Sgt. Kevin Benderman: Responsibility

[babylonsister]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17876.htm

Responsibility

By Sgt. Kevin Benderman

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The hardest thing I have done in my life is go to a memorial for a fallen soldier and to see his family grieving his death. I had to watch his wife break down, I had to watch his children break down and I realized that I did not want to see another family have to go through this.

This human sacrifice has to stop.

We hear our so called leaders pay lip service to the sacrifice that is made; that they do not want to continue on with war, yet that is exactly what they do. I can give you a good example of the lip service that comes from the people who claim to be looking out for the welfare of the soldiers. When I was going through my courts-martial at Ft. Stewart, the garrison commander, Col. John Kidd, led one of the ceremonies for a fallen soldier. He laid it on pretty heavy about how he cared for the soldiers that have given the ultimate sacrifice and that he would continue to respect these people who serve. After all he had said about taking care of soldiers he did something that would have an adverse affect on them.

The community of Hinesville had a service for the soldiers of Ft. Stewart where they did not have to pay deposits to move into a rental property or pay one for the utilities. This deposit waiver program had been in place since about 1971 or so, give or take a few years. In 2005 the garrison commander told the people who were running the program that they could no longer offer this service to the soldiers of Ft. Stewart. This is the same commander who cried crocodile tears at a soldier’s memorial service. Is this what our soldiers sacrifice themselves for?

As someone who has seen what war is and what it does to people and to know how it made me some what different than before I went, I would like to challenge the people to stand up and accept their responsibility for war and to stop blaming it on Gods or Devils or who ever else we can try and lay the blame on.

We created it, we own it.

The question is; will we get smart enough to stop it?



Sgt. Kevin Benderman served a combat tour in Iraq and returned home to file a conscientious objector application as his legal refusal to participate further in an unjust, immoral action. He was court-martialed for his actions and served over a year in prison. Kevin and his wife Monica are now working on projects to integrate veterans and communities, and will be speaking about their experiences on a Truth Be Told tour beginning this summer.