The Iraq War is ending, but the work continues…
As military families, we rejoice when any troops come home, and we are relieved our loved ones will never again be deployed to Iraq. However, we know that the war is not really over, not for military families, not for veterans, and not for the people of Iraq. It is not over for families with loved ones who will leave Iraq only to be redeployed to Afghanistan. For the families whose loved ones never returned from Iraq, or who took their own lives, or who returned with significant physical and psychological wounds, it will never really be over.
The people of Iraq will still be faced with private U.S. military contractors and years of rebuilding their country. In Iraq, it is not just the military but the entire country that will have to deal with the physical and psychological wounds of war. To add insult to injury, Defense Secretary Leon Pannetta recently announced that 40,000 troops will stay “in the region,” meaning the U.S. could easily have troops back on the ground in Iraq at any time.
There is still a lot of work to be done, and the voices of military families are more important than ever. We must continue working for an end to the war in Afghanistan, for better treatment of our service members, and for proper care for all veterans. We must hold our government accountable and continue to speak out.
As always, we say: “Bring ALL the troops home now, and take care of them when they get here!”
Weird Math: 1 Percent versus 1 Percent
MFSO Member Paula Rogovin reflects on Occupy Wall St.
On Saturday, October 8, 2011, members of Military Families Speak Out stood alongside members of Veterans For Peace and thousands of other people at Occupy Wall Street. We were so happy to see so many people from so many walks of life. Here was a place where the messages like the ones we carried: Support our troops, bring them home NOW! were part of the outcry from the many thousands at OWS. Our presence as veterans and military families was very well received. Yes, we are part of that 99%.
Being part of that 99% has been a life-long experience for me. I’ve been a New York City public school teacher for 38 years. We, members of the United Federation of Teachers, have marched and demanded over the years that the City stop the cuts and offer fair wages – only to see mayor after mayor do everything possible to keep our wages down while the Chancellor makes over $250,000 and non-union employees get huge raises. Testing companies, the book publishers, and the tech industry profits are going up.
Two weeks ago, we saw the layoff of over 700 workers – workers who are desperately needed at our schools.
Strangely, however, members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) are part of the 99%, but we are also part of the 1%. How could that be? MFSO is a national organization with over 4000 members whose loved ones are active duty in the military.
“Less than 1 percent of the U.S. population has been on active military duty at any given time during the past decade.” (Washington Post. 10/5/11)
Military families have seen our loved ones serve multiple deployments, often with little dwell time between the deployments. We have seen over 6282 of our loved ones killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of us have seen our loved ones wounded. We have seen our loves ones suffer amputations, traumatic brain injury, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and poisoning from Depleted Uranium and other toxins from US weapons. We have seen families torn apart by the traumas of these wars.
Our 1% is suffering directly from the wars imposed by the other 1% – the military industrial complex, the oil companies, big business – in collusion with many members of Congress who take multi-millions from industry lobbyists in exchange for keeping these wars going and going.
Our 1% wants to tell that other 1%, including many members of Congress: End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bring the troops and contractors home NOW. Take care of the troops when they get here. Bring the war dollars home for our communities – for jobs, education, health care, housing, and other services we need so badly. Meet the demands of the 99%.
— Paula Rogovin, of Teaneck, is with Military Families Speak Out, Bergen County chapter
Families prepare for challenges veterans face after returning home
Sacramento Bee
Sacramento area Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) presented a panel of experts to help local families cope with returning veterans struggling with a barrage of challenges: post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, substance abuse, divorce and a desolate job market.
And as many as 70 percent of the women and 40 percent of the men have been sexually abused in the military, said Carolyn Fink, a licensed clinic social worker with the Soldiers Project, Sacramento. “We have 18 veteran suicides a day nationwide, and that doesn’t count active military,” Fink said.
“The war will continue even after it’s ended for those scarred by their experience,” said Fred Guzman of Pathway Home, a residential care facility for 40 veterans in Napa. “The general public doesn’t understand that they may look OK, but their brains have been changed,” said Guzman. “One in three come back with some kind of social or psychological problem.”
They often feel they have two families – the family they left in the United States and their combat family, Guzman said. “Facing life and death is the hardest thing you’ll ever face; there’s nothing like it.”
Fink, who sees 8-12 veterans a week, said National Guard troops and reservists don’t qualify for medical benefits “if you’re not a wounded warrior.”
They often return to children who don’t know them, unstable families and loved ones walking on eggshells because they don’t know how to read their minds and moods, Fink said.
The veterans are often “very disillusioned about the world they live in and the service they provided to the country,” Fink said. “They realize there’s evil in the world, and they might see it in the mirror. And they suffer from a crisis of faith: ‘Whose God do I talk to? Whose God did all this s—?’ ”
The beefed-up GI Bill that pays for college “is a great thing, but too many are not ready,” paralyzed by fear, Fink said.
Some find it too hard to readjust to loved ones who’ve also been changed by the war. They prefer to return to their combat unit where they know what’s expected.
The experts met with several families who described how the wars have affected them.
Laurie Loving, a Davis peace activist who helped organize the event, said she was terrified when her son got married, enlisted at 19 and was deployed to Mosul in war-torn northern Iraq in August 2005.
“It took me 13 months to get my blood pressure down, I gained 40 pounds and went on disability retirement,” Loving said.
Many get married too young, unprepared for long separations and the stress of war – a prescription for heartbreak, Loving said. “My son and at least half the nine men in his unit either divorced or their girlfriends broke up with them during the year they were deployed in Iraq.”
Loving’s son, a team leader and a sergeant, was prepared to re-enlist until she bribed him with $13,000 tax-free – more than double the army’s re-enlistment bonus, she said. He’s since graduated from the Culinary Institute of America.
Loving was in position to help her son financially, but others parents can’t.
Many young people, approached by recruiters in high school, enlist because they feel they have no other economic options.
Terry and Jamie Meador of Roseville said that’s why their son Mike, 21, enlisted. “He was making $9 an hour at Starbucks, and when all of your non-collegiate jobs disappear, he felt this was a viable option,” said Jamie, wiping away tears. “He’s been in Afghanistan for five months. We don’t support the war, we support the soldiers.”
Zoreh Whitaker, who opened her home to the military families Sunday, said she’s seen families destroyed by returning veterans who’ve been charged with rape, kidnapping and other crimes.
Whitaker said her son Christopher served two tours in Iraq and now trains military medics. “He’s nervous, his leg’s constantly tapping,” said Whitaker, “but he likes the military, he likes the brotherhood. I’m a pacifist; I don’t want somebody to knock on my door.”
Vacaville’s Patrick Sheehan and his ex-wife Cindy got that knock in 2004 after their son, who entered the service as a chaplain, was killed in action in Iraq.
“I know exactly where he is; I won’t have to worry any more,” he said. “We need to bring them home now and take care of them when they get here. They deserve to be helped – they’re not charity.”
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/17/3984486/a-harrowing-homecoming-preparing.html#ixzz1bFtPmlAn
MFSO Member Wins Video Contest
Peaceful Tomorrows has announced two winners in its “Say Your Peace” video contest. Sarah Fuhro of Natick, Massachusetts, the mother of a soldier sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, was the winner in the adult category for her video, “Who May Vote for War?” “Making my first and only video was quite a challenge and I thank September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows for that challenge,” Fuhro says. “I also thank you for the voice of peace you have offered over these ten long years since the tragedy which destroyed your loved ones on September 11th. “If war is ever to cease, I believe, it will be because families refuse to participate in violence and revenge against other families. When we look into the eyes of the Iraqi and Afghan parents and children who have suffered at the hands of our military machine, we know their pain. When we see our children return home haunted by their wartime experiences, we have to ask, every day, how we can stop this terrible circle of violence and sorrow. “Many thanks for your work and the contest, which allowed me to suggest that the human family bears the burden of war, and our voices will someday join the world over to say: no more.” Sarah will be donating her $1,000 award to Military Families Speak Out.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows’ “Say Your Peace” video contest grew out of a desire to hear how individual Americans think our nation can promote alternatives to war and to offer support to others seeking non‐violent responses to all forms of conflict, hate and terrorism. We believe strongly in the rule of law, and are committed to calling attention to threats to civil liberties, human rights, and other freedoms in the U.S. as a consequence of 9/11 and its resulting wars. We seek to promote U.S. foreign policy that places a priority on internationally‐recognized principles of human rights, democracy and self‐rule. The “Say Your Peace” video contest is part of Peaceful Tomorrows’ 9/11 Voices for Restoring Rule of Law campaign, funded through a grant from the Open Society Institute.
Art by MFSO Members: Reflecting on 10 Years of War
On this page you will find examples of art made by members of Military Families Speak Out, reflecting on their experiences over the last decade of war.
“I’ve Come to Take My Boy Home”
a play by Dave Lambert, MFSO Indiana – click here to download
This is a short anti-war play, with two characters, Vivian and Jerry. Vivian is middle-aged, with a son in the military. She has been an activist for several years, protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a teenager she protested the Viet Nam war. Jerry, her husband, is not so much an activist, but tries, as best he can, to be supportive of his wife. The play is about the stress and frustrations of military families who have loved ones fighting wars they do not support, and the feelings of powerlessness they experience as their leaders turn deaf ears to their pleas for peace. The title comes from the song of the same name, by Jym Mooney. It is written to be performed in front of cameras, no audience.
Poems by Joe Ramsey, MFSO Massachussetts
On Bombings and ApologiesAfter killing your wife
Upon maiming your children
And wrecking your life.
“I’m sorry,” he said,
“The missile, it missed,”
Then took a step back
when he saw your clenched fist.
“That damn missile went left
when it should have gone right
–It’s so hard to see straight
in the middle of the night.”
“Dear friend, know America
did not want you dead…
That missile was meant
for your neighbors instead.”
Yes, America, we can still offer you up
a death
after all these years:
A glorious kill
For all your patience and persistence,
suffering and sacrifice,
(for half your taxes, ten million airport pat-downs, a stadium full of hometown boys
Cut to shreds, and all those human stains on your nice clean boots):
Yes, we can still make good
on a promise,
Still bring home to you that sweet spectacle of
revenge.
(Not your son, it’s true.) But at least
this digitized dream:
a Special Forces play-by-play,
a broadcast autopsy
To warm your red, white, blue toes by.
For “In America anything is possible,
If we set our minds to it.”
Are you not impressed?
Does the site of these sublime wounds not bleed joy
Right into your skipping heart?
Does your tongue not swell with spit
and does your throat not long to gargle
on that distant mountain blood
like popped champagne?
Patriot pulses quicken, eagle spirits rise
Tugged by the dusty beards
Of skeletons
rattling across precious metal mountain tops.
Have faith, America,
Yes. We. Can.
Still. Kill. Man (andwomanandboyandgirl)
and keep promises, too, yes:
Maybe not those concerning Education, or Jobs,
Equality, or Healthcare
Or Life that amounts to more than cavernous debt…
But we can still deliver on corpses
And that’s not nothing,
is it?
So when you’re feeling low
(low enough even to rise)
Know this:
We are there to buffer and to buoy you up
With bodies blown apart;
These bombs can blast the paint off the canvas
and give us a fresh start.
In the name of God,
In the shadow of new tomb-towers
blocking out the sun
And all that is sacred
Of America and
doesn’t everybody love a good show
and a party too?
Amen
to that.
MFSO Member Speaks on 9/11 in San Francisco
Afghanistan Veterans Against the War Speaking Tour
In July 2011, U.S. Army veterans Brock McIntosh and Jacob George returned to Afghanistan with a U.S. delegation for nonviolence, eager to meet with local Afghan peace and social justice organizations. Their mission was twofold: to gain a greater understanding of ordinary Afghans’ needs, fears, and desires for their country, and to discover ways U.S. activists can support indigenous nonviolent efforts to reach those goals.
Now back in the U.S., Brock and Jacob are prepared to report back to the American public on this landmark first dialogue between occupied and former occupiers. Embarking on a nation-wide speaking tour, Brock, Jacob, and other veterans will address the problematic nature of the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan using firsthand anecdotes as both soldier and observer. Brock and Jacob will draw on their recent experience in Afghanistan to facilitate a discussion on meaningful actions we as Americans can take to support Afghan civilians and their right to self-determination.
Click here to find an event near you.
Military families join Teaneck Peace Vigil
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011
BY ANDREA ALEXANDER, STAFF WRITER
*click here for a video interview with MFSO Teaneck chapter leader Paula Rogovin*
Parents of children who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan joined veterans and other activists in front of the Teaneck Armory Wednesday to call for an end to the wars.
The group of more than 30 people gathered to mark the sixth anniversary of the weekly Teaneck Peace Vigil. Their message hasn’t changed much since a group of area residents began their regular gathering. Participants in the vigil want the troops brought home and to be taken care of when they return. They also want to see the money spent on military efforts abroad shifted to education, health care and other priorities at home.
“We have to stop these wars and bring our troops home and use the money for useful things, not killing people,’’ said Joe Harris, of Teaneck.
But some things have changed in the last six years. The jeers of passing drivers have stopped. The response to the vigil has become more positive. Drivers either honk in support or, at worst, pass by in silence.
“You can always see the climate of the country by looking at the reaction of people to the vigil,’’ said Paula Rogovin, a Teaneck resident who has been a driving force behind the gathering.
After 30 service members were killed in Afghanistan earlier this month, “there were more people honking in support of the vigil that week,’’ Rogovin said.
Participants Wednesday carried signs that declared “we need jobs and schools, not war” and “wage peace.” A man with a bull horn shouted at passing cars “bring them all home now – alive.’’
Activists handed out fake $1 million bills and asked people in the crowd to write down other ways to spend the money that has supported the war efforts. The group plans to deliver the dollars to the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn. Participants also put flowers on a tank in front of the armory to honor the soldiers and civilians who died in both wars, as well as the wounded.
For Rogovin and Anna Berlinrut, of Maplewood, the vigil is also about reminding those who pass by about the toll the war has taken on service members and their families. Rogovin’s son served two tours in Iraq. Berlinrut’s son served in Iraq and Kosovo and is currently stationed in Afghanistan.
When her son was in Iraq, Rogovin would turn on the radio first thing in the morning for news about casualties. She would listen for clues to try to figure out if her son was one of them, or if he was safe. She would brace herself when she turned the corner on her way home because she feared seeing a military van parked in front of her house waiting to give her unbearable news.
Berlinrut is frustrated because she doesn’t see the war getting the news coverage she believes it should.
“I would like people to put themselves in the place of military families,’’ Berlinrut said. “Think about their loved ones – their children, their spouses – and how they would feel if they were in harm’s way over and over again. Knowing how dangerous this is, knowing that they could be lost at any point, is this war really worth that?’’
Rogovin hopes that seeing the vigil will spur people to action.
“We want them to speak up in some way,’’ Rogovin said. “Write a letter to a member of Congress or to the president, make a phone call, send an e-mail, join a vigil.
“Even the people who are honking, I consider them part of this effort,’’ Rogovin said. “If they are with someone they will have a conversation, so even honking or giving a peace sign to support this vigil is important.’’
E-mail: alexandera@northjersey.com