Swords to Plowshares Belltower

Some of my mates, about seven of my mates, never made it home with me. Since I arrived home, numerous members have committed suicide out of my unit. Close friends. And one of our five children passed away early, I’m told from Agent Orange. I was exposed to [Agent Orange] and it has affected four out of our five children.

My name is Albert Hayes. I was a staff sergeant in the Army. In 1969, I was in Vietnam with the 1st Air Calvary. We went out on helicopters and I’ll never forget the day in June of 1969. We got ambushed and most of my squad got wiped out. I got shot with a hole through my canteen and I’m very emotional right now because I’m still alive and they’re dead. I’m headed down to see the wall and I’m hoping I can set up pretty good once I get to it and see my buddies’ names on the wall.

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

I was drafted, like I said, to go in the military. I would do it all for my country again, but I hope if I ever have to go to war again or if anybody has to go to war, it’s because we’re defending the United States of America and not sticking our nose in other people’s business.

While I serving my country, I was wounded a couple times, shrapnel which I’m still recovering from, Agent Orange, jungle rot that plagues my body now and causes a whole lot of problems for me to function as a normal person. But I’m thankful that I made it back and I pray for all the families that lost loved ones serving their country and I thank God for being here on this day. This is my statement: bless all military personnel and their families.

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

In making decisions to help maintain peace all over the world, we all have to be doing our share and let that be the last resort–is going to war which affects so many people and their families with a lasting effect that most military veterans cannot shake. And I’m one of those living now that–I never wanted any parts of being in the military, but I was drafted so I had no choice but to serve my country as they ordered me to do. But I found out that, from the effects of war, it lingers on and it never stops.

For Jacob David George: Death by Suicide

Jacob talked about how he was a poor farmer sent over to kill other poor farmers overseas. He was deployed three times and, when he came back, he decided that he was going to ride his bicycle and talk about the wars and the misconceptions of them until the end.

When I joined the military, I was 17 years old. I joined the Nebraska Army National Guard and I drilled with the Guard while I was still in high school, so I didn’t really know much about the military. I just believed my government. After I found out that the Bush administration lied about the fact that there were weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein had them, I felt that I could no longer follow that nation.

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

We spend over 1 trillion dollars. A lot of that is borrowed for a security budget that doesn’t really keep us any safer. We really need to be able to face these hard truths and then we can find other truths.

If we took that money and invested it into healthcare, that would create twice as many jobs. If we took that money and invested it into education, that would create three times as many jobs. We don’t need to make investments in the losing military industrial complex anymore. We can take this money and put it into programs, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, into programs of social uplift.