Veterans for Common Sense

May 16, 2008 – Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love.
“I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school,” the now 24-year-old told AFP.

“I was ‘filet mignon’ for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade,” or around 16 years old, he added.

Chiroux joined the US army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.

He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq.

On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal war.

“I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq,” Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.

“My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation… I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation,” he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on.

Minutes earlier, Chiroux had cried openly as he listened to former comrades-in-arms testify before members of Congress about the failings of the Iraq war.

The testimonies were the first before Congress by Iraq veterans who have turned against the five-year-old war.

Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told a half-dozen US lawmakers and scores of people who packed into a small hearing room of “lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis.”

He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq, to find little help or treatment offered from official circles.

Goldsmith said he had “self-medicated” for several months to treat the wounds of the war.

Another soldier told AFP he had to boost his dosage of medication to treat anxiety and social agoraphobia — two of many lingering mental wounds he carries since his deployments in Iraq — before testifying.

Some 300,000 of the 1.6 million US soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from the psychological traumas of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or both, an independent study showed last month.

A group of veterans sitting in the hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades’ testimonies shattered the official version that the US effort in Iraq is succeeding.

Almost to a man, the soldiers who testified denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq.

Luis Montalvan, a former army captain, accused high-ranking US officers of numerous failures in Iraq, including turning a blind eye to massive fraud on the part of US contractors.

Ex-Marine Jason Lemieux told how a senior officer had altered a report he had written because it slammed US troops of using excessive force, firing off thousands of rounds of machine gun fire and hundreds of grenades in the face of a feeble four rounds of enemy fire.

Goldsmith accused US officials of censorship.

“Everyone who manages a blog, Facebook or Myspace out of Iraq has to register every video, picture, document of any event they do on mission,” Goldsmith told AFP after the hearing.

“You’re almost always denied before you are allowed to send them home.”

Officials take “hard facts and slice them into small pieces to make them presentable to the secretary of state or the president — and all with the intent of furthering the occupation of Iraq,” Goldsmith added.

Chiroux is one of thousands of US soldiers who have deserted since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to figures issued last year by the US army.

But while many seek refuge in Canada, the young soldier vowed to stay in the United States to fight “whatever charges the army levels at me.”

The US army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for 30 days.

Chiroux stood fast in his resolve to not report for duty on June 15.

“I cannot deploy to Iraq, carry a weapon and not be part of the problem,” he told AFP.

May 15, 2008, Washington, DC – Today U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) invoked his oversight authority as Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee to formally request data from VA on veterans’ suicides that is not otherwise available to the Congress.  In a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, Akaka stressed the need for full and accurate data on the issue.

“We will not know the true cost of war until we know the true rate of suicides among veterans,” said Akaka.  “Until the VA mental health care system meets the needs of those who have served, we will continue to see the tragic consequence of veteran suicides.”

In his letter, Akaka specifically requested the following from Secretary Peake:
• The total number of veterans who have committed suicide or attempted to commit suicide • The number of veterans who have committed suicide or attempted to commit suicide while receiving care from VA • Information on VA’s efforts to improve outreach and assistance for veterans between the ages of 30 and 64 • All of VA’s health care quality assurance reviews related to suicides and suicide attempts over the past three years

As Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Akaka is empowered by federal law to review medical quality assurance records that are otherwise not provided outside of the Department. 

Akaka’s request follows heightened concerns from Congress and others regarding veteran suicides.  Last week, Secretary Peake testified that both male and female veterans are more likely than non-veterans to commit suicide.  In recent weeks Akaka has sought action on veteran mental health issues, meeting with Secretary Peake, and working with the Senate Majority Leader to bring up S. 2162, the bipartisan Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Improvements Act of 2008.  According to a recent RAND study, nearly one in five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans – roughly 300,000 so far – report symptoms of PTSD or major depression, and fewer than half receive mental health care. 

May 15, 2008, Chemung County, NY – May is Mental Health Awareness month in Chemung County and in honoring that tradition, the Bath VA Medical Center is teaming up with county leaders to inform war veterans of available programs.

“What we’re trying to do is get the word out about our suicide prevention lifeline for veterans and about other suicide prevention efforts we have in place,” said Karen M. Aikman, suicide prevention coordinator.

The Bath VA serves 700 veterans in the Southern Tier. Officials there say the emotional and physical wounds soldiers endure in combat takes a major toll on their mental state.

“When you get out, you’re on your own. No one is there to tell you what to. People that have been overseas can’t even explain things they’ve seen to other people,” said war veteran Mike Lehmann.

So the center has developed a program called Operation Save, which teaches vets about the signs and symptoms of suicide.

“Depression is something that can really be a factor. Educating people that may be suicidal, can get treatment and treatment works,” Aikman said.

The informational meeting did not just focus on mental health. Veterans also got the opportunity to learn about health benefits and property taxes, things they need to ask about.

“Many veterans don’t take advantage of all the benefits they are eligible for and we’re taking the message on the road. Educate the veterans, outreach to the veterans,” said Carl E. Haneline, of the Bath VA Medical Center Outreach.

A message this veteran said soldiers need to hear.

“Today is really good because it shows people that just got out and people who have been out for a while all of the help they can get,” Lehmann said.

May 15, 2008 – They wait in dusty basements, long forgotten on darkened shelves. Some have been neglected for 100 years or more. They served their country, then died, and were never claimed.

Urns holding the cremated remains of war veterans are stacked in funeral homes, cemeteries, state hospitals, and even prisons around the state – a sad end for those who served their country.

It isn’t right, says Don MacNeill, coordinator of the Missing in America Project in Massachusetts. The 47-year-old Hopkinton resident has pledged to comb every funeral home, every prison, state hospital, and pauper’s crypt until the remains of each forgotten soldier are identified and interred with military honors.

“I’m going town to town, putting the word out for volunteers,” MacNeill said. “We even have old retired vets knocking on doors.”

There’s no way to know exact numbers, said MacNeill, who as a Marine served in Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s and is a member of the Patriot Guard Riders, a nationwide motorcycle club that attends the funerals of veterans across the country.

“My feeling is, let’s just do the right thing,” MacNeill said. In asking anyone with information about these urns to come forward, he said there will be no questions asked “and no names mentioned. Let’s just get these people put where they belong.”

The national initiative, launched last year in Oregon, already has located large caches of unclaimed remains. As of last week, according to the Missing in America website (miap.us), searchers had visited 365 funeral homes, found 4,698 cremated remains – 3,500 of which were in one location – and identified 134 veterans. Of those, 102 have been interred.

Recently, MacNeill said, he and colleague Sharon Bouchard learned of at least 200 abandoned urns in one Worcester funeral home, of which 60 are believed to be veterans.

One of the urns may have been gathering dust for as long as 80 years, MacNeill said, adding that the funeral director has been struggling for 10 years to find someplace that would take the unclaimed remains.

There have been urns that go back to the Civil War found in other states.

In Massachusetts, some leads have come from funeral directors, including in Ashland and Brookline, they said. And the search is on for remains that may be left from a former hospital for veterans in Framingham, where officials have already promised support, MacNeill said.

Bouchard is a Gold Star mother from Leominster whose two sons are Marines.

“No one ever wants to think that their loved ones and their sacrifices are forgotten,” she said. “When I thought about these people on shelves, in basements, or in flooded old state hospitals, it told me I needed to do something.”

No one should be blamed, she said. “It’s no one’s fault that these people didn’t have families, or that they couldn’t afford to be buried. It just happened. But I feel very strongly that they deserve the honor, respect, and dignity owed to them for serving their country.”

Sometimes officials at facilities aren’t aware that remains have languished on their properties, both MacNeill and Bouchard said. “If they aren’t claimed, they are just put on a shelf,” MacNeill said.

“These urns are coming out of the woodwork,” he said, renewing a call for help. “There are only five of us, and we’re already overwhelmed. When we find the urns, you can actually feel the unrest in the room.”

Massachusetts pays to inter the cremated remains of veterans in either of its two military cemeteries, in Agawam and Winchendon. A federal military cemetery is in Bourne.

“As long as they have the proper paperwork, every veteran is entitled to be buried in our cemeteries,” said Ed Flynn, a spokesman for the state Department of Veterans Services. “Our office wants to be helpful to everybody, in every way, to make sure that veterans are buried with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”

Flynn lauded the volunteer project that reminds people to remember veterans, especially, he said, “as we come up to Memorial Day.”

The Missing in America Project is in a race with the clock, though, now that states like Massachusetts allow funeral directors and others to dispose of remains that are unclaimed for at least two years “as they see fit.” That’s just a shame, MacNeill said, expressing his biggest concern, that in extreme cases some ashes could end up in a landfill.

“Now, it hits home,” he said. “They are part of history, too. Even if we can find at least one guy and bury him, then I feel the effort was for something.”

May 15, 2008, Washington, DC – Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a bill by John McCain that would have increased college aid for military veterans because they said it doesn’t go far enough and would serve only as political cover for the GOP presidential candidate.

Republicans offered McCain’s bill as an amendment to legislation that would give police officers, firefighters and other first responders the right to unionize. The Senate voted 55-42 to kill the amendment.

“I am surprised Sen. McCain would support a move that is meant as a direct slap in the face of our nation’s finest and bravest,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

McCain, R-Ariz., proposed his GI bill after Democrats pitched a more ambitious plan that would essentially guarantee a full scholarship to any public, in-state university after serving in the military for three years. Democrats are pushing their proposal, introduced by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., as part of this year’s war spending bill.

The Pentagon opposes Webb’s bill because it says in part that providing such a large benefit after only three years of service would hurt retention.

Accordingly, Sens. McCain, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Burr, drafted an alternative that would cap the maximum monthly benefit at $1,500, an increase from the current $1,100 stipend.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said Republican maneuvering on Wednesday was intended to protect McCain from any political fallout from opposing Webb’s GI bill.

“He said it’s too generous to give the same benefits to today’s warriors returning from conflict that we gave to those returning from World War II,” said Durbin, D-Ill. “I think that’s a very difficult position to defend.”

May 16, 2008, Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, issued the following statement this morning regarding an email sent by a Department of Veterans Affairs employee suggesting that in order to save time and resources, VA should avoid diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  The email was sent by a mental health professional at the Temple, Texas Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and suggested that the facility’s mental health staff should stop diagnosing veterans with PTSD. 

“This incident is both disturbing and disappointing, and provides further evidence that VA’s mental health program requires significant attention,” said Akaka.  “I have asked VA’s Inspector General to review diagnosis patterns at the facility involved as well as any benefits decisions based on diagnoses from that facility.  I am also calling on VA Secretary Peake to provide renewed guidelines to all VA field offices on the proper diagnosis and treatment of PTSD and on handling claims for compensation for PTSD.” 

Psychological war wounds are difficult to diagnose and harder still to heal, but they are no less real than any other service-connected injury,” added Akaka, who is working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to bring S. 2162, the bipartisan Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008, to the Senate floor for a vote.  “I continue to be concerned that VA’s mental health system is unprepared for the rising demands placed on the system by both younger and older veterans.  I will keep working to improve standards and funding for veterans’ mental health care.”

May 14, 2008 – The Army should grant conscientious objector status to Michael Barnes, a Fort Richardson, Alaska-based paratrooper who had his request for that designation denied last year, US magistrate John D Roberts concluded yesterday.

In a 26-page recommendation to the US District Court, Roberts noted that the Army failed to show “any basis in fact” to support its decision to deny Barnes’s petition to be honourably discharged due to his religious beliefs.

At the same time, the record includes strong reasons to justify the request, including Barnes’s own testimony, supporting letters from fellow soldiers and the opinion of an Army chaplain, the judge said.

“The evidence is overwhelming that Barnes, a motivated infantryman, is a person who takes his religious beliefs seriously, and there is strong evidence that his decision was motivated by those beliefs,” Roberts wrote.

The government has until Friday to object to the finding. Assistant federal prosecutor Richard Pomeroy was out of state yesterday and not available for comment. If the Justice Department appeals, a federal judge will hold a hearing in Anchorage this month. If the department doesn’t appeal, the judge could simply sign off on Roberts’s recommendation.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Barnes, 26, said he enlisted in the Army for five years in March 2005 with the idealistic goal of “defending freedom and helping other people in countries no one else would help”.

That same year, however, while training for deployment to Iraq as part of the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Fort Richardson, he grew increasingly troubled by the tales he heard from soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, Barnes noted in a statement he filed with his application.

“These stories included making the locals [do] degrading things so they could laugh at them, abusing the kids and taking others lives with ease. … I told myself it’s not really like that – that’s just a few soldiers’ perceptions of their experience.”

But after his unit landed in Kuwait, then Iraq, in the fall of 2006, he began to witness bad behaviour firsthand, Barnes said. He’d been transferred from an infantry company to the tactical operations centre, where he served as a radio-telephone operator. There he grew more depressed and began to spend long hours reading the Bible. He mourned the deaths of solders he knew.

“How would I justify to the Lord that participating in war is serving him?” Barnes wrote. “I cannot. War is evil, and nothing but evil comes from it. Many of those who participate in it lose their souls along the way.”

In late December 2006, he filed for conscientious-objector status. An Army review board denied his request last September – concluding that Barnes “did not present clear and convincing evidence of his sincere objection to war.”

Specifically, the Army investigator noted that Barnes didn’t regularly attend chapel services and earlier expressed a desire to fight on the front lines. He also pointed out that Barnes never conveyed his misgivings about the war to leaders in his chain of command until late in 2006 – after one of his friends was killed, and he was reassigned to serve as a gunner at a forward operating base.

“I do not believe that [Private First Class] Barnes … is sincerely opposed to participating in war,” wrote the staff judge advocate on the panel.

But in his ruling yesterday, Roberts said the Army needed to buttress such opinions with “hard, reliable, provable facts” – and failed to do so.

“And there is evidence aplenty in support of Barnes’s application,” Roberts wrote, noting the statements by an Army chaplain and an Army psychologist who each vouched for Barnes’s sincerity.

Anchorage attorney Sam Fortier, who accompanied Barnes in federal court on Monday, said he doesn’t want his client to comment until the government responds.

“The cumulative evidence is that he was not acting – as the Army tried to argue – in a manipulative or an expedient fashion,” Fortier said. “He was following his conscience to a much higher calling than whatever the Army was expecting him to do.”

Only one in about 10,000 soldiers files a request to be recognized as a conscientious objector, according to Army records. About half of all requests are denied.

May 14, 2008 – The blogosphere has been abuzz about the Internet posting of audio of a luncheon former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held with media military analysts that provides insight into the relationship between those analysts and the Pentagon.

The Pentagon released the audio in response to requests filed by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

On April 20, The Times published “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand,” in which reporter David Barstow detailed a “Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.”

The government released the audio, which lasts nearly an hour, on May 8. Jack Gillis, a 55-year-old self-described news junkie, downloaded it over the past weekend and analyzed it.

His findings, which he posted Monday on his Newsvine account (MSNBC is the owner of Newsvine), include a review of eight clips totaling nearly 10 minutes. Gillis, an adjunct professor of composition and rhetoric at a community college, also provides a link to the full audio.

The luncheon was held in December 2006, a month after Rumsfeld resigned as defense secretary.

The clips Gillis provides include one in which the media analysts suggest, with Rumsfeld’s agreement, that Iraq needs an authoritarian dictator. In another, Rumsfeld suggests that the American public lacked the “maturity” to understand that the nation remained under threat from terrorists and that the only “correction” would be another attack on the U.S.

Gillis said that since he posted the analysis and audio on Monday, he has been fielding e-mails and phone calls and has had his work picked up by other blogs, including huffingtonpost.com.

The full audio, clips, analysis and links to other blogs can be found on his Newsvine account.