Fort Stewart Soldier, Blogger Goes AWOL, Objects to Iraq Deployment

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23556

Fort Stewart Soldier, Blogger Goes AWOL, Objects to Iraq Deployment
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-06-12
By Sarah Olson, Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) FORT STEWART – "Just because we volunteered, doesn't mean we volunteered to throw our lives away for nothing. You can only push human beings so far," Marc Train, 19, a soldier from America's heartland, stationed most recently in Fort Stewart, Georgia, says.

"Soldiers are going to Iraq multiple times. The reasons we're there are obviously lies. We're reaching a breaking point, and I believe you're going see a lot more resistance inside the military."

Train's a Private in the US Army, but the last time anyone saw him on base at Fort Stewart was March 16, 2007, just before he headed to Washington, DC, to protest the Occupation in which he is expected to fight.

Before leaving for DC, Train contacted Garett Reppenhagen, Chairman of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Train wanted to participate in the street theater protests Reppenhagen was organizing for Iraq veterans to mark the fourth anniversary of the Invasion.

"When I learned he was coming from Fort Stewart where he was still an active duty soldier, my first thought was, Wow, the kid has guts," Reppenhagen said.

more...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I predict more AWOLs, more domestic violence, more

suicides as our troops are deployed and redeployed. I've read where some soldiers have decided the point of the redeployments is to get them killed---and this came to light after their deaths in Iraq. This has got to stop.

[Aviation Pro]

2. And I predict....

...that after his First Sergeant takes a figurative 2x4 to his head, after he is returned, that UCMJ action will swiftly follow. Unfortunately, you don't have the right to go AWOL (and you may not have the right to protest in or out of uniform) in any of the Armed Forces if you don't agree with the policy (in spite of it being wrongheaded and possibly - hasn't been proven yet - criminal).

[BOSSHOG]

3. Agreed, the UCMJ should be activated by design

but I would like to see a member charged with desertion to call bush as a character witness.

[Debau2005]

4. My significant other

is four years or less away from his 20 years with the military. He has served one tour with his National Guard unit, and saw 3 soldiers killed from that unit. The unit he was deployed with recently changed from cavalry to infantry, and they had no job for him, so he has moved to a unit farther away.

He came home from Guard duty this weekend, saying that when his time is up in August of this year, he is done. We discussed the 4 years he has left, he says it is not worth the problems they are having and certainly not worth dying for!

[BOSSHOG]

5. I wish him well

and hope he has a nice retirement ceremony. His time serving his country should be saluted and lauded by his fellow Gaurdsmen if even for just a short period of time. Its sad that a Soldier would choose to leave his service because of an incredible lack of leadership and honesty at the top of the chain of command.

[noamnety]

6. k&r

hoping more follow suit.

(And I am chuckling here at those saying "but but but - you can't protest in uniform!")

[genie_weenie]

7. A very brave young man

He has much more moral strength and courage than I did...

It is made abundantly clear (overtly and subliminally) to service members that if they stand for what is right, very few in America will support them.

[iamahaingttta]

8. Umm... so, why did this...

...19 year old kid join up in the first place?

[noamnety]

9. He signed up two years ago

in the Delayed Entry Program.

The article explains the circumstances, including being raised by a military dad who committed suicide, with the ensuing behavioral and economic factors one might expect from that.

Not everyone who joins is doing it in a nationalistic frenzy, you know. That's a myth. A lot of people are just searching for a way to survive, and a way out of being a Walmart employee who can't afford health care for the rest of their lives.