The realities of resisting war
Media Credit: Tobey Anderson
After finishing his time at the University of Iowa in the United States,
Tobey Anderson was drafted by the military and reported to Fort Louis,
WA. He completed his training and was ranked high among his peers. But,
when the day came that his unit was asked to report to Oakland, CA for
deployment to Vietnam, he resisted.
Anderson was a proud American citizen back then, and would have jumped
at the opportunity to defend his country, but when the opportunity arose
as a controversial war in which the US's involvement was frequently
debated - criticized as the US meddling in a regional conflict -
Anderson's sense of duty was replaced by confusion. He did not want to
fight in a war he didn't believe in.
In 1969, knowing he would soon be out of time, Anderson jumped on a bus,
crossed the American-Canadian border in Detroit, MI, continuing onto
Toronto, ON and eventually Kingston, ON to stay with a friend.
He credits his success during his journey to the kindness of many people
who helped him along the way, including the Canadian organization based
out of Toronto, ON, who directed him in how to travel and cross the
border, as well as providing him with food and some chores to make some
money so he could complete the remainder of his trip.
Also, while struggling as a US war resistor with no citizenship in
Canada, he was offered many kind gestures by Canadians - including a
doctor who treated him free of charge when he lacked health care or the
money to pay for it.
"I owe Canada my whole adult life," said Anderson, in his backyard
studio in St. Catharines, ON.
Anderson, now a St. Catharines resident, has integrated himself into
Canadian society as an adamant contributor to the arts community as well
as a celebrated artist in varying mediums.
"When I first came [to Canada] I couldn't do any artwork related to the
war because it was too close to me," said Anderson. "I just couldn't
figure out how to deal with it in a way that made any sense."
In 2001, when two civilian airliners where flown into both the World
Trade Center towers in New York City, Anderson saw the beginning of what
was to be another controversial war.
It is the controversial nature of war that Anderson explores in his
artwork - depicting the civilian injuries and casualties, as well as
portraits of Canadian soldiers that have fallen in Afghanistan.
It is with these recent objectives within the Middle East that one can
draw a parallel between Anderson's story and the story of many American
citizens today.
One family living in the Niagara Region knows the struggles of a war
resistor all too well.
Ashlea and Jeremy Brockway were originally from Minnesota, and Jeremy
was a Corporal in the Marine Corp at Camp Lejeune, NC. Shortly after
their marriage, Jeremy departed for a seven-month tour in Iraq where he
was part of a communications platoon and often in charge of managing the
radio. During his tour, Jeremy overheard (on the radio) and experienced
a number of events that he continues to struggle with today.
In their family home in Port Colborne, ON, where Jeremy and Ashlea
reside with their two young sons, Ashlea describes just some of the
memories of these sinister events that her husband came home with.
An Iraqi policeman that Jeremy had befriended - who supplied US soldiers
with cigarettes and was even teaching him Arabic - was fatally wounded
when a fellow Marine broke down and opened fire on his vehicle, and
requests for an ambulance were denied.
While working the radio, Jeremy overheard a unit's request for a
helicopter to retrieve an injured Marine that they had had to leave
behind during a conflict. When the request was denied, and Jeremy
questioned this to a senior officer - it was explained to him that a
damaged or destroyed helicopter was more costly to the military than one
soldier's life insurance.
Possibly the most startling, is an attack on a building that Jeremy
overheard on the radio, and when coming across this building on his
patrol the next day, witnessing family members digging their loved ones
out of the rubble.
"He saw the bodies of charred children being pulled from the rubble, and
that's one of the things that really gets to him," said Ashlea.
"The military doesn't really put value on human life, whether it's Iraqi
or their own people."
While still on his tour in Iraq, Jeremy began to struggle with the
things he had experienced since he arrived in the country, and when he
tried to address these struggles, his concerns were shrugged off.
"Jeremy probably wouldn't be as bad as he is now if he had gotten the
help when he needed it," said Ashlea.
When he returned home after completing his seven-month tour, Jeremy
attempted to immerse himself back into every day life.
"He was struggling a lot, but he didn't really say anything to me," said
Ashlea. "Things that he used to enjoy he couldn't really handle
anymore."
An assessment that Jeremy's unit completed before they returned home
soon came into question. When an independent reviewer had noticed that
all their answers were the same, and they were soon tipped off that the
Marines were told all the 'right answers' would be filled out for them,
so that no flags would go up and they could return home faster.
Once Jeremy retook the assessment, flags did indeed go up and he was
finally referred to a doctor, where he was ultimately diagnosed with
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Severe Depression.
His involvement with the Marine Corp. did not end with this diagnosis,
but it certainly went downhill. After visiting a doctor, Jeremy was
subject to harassment regarding his diagnosis, as well as being given
extra and unfair duties like often being ordered to work security for
the barracks when he had never resided in them himself and his gun being
taken, a formality of the medical discharge process, which he had begun.
This only furthered the harassment, and made him unable to participate
in mandatory training practices.
"They were harassing him at work and making an example of him," said
Ashlea.
When the decision over his medical discharge application finally came,
it was rejected based on one non-medical assessment by his Commander,
saying that he was able to successfully complete all his duties.
Discouraged by the negative outcome of one legal route, Jeremy turned to
another, researching and writing two papers to apply as a conscientious
objector to the war in Iraq - one based on religious reasons and another
based on the illegality of the war.
Upon submitting these papers to his First Sergeant, they were shredded
on the spot. By this time, Jeremy and Ashlea were beginning to realize
that they had exhausted all of their legal resources.
As his unit had again deployed to Iraq leaving Jeremy to complete his
training practices with another unit - and that other unit having denied
the request - Jeremy was left in limbo with an institution that had
seemingly abandoned him completely.
Jeremy consulted a Quaker hotline for advice, who reassured him that he
had tried all the legal routes, and put him in contact with the War
Resistors Support Campaign in Canada - who set Ashlea and Jeremy up with
a host-family in London, ON.
They had no trouble on their journey across the border, as it wasn't
known that he was absent-without-leave at the time that they crossed.
Ashlea continues to struggle with the mistreatment her husband - who has
attempted suicide twice - experienced from an institution he had devoted
his life to.
"The motto of the Marine Corp. is 'Always faithful'. Jeremy was always
faithful to them, and they wouldn't be faithful to him - they wouldn't
ever help him. It's very one-sided," said Ashlea.
"The military people that fight supposedly for our freedom everyday have
very little freedoms of their own."
Ashlea and Jeremy continue to fight to stay in Canada, with the help of
the Canadian War Resistors Campaign and it's Niagara chapter - which was
created in November 2010 - and while its support is available for any
war resistors located within the Region, its support is centered around
the Brockway family for one very important reason:
"As of right now we are the only family in the Niagara Region that is
public," said Ashlea.
There are only around 50 public US war resistors in Canada. The real
number has been estimated of being much, much higher.
"Raising a family can be challenging in even the best circumstances,"
said Karrie Porter, who has been involved with the Canadian War
Resistors Support Campaign for approximately five years. "I am amazed
that Ashlea is coping and keeping her family together with all the
difficulties she faces."
It is this connection that drew Porter - who has a young family of her
own - to get involved in helping the Brockway family, and help with the
beginnings of the Niagara chapter.
"The Brockway's live under the threat of deportation and we are raising
money, providing support and getting their story heard by people in the
Region," said Porter.
They have applied for refugee status, which was denied, along with their
appeal - without any real reason being provided, said Ashlea. They are
also persuing permanent resident status based on humanitarian or
compassionate grounds - which has yet to be processed.
If unsuccessful, Jeremy and Ashlea face deportation. Once back in the
US, Jeremy faces felony charges for desertion, along with jail time.
This poses problems for a family who wishes to raise their Canadian-born
children in a Canadian school and health care system, as well as a
husband who suffers from PTSD and Depression having to serve jail time,
which may be more detrimental to his condition.
"With the mental state that he is in now, I don't think that it is just
a prison sentence but more like a death sentence for him," said Ashlea.
On top of that, the treatment of US war resistors by the Canadian
government is an issue of much ethical and moral debate, especially
between politicians. Many New Democratic Party (NDP) and Liberal
politicians have joined in asking the Canadian government to revisit
their approach to dealing with US war resistors - including local Member
of Parliament for Welland, ON and NDP member Malcolm Allen.
"The Tories [Conservatives] still try to deport us," said Ashlea. "Even
though apparently 64 per cent of Canadians want us to stay."
"Soldiers have the right to object to perform services on the grounds of
freedom of thought, conscience, or religion," said Porter. "This is a
basic human right as declared by the UN."
Anderson struggles with the idea that young men are still forced to
fight for causes they don't believe in, or face prosecution by refusing
to do so - something he feels very lucky for having avoided.
"I think basic human dignity should allow people, no matter where they
are, to opt out of participating in combat where they are in a position
to kill people if they don't feel morally equipped to do that," he said.
Ashlea, along with two other speakers, came to Brock University on Feb.
7 to tell her and her husband's story.
To learn more about war resistors, their events and fundraisers, or to
learn how to get involved, visit resisters.ca
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http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2011/02/08/Focus/
The-Realities.Of.Resisting.War-3974821.shtml
Via InstaFetch
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