A Born-Again Soldier Hoped to Do Good, but Was Changed by War

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: A Soldier Hoped to Do Good, but Was Changed by War
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: October 13, 2006


(Karen Tam for The New York Times)
Sgt. Ricky Clousing after his court-martial Thursday at Fort Bragg, N.C. Sergeant Clousing, 24, was sentenced to 11 months in confinement for going AWOL after becoming disilllusioned with the war in Iraq.

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Oct. 12 — Sgt. Ricky Clousing went to war in Iraq because, he said, he believed he would simultaneously be serving his nation and serving God.

But after more than four months on the streets of Baghdad and Mosul interrogating Iraqis rounded up by American troops, Sergeant Clousing said, he began to believe that he was serving neither.

He said he saw American soldiers shoot and kill an unarmed Iraqi teenager, and rode in an Army Humvee that sideswiped Iraqi cars and shot an old man’s sheep for fun — both incidents Sergeant Clousing reported to superiors. He said his work as an interrogator led him to conclude that the occupation was creating a cycle of anti-American resentment and violence. After months of soul-searching on his return to Fort Bragg, Sergeant Clousing, 24, failed to report for duty one day.

In a court-martial here on Thursday, an Army judge sentenced Sergeant Clousing to 11 months in confinement for going AWOL, absent without leave. He will serve three months because of a pretrial agreement in which he pleaded guilty.

“My experiences in Iraq forced me to re-evaluate my beliefs and my ethics,” Sergeant Clousing said, sitting stiff-backed in the witness chair. “I ultimately felt I could not serve.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/us/13awol.html?em&ex=1160884800&en=1b7a3f931eb5a8e6&ei=5087%0A

[meganmonkey]

1. Hero

The war will end when people stop fighting.

Here's to you, sergeant:

:toast:

[Cha]

27. Some of the truest words ever spoken!

:toast:

[zonkers]

2. Good read. What kind of soldiers kill an old man's sheep for fun?

[Jcrowley]

3. Good on ya' Ricky Clousing

"the Army needs soldiers with the strength of their convictions and personal courage to speak up when they see abuses.”

[wtmusic]

4. His chaplain "showed him in the Bible where God sent his people to war"

I'll just bet his chaplain could find a place in that Bible where God says it's OK to torture people too.

[chchchanges]

5. I wonder if he also showed them chapters about...

little thing like, hum.. I don't know: "Thou shalt not kill" or when that Jesus guy asked his followers to present the other cheek when attacked.

I guess one can always twist the bible to fit whichever agenda one is interested in.... I always found military Chaplains to be some kind of oxymoron.

[wtmusic]

11. Yes the Bible is a real Swiss Army Knife of morality, isn't it?

and Welcome to DU chchchanges

:bounce: :toast: :bounce:

Turn and face the strain...

[krkaufman]

35. "Swiss Army Knife of morality" --- good one. n/t

[Cha]

28. Welcome to DU,

chchchanges!

[DeepModem Mom]

30. Another welcome, chchchanges!

[Miss Chybil]

34. Their job is to justify when the soldiers start questioning their mission.

So often I wish the Bible were true and a judgement day really would come. I think a lot of people would be surprised to find themselves heading in the wrong direction. I'm sure they'd be screaming and quoting scripture all the way. (Not that I'd make it through the pearly gates, but I can sure bet I'd get in before any of the bastards running this country right now would.)

[NNN0LHI]

20. Sky Pilot

Artist: The Animals Lyrics
Song: Sky Pilot Lyrics




He blesses the boys as they stand in line
The smell of gun grease and the bayonets they shine
He's there to help them all that he can
To make them feel wanted he's a good holy man
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You'll never, never, never reach the sky

He smiles at the young soldiers
Tells them its all right
He knows of their fear in the forthcoming fight
Soon there'll be blood and many will die
Mothers and fathers back home they will cry
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You'll never, never, never reach the sky

He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile
The order is given
They move down the line
But he's still behind and he'll meditate
But it won't stop the bleeding or ease the hate
As the young men move out into the battle zone
He feels good, with God you're never alone
He feels tired and he lays on his bed
Hopes the men will find courage in the words that he said
Sky pilot.....sky Pilot
How high can you fly

You'll never, never, never reach the sky
You're soldiers of God you must understand
The fate of your country is in your young hands
May God give you strength
Do your job real well
If it all was worth it
Only time it will tell

In the morning they return
With tears in their eyes
The stench of death drifts up to the skies
A soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot
Remembers the words
"Thou shalt not kill"
Sky pilot.....sky pilot
How high can you fly
You never, never, never reach the sky

[TacticalPeek]

6. K & R

An army of one.

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[liberalmuse]

7. Wow, a Christlike Christian?!

I really admire this young man for being able to tell the difference between right and wrong. I never knew how many Americans lacked that ability until Bush came into power. It's very commendable. This man is indeed a hero.

[Hissyspit]

15. Rara avis, indeed. n/t

[Cha]

29. Yeah, who knew the rw so-called

"CHristians" were really about lyin, thievin', and murdering your fellow human being?

[Jcrowley]

8. Breaking the Silence of the Night

Breaking the Silence of the Night

"A time comes when silence is betrayal." -- Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967

By Ron Kovic

10/13/06 "Truth Dig" -- -- It all begins somewhere, the questioning, the doubting, the feeling that something’s not right; like that day the captain set fire to the Vietnamese woman’s hooch, or the night we shot those women and children by mistake. It’s all got to start somewhere. For them it might have been the innocent civilians killed that day at the checkpoint just north of Baghdad or the dead children lying in the road in Kirkuk, or that night in Nasiriyah when they kicked in the front door of that house, screaming and cursing at the children as they threw their father to the floor, tying his hands behind his back and putting a hood over his head, but you remain silent, you say nothing. You’ve been taught to follow orders, to obey and not question, to go along with the program and do exactly what you’re told. You learned that in boot camp.

<snip>

Have we become so complacent, so coward and intimidated by this government that we have forgotten our own revolutionary birthright of rebellion and dissent? Have we become so paralyzed by the eleventh of September that we would give up our liberty and freedom for the promise of a security that does not exist by a government that now threatens our very lives? What will it take before we finally realize the true reality of this crisis? How many more terrorist attacks, senseless wars, flag draped caskets, grieving mothers, paraplegics, amputees, stressed out sons and daughters before we finally begin to break the silence of this shameful night? Let us open up our hearts and speak in a way we have never spoken before knowing that lives now depend on it, and the very survival of our nation is now at stake. Let not our silence in this crucial moment betray us from our destiny.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15295.htm

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Thanks, Jcrowley. nt

[Raksha]

18. What a beautiful and heartbreaking essay.

Ron Kovic is a true hero. Thanks, JCrowley.

[Ksec]

9. Ill never understand how going to war would be a good thing

Wouldnt joining something like the Red Cross be better. Maybe the Peace Corps?

[Oilwellian]

12. What a dear young man

An old soul, indeed.

[bonito]

13. A man of conscience

We all know right from wrong, within us all is the truth, if we would only listen, but many have more faith in others to lead them... astray

[ikojo]

14. He's doing tikkun olam by refusing to

take part in an unjust and unprovoked war on a sovereign nation. He is gaining much merit.

Bless him.

I hope he does well after all of this.

[OneBlueSky]

16. the longer we stay in Iraq, the more soldiers will come to understand . .

that they're nothing more than pawns in a deadly game being orchestrated by oil companies and defense contractors -- and by the "government" they essentially own . . . how they will respond to this understanding is anyone's guess . . .

[demwing]

17. Then, we'll ditch Iraq, & bring the "brave soldiers" back to the US

in the dead of the night.

Afterwards, when they're suffering from trauma and illness directly related to the war, and after they've outlived their usefulness as propaganda tools, we'll discard them, and toss them in the streets like so much human garbage.

Same as it ever was.

[President Jesus]

19. "Serving God" by killing people.

How many people did this soldier of God kill before he "saw the light"?

I'm sick of them all.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

23. he's repentant. what a horrible thing of you to say

he fucking quit. snap the fuck out of it..

[President Jesus]

25. again, how many people did he kill "for Christ" before...

...said "Christ" told him it was wrong?

And spare me the fake indignance in the future.

[bperci108]

31. Was he really "killing for Christ"?

Or could you just not pass up an opportunity to show you are somehow superior to the "dumb theists"?

;)


Spare us the fake moral superiority.



(edit: grammar)

[SlavesandBulldozers]

37. cool

must be nice being perfect, and never have to reflect on anything as horrible as what this kid went thru - not to mention having to leave his country and then return only to go to jail with people who will despise him for telling the truth. then, when he gets out, be surrounded by douchebags like you who shoot their mouth off without any real sense of humanity.

[jhrobbins]

32. Wow. Don't you wish that you and I had such an infallible moral compass.

Must be nice.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

38. i do.

I wish I was as callous, and as able to engage in black-and-white thinking - it would make things a lot easier

[xchrom]

21. kick

[jazzjunkysue]

22. 11 months in confinement. That's a statement. I'll buy the book.

They're not gonna be nice to him in there, either.

That guy will start a church of peace when he gets out, and he'll rock the whole christo-fascist movement.

If that's christian, I'll carry that card.

Amen.

Ricky Clousing. New american hero.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

24. seriously.

well said.

[jazzjunkysue]

39. THanks.

[druidity33]

33. 3, actually... n/t

[Pharaoh]

26. Way to go Ricky!

A real christian!O8)

[Horse with no Name]

36. Good for him

A faithful young man.