Brownwood: Patriotism, PTSD, Bush & Crawford Texas
Thursday August 25, 2005
Op Ed - Brownwood Bulletin
Other sacrifices not so heralded
Reasonable, logical and thoughtful debate on issues should be an art form in a democracy, but it seems that eventually it becomes personal. Sometimes that happens very quickly.
The summer story of Cindy Sheehan and her campaign near the presidential ranch at Crawford has arrived at that stage, but several larger "issues" have gone largely unnoticed as reporters keep track of which celebrities are lining up on which side of the argument.
The anguish the Sheehan family has felt and experienced is well documented, but it's a story which hundreds of other families have also known. Among them is the family of a Brownwood resident, Mario Castillo, the Marine who was killed in Iraq on June 10.
But the sacrifices made by families of men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces is not limited to those who love the ones who pay that ultimate price. Other hardships are less dramatic, and much less heralded, but they forever alter lives nevertheless.
Most Americans are unaware of the daily sacrifices military families make, even when they aren't called to duty in the world's hot spots.
Active duty career service men and women move on an average of once every two years, and in some cases it's more often. Families are sometimes separated for months at a time, and problems associated with divorce, depression and low-incomes were a problem even before the war in Iraq. With extensive use of Reserve and Guard troops in recent months, such difficulties have been compounded in the citizen-soldier ranks.
Then there are the emotional problems which members of the military can bring home with them after being in a war zone. No matter how well they cope, what they have seen leaves them changed human beings.
Lifestyle sacrifices are also common. Military housing is not always the best, but it is at least more affordable to live on base than in the neighboring city. Life in the military is not without benefits, and commissary and health care privileges help offset the negatives. Plum assignments in places like Hawaii or Europe remain, but that's not where the action is right now. And even orders to serve in the choice locations don't always totally make up for the times families must endure months of separation.
Military leaders, by most accounts, are commanding their enlistees in a more "family friendly" fashion, at least as much as the tough missions they face will allow. But at a time when a smaller military force is being asked to assume more of the burdens of war, more definitive steps should be taken to lessen the great sacrifices they and their families are called upon to make.
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Brownwood Bulletin
Thursday August 25, 2005
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor
Ghosts of the fallen give voice to peace
Dear editor:
While preparing for our vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan, I printed out page after page of the names of military dead from the war. My eye caught on "Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, Vacaville, Calif."
I touched his name and said, "Young man, look what you've done." I thought how proud he would be of his dear mother's efforts in his name.
At the vigil we held here in Brownwood, a friend told me that as we sat in silence, holding our candles, she saw in her mind's eye the long road to the president's ranch. It was lined with the ghosts of our fallen sons and daughters, innocent Iraqi men, women and children, the wounded and the maimed. She said they stood among the living there to give voice to peace.
Each of us left last night, feeling like we took part in something honest--something that was so much bigger than Red and Blue.
Sheila Richardson
May
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Thursday August 25, 2005
News
County residents head to Crawford
Bulletin Staff Report
Some Brown County residents will travel to Crawford Saturday to attend a rally in support of President Bush and the military effort in Iraq, while others have already expressed their opposition to the war and their support of Cindy Sheehan.
Billy Murphey, veteran services officer for Brown County, said he is helping organize a trip Saturday, either by bus or by caravan, of people who want to attend a pro-war rally.
Murphey said the rally will be from 1 to 3 p.m. in the town's community center.
Murphey said he has made tentative arrangements to charter a 55-passenger bus, but he may cancel the bus if too few people sign up to ride it. He said some people have already said they want to take their own vehicles regardless of whether the group keeps the bus. If organizers cancel the bus, the trip will be made entirely by caravan, Murphey said.
He said it will cost $1,300 to charter the bus, and organizers are asking for $25 donations from riders to help defray the cost.
Murphey said he'll decide today whether or not to cancel the bus.
Attenders will meet at the Brownwood Coliseum at 8:45 a.m. and leave around nine, and leave Crawford at 4 p.m., Murphey said.
Murphey said he did not initially object to Sheehan's protest because she was a mother who'd lost a son in Iraq and wanted to talk to the president.
He said he began to feel opposed to Sheehan when the event "snowballed" and other organizations and celebrities got involved.
"It took me back to the Vietnam era," Murphey said, saying the public "never stood up to the war protesters."
Murphey said he can see that the public's support of the Iraq war is fading. He said that's because "people have forgotten about Sept. 11, 2001. That's why we're there. They've just forgotten what it's like to see Americans attacked on their own soil."
About a dozen area residents gathered in Brownwood last week for a vigil in support of Sheehan.
Sheila Richardson of May said attendees came from De Leon, Comanche and Zephyr as well as De Leon. No public announcement of the event was made in advance.
They sat in silence, holding candles, and reflected on the lives of Casey Sheehan and others whose lives have been lost in Iraq.
"It was very dignified," Richardson said. The vigil was held at the building that has served as the county's Democratic Party campaign headquarters during the election season, but she said it wasn't a political activity.
"It wasn't about George Bush," she said. "It wasn't about political parties. I looked at the print-out of the names of those who have died, and it was just so sad. They are real human beings. And there are even more who have been injured.
"I feel we simply must develop a plan to get out of Iraq as soon as we can."
Richardson said she recognizes that supporting Cindy Sheehan may not be very popular in predominantly Republican Brown County, but that such sentiments are quietly held by numerous citizens.
"I think President Bush will find Cindy Sheehans in almost every community in the nation," she said.
source: Brownwood Bulletin
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Why I Went To Crawford
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Tuesday August 30, 2005
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor
Making the choice to support president, troops
Dear Editor:
Each of us, as Americans, has the right to protest against anything we want to. That is one of the freedoms we have in America. We can stand on a street corner and protest fire ants, if that happens to be our cause. The protest against the war in Iraq and against our president is no exception. People have that right in America.
Last night while I was thinking about the war in Iraq, I also saw the long, dusty dirt road leading to the President's ranch outside Crawford. It was lined with the ghosts of 3,000 men and women who died at the Twin Towers in New York City, and the ghosts of 2 million Iraqi men, women, and children who were raped, tortured and murdered by the chief of all terrorists, Saddam Hussein. Each one was there to say, "Thank you, Mr. President, for standing up for what you believe in! For making sure generations of our families yet to come will live in a more safe and peaceful world! Thank you, Mr. President, for letting the terrorists of this world know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their deeds will never again go unpunished!"
Yes, each of us has a right to protest what ever we want to. I choose to stand up for what I know is right. Supporting our country, president and troops, during this difficult time is right!
Greg Stewart
Blanket
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Sunday September 11, 2005
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor
Support the war that was forced on us
To the editor:
I read the letter Judy Allen wrote to the editor, and I could not let go of the malicious and viciousness of the text.
She states Americans should be loyal to their nation. My son just retired from the United States Navy as a lieutenant commander. He had 13 straight years of hazardous pay. For those of you who do not know what hazardous pay is, it means he was in harm's way for 13 years. He did not lay his life on the line for George Bush, Bill Clinton or any other president. He lay his life on the line for his country, as did all his forefathers before him.
Terrorists know no allegiance to any country! They must be fought wherever they exist! The one fact we can all agree on is the radical Muslims, the world over, have vowed to kill all Americans, be they men, women, children, combatants, or civilian.
What is it about Muslim terrorists you do not understand? The world needs to unite, and get behind the war that was forced on us, so we may fight it in the Muslim countries, not in the USA!
God bless those who volunteered to join the armed forces, and God knows those soldiers need our support, so get off your soapbox, and close your mouth, and stop giving the enemy propaganda fodder, and support our troops, instead of making their job harder!
What you say here, in protest to the war on terrorism, is used by the Muslim radicals to recruit followers! If you want your sons and daughters home quicker, then make their job easier!
God bless and protect our fighting forces wherever they may be. Help us understand that why they stand is their love for liberty and God and country.
So teach it to our children and to all that understand, that peace on earth is wonderful, but freedom is not free.
Jodi Sedam
Ladies Auxiliary VFW, Dist. 8 president
Brownwood
http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/09/11/op_ed/letters%20to%20the%20editor/letter02.txt
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