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College won't do this to a person.

9/4/2012

1 Comment

 
The writer of the letter below sent it to me after we published the story last week about veterans in the prison system. We exchanged a couple of emails and she granted me permission to post her letter here, with identifying details expunged. I've changed her name in the opening sentence:

My name is Margaret. I am the wife of an Active Duty Soldier. My husband has served 4 tours in Iraq beginning during the invasion of the war. When he returned from the initial invasion he was changed forever, I don't think we realize just how much until later on. 

He began to drink, he was angry, he was depressed, he was forgetful, he was everything but the man he left. Less then 1 year later he was preparing to leave for his 2nd tour in Iraq. He had at this point received 2 DUI's and was a mess. He asked for help and was blown off. He was given pills, take these and get on a plane is what they wanted him to do. 

He did take them.. He took them all at once. I found him in the bathroom laid in the floor. I was so lucky his battle buddy had stopped by, we were able to get him into a car and to the hospital down the street. When they pumped his stomach and finally got him alert he said I didn't want to die, I just wanted out. Out of his own head and the nightmare in it. He didn't even realize what he was doing to himself. 

His Command showed up and did everything within their power to stomp him even further into the ground, people who had not even deployed before to know what he was going thru. People who could go to sleep at night without smelling dead bodies burning and hearing children scream as they were burned or shot to death. People who didn't see blood and body parts every time they closed their eyes were the ones making decisions for his care. They locked him away in a mental ward for 3 days. Then they released him.. Within a month he was on a plane to Iraq again. 

This story just repeats with the deployments. During R&R on the 4th deployment I was going thru a file cabinet at home. He was not drinking (he stopped on his own after his 2nd tour he really wanted to try to fix himself). I was stooped down, I'm not sure if I moved the wrong way, but he blacked out and the next thing I know, he has me on the ground like I'm the bad guy.. I was bruised with a broken rib and he had no idea what had happened. I had him put in jail, not because I was upset with him, but because it was the ONLY way I could get his Command to help him. 

When they arrested him I called right away to get him out and he spent less then 2 
hours in jail. However, he was able to stay on the Rear and get help! I can remember times where he would be clearing the house at night when others slept. One time he was having a nightmare and I was terrified to wake him up. He grabbed me by my ankles and pulled me out of the bed onto the ground I assume he thought he was tieing up the bad guys? 

He feels like he is floating in a fog when he is awake if he doesn't have his medications. When he is medicated he can't really function, but he at least can be in the house to watch tv with the kids or sit to have dinner with us. My husband was prepping to leave for his 5th tour this time to Afghanistan when a Dr finally stepped in and said I think you've had enough. His Command was unhappy with this so they put him in for a Medical Board and that's what we are in the middle of now.

My husband has not gone to a store to shop in years, he can't attend ball games with our children unless he can see the field from sitting in our vehicle, he can't go to dinner at a crowded place, he doesn't want people to come to our house to entertain, he doesn't speak to anyone but me. 

I am married to my better half, my heart and at 32 years old he is broken. Physically and emotionally broken. He has adhesions on his lungs from the burn pits, he has had numerous invasive procedures on his back from wearing gear that has grinded his bone and discs away, he has no feeling in his left side most times from that putting pressure on his nerve, he has no memory of present events or short term memory, he has no empathy or emotion regarding anything. No conversation whether he is angry, mad or sad is anything but monotone. 

He has sleep apnea so bad from breathing issues to the point he needs surgery, he has shin splints and hairline fractures in his feet and legs from deployments, the list just goes on and on... Everyday the Army breaks these boys and then they toss them out with nothing near the pay they are used to, yet so used up at 32.

The Dr doesn't know if he will ever be able to hold another job. If you say you need a mental health eval or you're sick you're shunned, called names and you just aren't allowed, yet they want to know why on average a Service member commits suicide 1 person every single day. One suicide is too many, 1 a day is a travesty. 

Our children have suffered thru moves, deployments and now not having a Father, but now they have to worry about possibly not having health care or money to pay the bills at such a young age, because I will have to get us moved, find a job that can support us and then I have to be able to take care of my husband a special needs child, 2 other children all at the same time, because our Country broke my husband. Yet, who's there to advocate for them? There is no one, not here, anyways. 

You go to the Army they send you to someone else who keeps passing you around, there is no integrated system at all to help these guys, to track them and know they will be taken care of.. It's such a heartbreak..
 
The point of my email was that I am so glad that people like yourself just put out the facts, it's happening there isn't anyone tracking it and people need to open their eyes and understand there are underlying causes for many of these men and they need help!
 
Thanks!

-Margaret


http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonatwar/2012/08/i_am_married_to_my_better_half.html

1 Comment

A lovely morning for a protest

6/6/2012

0 Comments

 
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This morning The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth joined me. 
    Boy!   I did not feel alone at all with a whole group walking with me.
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It was cloudy this morning - but not raining and I was able to get a quick photo of NNOMY and me on our protest beat.
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Nice to have your company!

6/6/2012

0 Comments

 
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Thank you Charlotte!  
 We had a nice walk.   I thought it might rain and it did not.   
The sign is about 5' tall and when it rains - the juggling of the umbrella and the sign can be a challenge.   We totally lucked out!
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Thanks Deena!  
 Deena grew up on military bases, and yet understands that children need to be presented choices.  And that choices, when skewed like this, are not choices at all.
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Tipping the scales of sameness

6/3/2012

0 Comments

 
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Thank you Cecelia!

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Kristinoel took a dive....

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But she got right back up again...

This is the final count for the year, as the Art Institute who scheduled for Friday, ended up canceling. 

My sign reflects the scheduled calendar visits.  

 So each time a recruiter is scheduled - I take time from my work to drive 7 miles back to the school to monitor/observe the visit.  Then 7 miles back to work.

I drove to the school 18 times this year for scheduled military visits.

Did the military actually 
show up 19 times?   

No.

Did I? 

I certainly tried, 
cause it was on the CALENDAR...

Military recruiters actually showed up on campus 9 times this year.

The college number, is probably more like, 1 than 3, as I am pretty sure that 2 of the college recruiters did not have access to all the 9-12th grade students in the same manner that military recruiters had.

The law states that  "Same Access" is allowed to military recruiters, as the school provides to colleges, etc.

Just like on Sesame Street,  "One of these things is not like the other..."




0 Comments

Good Morning South Arkansas!

5/24/2012

2 Comments

 
It was POURING down rain this morning when I woke up super early to talk to Rodney Wimberly Sr on his radio show - Good Morning South Arkansas.

I know you are thinking, "Why would someone in Arkansas care about what is happening in your little rural school district in Oregon?"


Well - this man has 4 grandkids in this small rural school district

 and he stands by me.
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Military recruiters have been welcomed here 19 times this year and even if they did not show up 19 times - they had an open invite to be here 19 times. 
 
I have a problem with that.
You should too.
Jude came and walked with me a bit this morning - so there were three of us.
The start of a movement.
The Alice's Restaurant Anti-Masacree Movement.
Yes, indeed.
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Our view this morning down 
the sidewalk.
Notice:
The rain stopped! 
  It was NOT raining for the 1/2 hour protest by proxy this morning.

You too, can be in a different state and protest here.

You can be sleeping and protest here.

Just look on the top left of this page and learn how you may join me by proxy-protest.

If you want to show up in person - I am good with that too!
2 Comments

Cathy Carstairs Rowley Lucked Out This Morning.

5/23/2012

0 Comments

 
Oh my - but yesterday was a very blustery day!
This morning from 7:50am-8:20am - it was NOT raining.  It was a little windy - but not bad.
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Thanks for the company, Cathy!

For those that send in an email via the instructions up there on the left side of this page -- you too can join me on the protest by proxy beat!

I can always use more company.
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You, too, can be here...

0 Comments

Keara Gann knows right from wrong.

5/22/2012

0 Comments

 
My new "protest by proxy" addition to my protest sign makes for a few challenges.
The sign is now about 4 foot tall and I am a little more than a foot taller that that!
So on a windy rainy gusty morning - it must be fun for an observer to see me juggling my umbrella and this sign that is like a sail in the wind!
Top it off with the thought that at each end of the block - I have to switch hands and umbrella and sign - so that when I walk in the opposite direction -the sign is facing the road.
Uh huh. 
  You got it. 
  It is a challenge!
Picture
Keara survived a fall flat on her proxy face at the "switch-over" at the end of the block.
Look at her now though. 
  What a good proxy protester she was.
Glad to have you along
 this morning Keara!
0 Comments

A Rainy Morning in a Small Town

5/21/2012

0 Comments

 
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A wet and rather dreary day this morning.   
At least I had company!
Kori was here by proxy and we both survived the rain just fine.
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Back in the car with the windshield wipers going!  
I learned that I get more waves and smiles in inclement  weather. 
I have learned a lot since I began my protest in January.
Yes I have!
Thanks, Kori, for being here with me today.
I appreciate it.
0 Comments

Me and Maya down by the schoolyard.

5/18/2012

1 Comment

 
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I am pretty sure it has been quite some time since Maya Frost was here at her high school alma mater. 

  She was certainly here this morning! 
 
She got a bonus today as an angry woman stopped to tell me that she gets angry every time she sees on my protest beat.

I told her I was not angry at all.   
 :)
The angry woman told me her daughter was in boot camp and her sister just retired from the military.    

Ok.

She assumed that I was protesting ALL military in general. 
  I pointed out that my sign does not say anything of that sort.
 
I do have some good people skills and used them this morning.

The angry woman calmed down and I gently told her my issues with the school and their lack of policies in regard to ALL recruiters and, danged, if she did not agree with me on a couple of items.

I introduced myself and we shook hands.

She repeated something that I have heard from other people in this area.  There seems to be a generational way of thinking, that the military is the only way "out" of this
 semi-impoverished area.

That means to me that these children are not being given enough information that can show a wide variety of 
futures for them.    

 This saddens me. 

   It might sadden you too.

I am not saying these children are not smart nor motivated - I am saying they are being funneled towards the lowest common denominator by their parents and grandparents and the public schools lack of expectations.  

How can I raise expectations for this small rural school district?

Let me see.....

 


Picture

Maya and me.

1 Comment

Gene Wilcox on the Protest Beat

5/17/2012

1 Comment

 
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This morning Gene Wilcox walked up and down and up and down the sidewalk with me.
He was here by proxy and he is the first one to be on the newly updated sign.
Yep.
Military recruiters, as of today, have been scheduled at this small rural school 19 times this year.
19
The school administration and the school board do not  have any problem with that, as the superintendent said to me at the last school board meeting that he finds my sign disingenuous because the armed forces recruiters did not actually show up that many times. 

  As I have said repeatedly - "If they had shown up, they would have been welcomed." 

 Yep.

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You too can protest by proxy with me! 
  
Just look down a couple of posts here on this site and it is explained.  

I will be headed back to the school at lunch time today and the Air Force recruiter is scheduled on the calendar.
Do I know if he will show up?  
No.

I DO know he is scheduled on the calendar.  

 So if he does show up - the school is welcoming him.  

 Again.
1 Comment
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