KOTA Territory News – This Memorial Day weekend, military families across the nation and even Canada come together in the black hills to find the healing they so desperately need.

Music from the drums help Arturo Cambron find healing.  He and his wife Rossana suffer a daily battle while their son fights a war in Iraq.

“All of the pain I feel as a mother whose son has just deployed for the third time and taking that deep breathe that you never let out until they come home,” said Rossana.

This weekend they learn how to pray, spiritually connect and most importantly how to exhale, even when they know they have more challenges ahead.

“It’s one type of burden but when he gets home it’s another type of burden because we don’t know the affects it will have on him,” said Rossana.

Something April Somdahl knows all too well.  After failing a psychological test Somdahl says her brother was sent back to Iraq for his second tour.

“He returned in August, he committed suicide on February 20th of 2007,” said Somdahl.

“The way I can describe it, my son returned home alive but dead inside,” said He Sapa coordinator, Georgia Stillwell.

The He Sapa or Heart of the People retreat helps military families find solace through Lakota ceremonies.  For four days, 20 people from all over the country and Canada learn how to release their trauma and sorrow.

“I wanted to help them to grieve and feel like their prayers are being answered somehow,” said Michael Bissonette, one of the event coordinators.

And family members say that’s just what this music and these rituals are doing for them.

The four day retreat ends Sunday with a closing talking circle and sunrise ceremony.  The Oglala Sioux Tribe will also host a Memorial Day ceremony at Black Hills National Cemetery.

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -The mother of a Bay Area man who died in Iraq in 2004 was one of the “Gold Star” moms invited to the White House Monday to mark Memorial Day and pay tribute to the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gold Star mothers like Karen Meredith of Mountain View come to Washington each Memorial Day to honor their children who died while serving their country. Meredith came for her son Ken, an Army Lieutenant killed in Iraq in 2004.

”It’s very hard to see Ken’s name on a headstone because it just doesn’t belong there,” said Meredith.

Meredith was one of 60 Gold Star mothers who attended a breakfast at the White House with the President and First Lady and later was stunned when Obama visited Section 60 at Arlington Cemetery where vets who died in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

”For him to come out, and I believe honor us with his presence, and to take the time to meet with some of the families, to me showed an understanding that this is a huge sacrifice that we’ve all paid,” said Meredith.

Earlier at the amphitheater of the cemetery, the President said the nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. It was the first time a president has visited Section 60 on Memorial Day.

The demise of bin Laden does little to undo the countless mistakes we’ve made in his name.

By Dante Zappala
reposted from The Philadelphia Inquirer

Amid the requisite flag-waving, chanting, and nationalistic fervor over the death of Osama bin Laden, I will not be rejoicing myself. There will be no vindication for me as I remember the sacrifice of my brother, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.

If the largely symbolic event of bin Laden’s death brings closure for the countless people affected by the tragedy of 9/11, I wish them peace. But his death does not offer any to me. It cannot undo the legacy of the reckless endeavors undertaken in the aftermath of that tragedy.

What may be convenient to forget in these moments of righteous chest-beating is that, shortly after the devastation perpetuated by this criminal, we accepted an ideology of permanent war. We waved not the Stars and Stripes, but the flag of revenge.

The so-called war on terror took us to Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 or bin Laden. Preemptive warfare was introduced to the lexicon of American foreign policy. We happily absorbed a series of fabrications that told us our own security depended on bombing and invading this country. In the process, we abandoned ideals that are essential to our tradition and spirit.

My brother was killed chasing a ghost, scouring the desert for weapons of mass destruction. But the true ghost we chase – the bin Laden that is still hidden to us – is our sense of security. In that regard, the legacy of bin Laden will be that he successfully baited us into endless conflict in the Middle East, putting us on a road to military, economic, and moral bankruptcy.

Will bin Laden’s death make us finally feel safe? This country spends more money on its defense than all the other nations on Earth combined, and yet we cannot say with any conviction that the wars in the Middle East have done anything to increase our security. The consensus, in fact, is that they have done the opposite.

The Iraq war is winding down without having met any clear military or political objectives. Waste, fraud, and mismanagement will define the conflict, as will what promises to be an indefinite military presence there. In Afghanistan, our forces have tripled, and though the definition of victory is ever-changing, we still cannot achieve it. And now we are engaged overtly or covertly in operations across North Africa.

Meanwhile, there are more than 1.5 million veterans of these wars, many of whom served multiple deployments. Traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder scar this class of heroes. More and more, the veterans of the global war on terror are in homeless shelters, prisons, or dead by their own hands. The toll will span generations.

Who has benefited from this sacrifice? I certainly have not. And I feel certain that most Americans have not.

Will the death of bin Laden resolve our need for permanent war? The likely answer is no.

Bad guys, both real and exaggerated, will continue to exist. We will remain fearful, and we will squander treasure and opportunity on the premise that we are perpetually threatened.

The only way to truly kill Osama bin Laden is to reevaluate what we have done in his name. We must take a long, hard look at why we continue to spend $10 billion a month and to accept, albeit with sorrow, the loss of life in Afghanistan. We must question why we so readily drop bombs in Libya while some of our own city streets resemble a war zone.

If we can face these hard truths, we can bury our ghosts along with this monster. Then, and only then, will we be vindicated.

Dante Zappala is the brother of the late Sgt. Sherwood Baker. He can be reached at zappala1@gmail.com.

On April 26th,  we marked a tragic milestone: 6,000 U.S. service members have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We mourn for these lost lives, as well as those who’ve taken their own lives as a result of their experiences. We extend our deepest condolences to all Gold Star families, and honor those who have chosen to speak out and channel their grief into ensuring that no other family goes through what they have gone through.

What you can do:

• Volunteer to send condolence cards to Gold Star families who are MFSO members. To volunteer, write to samantha@mfso.org
• Let other families know about the resource page we provide to help families cope.

Today, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are kicking off a new initiative called “Joining Forces,” which encourages every department of the government as well as companies, schools, philanthropic organizations, religious groups and local communities to recognize the burden placed on military families by the ongoing military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The burdens affecting military families, veterans, and service members are the results of government policies and practices, and need to be addressed by those responsible, rather than placing the burden on schools, non-profits, churches and local communities who are struggling themselves with funding cuts and affects of the ongoing recession.  Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Biden need to use their influence to change the policies that are hurting us.

Now is a critical time for the public, the media, and the White House to hear from military families about the real support we need!

Communicate with the public:

MFSO has launched a new website called “We Are Military Families” where military families can post their stories and talk about the real support we need.  If you would like to contribute a blog or a video to the website, please email samantha@mfso.org

Please spread the word by letting other military families know about this effort, as well as others who support us!

Communicate with the media:

Write a Letter to the Editor using this easy form and sample letter, click here to get started.  We’ve provided a sample letter and additional talking points. You can see our press release here.

Communicate with the White House:

Click here to write a letter to Mrs. Obama about real ways to support military families.

Click here to sign our petition to President Obama.
Help sustain our work!

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An Ohio Military Mom Goes to Washington DC…

As a mother of an infantry soldier currently serving in Afghanistan, I travelled to Washington DC Tuesday, March 22nd to ask our elected officials a few questions, such as:

• How long do we need to be in Afghanistan and what is our objective?
• Why do you think our troops should continue to fight & die for a corrupt Karzai government?
• Are you willing to continue to drive up the deficit to pay for the $120+ billion a year cost of this war?

Several of the legislative assistants actually squirmed in their seats when asked these basic, direct questions. You could see them thinking “I should be able to answer this question”.  Their response was that they would get back to me.   It is terrifying to realize that those who “support” the war can’t clearly define why.

While Mr. Boehner has asked our President some very basic, direct questions about our objectives in Libya, his own legislative assistant could not answer my very similar questions about Afghanistan.   I am awaiting an answer from Mr. Boehner.

Our volunteer military is seriously overextended and near its breaking point.   Never before have so few been asked to do so much.  Multiple deployments have wrecked havoc – skyrocketing suicide and PTSD rates, broken families, alcohol & drug addiction are just a few indicators of our military’s agony.

The majority of Americans do not believe that combat operations in Afghanistan must continue.  In fact, they want no personal involvement – don’t increase their taxes to pay for the war and don’t require their children to join the military.   It is immoral to continue a war when only 1% of the public support it with their children’s lives.

For years, the military has told us there is NO military solution to this war.  It is time the United States supports diplomacy and political negotiation with the Afghan people and neighboring countries to conclude U.S. military combat operations.

Polls show the vast majority of Americans want us out of Afghanistan.  No one else should die for a war that has lost any meaningful purpose.

I am asking you to call or write your Congressperson and Senators to demand an end to this war.   The life of my son, the lives of so many sons and daughters, as well as innocent Afghan women and children depend on it.

Mary Hladky
Military Families Speak Out

March 19, 2011 – Eleven military family members and veterans were arrested for civil trespass today in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where they staged a sit in on the 8th anniversary of the occupation of Iraq. They brought with them the photographs and boots of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The family members brought a block of cement with them when they sat among the hand and footprints of Hollywood legends and pressed the foot prints of an empty pair of combat boots into the cement signing the footprints ‘Forgotten Dead.’ copying what the stars do when they get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Purple Heart veteran Ed Garza wrote “5,945 & 1.5 million Iraqis and Afghanis. The Forgotten Dead.’ The family members managed to close the area for tourists for over an hour while the police arrested them in front of crowds of tourists.

Tourists stopped and took pictures as though this were part of a Hollywood skit, but soon realized that protestors were making a strong, heartfelt statement.

“We had to do this,”’ said Pat Alviso, mother of a Marine who is currently on his fourth deployment and currently in Afghanistan. “We have done everything we can think of to let our representative and the president know that we want our troops home now. We want them to know we are serious about this and not going to stop until they are all home”

Also arrested was Laurie Loving who commented,” My son enlisted 8 years ago and I can’t believe we are still trying to bring our loved ones home. Closing down Grauman’s Chinese Theater was a minor inconvenience when compared to the horrors our families are experiencing every day.”

Dede Miller, another protester who was arrested in front of the theater added, “What we, as military families did today was important. If citizens do not step out of our comfort zones and put it all on the line as we did today, then they too will suffer the heartache we military families and veterans suffer on a daily basis”

Lisa Blank attended the protest with her daughter Alanna.  “War affects families and I was happy to march today with my daughter as she participated in her first March and action.  We teach our children to trust their hearts when making moral decisions and follow their conscience. That is what we are doing here today.”

from WGME local news in Maine…

CAUGHT ON TAPE: Protester at Senator Collins’ induction into Maine Women’s Hall of Fame

Peace activists protested Senator Susan Collins’ induction into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame Saturday in Augusta.

Shortly after Senator Collins was awarded the honor at the University of Maine campus, a woman stood up in the audience and began speaking, reading a written statement, and saying Senator Collins should refuse the award for her role in helping advance the war in Iraq eight years ago. Senator Collins was among the majority in the Senate that gave then President Bush the authorization to use force against Iraq.

The woman’s comments were met with a mix of jeers and supporters saying “let her speak”. Once she finished, some of those in the audience applauded.

Senator Collins condoned the latter sentiment immediately after, telling the crowd that the demonstrator’s speech was “democracy in action”. The senator’s reaction was met with a standing ovation.