Just grab your guitar and learn how to play?
It's not that easy.
We're not talking about the decision, that's something you have to make yourself.
We are talking about the realities if you go public.
Let's say you've self-checked out and are now thinking of going public.
You can issue a statement or sit for an interview while you're underground. In the just released Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia, Camilo Mejia writes of doing just that. But let's say you're caught or you turn yourself in.
Caught? If you've missed it, the US military is actively pursuing war resisters. They're not even respecting international law or national boundaries.
If that happens, are you prepared?
You need at least one family member. Ideally, more than that.
But you need at least one family member. While you may or may not speak to the press after turning yourself in or being arrested, if you are convicted during a court-martial, you're going to fall off the radar if it's just you. Monica Benderman kept focus on her husband Kevin Benderman when he was imprisoned. It's equally true that Ehren Watada has had both parents and a step-mother to speak out for him.
The more you have who will speak out on your behalf the better. The military wants you to be a passing fad. They want war resisters to fade. They want people to believe that if you are court-martialed, you are forgotten. So the more people you have who are able to speak on your behalf the better.
One of the first things you'll be asked/told is not to speak to anyone on the base while you're awaiting your court-martial and not to speak to the press. If you think you're getting a good deal, go for it. But the reality is that they don't want attention on this topic.
They want you to be faceless and silent. They're not overly concerned about you as an individual. Once your in custody, they're pretty sure they can convict you in a military court. What they are concerned about is your speaking out.
Suzanne Swift was promoted as a war resister by some before she was one. Sara Rich has written of her daughter's awakening. But what we're concerned with here is Swift's case and the way it was handled. She was screwed over and jerked around by the military. We think that's largely due to bad advice. Including the early promotion of her as a war resister which confused the issues at the heart of her case (she was sexually harassed and abused, while serving, by males of higher rank). We are not criticizing her mother who has fought like 10, at least ten, parents and has kept Swift's issue alive. But we think she had lousy legal advice.
We wonder how, when your complaints of abuse are documented, that you end up being the one punished? We think it was a mistake for her to ever lay low after her case became public. We also question the gag order placed on her by the military. How do you tell a victim they can't speak of their assault? We think there are enough issues involved in that, and enough awareness outside the military, that the gag order could be challenged. We also think Swift speaking would get the military talking about her departure faster than anything else.
So we think if you agree to be silent, are advised to be silent or, as Swift was, are ordered to be silent, you seriously consider other options. They don't want you talking. Whether you do or not, the threat that you may is sometimes all that you have to bargain with after you're in their custody.
You're also not responsible for what those speaking for you say. In fact, they should be encouraged to say even more than you would because they can't be prosecuted for their speech.
Anita Anderson scared the hell out of the military because she made it very clear that she would be outside the gates protesting what they did to her son, Darrell Anderson. With the public turning against the war, the military doesn't want to risk creating another Cindy Sheehan.
They could, and did, ignore the family members when the war was more popular and pre-Cindy Sheehan. They have no response to a pissed off, angry mother.
They can't censor her speech. They can't respond to her remarks without looking like jerks and risking a backlash. And they fear that every time she speaks, another mother of an enlisted is going to be nodding in agreement.
If you don't have that kind of support group, we're not suggesting you don't turn yourself in if you're considering that. We're not suggesting that if you're caught, you're screwed. But five weeks ago we were asked to sketch out the ideal for a war resister who was considering turning himself in. What would he need? How would he get attention? Should he get attention?
If you've got some established relationship with someone in the military who's telling you to turn yourself in and guaranteeing they'll go easy on you, go for it if you trust you're being told the truth. But remember, Kyle Snyder had an agreement with the military, turned himself in, and the second his attorney left, the military immediately began shredding the agreement and attempting to ship him over to Iraq.
We're also not saying that friends can't be very effective spokespersons. But it's a lot of work and a casual friend's not going to hold up. It's requires too much work and too much energy. Carolyn Ho has truly put her own life on hold to speak out for her son (Ehren Watada).
The other big question we were asked was what about the press? What about them?
You can count on the AP for the most part. Not to tell your story as you tell it. Not to necessarily be fair. But they are the most dependable of the mainstream in following this issue.
Where ever you are in the United States, you can count on Flashpoints Radio and Democracy Now! to show interest. Otherwise? If you can hold a press conference in NYC or California (LA or San Francisco), you can get some attention. It's also true that if you can find some backdrop that will play Norman Rockwell-esque you can count on some local and state press that may be amplified by the national press.
What you don't need to do is hold back when you're speaking to the press. If you do that, and most not familiar with the press will naturally do so, when you are more comfortable talking to them and begin sharing more, it will be seen as, "Oh, they just invented that! They never mentioned it before!"
The other most asked question is about what it's like, if you're convicted, after your behind bars? We can't answer that.
Someone who could is Mark Wilkerson. Unless his sentence gets shortened, he's confined until September. From "Send Mark Letters of Support:"
Mark is currently serving 7 months confinement at Fort Sill, OK. He is in high spirits and hopes to post an update to the blog shortly. Please send him your letters of support:
Mark Wilkerson
c/o Sarah Wilkerson
PO Box 25037
Colorado Springs, CO 80936
If you're a war resister, you know or suspect that his mail is read. Translation, do not write, "Mark, I'm in the same situation you were in . . ." because that return address is going to be used to track you down.
That is probably the biggest question, what is that like?
We can't tell anyone to turn themselves in and we can't tell anyone to self-check out. There's no fear of being prosecuted over that. That's not happened (and didn't during Vietnam). But there is the reality that both are life altering decisions. Only you can make either/both decision/s because you are the one who will have to live with it/them. But if you're wondering what the ideal situation is, that's what is. You're up against an army and you'll need your own army of support.
