GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

4.23.06

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GI SPECIAL 4D23:

 

 

[Vietnam Days: Thanks to Ward Reilly, Veterans For Peace, who sent this in.]

 

 

“Most Of The Guys In His Unit Assume The War Is Based On Lies And That It’s All About Oil”

“Unit Cohesion Can Serve To Make Rebellion Even More Intense”

 

 

May 8, 2006, By Christian Parenti, The Nation [Excerpts]

 

“I remember they had this formation to tell us we were going to Iraq,” recalls Fernando Braga, a skinny, unassuming 23-year-old Iraq vet who is still enlisted in the New York National Guard.

 

Braga, now a poet and student at CUNY's Hunter College, says he became politicized well before the war, when he helped his immigrant mother clean rich people's homes.

 

“My company is really anti-authoritarian.  Guys would regularly skip formations and insult the NCOs.  So I thought nobody would go.  But, like, everybody went!”

 

And since everybody went, so did Braga.  “I had to go.  I wasn't going to leave these guys.”

 

This egalitarian mingling and the intense camaraderie, plus decent pay, housing for family and constant training opportunities, can make military life look a lot better than the atomized, segregated, economically stagnant world outside. 

 

And all of this creates a deep-seated sense of loyalty to the military, even among those who oppose its wars.

 

 

To illustrate the point, Braga recalls the story of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, from Rock Hill, South Carolina.

 

In October 2004 this Army Reserve unit (Braga worked alongside them at times) refused what they called a “suicide mission” to deliver fuel in a convoy of old, unarmored trucks.

 

Eighteen drivers from the 343rd were arrested, but the media storm that followed--a whole company had openly refused orders!--helped pressure the military into delivering armor and retrofitting its trucks and Humvees.

 

The rebellion of the 343rd also pointed out the pragmatism of resistance.

 

“Hey, protesting could save your life,” says Braga.  “I've seen it happen.  The 343rd and that soldier who asked Rumsfeld that question about the body armor, those two things got the military to pay attention and buy decent armor.”

 

If 1960s activism was fueled by disillusioned outrage, then today's activism is fettered by a type of world-weary cynicism. 

 

Braga says most of the guys in his unit assume the war is based on lies and that it's all about oil, but they won't get involved in peace activism because “They say, 'You can't change anything.'

 

“But if you read history you see that usually people already have changed things,” he says.

 

“Movements have made lots of things happen.”

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

Humvee “Destroyed” By IED In Baghdad

A road side bomb explosion destroyed a U.S. humvee Saturday April 22, 2006, in Baghdad.  (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

 

Roadside Bomb Kills 4, Possibly 5, U.S. Soldiers South Of Baghdad

 

22 Apr 2006 (Reuters) & QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

 

A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers on combat patrol south of Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

 

Five U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday.

 

A fifth soldier died of injuries suffered in a roadside bomb attack south of Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a separate statement.  It was unclear whether the soldier was fatally wounded in the same attack that killed the four others.

 

Soldier From Miami-Dade Killed By Bomb

 

April 14, 2006 Local 6

 

MIAMI:  A soldier from Miami-Dade County was killed when a bomb exploded near his vehicle during combat operations in Iraq, military officials said Friday.

 

Pfc. Roland E. Calderon-Ascencio, 21, died after the improvised bomb detonated near his Humvee on Wednesday in Misiab, Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

 

Also killed was Spc. Scott M. Bandhold, 37, of North Merrick, N.Y.  The soldiers were assigned to 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

 

Calderon, of Perrine in southwest Miami-Dade County, is survived by his wife Mirta and 9-month-old twin boys, Rolandito and A.J., who live in Killeen, Texas.  Family members said the couple met as Army recruits.

 

Born in California, Calderon and his family moved to El Salvador when he was 2 before settling in South Florida when he was 5.

 

His decision to join the Army surprised the family, said his father, Saul Rauda, who served in the military in El Salvador.

 

"When he said he was joining the military, we were all stunned," Rauda told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  "We all tried to convince him not to go.  All of us.  But he said it was his duty to his country and that he was going to get a free education so none of us would have to work."

 

After he severely injured his ankle in a childhood biking accident, Calderon focused on academics instead of sports, eventually making the honor roll at Southridge High School, his mother said.  But before enlisting in 2004, he spent weeks jogging to lose weight, she said.

 

"He wanted to be a poet, a businessman, even a model at one point," Rosa Milagros Ascencio said.  "The military thing came from nowhere."

 

Calderon deployed to Iraq on Nov. 27, and last called home on Jan. 29 to ask his mother to send him Doritos, which he used as poker chips in card games with other soldiers, family members said.

 

Asheville GI Killed:

Hess Had Only 16 Weeks Left In Iraq

 

April 14, 2006 by John Boyle, CITIZEN-TIMES

 

ASHEVILLE — Kenny Hess called his mom Monday night from Iraq, and for once he had plenty of time to talk.

 

No other soldiers were queued up to use the phones, so he talked at length about his friends over there, their missions, about the constant strain of life in a hostile country.

 

“He told me he had 16 weeks left till he could come home,” said Kathy Blackwell, Kenny’s mom. “He said he was counting down the days. He was very stressed, probably more stressed than he had ever been in his life.”

 

About 10 p.m. Iraq time, Kenny told her he had to hang up.

 

“He said he had to get off the phone because they had a big mission the next day and he had to get up at 4 or 5 a.m.,” said Blackwell, a Madison County resident.

 

Hess didn’t survive that mission in Rawah, Iraq.

 

“Spc. Kenneth D. Hess, 26, of Asheville, N.C., died in Rawah, Iraq, on April 11, as the result of a suicide bomber attack while Hess was conducting a dismounted patrol,” reads a Department of Defense news release. “Hess was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.”

 

A news release from Fort Wainwright states that two other soldiers were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb near Hess’ patrol at 2:54 p.m. Tuesday, Iraq time. One soldier was seriously injured and evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for treatment, the release stated. The other soldier also was evacuated to Landstuhl but is now listed as not seriously injured.

 

Hess is the eighth soldier from Western North Carolina or with ties to the area to die in the war on terror and the fourth this year.

 

‘He was a good kid’

 

Hess’ father, Terry Hess, a senior supervisor with Buncombe County Public Schools Transportation Services, said his son “hated it in Iraq,” especially the hot weather.  He had been there since August and was determined and proud to fight terrorists there rather than in America.

 

“He was a good kid,” Hess said, sitting in the living room of his Beaverdam home. “He was stubborn.  If he didn’t want to do something, it was like trying to move a mountain.”

 

Kenny Hess grew up in Haw Creek and attended Reynolds High School.  He joined the Army six years ago and lived in Alaska with his wife, April.

 

“He was a very protective big brother,” said Tandace Taylor, Kenny Hess’ younger sister, tears welling in her eyes.  “He held my hand on the way to school on my first day of kindergarten and made sure I got there OK.  He always stuck up for me.”

 

As a kid, Kenny Hess loved baseball, was an avid camper, liked fast cars and taking things apart and putting them back together.  He dropped out of school and later earned a general equivalency diploma.

 

As his dad says, he ran with the wrong crowd for a while.  “The Army, it really changed his life,” Terry Hess said.

 

At first, the Army wouldn’t take Kenny Hess.  “He kept after them and kept after them,” Hess said. “There was a colonel at Fort Jackson who said, ‘If he’s that persistent, then we need people like him.’”

 

Terry Hess said his son is survived by his wife and a 10-year-old son, Alex Nelson, from a previous relationship. Tandace said Kenny and April planned on having a baby when he got home from Iraq.

 

Kenny Hess planned on making a career out of the Army.  “He made a dang good soldier,” his father said. “He was so proud to serve his country.”

 

The family takes solace in their faith in God and that Kenny, too, was a Christian.

 

“I don’t understand why this happened — we prayed for him every day and asked God to watch over him,” Hess said, fighting back tears.  “But I know it’s part of God’s plan. I don’t know how, but I trust in the Lord.”

 

Family, Friends Mourn Soldier From Bertie

 

April 14, 2006 By LAUREN KING, The Virginian-Pilot

 

WINDSOR, N.C.: Flags flew at half- staff in honor of a soldier from Bertie County who was killed Saturday when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Rawah, Iraq.

 

U.S. Army Spc. Shawn R. Creighton, 21, was the only soldier injured in the attack, Maj. Kirk Gohlke said.

 

He is survived by his parents, a brother, two sisters and a tight knit extended family.

 

Creighton was raised in Bertie County.  His first move away from home was when he headed to Georgia for basic training in July 2003 shortly after graduating from Bertie High School.

 

"He had signed up before he graduated," said Cola Ward, his stepfather.  He later was assigned to Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

 

Though thousands of miles from home, Creighton managed to re-create a little bit of his childhood when he called his great-grandmother to ask how to make snow creams, treats made out of snow and milk, for his fellow soldiers.

 

"I had reminded him to make sure he froze whatever leftovers he had, but he said, 'No, all I have to do is raise the window,' " said Mabel Jernigan, a smile stretching across her face.

 

On Thursday afternoon, four generations sat in front of the Wards' home outside Windsor, swapping stories about Creighton.  It's something they have been doing all week with strangers and friends.

 

"I've had people come up and say, 'Did you know I didn't have money for my medicine and he paid for it?'" Donna Ward, his mother, said.

 

"He did a lot more than I ever knew."

 

One of his friends from Alaska called the Wards to tell them how much their son had done for her.  "She said, 'I just had to tell you something,'" his mother said.

 

"'The only word I could ever use to describe your son is "awesome.'"

 

She told Ward she was a waitress and that Creighton had heard she was having trouble paying her bills.  He came in to eat at one of her tables, then left behind a $100 tip.

 

Creighton's generosity also extended to his younger sister, whom he "spoiled rotten," Donna Ward said.  Every time he came home for a visit, he had something for his 16-year-old sister, Nancy Rose Ward.

 

Last month, he sent her three roses in time for her junior ring dance: one rose for every year he had been in the Army.

 

The family also recalled some of Creighton's crazier exploits: launching water balloons filled with shaving cream from an upstairs window; playing paint ball wars in the woods behind the house; and once, accidentally, lighting himself on fire, causing second- and third-degree burns.

 

"He was extremely danger-prone," Donna Ward said.  "He was danger-prone because he never slowed down.… He was always the one to say, 'Let's go do something.’"

 

She said his Army photo is misleading.  The serious soldier in front of the American flag is not the son she knows.

 

"That's not really him; he's too serious there," his mother said. "He's got more of an impish smile. … And he's got that impish smile because he's always up to something."

 

Creighton's last visit home was in January, when he celebrated his 21st birthday. The family held a pig-picking in his honor.

 

"I'm glad we did that," she said. "That's a good memory."

 

He headed back to Iraq in February for a second tour and was scheduled to leave in August.

 

Once out of the Army, Creighton was planning to pursue a job with the drug task force.

 

"He was just a good kid," his mother said.

 

In the background, a laugh erupted among the family.

 

"They're telling funny stories about Shawn," she said.

 

"Those are the things I have to remember."

 

Funeral arrangements were still being made Thursday, but the tentative plan was to hold a visitation at an Aulander funeral home Tuesday evening and have the funeral Wednesday afternoon at Bertie High School.

 

 

 

Ramadi:

“As U.S. And Iraqi Troops Withdrew From The Area On Foot, Insurgents Maneuvered Around Them”

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers crouch on a road during a street battle as insurgent gunfire echoes around them April 22, 2006 in Ramadi.  U.S. and Iraqi forces fought an hour-long gun battle with insurgents Saturday in Ramadi, firing automatic weapons from rooftops at small guerrilla teams maneuvering around them in alleyways and an abandoned fairground.  (AP Photo/Todd Pitman)

 

Apr 22 By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer

 

U.S. and Iraqi forces fought an hour-long gunbattle with insurgents Saturday in this city west of the Iraqi capital, firing automatic weapons from rooftops at small guerrilla teams maneuvering around them in alleyways and an abandoned fairground.

 

U.S. Lt. Brett Blalock, 30, of Fernandina Beach, Fla., said four insurgents were believed killed. The body of one gunman in a white robe lay in a street beside a red trash bin.

 

As U.S. and Iraqi troops withdrew from the area on foot, insurgents maneuvered around them.  U.S. and Iraqi soldiers provided covering fire as their colleagues ran down roads as bullets whisked overhead and ricocheted off houses.

 

After the Americans reached a U.S. observation post, a mortar round exploded several hundred yards away, sending a plume of gray smoke up into the air.

 

A U.S. soldier runs down a street as smoke grenades cover his path, during sporadic shooting ahead of a gunbattle with insurgents April 22, 2006 in Ramadi.  U.S. and Iraqi forces fought an hour-long gunbattle with insurgents Saturday in Ramadi, firing automatic weapons from rooftops at small guerrilla teams maneuvering around them in alleyways and an abandoned fairground.  (AP Photo Todd/Pitman)

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

Four Canadian Soldiers Killed BY IED

 

April 22, 2006 By Robert Birsel, (Reuters) & April 17, 2006 By Paul Garwood, Associated Press

 

Four Canadian soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, a Canadian military spokesman said.

 

"All of the occupants of the vehicle were killed," said the spokesman, Lieutenant Mark MacIntyre.

 

In Kandahar city, a roadside bomb exploded Monday, destroying a police car and wounding four officers.

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

“Set The Record Straight About The GI Movement To End The War In Vietnam”

"Sir! No Sir!" Director David Zeiger with actress/activist Jane Fonda, at the IFC Center on Monday, 4.17.06. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE

 

April 20, 2006 by Eugene Hernandez, Indiewire.com/movies

 

Any indie filmmaker would love to have an Oscar winning actress hyping their new film; the presence of a celebrity can command serious media attention.  This week, actress and activist Jane Fonda has been making the media rounds, from Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and The View, to an appearance at the IFC Center on Monday.

 

While she is also hawking a paperback version of her recent memoir, Fonda has also been talking a bit about David Zeiger's "Sir! No Sir!", the acclaimed documentary that attempts to set the record straight about the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam.

 

"In my mind it takes a special kind of courage to risk your life in another country, for your own country," Fonda explained Monday night after a screening of the film at the IFC Center in New York, where the film opened this week (it also had a brief, recent two-week run in San Francisco).

 

"The men and women who came back and spoke out were a special kind of hero," Fonda added.  

 

The actress, who drew considerable criticism for her opposition to the war at the time, met filmmaker Zeiger and veteran/activist David Cline at the Oleo Strut coffeehouse frequented by veterans in Texas, back in 1971.  Decades later she appeared in the movie and continues to support it.

 

"This movie shows that (troops) were against the war," Fonda said Monday, "This was bedrock America."  And she added, "It speaks to the men and women who are in Iraq now, it gives them courage."

 

Winner of the best documentary prize at last year's Hampton's International Film Festival and audience award winner for documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the movie was also nominated for best doc at this year's Independent Spirit Awards.  It made nearly $13,000 in its first week in San Francisco.  

 

It will head to Denver and Madison, WI next weekend, with bookings in Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, Austin, D.C., Chicago, Boston and other cities scheduled for next month.

 

Greg Kendall of the film's distributor Balcony Releasing told indieWIRE that he was tipped off to the film by consultant Peter Broderick, an executive producer of the movie. He explained that the support from Fonda, and the additional media exposure, are a boon to the film, adding that he is targeting the film to activists.

 

"It's not just a movie," Kendall explained, "They are trying to do much more -- it is a rallying point for activist groups, (which is) essential to the theatrical life of the film and

(the) enormous non-theatrical life it's going to have as well."

 

"Finally, now this story can be told because it needs to be told," director Zeiger said Monday night at the IFC Center screening.

 

"Had I made this film in the 1990s it would have fallen on deaf ears. It is a bittersweet situation -- I hope that the film plays a small part in people looking at the war today, and GI's today, in a different light."

 

Sir! No Sir!:

For one week beginning Wednesday April 19th at the

IFC Center

322 Sixth Avenue, at West Third Street, New York City

 

Advance tickets on sale NOW through the IFC box office

Recording: 212-924-7771

Live box office: 212-924-5246

Online at www.ifccenter.com