When My Military Son Spoke Out

[Amerpie]

I'm a vet, and my son Drew joined the military during his last year of high school. Three months after he enlisted in June 2001, the world became a different place. Today he serves aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Drew and I both grew up in Fayetteville, N.C., adjacent to Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Special Warfare School.

Slogans abound here. The sign outside the Veterans Affairs Hospital proclaims, "Freedom isn't free." Practically every member of my extended family has some relation to the military. For my part, I served with the 2nd Armored Division and the N.C. National Guard from 1983-1989.

When the war in Iraq began last spring, I joined a small but committed local group of activists who protested weekly in the center of town. We got a mixed reaction from those who drove by. There were certainly plenty of thumbs up and other signals of approval. There were also plenty of catcalls and other fingers aimed in our direction.

During this time, Drew was home on leave. He met me at one of these vigils. He held a sign that read "Bring Our Troops Home." He wasn't in uniform.

While at the vigil, he answered a reporter's question about the war in Iraq. "I just don't agree with what we're doing right now," he said. "I don't think our guys should be dying in Iraq. But I'm not a pacifist. I'll do my part."

The reporter who interviewed my son worked for the Associated Press. The story he wrote ran nationally. The next day we received numerous phone calls from other journalists wanting to question this active-duty sailor who dared question the war. Drew declined all further requests for interviews. He never intended to cause a stir. His answer to the original question had been a simple, heartfelt reaction to the daily pictures of carnage that the embedded reporters were describing to the nation.

My son was prosecuted for his comments. The Navy charged him with violating Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: Disloyal Statements. At his hearing, he was asked if he were a sympathizer with the enemy and whether he had considered acts of sabotage. To both of those questions he answered no. When asked if he regretted his comments, he also answered no. He was convicted and demoted.

Today we hear daily reports of American soldiers being killed in Iraq. When President Bush challenged the Iraqi resistance fighters to "bring 'em on," he put our soldiers at risk -- our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives.

The reaction we get now at our weekly vigils from those driving by is much more positive. Some people actually stop their cars in traffic to roll down their windows and offer shouts of encouragement.

From this experience alone, I can tell you that in one of the most pro-military towns in America, support for the war is waning quickly.

My own father spent years during my childhood serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Steeped in military culture, I made a hero out of my dad and wanted to emulate him when I grew up. Now that I am grown, I have a new hero: my 20-year-old son.

[dfong63]

1. your son is a hero

... for speaking up. his fate just goes to utterly demolish the fiction that the war in iraq was about "defending our freedoms".

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Three cheers for your son!

I live in a very military area, too, the Ivyland-Willlow Grove area above Philly. Last year, no one dared speak a word of opposition to Team Bush.

Now, they come into the Motor Vehicles license place and demand that they be allowed to change their registrations from R to D.

The sailors and aviators from NAS-Wilgro all say just about the same thing: "That S-O-B deserted and got off clean ... and he's sending us to die just to avenge his father's stupidity ... bastard!"

The young officers are probably in the worst straits. They have to mouth assent to the Neo-Con religion that has taken hold of the officers' ranks. Fortunately, it is still a minority even among the brass, and the "dissidents" are getting fed up.

When Jack Singlaub and Tom Moorer were beating the drum for the New Right, they were hard to write off, since both were bona-fide war heroes. But Jack's been having trouble even getting out of bed these days, Tom recently died, and heroism isn't too easy to find among the Neo-Cons.

And everyone dares call it treason -- especially the traitors themselves.

To me, your son is one of the unsung heroes of our age. He's given far more than most people in or out of the military. At 20, he may not yet fully realize what he has done, but he has shown more courage and integrity than the brass-polishing bootlicks who brought him up on charges. Tell him, if you will, that there's at least one civilian who salutes him.

--bkl

[atreides1]

3. Article 134, The Catch All Article

Usually applied when no other article of the UCMJ can be used. Mainly used when the chain of command is trying to make an example out of someone, and can't find anything else to charge them with.

In other words a charge used by cowards and bullies to show people how brave they are!!!

You're son is a hero, in my book also.

[Catch22Dem]

4. That's a helluva story

Welcome to DU. I was in the military myself. What exactly did he do wrong? When he made the statement, did he do it as a member of the military, or was it supposed to be anonymous?

[Amerpie]

5. How the UCMJ doesn't work

He actually passed the test that political speech must pass in the military:

1. He was not on duty
2. He was out of uniform
3. He was not on a military base
4. HE didn't purport to represent the military
5. He said nothing seditious
6. He disobeyed no orders forbidding him to address the press.

After the fact, he was approached by several military legal specialists who wanted to help him get the charges expunged. Drew refused and wears what happened to him as a badge of honor. His story has gotten plenty of attention, including a Robert Fisk editorial.

[Catch22Dem]

7. Fuckin' A, man!

I like that kid!

[checks-n-balances]

6. A True Patriot!

He spoke in honesty and didn't back down under pressure. Sounds like others are beginning to follow his lead! In doing so, however, there's often a personal price for the first ones to exercise their democratic rights. I guess "Freedom is not free" for them either.

In the meantime, what a role model of courage - and he makes us all proud!

[whipzz]

8. Three cheers for real people!

I too come from a military family, but not US.

My father, an RAF fighter pilot, would be turning in his grave if he knew what was going down today.

Our armies have been treated very badly. No equipment (not even enought bullet-proof vests to go round), no enemy (unless you think the people you went to liberate are the enemy) and, more importantly, no cause. This war is just plain wrong. It is based on a lie (or many lies) and our brave young men are dying to protect other people's pockets. It is a complete aberration.

Thank you for telling us the story of a young man who sticks up for his ideals and a sense of morality. You must be very proud of him. Well done, all of you. Please continue to spread the truth.

[lazarus]

9. Dragging this up a few months later

to point this out:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5796884/?#040829.