Swords to Plowshares Belltower

For the Military Men in Her Life

Plaque Quote: I saw the men, my father and his friends, come home from war different. These military men had pain that they hid, sometimes in abuse, alcoholism, and other ways. They all died early, leaving their children and their wives with scars that still aren’t healed, leaving much too soon, often misunderstood, but always always honored. Being a child, sometimes you ask (cause you can’t really understand), “Why is Daddy gone and why doesn’t he come back the same?”

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

So what’s this war for? That’s the question. What is it really accomplishing and who really pays? So my thoughts about war are–takes a lot of people, a lot of lives, touches a lot of people, uses a lot of money and resources that we could do a lot of other things with. And it takes more than a lifetime to rebuild. Not just a country, but a family. We’ve seen the damages and I shudder to think of this next generation not just post-9/11, but post-Afghanistan, post-all the wars that are going on all over the world that we don’t even talk about. So we’ve gotta make a change.

This is my great-uncle, Percy Fletcher, and he was gassed during the First World War. He returned from the war and, unfortunately, because he was gassed, his two daughters died very young. They were only two and three years old when they both died. I know that he wasn’t the same man when he came back and he died quite young as well.

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

I think we’re warring peoples. I think there will always be conflict. Unfortunately, I think in the end, we’ll destroy ourselves. I try not to think about that too much ‘cause I’ve got children, I’ve got grandchildren. I like to think going forward, they will live in a peaceful world, but I can’t see it.

I served there in 2009 and 2010. Really, the only way to sum it up is, it was a mistake. We shouldn’t be there right now. I think that people in this country need to pay more attention to what our government’s doing.

The main problem is that the AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force) is very broad in scope…essentially, it’s just kind of a warrant for endless war.

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

The stuff that’s occurring in the United States right now…it’s a symptom of the war and how much money we’ve spent on that which is–what?–five something trillion dollars now since 9/11. So, pay attention to that. If you really want to thank a veteran, work to get Congress to rescind that authorization so we can start focusing on what’s going on here at home.

(For PFC Aaron Barnes- exposed to depleted uranium munitions in Iraq)

I never met him when he was alive. The Army kicked him out because they said his weight was fluctuating, but they said there was nothing wrong with him. His mother held a fundraiser, so he could go to a private doctor. And it turned out that he had a very rare liver cancer that had metastasized throughout his body. [His mother’s] biggest regret was that she couldn’t yell at the Army and VA for how they had abandoned him.

(During the Vietnam war) I had to tell a mother that her only son was killed. I still feel every blow to the chest that she gave me. When I had one of my men killed in Vietnam, I felt those blows again. And then when another neighbor’s son was killed, I also felt it. And it still tells me the same thing: waste, waste, waste.

One of my legacies of Vietnam is I’m sterile. I’m so thankful that I don’t need to worry about passing on to [my] offspring. When you sign up for the military, unfortunately, you also sign up your family members. It affects way more people than just the combatant.

How can we beat swords into plowshares?

The easiest way is to prevent war veterans. The military is the biggest polluter in the world, by far, the U.S. military. …Every cent we pay to the military is not worth it. It makes us less secure and destroys the world. Destroys our lives. The people that profit from that, the military industrial complex, need to pay up. Agent Orange, depleted uranium. All of this is very expensive. Bottom line is that they can’t clean it all up, but at least they can do some things. The key thing is not to just completely keep destroying the earth.

Except for time spent away for school and the military, I’ve spent my life on a farm. For me, I probably wouldn’t be here [after Vietnam] if I had not been on the farm. There’s something about working with the land.