GI SPECIAL 3C69:

Army Has Dismal Recruiting Year:

"The Future Looks Even Grimmer"

[Thanks to a lot of people who sent this in.]

September 30, 2005 By Robert Burns, Associated Press

The Army is closing the books on one of the leanest recruiting years since it became an all-volunteer service three decades ago, missing its enlistment target by the largest margin since 1979 and raising questions about its plans for growth.

The Army has not published official figures yet, but it apparently finished the 12-month counting period that ends Friday with about 73,000 recruits. Its goal was 80,000. A gap of 7,000 enlistees would be the largest  in absolute number as well as in percentage terms  since 1979, according to Army records.

The Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, which are smaller than the regular Army, had even worse results.

The active-duty Army had not missed its target since 1999, when it was 6,290 recruits short; in 1998 it fell short by 801, and in 1995 it was off by 33. Prior to that the last shortfall was in 1979 when the Army missed by 17,054 during a period when the Army was much bigger and its recruiting goals were double today's.

The outlook is dimmed by several key factors, including:

The daily reports of American deaths in Iraq and the uncertain nature of the struggle against the insurgency have put a damper on young people's enthusiasm for joining the military, according to opinion surveys.

Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said in an interview that the Army would attract more recruits if it could offer shorter enlistments than the current three-year norm.

As it stands, the Army faces a tough challenge for the foreseeable future.

"The future looks even grimmer. Recruiting is going to get harder and harder," Moskos said.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Five Pa. Guardsmen Killed Raising Pa. Total To Over 100

September 30, 2005 By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, The Associated Press & By Julie Sidoni, WNEP

NEW MILFORD, Pa. - Five Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing west of Baghdad on Wednesday, pushing the state's death toll past 100, the military said Friday.

All five Guard members were from units of the 109th Infantry, and their deaths represent the largest loss of life from a single attack involving Pennsylvania soldiers in Iraq.

The five were killed in a roadside bombing near Ramadi while on a routine patrol to provide security for the construction of a railroad bridge. An improvised explosive device struck their M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which was then attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, setting it ablaze, according to the military.

Killed were Spc. Lee A. Wiegand, 20, of Hallstead; Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Arnold, 27, of Montrose; Staff Sgt. George A. Pugliese, 39, of Carbondale; Spc. Eric W. Slebodnik, 21, of Carbondale; and Spc. Oliver J. Brown, 19, of Athens.

Arnold, a heavy-equipment mechanic, is survived by a wife and two sons, said his mother, Janet Arnold.

"He was an excellent soldier, but he was a devoted father and a loving son," she said.

Arnold's family received word of his death Thursday, the same day Arnold's father Kendall received a 62nd birthday card from him in the mail.

The latest deaths increased to 104 the number of soldiers with ties to Pennsylvania who have died in support of the U.S. war in Iraq.

Before word of the deaths leaked out Friday morning, members of the community already were mourning an Iraq death at the funeral of Spc. William Evans, also of the 109th Infantry. Evans, 22, of Hallstead, was killed Sept. 19 along with two other soldiers in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

To say it's been a tough day here in Susquehanna County would be an understatement. Disbelief and sadness is rippling through the military community.

Texan Killed

September 30, 2005 Associated Press

The Pentagon also announced that Airman First Class Elizabeth N. Jacobson of Goodfellow Air Force Base, near San Angelo, died Wednesday. The Defense Department says the 21-year-old Riviera Beach, Florida, airman died when an improvised explosive device blew up beneath her convoy vehicle near Camp Bucca, Iraq.

Jacobson was assigned to the 17th Security Forces Squadron at Goodfellow.

Ohio GI Killed In Iraq Loved His Buckeyes

September 30, 2005 The Plain Dealer

Army Staff Sgt. Jason A. Benford loved his wife and Ohio State football. On Jan. 3, 2003 - his wedding anniversary and the night of OSU's championship game against Miami - he had to choose.

Lucky for him his wife ate quickly and the game went into overtime.

"He took me out to dinner, but he was looking at his watch the whole time," Kim Benford said. "He lived in Georgia, but he was always a Buckeye."

Jason Benford, 30, of Toledo, was killed Tuesday in Iraq when insurgents attacked his patrol with small-arms fire. He served in Iraq for 14 months when the war started, and he deployed in January for his second tour. Benford was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning.

He graduated from Bowsher High School in Toledo and briefly attended the University of Toledo before enlisting in the Army. He was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., where he met his wife.

They were married eight years and have two sons - Lane, 10, and Jacob, 4.

Soldier, A Grove City Native, Is Killed

September 30, 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Texas Army National Guard soldier who grew up in Grove City was killed in an accident in Iraq Sept. 25.

Sgt. Shawn A. Graham, 34, died in the northcentral Iraqi city of Balad when the vehicle in which he was riding rolled over. Graham, who lived in Red Oak, Texas, was a member of the 124th Cavalry Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard.

Graham's parents, Thomas and Kathleen, live in Grove City. Cunningham Funeral Home in Grove City will handle funeral arrangements.

Wisconsin Truck Driver Dies From Injuries

Conway Picha Funeral Home

Christopher Lem, age 40 of Lyndon Station, Wisconsin died Tuesday, September 20, 2005 in Iraq from injuries received while working as an independent contractor for the U.S. Army.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, October 1, 2005 at 1:00 P.M. at the Conway-Picha Funeral Home in Lyndon Station with Reverend John Stake celebrating. Burial will be at the Lyndon Station Village Cemetery. Military rites will be provided by the Maurice C. Havey V.F.W. Post 5970 of Lyndon Station.

Christopher was born July 2, 1965 in Smithtown, New York the son of John and Madeline (Ahearn) Lem. He served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged.

He has been a truck driver for many years and most recently was doing this same kind of work in Iraq.

Chris enjoyed fishing and had a strong interest for flying and working with computers.

Chris is survived by his loving fianci, Sherrie McGowan; their daughters, Devon Elizabeth and Samantha Louise; father, John (Rhonda) Lem of Las Vegas, Nevada; mother, Madeline Ahearn of West Fulton, New York; brothers, Erik and John, both of West Fulton; sisters, Debbie (John) Caronia of Roxbury, New York, Michelle Lem of New York and Britteny Lem of Las Vegas; paternal grandmother, Adda Lem of New York and maternal grandmother, Madeline Ahearn of New York. He was preceded in death by both grandfathers.

Visitation will be held at the Conway Picha Funeral Home on Saturday from 11 A.M. until the time of service at 1:00 P.M.

Kimball Family's Soldier Son Killed:

"He'd Had Enough After The First Time"

Casey E. Howe

09/30/05 By ANDREA MASON, Times Herald

A soldier with local ties was killed in action Monday in Iraq, just five weeks into his second tour of duty.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Casey E. Howe, 32, died near Ar Rustimayah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during a patrol, military officials said Thursday. Howe was on combat maneuvers when the explosion occurred.

Howe grew up in Deford in the Thumb's Tuscola County, but his family moved to the Smiths Creek area of Kimball Township.

He was part of the 3rd Battalion, 314th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 78th Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y.

While his son was a career soldier, Richard Howe said he was more than that. The elder Howe described his son as easygoing, helpful and outgoing.

"Everybody that knew him liked him," said Richard Howe, 54, of Smiths Creek.

"(He was) a very sociable guy," he said. "He liked everybody."

The two enjoyed playing horseshoes together. They often participated in the Southeast Michigan Horseshoe Club tournaments and the club's efforts to raise money for Special Olympics. Casey Howe had set up a horseshoe pit while he was stationed in Kansas, his father said.

They also hunted and fished together and planned to buy a cottage in the Upper Peninsula, Richard Howe said. Casey Howe was going to retire in six years.

He joined the Army 14 years ago. "I thought it was a good idea at the time," Richard Howe said. Casey Howe was posthumously promoted from staff sergeant to sergeant 1st class, his father said.

The younger Howe considered it his duty to return to Iraq when deployed, and he had to do it, his father said. Casey Howe was training other soldiers during his deployment.

But it wasn't his first choice.

"He'd had enough after the first time," Richard Howe said.

During the 10 months Howe spent in the United States between his deployments, he stayed with his parents in Kimball Township for a month and a half before being transferred to New York.

Richard Howe said he learned the news of his son's death in Iraq via a telephone call from his daughter-in-law, Angie Howe, less than an hour before the military courier came to his door. Casey Howe is survived by his wife; children, Jaymie, 9, and Brittney, 7; and stepchildren, Abby Fox, 9, and Megan Fox, 5.

His body will be cremated when it arrives in the United States, Richard Howe said. Those were his son's final wishes.

2 County Men Hurt

30 September 2005 By RORY SCHULER, Staff Writer, Lebanon Daily News

Two local soldiers are recovering in a German military hospital after roadside explosives knocked them both out of combat in Iraq last weekend.

Staff Sgt. Barry Lee Breidegan, 28, of Miller Street, Lebanon, suffered shrapnel injuries to his calf and thigh after an improvised explosive device ripped through the Humvee in which he was traveling south of Bayji, Iraq, on Saturday.

Two days later, in a separate combat mission, Spc. Christopher J. Forsyth, 24, of Darlene Avenue, Palmyra, broke his lower back after a similar bomb tore apart the Bradley fighting vehicle he was riding in near the town of Ramadi.

Breidegan, an infantryman with A Company, 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry, Task Force Dragoon, had been fighting in Iraq since November of 2004. His wife, Bridget, said his time in the Middle East was almost up.

"He was due to come back home next month," she said yesterday.

Lt. Jay Ostrich, a spokes-man for the Pennsylvania National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap, said Breidegan was acting as a security escort for civilian contractors when he was hurt.

Forsyth's been serving with B Company, 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry-Mechanized, a part of the Second Brigade Combat Team, 28th Division, since he was deployed on June 23.

"He was a passenger in a Bradley fighting vehicle conducting combat operations in and around Ramadi when an IED exploded," Ostrich said yesterday. "Initially he had a concussion and experienced a loss of consciousness. After further examination, it was discovered he had broken a part of his lower back. He was in intensive care, but he is alert and moving all his limbs, and nurses say he is doing very well."

REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. Army Private Kueth Dolvony provides security at the rear of a house during a search for weapons caches outside the western Iraqi town of Rawah September 27 REUTERS/USAF/Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway/Handout

Car Bomb Hits U.S. Jbala Base; Casualties Not Announced

30 September 2005 Aljazeera

A car bombing took place on Friday at the gate of a US military base in Jbala area in al-Makhaweel town, 25km north of Hilla, al-Janabi reported.

Following the incident, US forces surrounded the area, closing all the entry points and preventing Iraqi forces from approaching the site, he said.

Details of US casualties have not been released, the Iraqi journalist said.

"Those (Expletive) Are Hanging Stuff Over Our Heads Now!"

September 30, 2005 By Gordon Trowbridge, Army Times staff writer

BAGHDAD  The sign seemed innocent enough: A small, squarish box, perhaps two feet on each side, hanging from an overpass above the highway that runs to the west of Baghdad International Airport.

Innocent except that nearly all the soldiers from C Company, 648th Engineering Battalion, were absolutely convinced it had not been there an hour or so before when they'd passed under this same bridge.

It was time for Spc. Richard Bell to pilot his unusual vehicle into place. The Buffalo  more than 20 tons of armor and protective glass  climbed a ramp to the overpass, where Spc. Johnnie Perkins extended the vehicle's robotic arm to tear the sign loose from the rope lashing it to the bridge.

Once on the highway below, Perkins poked the arm's long metal claw through the signs plastic cover, shook things around a bit  and revealed a 155mm artillery shell, the Iraqi insurgent's improvised explosive of choice.

"Those [expletive] are hanging stuff over our heads now!" muttered Staff Sgt. James McMillan as Perkins carefully scraped the crude detonator away from the shell.

"I knew that didn't look right," Bell said a moment later as he steered the Buffalo back down Main Supply Route Tampa, leaving the defanged bomb for explosive ordnance disposal troops to handle.

The hanging bomb  a clear threat to unarmored Iraqi security force vehicles or to the gunner of an armored Humvee  was a new phenomenon.

After the bomb had been disarmed, McMillan, Bell and Perkins scanned the surrounding area from the high perch of the Buffalo's cab, convinced that somewhere nearby, insurgents were watching, trying to detonate the bomb.

"This is (a new tactic), so they're definitely filming, too," McMillan said. After one bomb blast hit the company, troops found a video camera, which had taped the entire episode, in a nearby tree.

Earlier in the week, a bomb planted in a culvert had blown the front end off one of the company's Humvees  another fairly recent development, and a worrisome one, given the enormous number of culverts passing beneath roads in an area crossed by hundreds of irrigation canals.

But on Friday, at least, the engineers decoded another new insurgent idea before it could go off.

TROOP NEWS

Retired General Says Iraq Invasion "Greatest Strategic Disaster In U.S. History"

09/30/2005 By EVAN LEHMANN, Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The invasion of Iraq was the "greatest strategic disaster in United States history," a retired Army general said yesterday, strengthening an effort in Congress to force an American withdrawal beginning next year.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, a Vietnam veteran, said the invasion of Iraq alienated America's Middle East allies, making it harder to prosecute a war against terrorists.

The U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, he said, and reposition its military forces along the Afghan-Pakistani border to capture Osama bin Laden and crush al Qaeda cells.

"The invasion of Iraq I believe will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history," said Odom, now a scholar with the Hudson Institute.

Check This Dithering Idiocy:

Gen. Myers Says "In A Sense, Things Are Going Well" And "Myers Told McCain That He Never Said Things Are Going Very Well In Iraq'"

September 30, 2005 By John Diamond and Dave Moniz, USA Today

The Iraqi military has only one battalion  about 500-600 soldiers  capable of fighting on its own, U.S. commanders told lawmakers Thursday.

Many Iraqi police are not being paid, and insurgents are infiltrating Iraqi police and military forces, the commanders acknowledged.

In his final appearance as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retiring Gen. Richard Myers told McCain that he never said "things are going very well in Iraq" and that the United States is not developing a "cut-and-run strategy."

"This is a win strategy," Myers said, adding that Iraqis were making progress toward forming a government. "In a sense, things are going well."

The commanders didn't say how many qualified Iraqi troops would be necessary to allow U.S. withdrawals.

At both hearings, lawmakers aggressively questioned the military leaders who said the war is going well. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he will adopt a "trust but verify" policy regarding the Pentagon's claims.

Several months ago, Graham said, Casey had told him the Iraqi insurgents were "one-tenth of 1 percent" of the population. Now, however, "I don't have any confidence in that number," Graham said.

MORE:

September 30, 2005 Via Shirley H. Young, mfso-ny-nj-ct

From: Lietta Ruger

Date: 09/29/05

Subject: article; Why from 3 ready Iraq battalions in June to 1 Iraq battalion in Sept capable of fighting without US help.

Excerpt from article: "Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the number of Iraqi army battalions rated by U.S. officers as capable of fighting without U.S. help had dropped from three to one."

I used this same question in our meeting in DC (thanks for setting it up Stacy) with Washington state Representative Adam Smith.

The answer is self-evident, and lends to the argument of why we need to Bring Them Home Now!

23% Of Americans Say They Belong To Anti-War Movement

September 28, 2005 Rasmussen Reports

Twenty-three percent (23%) of Americans consider themselves part of the anti-War movement. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 61% say they are not part of that movement. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

Thirty-six percent (36%) of Democrats say they're part of the anti-War movement while 40% are not.

Just 7% of Republicans identify themselves as part of that movement along with 26% of those not affiliated with either major party. Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans and 55% of unaffiliateds say they are not part of the movement.

Occupation Dreamland In NY City

"Occupation: Dreamland"

Cinema Village

22 E 12th St. (bet 5th and University), New York City

1:30 3:30 5:30 7:30 9:30 daily

"Timeless and tragic." -- John Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle

"...the invaluable Occupation: Dreamland ... an eerie portrait of a city quietly about to explode and an unnervingly intimate look at eight young soldiers that accords their individuality due scrutiny." -- Dennis Lim, Village Voice

"A poignant and haunting portrait of a platoon of U.S. soldiers trying to maintain order in Fallujah..." -- Christopher Kelly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"...a gut-wrenching six weeks in the life of the 82nd Airborne Division... a portrait of tension rising." -- Chris Vognar, The Dallas Morning News

Occupation: Dreamland is an unflinchingly candid portrait of a squad of American soldiers deployed in the doomed Iraqi city of Falluja during the winter of 2004.

A tense and grimly humorous study of the soldiers unfolds as they patrol an environment of low-intensity conflict creeping steadily towards catastrophe. Through the squad's activities Occupation: Dreamland provides a vital glimpse into the last days of Falluja.

The film documents the city's waning stability before a final series of military assaults began in the spring of 2004 that effectively destroyed it.

Occupation: Dreamland chronicles the escalating tension between its two main characters: the squad and the city.

Beholden as they are to differing languages and worldviews the two antagonists collide repeatedly. A distinct sense of unease grows as the chain of misunderstanding and distrust tightens.

Daylight patrols on bustling downtown streets turn from casual conversation to brief, confusing firefights while nighttime raids reveal a local populace caught in the middle. The narrative follows a downward spiral of civil destabilization and personal frustration, borne by individuals trapped on both sides.

Filmmakers Garrett Scott and Ian Olds were given access to all operations of the Army=92s 82nd Airborne. They lived with the unit 24/7, giving voice to soldiers held under a strict code of authority as they cope with an ambiguous, often lethal environment.

The result is a revealing, sometimes surprising look at Army life, operations and the complexity of American war in the 21st century.

Officer Scott Landry:

World Class Asshole;

Republican Club Police Thug & ROTC Member Attack Counter-Recruiters

[Thanks to D, who sent this in.]

September 29, 2005

To Dr. William Messner, President of Holyoke Community College:

We are writing to express our deep outrage at the events of September 29, when campus police assaulted peaceful student protesters and sprayed one student with mace.

Approximately thirty activists, many of them members of Holyoke Community College's Anti War Coalition, exercising their First Amendment rights to "assemble and petition government for redress of grievances," participated in a planned, peaceful picket of Army National Guard recruiters in the lobby of the college cafeteria.

This was a diverse group of students, black, white, latino, gay, straight, men and women, united in peaceful and vocal opposition to US policy in Iraq, the spending priorities of the US political system, and the college's hypocrisy in giving preferential, and we believe illegal, access to military recruiters whose enlistment policies bar gays and lesbians-- in violation of the college's own anti-discrimination policies. Furthermore, we believe that the college's policies violate Massachusetts laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Students at HCC are encouraged to voice their opinions, and yet in this case, when students did exactly that, they became the victims of police brutality. Students who had passed through the cafeteria at 7:30AM noted then that the police were already present even though recruiters were not scheduled to begin tabling until 10AM.

The police assault on the students began when one student standing in front of Officer Landry held aloft with both hands a hand-lettered, poster board sign reading "Cops are hypocrites." The sign had no stick attached to it.

At that point, Peter Mascaro, head of Campus Security, reached over Officer Landry's head, snatched the sign from the student's hands, saying "That is inappropriate!"

In surprise the student tried to reach for his sign. At this point the campus police, led by Officer Landry, assaulted the student. Mr. Mascaro ordered Officer Landry, "Let him go." Officer Landry heatedly replied "Are you serious?" The police officer's inappropriate grabbing of the sign constituted the battery.

Three other officers joined Officer Landry in grabbing each of the student's limbs and hoisted him off the ground. Other students instinctively tried to protect the student being assaulted. When the officers lost their grip on the student, he backed away and raised his hands in the air indicating his non-violent posture. At approximately that moment, Officer Landry maced a different student, one who was not doing anything or making any gestures to do anything at the time.

Both of the students who were battered by campus police are upstanding members of the HCC community. One is a tutor in the CAPS Center. The other received the David James Taylor Excellence in Philosophy Award, is Vice President for Academic Affairs on the Student Senate, is a member of the College's Learning Communities Committee, and is a frequent contributor to the student newspaper. Several of the activists involved observed that the student who was maced had consistently played a moderating role in the protest.

Throughout the morning, the campus police force ignored the activities of the College Republicans and were only deployed against the protesters.

At approximately this time college officials appear to have called local and State Police, and at least twenty state police arrived in riot gear and gas masks.

Officer Landry looked at one of the protesters and, observing that he was wearing a button reading "Lesbian and Gay Liberation," loudly uttered an obviously homophobic taunt: "He'll have fun in jail." As Officer Landry is an employee of the college, we believe that his taunt constituted illegal and actionable discrimination under Massachusetts laws.

By this time, the protesting students were trying to peacefully disperse and attend to the traumatized students who had been battered by campus police.

Riot police amassed in the cafeteria with boxes labeled "gas masks."

We want to know if the police were preparing to deploy gas in the cafeteriaa place where there were many students, cafeteria workers, and some children present.

We demand 1) an immediate, unconditional public apology from the college; 2) a pledge of non-retaliation against the activists involved; 3) a thorough and impartial investigation into these incidents; and finally, 4) that the military recruiters not be allowed back to our college, as their actions and those of the military discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, in violation of Massachusetts law and college policy.

Furthermore, the military is engaging in an economic draft against working class and poor people in an attempt to buttress this nation's illegal war against Iraq.

Thank You,

Members of the Anti War Coalition at Holyoke Community College

Please call Holyoke Community College to register your concerns.

HCC Main Number 1-413-552-2600

President Messner 1-413-552-2222

Pakistani-American Student/Air Force Veteran Assaulted For Protesting Military Recruiters

[Thanks to D, who sent this in.]

September 30, 2005 Campus Antiwar Network

Tariq, a student at George Mason University and an Air Force veteran, was assaulted by Police and an ROTC member while protesting marine recruiters.

An ROTC member ripped off and threw away a sign Tariq was wearing, and police were seen choking the peaceful student protestor, who is also an Air Force veteran.

Please call George Mason University and register your concerns. President Merten: 1-703-993-8700

MORE:

Date: Sep 29, 2005

(Message sent to George Mason University students)

Dear Students, Faculty, and Friends,

We are writing to inform you of a serious violation of civil liberties and blatant racism that occurred on campus today (9/29/05).

Tariq Khan, a Pakistani-American student at George Mason, was assaulted and detained by the George Mason police.

His crime?

Standing 4 feet from the U.S. Marine recruiting table with an 8x11 piece of paper reading, "RECRUITERS TELL LIES" held by tape to his shirt.

Tariq, an Air Force veteran, was exercising his right to express his opinion that military recruiters have no business being on a college campus. He was harassed by members of the ROTC- one of whom, a self-described Iraqi war veteran, stated that he couldn't wait to go back to Iraq to kill more Iraqis.

A JC operations representative arrived on the scene to tell Tariq that as a student, he had no right to voice his opinion without a permit, and that he must leave. Tariq defended his right to stand there, peaceably, and the operations staff-member called campus police. While waiting for their arrival, the ROTC guy returned to rip Tariq's sign off of his person and throw it in the trash.

Witnesses report that the responding police officer physically assaulted Tariq next to the stage in the JC, putting him in a headlock, choking him, and then proceeding to throw him against the stage.

The entire time, Tariq announced, and witnesses concur, that he was being non-violent and not resisting.

Eventually he was put in cuffs and taken away by two Mason police officers. Tariq was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, with charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest being pressed.

We urge you to get involved and to help us make a huge statement about this on campus. We are in the process of getting a permit to protest this inhumane treatment, and gross infringement of a fellow Mason student's right to peacefully express himself on our campus.

While we wait to hear back from Events Management for a permit to protest, we are planning to meet on the quad by the clocktower at 12 noon on Monday, where we have been assured the right of free speech for one hour. [What about the other 23? What is this place, occupied Falluja?]

Please join us then, or contact either of us if you would like to be involved in planning any further course of action in this matter.

Peace and Blessings,

David E. Curtis and Golnesa Moshiri

Contact the President of GMU:

Alan G. Merten, President

Phone: 703-993-8700

Address: Office of the President

George Mason University

4400 University Dr. MSN 3A1

Fairfax, VA 22030

Chuck E. Cheese As Recruiter?

"My Friends And I Thought That Was Really Weird--And Got Out"

"Yo Estoy En Contra Del Army"

October 3, 2005 by ROBERTO LOVATO. The Nation

Jessica Sanchez poses an urgent threat to the US military. For a Pentagon stretched by stagnating enlistments and an Administration bent on waging a "global war on terror," the question of whether this four-foot-eleven Mexican-born legal resident and others like her will decide to join the military has enormous geopolitical implications.

The Pentagon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to find out whatever it can about Sanchez and other young Latinos: what they wear, where they hang out, what kinds of groups they form, what they read, what they watch on TV, their grades, their dreams. Members of the military's numerous and well-funded recruiting commands use sophisticated Geographic Information Systems maps, souped-up recruiting Hummers and other resources to establish strategic positions in the minds, pocketbooks and neighborhoods of young Latinos like Sanchez.

Recruiters are devising new and often unexpected ways to penetrate daily Latino life.

"I went to a birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese's," says Sanchez, a 25-year-old single mom from San Marcos, California, just outside San Diego. "We were watching a puppet show when all of a sudden a military song is playing in the background. I thought that was weird but kept watching. A couple of minutes later, all of us were looking at pictures on a TV screen of people in the Army giving food and supplies to kids in Iraq. My friends and I thought that was really weird--and got out."

The bad news for Pentagon planners is not just Sanchez's negative reaction to the puppet show, or even her eventual decision not to join the Navy. It's that she and other Latinos who are rejecting the military's overtures are turning around and organizing a grassroots movement against recruitment in their community.

From the northernmost corner of Washington State to the southernmost beaches of south Florida, veteran Latino counterrecruiters and younger activistas are facing off against thousands of military recruiters in a battle that will determine whether Latino youth continue echoing the "Yo soy el Army" and other Pentagon PR slogans or instead adopt the "Yo estoy en contra del Army" slogan taken up by Sanchez.

The counterrecruitment movement, spearheaded by scores of Latinos in Chicago, El Paso, Tucson and other cities, suburbs and rural communities, is largely occurring beneath the radar of the mostly white antiwar movement, despite its potential to alter the course of Iraq and future US wars.

One More Betrayal:

After Promising Free War Zone Life Insurance, Troops Forced To Pay

[Said it before, say it again. The enemy isn't in Iraq. The enemy is in Washington DC, running the government. And what a pack of cheap, chiseling, murderous assholes they truly are. These people give the term, "the enemy domestic" a whole new meaning. And they control the armed forces, unless and until the troops decide otherwise, and act against them to liberate us all.]

September 27, 2005 By Rick Maze, Army Times staff writer. [Excerpt]

In a last-minute rush, Congress is moving to make permanent the current $400,000 maximum in military life insurance but is not, as previously promised, providing free coverage for troops in war zones.

Lawmakers have to act by Oct. 1 or maximum coverage under the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance program will revert to $250,000, the previous limit.

Despite a proposal from the Bush administration that service members deployed in combat zones receive $150,000 of SGLI coverage for free, the compromise bill contains no provision to waive the collection of premiums.

Since Sept. 1, the Defense Department has been collecting higher SGLI premiums to reflect the new rates.

Special Ops Command Charged With Hiding $20 Million Slush Fund

9.28.05 St. Petersburg Times

Sen. Bill Nelson said the Special Operations Command hid $20 million from Congress three years ago at the Pentagon's request. The senator said the Pentagon used the Special Operations Command to create a $20 million slush fund. He demanded an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA REPORT SUPPRESSED BY BUSH ADMINISTRATION FINALLY RELEASED

09-29-2005 VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org & September 30, 2005 Suni System (P) Ltd & By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press

Larry Scott: "Rep. Lane Evans finally got his request...about four years late."

Washington, D.C.  Rep. Lane Evans (D-IL), the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, today decried the Bush Administration for attempting to hide a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study and report on military sexual trauma among National Guard and Reserve forces.

Despite the Bush Administration's refusal to release it, Evans obtained the long overdue report that was originally due by March 2001. Evans has repeatedly requested the report and had been told it is under review at the Office of Management and Budget.

"The women and men who have suffered military sexual trauma deserve our respect, compassion and commitment to provide them with ready access to counseling and treatment.

"I am releasing the report, which I have obtained through other sources, to shine a light on a serious problem that the White House wants to hide in the shadows," explained Evans.

Sexual abuse is rampant in the US military with sixty per cent of women and 27 per cent of men in the military reserves and the National Guard suffering sexual assault or harassment during their service.

Eleven per cent of women serving in the reserves or National Guard experienced rape or attempted rape, compared to 1.2 per cent of males.

More than half of the incidents take place at a military work site and during duty hours, and in most cases military personnel were the offenders, according to the long overdue report of the Department of Veterans Affairs released yesterday.

The report noted that 78 percent of the women and 90 percent of the men did not report the incidents, and half or less of those who did said some action was taken to correct the situation.

About 58 percent of the men who reported the incident and 66 percent of the women said they were encouraged to drop the matter.

Also, less than 14 percent of the men and 28 percent of the women sought help or treatment, and only about 1 percent went to the VA for that help.

Congress authorized the report in 1999 for completion in 2001 to investigate whether reserve forces experience sexual trauma at rates similar to those suffered by active-duty forces.

The report concludes that they do, and ha