Queercommie Girl
1st April 2011, 12:06
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/on-march-19-two-grim.html
On March 19, two grim anniversaries
'Justice for Spc. Kirkland!'
By Kevin Baker (http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/pages/biography.html?headlinesauthor_select=kevin-baker&author=Kevin+Baker&PREVIOUS_URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pslweb.org%2Fliberat ionnews%2Fnews%2Fon-march-19-two-grim.html)
March 23, 2011
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/assets/images/content/kevin-baker-march-forward.jpg Kevin Baker (left) leads an anti-war march of nearly 5,000 in Los Angeles.
The following is a speech delivered by Iraq war veteran and former Infantry sergeant Kevin Baker at a mass anti-war protest on March 19 in Los Angeles. Baker is a member of the anti-war organization of veteran and active duty service members March Forward! To read more statements from March Forward!, click here. (http://www.answercoalition.org/march-forward/)
On this day last year, Spc. Derrick Kirkland, who I served on a tour in Iraq with, hanged himself in his barracks room. He was found dead on March 20th.
This date also marks the date of the brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States. These two dates now mark two specific but not isolated atrocities committed by this government.
Derrick Kirkland was killed by this governmentfor sending him to a war we had no reason to fight, then neglecting him when he asked for help.
He was in Iraq on his second tour and was sent home early because the pains of PTSD and other issues were too much to bear alone. Kirkland had tried three times before to kill himself. Despite three suicide attempts, Army psychologists labeled him a low risk for suicide. He was ridiculed and mocked by his chain of command, who then placed him in a barracks room by himself. He was there only three days before he took his life.
As someone who has battled though the Army medical system, I can tell you that it is not designed to help anybody. In fact, it sets up barricades to ensure soldiers stay in the military, despite seeking help. There are only a fraction of the number of psychiatrists that are needed. Appointments are months apart and treatment is reduced to nothing more than checking boxes to make soldiers legally ready for another deployment. Kirkland is not an isolated incident. In 2009 and 2010, more soldiers killed themselves than were killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers are killing themselves on an average of one per day.
If you want to know how much our chain of command cares about us, just look at what our executive officer Major Keith Markham says in memos he sends to other officers: We can accomplish anything we put our minds to ... with an endless amount of expendable labor. The expendable labor this officer is speaking about is Derrick Kirkland, and every other soldier who has lost their life to suicide, and in combat.
Officers build their careers off of the backs of enlisted soldiers. Officers like Major Markham, General Petraeus, and everyone in the Pentagon, dont care about its soldiersour friends, loved ones, husbands, daughters, sons and wives. If this government does not care about its own soldiers then why would we even begin to think it cares about liberating peoples of another nation? This is why we say this is not our war and service members have an absolute right to refuse orders to Afghanistan and Iraq!
We can stop these wars, but we need each other to do it. Those of us who mourned Kirklands death, those of us who were sent to die in these wars, we know that this government cares nothing about us; were just the cannon fodder in their wars for the rich. Those experiences have woken us up, and we are fighting back, and we will fight back until we stop these criminal wars!
On March 19, two grim anniversaries
'Justice for Spc. Kirkland!'
By Kevin Baker (http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/pages/biography.html?headlinesauthor_select=kevin-baker&author=Kevin+Baker&PREVIOUS_URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pslweb.org%2Fliberat ionnews%2Fnews%2Fon-march-19-two-grim.html)
March 23, 2011
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/assets/images/content/kevin-baker-march-forward.jpg Kevin Baker (left) leads an anti-war march of nearly 5,000 in Los Angeles.
The following is a speech delivered by Iraq war veteran and former Infantry sergeant Kevin Baker at a mass anti-war protest on March 19 in Los Angeles. Baker is a member of the anti-war organization of veteran and active duty service members March Forward! To read more statements from March Forward!, click here. (http://www.answercoalition.org/march-forward/)
On this day last year, Spc. Derrick Kirkland, who I served on a tour in Iraq with, hanged himself in his barracks room. He was found dead on March 20th.
This date also marks the date of the brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States. These two dates now mark two specific but not isolated atrocities committed by this government.
Derrick Kirkland was killed by this governmentfor sending him to a war we had no reason to fight, then neglecting him when he asked for help.
He was in Iraq on his second tour and was sent home early because the pains of PTSD and other issues were too much to bear alone. Kirkland had tried three times before to kill himself. Despite three suicide attempts, Army psychologists labeled him a low risk for suicide. He was ridiculed and mocked by his chain of command, who then placed him in a barracks room by himself. He was there only three days before he took his life.
As someone who has battled though the Army medical system, I can tell you that it is not designed to help anybody. In fact, it sets up barricades to ensure soldiers stay in the military, despite seeking help. There are only a fraction of the number of psychiatrists that are needed. Appointments are months apart and treatment is reduced to nothing more than checking boxes to make soldiers legally ready for another deployment. Kirkland is not an isolated incident. In 2009 and 2010, more soldiers killed themselves than were killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers are killing themselves on an average of one per day.
If you want to know how much our chain of command cares about us, just look at what our executive officer Major Keith Markham says in memos he sends to other officers: We can accomplish anything we put our minds to ... with an endless amount of expendable labor. The expendable labor this officer is speaking about is Derrick Kirkland, and every other soldier who has lost their life to suicide, and in combat.
Officers build their careers off of the backs of enlisted soldiers. Officers like Major Markham, General Petraeus, and everyone in the Pentagon, dont care about its soldiersour friends, loved ones, husbands, daughters, sons and wives. If this government does not care about its own soldiers then why would we even begin to think it cares about liberating peoples of another nation? This is why we say this is not our war and service members have an absolute right to refuse orders to Afghanistan and Iraq!
We can stop these wars, but we need each other to do it. Those of us who mourned Kirklands death, those of us who were sent to die in these wars, we know that this government cares nothing about us; were just the cannon fodder in their wars for the rich. Those experiences have woken us up, and we are fighting back, and we will fight back until we stop these criminal wars!