A Real American Value
Mar 26 '05
The Bottom Line On the second anniversary of the war in Iraq, veterans and military families sent a message that it's time to Bring Our Troops Home Now!
Cindy Sheehan's eyes showed no fear, only fierce determination. The
co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace stepped forward and a crowd
of nearly four thousand people slowly began to follow her up a steep
hill and into the nation's consciousness. The mother of Specialist
Casey Sheehan, a soldier who now lies in a grave in Vacaville,
California, traveled all the way across the country to Fayetteville,
NC, the town outside of Ft. Bragg. She came to grieve and to add her
righteous anger to a growing sentiment among military families and
veterans that the war in Iraq is wasting the lives of yet another
generation.
A young man in a red beret and a desert camouflage jacket walked
purposefully behind her. The banner he helped carry read "Iraq
Veterans Against the War". Joshua Despain served in Iraq with Ft.
Bragg's 82nd Airborne. A friend died in combat. Questioning the
reasons for that sacrifice, Despain refused to return to Iraq after
being granted leave in the U.S. The Army quietly discharged him rather
than allowing his case to draw attention to the growing discontent
among its ranks. Now he along with nearly 150 other men and women from
across the country are raising a collective voice against the war they
fought in. Many of them were in Fayetteville for their first national
meeting.
As the march moved forward, wives with husbands deployed to Iraq
walked beside the fathers and mothers whose sons and daughters also
serve. Military Families Speak Out with a membership of over 2,000 has
been a leader in the current movement to end the war. Kara
Hollingsworth of Ft. Bragg, whose husband isn't due to return from his
second tour of duty until November, carried her four-year old daughter
and looked not the least bit intimidated by the weight of representing
the thousands of local families with loved ones in harms way.
At Fayetteville's Rowan Street Park the marchers were greeted by
hundreds of police officers. A few dozen counter-protesters held
thoughtful signs, including my favorite, "Osama is Yo Mama." This
small but obnoxiously vocal group perched unmolested on a grassy knoll
overlooking the park as the groups of students from Quaker colleges
and the parents of slain soldiers had their backpacks searched and
their bodies gone over with metal detecting wands. Still, the
enthusiasm of the crowd grew instead of abating as Ralph Baldwin, a
Vietnam veteran with some serious musical talent kept them entertained
during the nearly hour long search process.
Pat Elder of Bethesda Maryland drove to the rally with his daughter to
deliver 100 coffins and 100 American flags. As those carrying the
coffins finally entered the park, a series of speakers unlike any
assembled in this war took the stage one after another to captivate
the crowd as they drove home the point that war has a human face.
Michael Hoffman, a Marine Lance Corporal assigned to an artillery
battery during the invasion told those assembled about the near
impossibility of receiving medical benefits from the overloaded and
underfunded Veterans Administration.
Kelly Dougherty, an eight-year veteran of the Colorado National Guard
spoke of how her feelings for the Iraqi people changed as she served
as a military police officer during her year in Iraq.
Michael Berg, whose son Nick, a contractor, was killed last year after
being taken hostage explained that his family wants peace, not
vengeance. So did David Potorti, co-founder of September 11th Families
for Peaceful Tomorrows, whose brother, Jim, died in as the World Trade
Center towers collapsed.
This war is an obscene reality to the people whose lives are forever
changed by it. In a military community it is sometimes difficult to
counter the flag-waving stereotype by objecting to the lies and broken
promises emanating from Washington. Those who depend on the military
for their housing, medical care and their very livelihoods are to be
commended for risking all of that by speaking out. Those from the
communities of faith and conscience who support them are also to be
commended.
What happened in Fayetteville on the second anniversary of the
invasion of Iraq should end forever the notion that the military
community and the peace movement are destined to always be at odds
with one another. Months of planning and cooperation between grass
roots activists and veterans and military families from around the
country resulted in a nearly flawless example of the power that real
people have when they unite.
Their message was clear. Real support for the troops means bringing them
home now and taking care of them when they get back. Soldiers who
resist the call to participate in senseless violence will be
encouraged and welcomed by a nation that sees that resistance as a
real American value.
Lou Plummer, of Fayetteville, NC, is member of Military Families
Speak Out and the Bring Them Home Now! campaign. He can be reached at
lou.plummer@mac.com
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Member: Lou Plummer
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Reviews written: 176
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Stop the war. Bring the troops home now!
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