When My Military Son Spoke Out - Democratic Underground

Amerpie

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Tue Apr-06-04 02:41 PM
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When My Military Son Spoke Out

REPOST (I'm new and didn't realize that the military affairs forum was so low traffic)

I'm a vet, and my son Drew joined the military during his last year of high school. Three months after he enlisted in June 2001, the world became a different place. Today he serves aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Drew and I both grew up in Fayetteville, N.C., adjacent to Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Special Warfare School.

Slogans abound here. The sign outside the Veterans Affairs Hospital proclaims, "Freedom isn't free." Practically every member of my extended family has some relation to the military. For my part, I served with the 2nd Armored Division and the N.C. National Guard from 1983-1989.

When the war in Iraq began last spring, I joined a small but committed local group of activists who protested weekly in the center of town. We got a mixed reaction from those who drove by. There were certainly plenty of thumbs up and other signals of approval. There were also plenty of catcalls and other fingers aimed in our direction.

During this time, Drew was home on leave. He met me at one of these vigils. He held a sign that read "Bring Our Troops Home." He wasn't in uniform.

While at the vigil, he answered a reporter's question about the war in Iraq. "I just don't agree with what we're doing right now," he said. "I don't think our guys should be dying in Iraq. But I'm not a pacifist. I'll do my part."

The reporter who interviewed my son worked for the Associated Press. The story he wrote ran nationally. The next day we received numerous phone calls from other journalists wanting to question this active-duty sailor who dared question the war. Drew declined all further requests for interviews. He never intended to cause a stir. His answer to the original question had been a simple, heartfelt reaction to the daily pictures of carnage that the embedded reporters were describing to the nation.

My son was prosecuted for his comments. The Navy charged him with violating Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: Disloyal Statements. At his hearing, he was asked if he were a sympathizer with the enemy and whether he had considered acts of sabotage. To both of those questions he answered no. When asked if he regretted his comments, he also answered no. He was convicted and demoted.

Today we hear daily reports of American soldiers being killed in Iraq. When President Bush challenged the Iraqi resistance fighters to "bring 'em on," he put our soldiers at risk -- our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives.

The reaction we get now at our weekly vigils from those driving by is much more positive. Some people actually stop their cars in traffic to roll down their windows and offer shouts of encouragement.

From this experience alone, I can tell you that in one of the most pro-military towns in America, support for the war is waning quickly.

My own father spent years during my childhood serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Steeped in military culture, I made a hero out of my dad and wanted to emulate him when I grew up. Now that I am grown, I have a new hero: my 20-year-old son.