirement.
“Those cases are terribly under-rated,” Engle said. “I think there’s great confusion on how to rate it. There’s an inherent skepticism built into the rules if you can’t see an injury or measure it with a tool.”
A soldier whose brain scan shows signs of trauma can be rated to the full extent of his cognitive disabilities. But one whose scan comes out clean — even if he suffers daily migraines, can’t remember what he had for lunch, and has cognitive abilities well below his pre-deployment levels — cannot be rated higher than 10 percent, Engle said. That leaves badly injured soldiers with no disability retirement and health care.
Jeannette Mayer recently took her husband, Staff Sgt. DeWayne Mayer, to the Elks Rehab Hospital in Boise, Idaho, where he was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury in February.
She said the injury should have been obvious much earlier to Army physicians, and that he should have been rated for it at his physical evaluation board.
Between May and October of 2005, DeWayne Mayer suffered at least five concussive head injuries, his wife said — three from being close to roadside bomb blasts, one when his Humvee flipped, and one when American troops blew up a downed U.S. helicopter that he was guarding before he had gotten clear.
“There are times when he is totally confused,” his wife said. “He doesn’t understand what you’re saying to him. If you try to get his attention, he gets violent.”
He suffers migraines, slurs his speech, shuffles his feet, and has been diagnosed with short-term memory loss.
As he recuperated at Fort Lewis, she said she asked doctors again and again if it could be a traumatic brain injury. She said he was never seen by a traumatic brain disorder specialist, and that his physical evaluation board gave him three disability ratings of 10 percent each for short-term memory loss, cognitive disorder and a neck injury.
“They told me the TBI program was not for people with short-term memory loss,” she said. “That was a different diagnosis.”
Engle said it may not have mattered. In another example of seemingly conflicting rules, the psychiatrists’ guidance for mental disorders says soldiers should be evaluated based on their ability to work in a civilian setting — even though the physical evaluation board’s stated task is to determine if soldiers are still fit for their military jobs.
The guidance tells doctors to determine if a soldier has an “acceptable level of attention and concentration” to allow them to be civil with co-workers, make simple work decisions, ask simple questions and request help.
“My colleagues call it the ‘Wal-Mart greeter test,’ ” Engle said. “If you could be a greeter at a discount store, you don’t qualify for more than 10 percent.”
Engle also said getting Army rules, regulations and guidance from the Physical Evaluation Board is often difficult, and that those documents are not stored in a central location.
“There are a bunch of Army documents for the process: some signed, some not,” Engle said. “Some are provided to counsel, and some are not. A person has a right to know what the rules are.”
A soldier will not know what evidence to produce about his case if he doesn’t know how the board is evaluating him, he said.
In March, Engle said he received an e-mail from the PEB with disability ratings guidance for musculoskeletal issues and neurological and convulsive disorders — dated 2005. Engle did not know the changes existed.
Engle said he thinks Army lawyers should be involved in the process earlier — at the medical evaluation board level. Medical boards determine which injuries or illnesses may make soldiers unfit for duty, and then physical evaluation boards determine if the soldiers should stay in the military or what disability ratings they should receive.
But if a medical evaluation board doesn’t document all of a soldier’s injuries, the physical evaluation board won’t rate them.
He also believes more soldiers need to challenge he system by appealing their initial, informal board decisions.
“Dozens and dozens” of clients have told him medical evaluation board members have said soldiers can be rated for only one disability, and that’s not true, he said. Soldiers should be rated for all injuries that affect their ability to work.
Data provided by the Army shows that about 80 percent of injured soldiers at Fort Lewis accept the decision of their initial, informal evaluation board, while the remaining 20 percent appeal. About half of those who decide to appeal eventually choose not to follow through after consulting with legal counsel, the Army said.
That means only 10 percent of injured soldiers entering the disability system at Fort Lewis ever go before a formal evaluation board for their conditions.
Engle said the recent media coverage of problems with the disability ratings process at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is already prompting changes, though whether they are good or bad for soldiers is unclear.
In late March, the Army issued a “tactical pause” for certain cases: PTSD, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and range-of-motion joint issues — conditions Engle says are “chronically underrated” as disabilities.
The Army then lifted the “tactical pause” for all cases except sleep apnea and narcolepsy — two conditions for which the Army’s rating system differs significantly from Defense Department guidance, he said.
Engle has other suggested changes, to include lowering the time-in-service threshold for pre-existing conditions from eight years to three.
He also said the Army should more closely follow Defense Department guidance and policy in rating injuries.
Critics say the Navy and Air Force do so — which may be one reason why their average disability ratings and payments are higher than the Army’s, even though the Army has many more serious injuries coming out of the war zones.
“It boggles my mind to see higher ratings in the Air Force with so many traumatic injuries coming through the Army,” Engle said.
(shared by Lietta - found at Military Times)
To: Military Families Speak Out - Washington state chapter members
Members,
We received this invite months ago, and I sent it out to the membership. Please visit the website for NW Progressive Conference to learn more - link
http://www.wsuprogressive.com/index.html
Jenny Keesey, our new NW Region Board Representative for MFSO agreed to present and has been in contact with the organizers. Jenny has an invitation for the membership below:
Hi Members:
I will be participating in the WSU Progressive Conference at Pullman on Saturday, April 21st. The timeslot is 3:30 to 5:00 pm. WSU is providing dorm rooms at no charge for speakers.
I am wondering if anyone would like to share the timeslot with me and speak out? We also have been invited to table all day that day. I will be driving over on Friday afternoon and back on either Saturday evening or Sunday morning.
I will be talking about MFSO as an organization and would love to have someone talk more about their personal experience or a related topic of interest (i.e. VA benefits, etc.).
If you are interested, please let me know as soon as possible so I can secure an extra room.
Peace,
Jenny
WASHINGTON, March 19, 2007 – Army officials this morning launched a new hotline to help wounded warriors and their family members to get information or assistance with medical or other issues
The “Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline,” 1-800-984-8523, also will help Army leaders improve services to wounded soldiers and their families, officials said. We have designed this call center to be able to collectively hear what the soldiers say about their health care issues, so as issues are raised, we can identify systemic faults or problematic areas and senior leaders can better allocate resources," said Maj. Gen. Sean J. Byrne, commander of U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
"It's all about serving our wounded and injured soldiers and their families,” he added. “If we can find a way to improve our system, we will. It's that simple."
In a statement, Army officials acknowledged that many soldiers wounded in the global war on terror and their families are “enduring hardships in navigating through our medical care system.”
“The Army is committed to providing outstanding medical care for the men and women who have volunteered to serve this great nation,” officials said in the statement.
Care of wounded soldiers has been in the spotlight since a February series of articles in the Washington Post revealed shortcomings in outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, here. Since then, the hospital’s commander was relieved, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey resigned, and the service’s surgeon general submitted his retirement request over the issue.
“Recent events made it clear the Army needs to revise how it meets the needs of our wounded and injured Soldiers and their families,” Army officials said in yesterday’s statement. “In certain cases, the soldiers' chain of command could have done a better job in helping to resolve medically related issues.”
Officials stressed that the hotline is not intended to circumvent the chain of command, but is “another step in the direction of improvement.”
“Wounded and injured soldiers and their families expect and deserve the very best care and leadership from America's Army,” officials said. “The Army's intent is to ensure wounded and injured soldiers and their families that they receive the best medical care possible. The Army chain of command will ensure every soldier is assisted in navigating the military health care system.
The Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline can be reached from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1-800-984-8523. As additional personnel are trained to receive calls and refer them to the proper organization or agency for resolution, the hotline hours of operation will expand to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, officials said.
(shared by Lietta Ruger - found at Stryker Brigade News)
from Fort Lewis Ranger newspaper's blog - Blog-Ah
The Army announced today the extension of one Army Brigade in Iraq, but made no mention of extending the 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID from Fort Lewis scheduled to return to Fort Lewis this summer. Standby. Below is the Army release from this morning.
(Army News Release) - The Department of the Army confirmed today the Department of Defense's announcement for the next rotation of one corps headquarters, two division headquarters and two brigade combat teams in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, the Department of Defense extended one unit in Iraq and added approximately 2,000 combat support Soldiers to maintain the momentum of operations.
The XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters, from Fort Bragg, N.C., will replace Headquarters, III Corps, of Fort Hood, Texas, as the Multi-National Corps - Iraq Headquarters in November 2007. The Multi-National Corps Headquarters element oversees day-to-day operations in Iraq, and this deployment of a corps headquarters and some of its subordinate elements is part of a routinely scheduled rotation of forces. No stranger to this mission, the XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters last saw duty as the Multi-National Corps Headquarters from February 2005 - February 2006.
The 1st Armored Division Headquarters from Wiesbaden, Germany and the 4th Infantry Division Headquarters from Fort Hood, Texas, will deploy to Iraq in August 2007, and serve as multi-national force headquarters, assuming command and control of units and areas of operation as directed. Germany's "Old Ironsides" Division Headquarters last served in Iraq from April 2003 to August 2004 and Fort Hood's "Ivy Division" recently returned from an OIF deployment that started in December 2005 and ended this past December 2006.
The two brigade combat teams confirmed as part of the regular rotation to Iraq are the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y. and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C. (The Department of Defense previously announced this 82nd Airborne brigade's deployment Nov. 17, 2006.) Both Brigade Combat Teams are seasoned veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq. The "Warriors" of 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division completed their latest OIF rotation in August 2006, and had served in Afghanistan from June 2003 to May 2004. The "Devils in Baggy Pants" from Fort Bragg served in Iraq from September 2003 to April 2004, and twice in Afghanistan from December 2002 to May 2003 and June 2005 to March 2006.
The Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, currently serving as Headquarters, Multi-National Division North, is extended 46 days past an anticipated 12-month rotation end date. These "Tropic Lightning" Headquarters Soldiers will now redeploy in September 2007.
The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., which was the first unit called forward from Kuwait as part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom plus-up operations, deployed from Fort Bragg in early January 2007. Though tentatively scheduled to redeploy in September 2007, they will now complete a full 12-month rotation and return in early January 2008.
The Army is also supplying an additional headquarters unit for the plus-up, the Headquarters, 214th Fires Brigade, from Fort Sill, Okla., placing additional combat support capability in theater. This headquarters will plan, coordinate and synchronize lethal and non-lethal effects for operational commanders. The 214th HQ is trained and ready, and will deploy at the end of this month.
Combat support and security operations remain keys to success on the ground, and the Army is answering theater's call to provide more of these capabilities. For these latest requirements, the Army National Guard will provide headquarters and line batteries from the 181st Field Artillery Battalion, 145th Field Artillery Battalion and the 131st Field Artillery Battalion, all Army National Guard units. The incredible Citizen-Soldiers who comprise these units hail from the states of Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Kansas, and Georgia. They will deploy this September.
The Army will only provide the best led, best trained and best equipped forces possible to the combatant commander for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though increasingly a challenge, the Army also remains committed to carving out the critical 12 months of dwell time for units, Soldiers, and families between combat rotations. This dwell time is required to properly organize, re-train, and re-equip forces, as well as allow Soldiers and their families well-deserved rest. Where the 12-month dwell is broken, and where unanticipated extensions are ordered, the Army will focus all available resources on those units, posts, Soldiers and family members to ease the challenges these conditions bring.
Soldiers and family members continue to make great sacrifices for the good of our country and in response to theater requirements. America's Soldiers are performing magnificently around the world during this time of war, and they appreciate and acknowledge the continued support of the American People.
(I left the post intact to provide our members with update of troop rotations. Please remember this was posted to the Fort Lewis Ranger newsapaper's blog, and likely the tone reflects a bit about how news is reported to the Fort Lewis military community. ... Lietta Ruger)
surprised
In a staged all day guerrilla street theatre production, the Iraq Veterans Against the War, gave an example of what it might be like if Washington DC was 'occupied' by military troops. IVAW - whose members are returning Iraq veterans who have served in combat tours in Iraq - commemorated the 4th anniversary of Iraq war with this staged production in Washington DC, March 19, 2007.
When I saw some of the photos, I was both startled and impressed with the way IVAW chose to share their message. I think you will also be startled, and I hope impressed, by the photos depicting the actions of IVAW. I do wish I had been in DC to see it as I know it would have kept my interest the entire day. I hope IVAW will stage this kind of theatre again, maybe in various local communities. I talked to one of my colleagues in Texas and she thought she might invited them to stage the theatre in her city in Texas.
See additional photos including the mock taking of detainees at IVAW website.
And see More photos - excellent photography with chilling effects.
Also read the 'Far From Iraq; A Demonstration of a War Zone', the Washington Post article and account of the IVAW actions that day in DC. Interesting way WAPO put it together - and gives more detail to some of the photos, and some of the citizen public reactions to what was happening! There is also a short online video posted at WAPO website, along with the article.
Securing the Area
Stopping Bus at Checkpoint
Lance Corporal Cloy Richards, looking for Al-Anbar ghosts
Sniper-Instigator G-Repp
photos courtesy of my friend, pictured below
Bill Perry, Delaware Valley Veterans For America Disabled American Veteran, VVAW, VFP, VFW, VVA
Vietnam veteran, Bill Perry with Iraq veteran, Geoffrey Millard (member of IVAW).
Bill was there and has these comments (along with the photos) on the experience:
Truth is the FIRST CASUALTY of WAR
It was a remarkable privilege to witness IVAW running a mission that included interrogations of civilians, taking hostages, and displaying the hostility that an Occupation Force must possess.
IVAW certainly learned from us VVAW Vets of R.A.W. ( Rapid American Withdrawal ) and our Labor Day weekend, 1970 March, from Mooristown, NJ, to Valley Forge, PA.
Our VVAW March had incredibly long stretches thru the countryside, where nobody but pheasants and farm animals saw us, over 3 days.
IVAW's run, from Union Station, Congress, the Nat'l Mall, Wash Monument, etc., only took 8 hours, and garnered worldwide attention.
The varied reactions of passersby ran the gamut: Fear, consternation, shock, appreciation, and many expressed great PRIDE in IVAW's Guerilla Theater.
My favorite moment was when I informed 3 or 400 high school kids, { in the RED Tee-shirts } what the IVAW mission was, and they broke out in wild applause & appreciation.
(posted by Lietta Ruger - shout out of thanks to Bill Perry for making the photos available)
[Ed note: Received this via email. David recently joined up with MFSO and our Chapter. As I understand it he is out of Seattle. - Arthur]
I have looked for another way of contacting you with this poem without success. It would be a great honor to have it included in your web page. My son, Dylan, is in the Air Force Security Forces and has been to Iraq twice and will return in June. On the last tour he was assigned to an Army unit that convoyed supplies from Balad to FOBs. It seems that the Army is wearing out. Thanks.
Regards,
Dave Kannas
IN SILENCE, NO BREATHING
(with thanks to Jim Lehrer)
There was a time, years ago, another age
when this began, this silence.
And now, in silence 10, 12, 14 more.
Always more, never less.
But there were days, long ago,
in another age, when more was less.
When silence wasn't so silent.
Now, in silence, 15, 15, 17 more.
Breathing isn't important anymore.
When will that be accepted fact?
The lack of breathing, this silence, makes hearing easier.
And again, in silence, some more.
You'd think we'd know by now.
About death, that it's silent.
No breathing in death.
That the young are the most silent, loud in life, silent in death.
But here are more, a squad.
Smiles, no smiles, starched and rumpled, bright and not.
Some loved, some loved more.
All silent, not breathing.
Always in frames on tables, always young, mostly.
Always more, and in silence.
War is like this, it makes silence.
Makes life stop, frames life.
Frames faces of silent souls.
This silence maker, war.
But it's worse than that, this war, this maker of silence.
It's the end, the end to honesty in death.
We call it something else.
Heroic sacrifice, for example.
Continued in the name of more death, this war.
So previous death isn't for naught, they say.
So freedom can reign, they say.
So there can be more silence.
So we can continue in silence.
How many more, how much silence before the end?
Before the end of youth and hope?
And here, in silence.
David Kannas, November, 2006
[Excerpt from the Christian Science Monitor. The read the entire article, click here]
Four years into the war in Iraq, private support for US soldiers looks as strong as ever.
By Tom A. Peter | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
Page 1 of 4
What do US soldiers need in Iraq? Probably not hand-knitted caps and booties.
"We're running into a lot of knitted items" in care packages, says Marine 1st Lieutenant Barry Edwards, public affairs officer for Regimental Combat Team Six in Fallujah.
"Great job on the knitting, but we're starting to break 85 degrees [F.] ... and in about another month it's going to be over 100."
Four years into America's war in Iraq, public approval of the effort has fallen sharply, but private support for the troops looks as strong as ever. Since no official statistics exist, the evidence is necessarily anecdotal. Soldiers in war zones receive a steady influx of care packages and letters. Domestically, organizations that offer aid to soldiers and their families have enjoyed consistent support, and some have even grown.
After only three months in Iraq, Lieutenant Edwards has received over 200 care packages addressed to him. They came from friends, family, and complete strangers, he said in a phone interview, adding that he distributes most of them throughout the regiment.
"We definitely receive more now than in previous deployments. America's support for her troops has not waned," he says.
Other troops report similar experiences.
"I have received so much stuff, I would be hard-pressed to say 'thanks' enough," writes Commander Paul Eich, a naval aviator working as an intelligence officer in Baghdad, in an e-mail.
Commander Eich, speaking as a citizen, not a representative of the US military or government, says he once received two boxes with enough hand sanitizer to last him over six months.
Army Pvt. Ryan Zarzecki, from the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment in southern Baghdad, said he's often surprised to get mail from a stranger.
"Anything you get in the mail that's not a bill is a nice thing," he says with a smile.
The read the entire article, click here
| Died: October 15, 2004 |
| |
Sunday, March 18, 2007 -
By Marsha King
Seattle Times staff reporter
Click here to read the entire article
| |
Brothers Jared and Justin Santos woke up to their mother's screams.
"I thought she fell down the stairs," Jared recalled. Even after seeing the two somber soldiers in the living room, "I was thinking he might be missing. I didn't think he might be killed."
But their older brother, Cpl. Jonathan Santos, 22 and in Iraq for just five weeks, had been killed by a suicide bomber Oct. 15, 2004.
... People from all over Bellingham turned out to pay respects — "I didn't know that many people cared that much," Justin said.
Close friends at school stayed near. "I teared up really bad," Jared said. "A lot of the guys walked over and patted me on the shoulder."
For a long time, Jared couldn't talk about his feelings, and Justin was sad, angry and depressed. Their mother always has opposed the war; now both boys understand why and share her feelings.
Now their father — a career military man and divorced from their mother — also has been sent to Iraq. He's supposedly out of harm's way, but the brothers worry and e-mail him every day. They cope by supporting their mom, staying busy and playing sports.
Their deceased brother's memorabilia decorates their rooms; Jared wears the clothes Jonathan left behind and sleeps under his comforter. Since the death, Jared is working harder and has grown less shy. He's participating in a film project about his brother and wants "to name my first boy Jonathan."
Justin is getting straight A's and attends war protests with his mother. He envisions a job in politics — "helping save the lives of soldiers."
No. 1,096: 'You can't think about death.'
Boots inspire two mothers to make a soldier's death more than just a number
Friday, May 19, 2006
By ATHIMA CHANSANCHAI
P-I REPORTER
Click here to read the entire article.
The woman threads a bracelet and a rosary through the laces of the boots -- standard-issue military. She ties and unties the laces with trembling fingers, trying to get the tops of the boots to stand at attention.
She stares at them a long time, her shoulders hunched over as her slight body heaves up and down in rhythm to the sobs. One of her sons stands behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder.
The boots are unremarkable: black, midcalf, Army surplus, used -- somebody else's boots.
They look just like the other 1,546 pairs of boots at the Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion. They're lined up and spaced in neat rows, like soldiers at parade rest. Some are adorned with flags and photographs, some with flowers.
But it's the pair with the rosary and the silver bracelet that will bring together two women who each found a new life amid so much death.
One woman, Patricia, is a mother, a family doctor, a documentary filmmaker and a Quaker. In two decades of practice, she has seen how passionately children are protected and nurtured into adulthood. She cannot understand why they are sent off to war to be killed.
The other, Doris, is a military wife and mother whose eldest son enlisted in the U.S. Army three months before Sept. 11, 2001, the day mother and son realized the world had become a dangerous place.
"Son, you be careful," the woman told him.
I've got to get this down
Medicine is Patricia Boiko's calling. Stories are in her blood -- true stories.
Six years ago, she began taking classes at the University of Washington to become certified in documentary filmmaking. It was a natural fit.
Patricia went to the exhibit at the Seattle Center with her camera. At the time -- a little more than two years after the war in Iraq started -- 1,546 U.S. soldiers had been killed.
Patricia found the boots that had been so carefully laced up with a silver rosary and metal bracelet.
Then she went on the Internet and found the name of the Washington state soldier memorialized by the Army-issue boots, Googling her way to his mother, Doris Kent.
A stubborn first-born
Doris Kent grew up on Guam, the daughter of a Navy man and sister of a Vietnam vet. She married Leslie Santos, an Army man, and raised three
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| Doris Kent and Jonathan Santos in 2001. Santos graduated from Sehome High School, where he played football and wrestled. | ||
boys. She divorced the boys' father in 1995 and married Chris Kent in 1996.
Kent is also a retired Navy man. The couple met in Guam and moved to Bellingham in December 1996. They found a house in a quiet cul-de-sac with a clear view of the Canadian Rockies.
Doris had big dreams for the boys. As the only one of 10 children who went to college, she made it clear to her sons that they would go to college. But her first-born was stubborn.
He signed up for delayed entry into the Army.
"His junior year, a recruiter got hold of him, and he said, 'Mom, I'm going to earn my own college money.' I said, 'No. I'm going to pay for it.' We argued about it for three months."
He won. "He wasn't asking my permission to get into the military," said Doris. "He wanted my support."
Doris Kent, 45, has a streak of Martha Stewart. She keeps an immaculate house, loves to decorate and is an avid scrap-booker. Born into the military, she is a lifelong ID card holder, thanks to the active duty service members in her family.
"They're the ones that took the oath," Doris said. "We're the ones that took the life."
Until recently, she worked as a health educator in Prevention and Wellness Services at Western Washington University.
And until Oct. 15, 2004, her life was intact.
'Heard the heart breaking'
On Oct. 16, 2004, Jared Santos woke to the screams and cries of his mother, Doris Kent. His first thought: Mom has fallen down the stairs.
The 14-year-old ran down the hall to see what had happened.
His stepfather, Chris Kent, stopped him and ushered him back to his room. While he waited, Jared thought about his big brother: OK, he might be captured by insurgents or wounded. He's my brother. He isn't dead.
His stepdad came back for him a few minutes later.
Jared saw his mom crying in the living room. Two soldiers sat on the couch.
"I want you to tell them what you told me! I want them to hear it too!" Doris said, as Jared stood close by.
He'd never heard his mother scream like that.
"That was from the core of my heart, and what he heard was my heart being ripped out of my body. He heard the heart breaking," Doris said.
One of the strangers in uniform spoke up. "Corporal Jonathan Santos was killed in action yesterday while serving in Iraq."
Jared sat there with his head down. He let the tears stream down his face. I won't see you for the longest time, he thought, not until I am dead.
Doris had followed the daily death toll numbers from Iraq. Her son was now No. 1,096. "I thought, 'Oh no! They won't remember him. They'll just remember the numbers.' "
'Mom, I don't get it'
Before he was killed in Karabilah, Iraq, Jonathan Santos was a son, a brother, a friend, an athlete and a soldier.
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| Santos, shown here on duty overseas, was stationed in Haiti before heading to Iraq. | ||
At Sehome High School in Bellingham, he played football and wrestled. He owned every book Stephen King ever wrote, but he also loved Calvin & Hobbes. He loved fireworks and fast cars. His dark blue 2002 Toyota Celica GT still sits in the Kents' driveway.
Born at Fort Knox, Ky., on Sept. 23, 1982, he was old enough to know firsthand the nomadic life of a military family.
Jonathan never thought of the military as a place where he could get killed. Sure, one of his uncles had died from exposure to Agent Orange, but his dad, Leslie Santos, had enlisted and served during peacetime.
Jonathan's plan: serve four years and earn enough money to go to college in Southern California, where he'd join his best friend from high school. Then Sept. 11 happened.
Jonathan had scored high on the Army's language aptitude test and wanted to learn Chinese. Instead, the Army chose Arabic for him. He became a linguist with the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion.
He was stationed first in Haiti, in March 2004. That's where he received his orders to go to Iraq. "He told me, 'Mom, I don't get it. They're taking us and making us leave a country that desperately needs us and wants us and sending us to a country that desperately wants to kill us.' After I hung up with him, all I could do was cry," Doris said.
When her son went to Iraq, he had only seven months left to serve. He was a good soldier, but he looked forward to getting out. Two weeks before his death, he wrote in his daily journal: "Today is my 22nd birthday. Great. I guess I'll throw a kick-ass kegger. I'll have a keg of Killians and one of Yuengling."What a bangin party, right? Well it aint gonna happen because I'm in Iraq. But I make this vow here and now. This is the last ... THE LAST BIRTHDAY THE ARMY WILL STEAL FROM ME!"
'Grim Reaper'
Doris Kent didn't find her son's journal until his tough box -- a soldier's chest of his most valuable items that returns to families after their death -- came back. When he was home on leave, he never mentioned his fears or doubts. She found out about them in the diary.
"He didn't talk down about anything," she said. "He talked about his future. It's all you can do. You can't think about death. You just can't."
Doris also found something else in the tough box -- videocassettes. Her son bought a video camera just before he left for Iraq and had taped everything.
Doris sat down and watched them by herself, pausing when she cried too hard. There's Jon talking and laughing with his friends and family. There's his cousin's wedding he attended while he was home. There are his brothers at Six Flags. Those are his Army buddies. Oh, and that's his dog Roxy in North Carolina. He loved that dog.
One of the last videos Jonathan made shows him making what he called his "Grim Reaper" -- a lucky charm of a skeletal scythe-bearer made from electrical tape. He kept it in his Humvee.
It was hanging from the roof as he and his two-man team made their way back from a mission on the Syrian border. A Marine journalist and an Iraqi translator accompanied them. All five men were in the third vehicle in a convoy of three. A car that had pulled off to the side of the road revved up and rammed into them.
The Humvee exploded. Jonathan was thrown from the vehicle. Only one person survived. Jonathan died in a Blackhawk helicopter en route to the hospital.
Two lives
Weeks after shooting the "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit at The Seattle Center, Patricia e-mailed Doris for permission to use the footage of the Army-issue boots laced up with a rosary and bracelet.
Within the hour, Doris called her. "Of course," Doris told her. "But I'd really like to tell you my story, and Jonathan's story."
The two met in Bellingham, about seven months after the explosion that took Jonathan's life.
"At the time I was still so raw, still enmeshed in unbelievable grief," Doris said. "She was so gentle and kind with me, so generous. She reached out to me without knowing me."
Their two worlds were about to change. A mother found her voice. And a physician found another way of healing -- as a filmmaker.
The documentary Patricia made is only eight minutes -- the first of a three-part work in progress. Part one is called "The Corporal's Boots," which will screen Sunday at the Northwest Film Forum.
It begins with the fresh recruit saying "Hi" to his mom in his green camos. Then it fades to soldiers marching. In the next scene, the words of the Quaker who stood up at the April meeting are overlaid on images of the exhibit -- first one boot, then another and another until they fill the screen. There are more boots than people walking around them.
Patricia and filmmaker Laurel Spellman Smith are now editing the second in the series, "The Corporal's Diary," which focuses on Jonathan's videos and diary excerpts, read by his brother Jared.
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| Jared Santos, younger brother of Cpl. Jonathan Santos, holds his brother’s diary. Jared reads from it in the second part of the series, "The Corporal’s Diary." Photo Meryl Schenker/P-I | ||
The final segment will be "The Corporal's Memory," which follows Doris as she meets the mother of the one surviving member of Jonathan's team.
For Patricia, the filming has been difficult, psychologically and emotionally. She has a son who is about the same age Jonathan was when he died.
"I was able to keep it together to interview Doris. But editing Doris and watching Jonathan's tapes, I couldn't do it at first for more than an hour or two," Patricia said. "Also, I would become very angry. No one seemed to care about the war. They forget there's a war going on."
Some mothers of fallen soldiers who have seen the film view it as anti-war. Some see it as a memorial to the cost of war. She supports any way a mother needs to grieve and deal with her son or daughter's death in this war.
"Nobody could tell us how to hurt, how to miss them," she said. "You do whatever you have to do to get through this."
What Doris did was find a mission in her mourning.
Once the military mom hesitated to speak out against the war. She no longer holds her tongue -- even though at times she wonders if she's doing the right thing.
"I know the sacrifices that we as military families make in supporting a family member who is active duty. It's a political decision to send them to war. But it's a patriotic decision to serve in the military.
"Unfortunately, serving in the military right now is serving a political agenda, and my son was killed for that."
Jonathan Santos' gravesite at Bayview Cemetery is about five minutes from his family home.
There are two headstones for Jonathan in the veteran's portion of the cemetery.
One, from the Army, is flush with the ground. It shows he earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. The other is upright and made of marble. It shows a sketch of a soldier at attention.
Doris visits at least three days a week, wiping the markers free of dust and grass, firming up the flags that line the small plot of grass behind the stones and decorating the site on holidays.
Her mantel at home also memorializes Jonathan. On it is an assembly of photos that show how the boy became the young man, the young man the soldier in the black boots.
She found them in his tough box. They're small boots: size 7 1/2. Jonathan was compact: 5-foot-7, about 160 pounds, mostly muscle.
Years of pulling the laces tight have made the tongues soft as butter. The heels are worn, the rounded toes scuffed.
On May 8, Doris carefully packed the boots in a carry-on suitcase, along with Jonathan's dog tags.
She headed to Washington, D.C., for the Mother’s Day March, and the last day of the “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit in the capital’s National Mall.
On May 13, the day of the march, she rode the escalator up into the Mall, carrying the boots in a shopping bag.
There were now 2,439 pairs of boots. A thousand more soldiers gone since she first saw the exhibit in Seattle.
Doris took out Jonathan's dog tags and put them around her neck, then walked to the rows of boots honoring Washington state's soldiers. She found the used black boots with her son's name on them.
She bent down, unlaced the boots, and painstakingly transferred her son's rosary and bracelet to the boots he'd first worn in basic training.
Doris tied the boots so tight they stood straight up. It looked as if her son was standing in them.
"Now I know Jonathan will be traveling with this exhibit," she said.
"First it was a pair of boots with his name on it, now it's Jonathan's boots -- not somebody else's boots, but his boots."
DIARY EXCERPTS
Excerpts from the daily diary entries of Army Cpl. Jonathan Santos in Iraq:
Sept. 13, 2004
It was smooth sailing to Al Qaim after that. We downloaded our gear once here. Our new pad is awesome. It's air conditioned and we all have beds. Before we came here, people were saying we have the worst living conditions. But I'd say this place is pretty sweet.
Sept. 18, 2004
Today there was a big Iraqi Police meeting at the IP training grounds. SPC (P) and I stayed outside and guarded the perimeter. The sun was blazin hot. Especially up in the turret in my Kevlar body armor, long sleeve and my dust mask insulating around my neck.
I also got these new shoulder guards that attach to the body armor. They're good for cutting off the circulation to my arms.
Sept. 28, 2004
I got mail from my youngest bro, Justin and my Mom. ... I watched some video footage I took of my friends (T) and Justin. They were talking about how they want me to return safely from Iraq. And I promised them I would. I never lie.
But is sure is dangerous here what with the rockets, mortars, IEDs and sniper attacks. I wanted to be an ATL and now that I am one, I'm up in the turret exposed to all of the hazards Iraqi insurgents put out there. Be careful what you wish for. You just may get it. I made the Angel of Death.
Sept. 29, 2004
A couple of days ago a marine killed himself and today I talked to one of the guys that cleaned up part of the mess. The guy who committed suicide shot himself in the head, and his buddies had to clean it up. That's (expletive) up.
Oct. 11, 2004
It's Columbus Day. Wonderful. So we honored this holiday by taking the day off. Good for us. I think we're going to honor it again tomorrow with another day off. Why? Because there isn't (expletive) for us to do here in Iraq.
But I'm alright with that. Sometimes I feel that way because I'm lazy. Other times I just want to live to see another day. I don't want to become just some picture on the wall to my younger brothers. I want to live ... like Quato lives.
Oct. 14, 2004
I once again enjoyed the splendors of Driver 3. I am an ace at that game. Missions have been on hold lately because Crypto (aka communications) was compromised. Some unit lost a radio when they hit a mine. The new fill comes out tomorrow, so we'll be going out.
Santos was killed the next day.
... Santos, who had been in Iraq for only five weeks before he was killed, left behind daily written entries and a video diary from Iraq. Boiko and filmmaker Laurel Spellman Smith are turning his words and footage into "The Corporal's Diary," the second piece of "The Corporal" trilogy. The final film will be called "The Corporal's Memory."
FIND OUT MORE
Boiko's Web site: www.winningpicturesllc.com (where you can find links to "The Corporal's Boots" information and to Jonathan's journal)
"Eyes Wide Open" exhibit: www.afsc.org/eyes/
"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.
But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1918, Lincoln and Free Speech
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