Sunday evening in Palo Alto there was a talk by Kevin Benderman and Camilo Mejia, two guys who have been soldiers in the US Army for 8 or 9 years, both of whom decided the war is wrong and they want to get out of it. Both of them did this after at least one tour of duty in Iraq. The group listening did not look large, maybe 40 or 50 people in a church hall that could hold hundreds. The stories were so memorable that I had to share them with you. Please read on.

Kevin Benderman was the first to talk. He explained that he joined the Army because he was from Tennessee, the Volunteer State. Back there, being military made you somebody, because the state has a history of sending soldiers into every American War. He hadn't thought about why he was doing it until he was in Iraq, terrorizing people as educated and deserving as his own family just to take their oil. He shared a couple of unpleasant memories, things like not being allowed to help a girl with third degree burns on her arm "because we need the medicine for ourselves."

Then his wife took the microphone, explaining that unlike the military, who are tricking people into signing up, we need to get kids to see the consequences of their actions. She talked about her daughter (Kevin's stepdaughter), who was promised $20,000 sign up bonus and the opportunity to shop in "the biggest mall in the world in Turkey" on signing up. Mrs. Benderman had found out about it when the girl had asked her to sign the parental release form. She had taken her daughter down to the recruiting station and had them explain that the $20,000 would only be hers as a resigning bonus if she stayed in for a long time, and that the shopping trip in Turkey was a definite maybe. She finished by urging people to visit www.bendermandefense.org for more information, and to help in any way they could.

Then Camilo Mejia took the stage. He began by explaining that his parents had been part of the revolution in Nicaragua where his father, Carlos Mejia-Godoy, is a famous poet and composer. They had been very disappointed that he had joined the US Army, but had supported the decision because it was his. He had gone through his initial enlistment and been let out years ago. He had been a semester away from graduating from college when they had instituted the "back door draft". The Army had told him is enlistment had been extended to 2037, and that he was to report for active duty immediately.

After some training, his first station in Iraq had been in Abu Ghareb prison. He explained that it was run by "three spooks, who went by the code names Scooter, Arty, and Rabbit who didn't wear uniforms or insignia of any kind but were clearly in charge." They used techniques like sleep deprivation (keeping people awake for days through fear) to make prisoners "compliant" for interrogation.

After that Camilo's squad (he was a squad leader) had served in combat zones like Ramadi. He described how as the war went on the Officers started thinking about how they could keep their military careers alive by getting medals and being heroes in battle. Camilo's squad had killed at least 30 people, only three of whom had been armed. He explained that the insurgents did not have uniforms or insignia, but they were the armed ones. The rest of the casualties had been collateral damage.

Camilo came back on two weeks leave and while telling people the stories he had lived through decided that what he had done was wrong. He filed paperwork to be declared a conscientious objector, but that didn't do the trick. To make a long story short, he ended up serving nine months for "desertion". He is now touring the USA telling his story. Please visit www.freecamilo.org for more information.

The next speaker was a staffer from the Veterans For Peace whose name I didn't catch. He explained that he had grown up in a Baptist Orphanage in Texas, where all of the males went from the Orphanage to the Marines. He had served one tour of duty in Vietnam, and had then concluded that what was going on was Evil. At that time the Commandant of the Marines was also in revolt in Washington, so the military was really in a mess. He concluded the anecdote by saying something like "the Chickenhawks have since learned that they shouldn't put combat veterans in command roles, saving those for paper pushers like themselves who don't care about the facts on the ground."

Tian Harter

Link to Kevin Benderman's defense page.

Link to Camilo Mejia's defense page.