Fear for my daughter
By Sara Rich
It started out with being scared for her life when she signed up for
the military. She assured me that she was promised she would not go to
Iraq. I was not as trusting.
She was sent to Iraq right out of her basic training. She assured me
she would be ok as we cried while she was packing. One of her Sgt.
assured me. "Don't worry Ma'am, we'll take good care of your daughter."
I desperately hoped that I could trust him to watch over her. I later
found out he was one the first predators to try and have sex with her
and make her "his private"
She spent a long year in Iraq. I feared for her safety every waking
minute. She called me crying frequently. Telling me very little of the
horror she was witnessing. Only telling me it was hard. Telling me that
almost all of the other soldiers sexually harass her and many of her
Sgt.'s and Lt. really pressuring her and making her life miserable for
rejecting them. Calls from her ending with, "o, there goes gun fie,
gotta go mom, love you."
She returns from Iraq. She is much more quiet and anxious. I offer to
get her help and she refuses. She tells me that if she opens that can
of worms she will not be able to function as a human being. I ask her
if she wants to deal with the horrible sexual harassment charges
against so many of her fellow soldiers, she says no mom, it would only
make my life even more of a living hell. Then she finally blew the
whistle on one of her superiors for sexually harassing and she was
treated like a pirana while he was moved to a different unit and
promoted. She put her head down and worked as an Military Police
officer on Ft. Lewis. She was always shocked by the number of domestic
violence calls she went out on. The fear of a mother of a peace officer
was there, but at least I could call her and knew she was safe. We know
that she is going to be re-deployed to Iraq sometime after the
mandatory 18 months stabilization time is over. So, we were looking at
November of 2006 for a second re-deployment. Our heart were heavy at
the thought.
She comes home for a visit and can't face me to tell me she is going
much sooner than expected back to Iraq. My fear is skyrocketing. How
can they do that, you will have only had 11 months of stabilization
time. She tells me that she refused to sign the waiver waiving her
rights to 18 months. She was told that her life would be hell in a shit
hole if she refused to sign. They screamed in her face and intimidated
her to the point that she would shake when she told the story. Our
family prepares.
She is packed, ready to redeploy. Keys in hand. "I can't do this, Mom,
I can't go back there." We shift into action to protect our daughter.
We networked with everyone imaginable. We knew that we would rather see
her in jail than spend another minute in Iraq. We hired an attorney
with experience in these kinds of military matters. And Suzanne went
into hiding.
Now here we are facing what we knew was a real possibility. Suzanne is
in jail and waiting to be taken up to Ft. Lewis and I am really scared.
The military treated her horribly when she was a soldier, I can only
imagine what they will do to her as a prisoner. She is a brave young
woman and my hero. There is only just so much stress an Iraq war
veteran can handle.
My fear for my daughter is real. My hope for and belief in my daughter
and what she is doing is strong and unshakable. I truly believe she
saved her own life with her courage. Hopefully by telling her story and
standing strong she can encourage others in the military to stand up,
speak out and refuse to participate in this illegal and immoral war.
Thanks to you all. I knew this was going to happen eventually so I had
my ducks in a serious row. Today, I has a press conference, a vigil at
the jail where Suzanne is, spoke to 10 different radio shows, some
nationally syndicated, three TV stations, 3 newspapers and had a
million calls.
I only got to talk to Suzanne for one short minute in which we were
both were crying so hard we could not talk.
They are transporting Suzanne tomorrow early morning to Ft. Lewis and
returning her to her unit. We are planning to be at the jail at 7:45
AM-9 to see if we can catch a a glimpse of her as she leaves the jail
to show her that we are here for her.
Lt. Colonel Switzer, Ft. Lewis Washington is who we need to be writing
to asking for Spc. Suzanne Swift to have a medical discharge or an
honorable discharge from the Amy due to her post traumatic stress
disorder. After writing the letter we need to fax them to:
Senator Gordon Smith- Eugene, OR Office
Federal Building
211 East 7th Avenue, Room 202
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: 541.465.6750
Fax: 541.465.6808
Senator Ron Wyden-Eugene, OR
151 West 7th Ave
Suite 435
Eugene, OR 97401
(541) 431-0229
Congressman Peter DeFazio-Eugene Office
151 West 7th, Suite 400
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 465-6732
Senator Patty Murray in Washington- Tacoma Office
950 Pacific Avenue, Ste. 650
Tacoma, Washington 98402
Phone: (253) 572-3636
Fax: (253) 572-9892
If there is no fax number you can email them. let me know if you send a
letter and if you get a response.
If you want to donate to Suzanne's legal or medical fund please contact
me and I will get the addresses for you for our attorney Larry Hildis
or Suzanne's psychologist, Zak Schwartz.
Thanks so much from Suzanne and her family. We appreciate your love and
passion. This is so important for us to do not only for us to end the
war, but to defend women who are in the military.
love,
Sara
Peace~
Sara Rich, M.S.W
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www.VelvetRevolution.us
Daughter
DonP I am truly sorry for your daughter, as I am for a majority of the females who serve on active duty. The military is a male dominated culture which has increasingly become "C"hristion fundamentalist in thought and deed and therefore will reflect what they conceive as the biblical role of women.
I wonder...
Why the military is a "male dominated culture"???? Well, it is pretty simple but probably too simple for all of your complex brains to understand so let me help you out. I know this may seem a bit blunt but put 1,000 male soldiers vs. 1,000 females in hand to hand combat and see what happens. I know what I have just said may annoy some feminists out there but it is true so deal with it.
I know that women play an integral role on the military all over the world but you must realize that this is the reason for the "male dominance". I know the Soviets used females successfully as snipers in WWII and that is a different role altogether where females can be as good or better than men. But on the front line, this would not be the case. If you are too "enlightened" to realize this, you are hopeless and please stay OUT of the military.
Sorry for my cold-hearted, male-ego dominated comments...Not really, it's the truth.
What happened to this young woman is indefensible and my prayers are with her and her family.
Am I allowed to bring religion onto this site? Too late.
After reading this I hope some of you kooks, that like to give murderers and rapists a pass due to their "socio-economic" upbringing, will change your attitude about crime and PUNISHMENT. I forgot, this happened in our military so it is DIFFERENT right!?!?!? Wrong but you can always blame this on Bush too? The seems to be your M.O.
Richie "The Right Wing Kook" Rich
Why Don't We Just Cut The Crap And Get On With the Civil War?
"1,000 male soldiers vs. 1,000 females in hand to hand combat and see what happens." Instead of your male-ego dogmatism or it's feminist counterpart, for that matter, it would be too much to ask that an objective standard be employed, wouldn't it? I mean a standard of performance that is applied equally to all.
Neither of you would want that, because it would obviate the use of authority to impose your will and vindicate your preconcieved notions.
"Am I allowed to bring religion onto this site? Too late."
No, it's not "too late", because they could always delete or edit your comments. But we know that's just not done here, is it?
What a quaint notion, freedom of speech.
Of course, those of us who don't knuckle under to your "president's" no-holds-barred, brass-knuckles-in-your-face version of Christianity know better than to apply say, to the Air Force Academy. And we also know to steer clear of his other "faith based" initiatives, although we a certainly expected to pay for them.
Oh, no wait, I'm sorry, this is a REPUBLICAN "president". When he sees how fast he can expand the power and authority of government, the cost is passed on to future generations so he can pacify the rubes with phony tax cuts.
Not like those evil Democrats. They expect current vicitms to pay. What's worse, they aren't even as good at expanding government as the Republicans. And after all, that's one thing you and the moonbats can agree on, isn't it? We can't have enough government. How quaint of them, again, to be honest about it---yes, and as if that wasn't bad enough, they don't CLAIM to be for limited government and fiscal responsibility.
And after all, this is a Christian country, isn't it? I'd like to say that makes me a second class citizen in my native land, but the kind of malevolence and hatred your chimp-from-hell "president" sprays in my face, I'm more like a foreign invader in my native land.
You know, you've got a lot of chutzpah questioning where you can bring religion. If we haven't reached the point yet when you can just shoot someone like me for being an atheist, no questions asked,just wait a minute.
"I forgot, this happened in our military so it is DIFFERENT right!?!?!? Wrong but you can always blame this on Bush too?"
You've really surpassed yourself in hypocracy with that one,Richie; you want to give him credit for being a great moral leader. So you must concede he does indeed hold such position, don't you? Well, this is the kind of moral leadership you get from an amoral coward, who when his time came, went AWOL.
Abu Grahib, Falujah, the experiences of Sara's daughter, these are all manifestations of the moral parameters he sets. That despicable piece of human garbage you call a "president", most certainly does hold the position of moral leadership you imply he holds. And those are the results the quality of his "character" must necessarily produce.
---The Bikemessenger
"
Doing What's Right
Sara Rich:
All of the horrors you describe your daughter going through stem from the fundamental wrongness of the war from the onset:
http://www.smallgov.org/?p=302
This is an illegal war in violation of:
Fourth Geneva convention Article III. sec. 1
Nuremberg Charter Articles 6 & 7
Charter of the United Nations Article 2 sec.4; Articles 39-42
The U.S. is a signatory to all these treaties, therefore, it is also a violation of :
THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Article VI; Paragraph 2:
The first obligation of all U.S. military personnel is to defend the Constitution, not the war criminals that issue illegal orders. The only appropriate response by any member of the armed forces is:
http://thankyoult.live.radicaldesigns.org//index.php?option=com_frontpag...
---The Bikemessenger