Wounds of War (Part III)

Greyhawk

(Part one of this series is here, part II here)

The Politics of Passion

Professor Uwe E. Reinhardt, of Princeton, to his son upon learning he was joining the Marines:

"Do what you must, but be advised that, flourishing rhetoric notwithstanding, this nation will never truly honor your service, and it will condemn you to the bottom of the economic scrap heap should you ever get seriously wounded."

The good professor is certainly within his parental rights to be concerned, but if he's right in what he's saying then something must be done about it. But (given his platform for relating those words) if wrong, he's open to accusations of using the wounded for political gain. Unfortunately, there are those among us who look into the eyes of wounded heroes and see only opportunity.

*****

Shortly after the invasion of Iraq photographer Nina Berman set out to do something about it.

Basically, I've been a photographer for many years and I did this book because I want people to see these pictures. As a journalist and as an American living here I feel like there's something that I must be able to contribute that isn't being done. I was too young to do anything during the Vietnam War but if I don't do something during this war then I'll just feel like I'm as bad as everybody else.

The offspring of her passion is the book Purple Hearts: Back from Iraq, a photo collection depicting some of the wounded from the war on terror (sorry, Iraq sector only, others need not apply). Most of her subjects are amputees. But the book takes no position on the war, she explains: "...I wanted soldiers to tell their own stories so that someone could not dismiss Purple Hearts as an anti-war book or a pro-war book. It's important to just let the soldiers speak for themselves." .

And they are inspiring indeed. Let's read some of their quotes then, as reported (somewhat surprisingly) at the inarguably left-wing web site Mother Jones.

Sam Ross was with the 82nd Airborne in Baghdad when a bomb blew up during a munitions-disposal operation:

I lost my left leg, just below the knee. Lost my eyesight, which it's still unsettled about whether it will come back or not. I have shrapnel in pretty much every part of my body. Got my finger blown off-it don't work right. I had a hole blown through my right leg-had three skin grafts to try and repair it. It's not too bad now. It hurts a lot, that's about it. You know, not really anything major.
<...>
It was the best experience of my life. Twenty-one years old and I've seen a couple of countries. I've been pretty much everywhere and done everything. I've jumped out of airplanes, I got to play with mines, got to see how the Army works. I got to interact with people of another culture, people who live their lives 100 percent different than the way we live here. That's something that one in a million people will ever get to see in their lifetime-another culture.
<...>
I want to go into politics. Run for office, maybe.

Erick Castro was with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment when he lost a leg during a firefight near Fallujah.

I was born in Mexico - I came here when I was one. I just became a U.S. citizen in December. There was this two-star general at the hospital that asked me, "Hey, are you a citizen?" That same day, I saw Senator Kennedy, and I decided to apply. The director of the INS performed the ceremony in Senator Kennedy's office.
<...>
Now I have to wear a prosthetic. Or if I don't want to wear it, I hop around on crutches. My life has changed a lot - a big distance from where it was before. But I'm actually glad I did it, that I served. I don't regret the injuries, not at al. It's just what happens in those circumstances. I got a Purple Heart from the President in Washington. He just came down and handed it to me.

I don't regret joining. If I could do it again, I would. I wanted to do something different. Now, I'm going to go back to school. The VA will pay for tuition. I'll go to school for 2 or 3 years. I think what I'll do is mechanical engineering. Then find a job in that.

Alex Presman, a heavy-vehicle operator in the Marines' 6th Communication Battalion, was injured outside Baghdad when he stepped on a land mine:

I was born in Russia. We came in '94. I think a man has to go through the military. My father was in the military. I wanted to go to school, and I just thought it was the right thing for me to do.

I volunteered to go. I could have gotten out, because my reserve contract was over. I volunteered basically, because a couple of my good friends were going and being in the military is what's it's all about. It's about doing something. Being in the military action. I just wanted to be a part of it.

...They medevaced me out, took me to Bethesda Naval Hospital, and they told me it had to be amputated. Nobody can prepare himself for that. But you know, it could have been worse.

It's just pride. The brotherhood. The way of life. Being in the military, and being one of the few, the proud. Once a Marine, always a Marine.

A tank operator in the 4th ID, Luis Calderon was injured May 5, 2003, while destroying a mural of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit.

The wall just crashed on me. Crushed my head, broke my neck. I felt separated, like in relaxing mode, but really I was still driving the tank. I couldn't feel my hands on the wheel. I felt nothing. My sergeant was telling me to stop on the radio, but I couldn't speak loud because my voice just went away, I was whispering, a very slight whisper. Another tank got the wall from ahead and took it out, and we waited until the medics came.

<...>

I'm just happy I took the wall down. I did my job. If I had the chance to, I would go back now.

<...>

I still think I'm active. I'm 22 years old. You don't see a lot of veterans at 22 years old. I would like to talk to soldiers. Do volunteer work. Just talk to soldiers. But for the moment, right now, I just want to heal.

Alan Jermaine Lewis of the 3rd ID was wounded when the Humvee he was driving hit a land mine in Baghdad:

I've always wanted to go into education and become a teacher but they just don't make enough to survive off of. So I figure with my disability now, and the money I'll get from the government, I can use that plus the money I'll get from being a teacher and live comfortably. So I want to go to college and study education.
<...>
The reasons for going to war were bogus but we were right to go in there. Saddam was a bad guy. But the Purple Heart was one thing I never wanted. The Secretary of the Army gave it to me.

One thing seems obvious from these quotes - if the military wanted to publicize the stories of wounded veterans it could do so to its advantage - but respect for privacy seems to have thus far outweighed the potential public relations gains such publicity would offer.

Of course, those who do want to gain political capital from wounded heroes will even spin that reluctance for their own purposes:

They are the images the government doesn't want you to see -- of soldiers returning from "Operation Iraqi Freedom", wounded for life, physically and emotionally.

That's the opening line from the Mother Jones interview with Purple Hearts author Nina Berman. She was surprised by the positive response of these wounded heroes - though she doesn't call them heroes, and with time she's been able to recover enough from her shock to reconcile their comments with her own thinking:

MJ.com: Were you surprised by some of the soldier's positive reactions, given the considerable physical and emotional damage they suffered, to the war and their experiences in Iraq?

NB: I expected bitter soldiers, but as I talked to more people and family members, I realized that wasn't really the experience of a wounded soldier returning home. Most of the soldiers I photographed had literally just been released from the hospital. They're still in shock. For them to turn around and say, "I'm blind" or "I don't have any legs" and then think that it wasn't worth it -- that's a very hard leap to make. So I expected more bitterness and the pictures reveal soldiers who look quite lonely and almost in a state of shock.

Read the entire interview and one point shines through - she may have indeed let them speak their own words, but she sees them as potential converts to her cause - and potentially valuable ones at that. So don't bother looking for any indication that she actually listened to anything they said, she blames their attitudes on their ignorance, and refers to them as "robotic".

MJ.com: What do the soldiers think when Americans say that "I'm against the war but I support the troops"?

NB: Well, I would really side-step political questions about whether they were in favor of the war or not because when I asked that question most soldiers tended to give robotic responses, saying: "I'm a soldier and I have no political feelings." One soldier, though, whom I met at Walter Reed, said to me, "Look, whatever the book does or whatever you do, just make sure you say that people support the troops." So I'm not sure what they think it means. I think, for me, the banner "support the troops" is an almost meaningless expression.
<...>
MJ.com: That reminds me of what Spc. Robert Acosta, a twenty year-old soldier from Santa Ana, California, said about how Americans "watch action movies and glorify all of this stuff."

NB: Right, Robert Acosta was probably the most articulate in the book. He's become quite an activist. He recently appeared in an ad working with this group called Operation Truth and this morning, we were on the radio together. Since I met him, he's made quite a substantial leap in his thinking about the entire war.
<...>
Their whole understanding of the war, and how they process their injuries, depends on how much information they have access to and whom they talk to.

MJ.com: Did any of the soldiers talk about the Vietnam War?

NB: One soldier, Sgt, Josh Olson, who's an amputee up to the hip, had relatives in Vietnam. He had the view that U.S. hands were tied in Vietnam and that we should have finished the job. He was also very hard-core about the war in Iraq, saying we're going to have to kill a lot of people and "if they want to go to Allah, I'm going to send them to Allah."

What I found, though, is that Vietnam Veterans are very interested in these sorts of soldiers. Purple Hearts' afterword is written by Tim Origer, a Vietnam veteran who returned from Vietnam at 19 as an amputee, works with Veterans for Peace and is making contacts with these soldiers. Many Vietnam vets are super, super upset about this war. They identify with these wounded soldiers and basically see the whole nightmare unfolding for a second time.

MJ.com: I want to ask you about the book's afterword. Tim Origer writes that books like Purple Hearts "can awaken [our contemporaries] from their comfortable and complacent dreams." Do you think Purple Hearts can have this type of impact? What else needs to emerge to change the culture of war?

NB: Well, for me, it comes down to basically two things with this book. One is let's start getting a real look at war. If you want to start sending your sons and daughters to war then don't have this cartoon version of what is going to happen to them. You know, they are not going to be action heroes coming home in a blaze of glory. So let's face up to that. That was a really important reason for me to do this book because to me we're all kind of complicit in this experience here.

And the second thing is that I hope the text gives people a little bit of an understanding of the kind of youth culture that exists in America, and what these youths know, what they don't know, and what they imagine about the rest of the world. A lot of these soldiers come from very poor communities and the Army was the only thing out there. The Army recruiters are in their school every week, while corporate recruiters never enter these schools. The only people that are showing up in these high schools are Army recruiters in snappy uniforms with smiling faces.

I just got an e-mail off my site from this couple in Hawaii saying what can I do, the recruiters are coming to the school all the time and taking away all these children. I also made a ten-minute movie -- which records these soldiers in their own voices -- and I hope to get this movie shown in public schools. That's what I'm hoping to do, that's the next round.

Basically, I've been a photographer for many years and I did this book because I want people to see these pictures. As a journalist and as an American living here I feel like there's something that I must be able to contribute that isn't being done. I was too young to do anything during the Vietnam War but if I don't do something during this war then I'll just feel like I'm as bad as everybody else.

She's worried about others who might try to "use" the troops for their political gain too:

MJ.com: What about the rhetoric around troops that politicians use in campaign rallies and commercials?

NB: They say, "support our troops" or they show up at a veteran's parade and that's it. Or, like Acosta says, they show the war and America changes the channel. For me, the best possible solution is to humiliate politicians publicly, because that's the only way I can figure out how to make them move.

Remember, though, the book doesn't take a position on the war.

"...I wanted soldiers to tell their own stories so that someone could not dismiss Purple Hearts as an anti-war book or a pro-war book. It's important to just let the soldiers speak for themselves."

Certainly if Berman and others like her can convince these GIs that they have been used to advance a foolish cause - for which they've been crippled and rendered useless and forgotten - then they will be able to convert them to their opposition to that cause. But it's been almost a year since the publication of her book, and the campaign to enlist the wounded veterans hasn't gained much traction. It's not known whether she now regrets letting the "robots" speak for themselves.

*****

There's an interesting look at veteran's groups in between the lines of the above interview. Most such organizations are worthwhile, but others have goals that seem to change as often as political parties in power in DC.

One GI that was less-than-impressed by his experiences with such groups was North Dakota National Guardsman Brandon Erickson, whose tour of duty in Iraq cost him his right arm.

He was recently interviewed by NPR's John Ydstie

JY: How about you mood generally would you say?

BE: I think my mood's definitely improved. I've gotten this new attitude too - I really got mad at myself this last winter - I think I got a little bit of the winter blues, and I was kind of sulking around and feeling sorry for myself. It's been within the last three months I've gone through this change... to quit complaining. I just get mad at myself for complaining about things.

I was getting involved with some of the veterans organizations. They wanted me to... call congressmen, get this and that. I was like,,, yea maybe we do deserve these benefits, but at the same point appreciate what we have. Quit hounding them, saying "we deserve this this this this and this"... Honestly they can only provide so much. One guy was cussing up a storm at one of the senators - because we need to have this and this... but there's nothing in the constitution that says veterans have to have these certain rights - just out of the kindness of American's hearts we get all these benefits...

JY: You didn't want to get involved in that sort of negative... always being negative, always asking... you just didn't feel like it was good for your psyche...

BE: Yeah, I don't know why or what changed me but that whole negative thing about complaining about the war... I quit talking about that a long time ago, that got on my nerves instantly. Let it go.

The interview begins with Brandon on his new job - spraying lawns for the Happy Grass Lawn Care company. But lest you think he's been condemned to the bottom of the economic scrap heap rest assured, it's just a summer job, one in which he protects his $100,000 electronic arm by using a low-tech replacement. His full time job is student, a Political Science major at the University of North Dakota.

He's not overtly political though - in a previous NPR interview we learned his fellow students aren't aware of his story:

I'm a Political Science major, and one of my classes is International Politics, and we've talked about Iraq quite a bit. In all my classes nobody knows what happened to me. I dont say a word about being in the Army, being in Iraq. When people say silly things, I just want to fully unleash on them, "do you have any idea what ..." but I don't, I'm usually pretty quiet, I just let them think silly thoughts - because I know what's the real story from being over there.

It's not clear exactly what those "silly things" are, but there's a hint provided later as they approach his apartment:

BE: Bet you can't Guess which one's mine..

JY: Let's see now, there's one with an American flag hanging off the balcony...

BE: Yeah, that would be mine.

JY: Brandon says he still supports the war in Iraq. He lives in a small, quiet apartment complex a couple of miles from campus.

It looks like a regular guy's apartment, sparsely furnished...

BE: This is my Purple Heart, which was presented by Vice President Cheney. That was really cool. They didn't tell us until the night before, the last second, you get the purple heart from the vice president. We got excited, we're going to meet him...
<...>
We sat and talked, he made it very informal, it was pretty neat.

That's a picture that didn't appear in campaign advertising, by the way.

*****

Having failed to convert the living to their cause, today's "anti-war" crowd has shifted their focus entirely upon the dead. Demands for photos of flag-draped coffins to accompany any published anti-war diatribe are now easily filled - the result of lawsuits successfully waged in the nation's courts. (Professor Reinhardt's original piece included one such photograph.) None of this is new, of course, and one of the first practitioners of the art in it's modern form was Michael Moore. Moore sidestepped any question of whether his subjects agreed with him or not by simply using film of them in his movie Fahrenheit 9/11 without bothering to ask.

His use of footage from U.S.A.F. Maj. Gregory Stone's funeral earned him the outrage of the man's surviving relatives. Stone's mother described Moore as a "maggot that eats off the dead."

But he also hijacked wounded heroes for his cause, much to their surprise and revulsion. SSG Roy Mitchell was one of his victims. Mitchell learned of the abuse from a friend - while he was still recovering at Walter Reed. He "vehemently objects to filmmaker Moore's using them - without his knowledge - in a film he thinks undermines the military's mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he risked his life."

Another case from the same story:

The July 15 issue of The Enterprise, a Massachusetts newspaper, reported that Army reservist Peter Damon - also recuperating at Walter Reed after losing parts of both arms in an explosion in Iraq - was "surprised" to learn that an interview he gave to NBC this year is shown in the film.

John Gonsalves, the founder of Homes for Our Troops - a Massachusetts organization that builds homes for disabled soldiers - is constructing a new house for Damon and his wife, with whom he has talked extensively about the film.

"To do a movie that's clearly anti-war and totally against the Bush administration, and to put these guys in it without their knowledge, is morally wrong, and maybe even legally," said Gonsalves.

Make no mistake - this is why the dead are valuable to the "anti-war" crowd - they don't talk back.

*****

We offered a follow-up report on Damon's recovery here:

There is a sketch in his living room of a soldier carrying another soldier on his back, evidence the righthanded Damon can still draw, though he must clasp his pencil between two pieces of metal.

The drawing he's working on will be used in an advertisement for Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that uses donations by contractors to build homes for veterans. The Damons will be moving into a new home by the end of July, a place equipped with easy-to-open cabinets, latch-handle doors, keyless entry, low-maintenance vinyl siding, an easy-to-clean flat-top stove, and a master bedroom suite with a wide shower.

You can "visit" the home built for Sgt Damon and his family here - and meet some other heroes the organization is helping here. Take a look around the Homes for our Troops website while you're there - and meet some folks do more than talk about their support for the troops.

*****

It was truly an honor to discover this comment left on that previous post:

I'd like to thank everyone for showing an interest and showing so much support for my story, and the story of Homes For Our Troops. Reading comments like these make all the sacrifices that I have made, and ALL THE OTHER SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN who have given life and limb for their Country and for Freedom, worth it.

Thank You, and GOD BLESS AMERICA
Pete Damon
SGT. U.S. Army RET

*****

(Part IV is here)