An organization composed of military veterans who served in the "War on Terror" met in the National Labor College at Silver Spring, MD, March 13-16 to allow vets to testify about their military service and its aftermath.
The event, titled "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan." was organized by the national group Iraq Veterans Against the War for the purpose of ending the two occupations, raising public awareness of the cost of war to soldiers and civilians, and pressuring military leadership for reform.
Testimony ranged from instances of sexual assault, sexual harassment, homophobia, hazing, and the ways in which derogatory racial and religious epithets dehumanize the Iraqi and Afghani peoples. Frustration with the VA health care system -- particularly the handling of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety cases -- was another common theme.
A great deal of the testimony addressed the violent aspects of military culture, and used specific events as illustrations.
The veterans were encouraged to be as specific about dates and times as possible, understanding that not every testifier had understood the significance of their experiences until after returning from their deployment.
A team of lawyers was also available to ensure that testifiers were aware of the legal ramifications of their testimony. Legal jeopardy deterred some from testifying, but others gave gripping accounts of the reality of urban combat in which civilians too frequently get caught in the crossfire.
The testimonies painted a picture of a destructive and dehumanizing military culture a culture, that one-time West Point psychology instructor and former Army Ranger Dave Grossman claims in his controversial book On Killing has caused otherwise good people to tolerate or even take up the killing of unarmed civilians.
Grossman also notes that enemy tactics can contribute to this phenomenon, as a civilian population that is thought to harbor a guerrilla force is more likely to be killed by soldiers forced into a situation where they must make split-second, life-and-death decisions.
In certain instances, as one Marine testified, you aren't considered a man by other Marines until you've killed someone. Peer pressure and vague rules of engagement push soldiers closer to the point where they will use their weapons. "Our commander told us that the first one of us to get a kill with a knife would get a four-day pass," the Iraq veteran said. "When you greet an officer in the morning and say, 'Good morning, sir,' his response might be, 'Kill babies.'"
Pervasive use of the epithet 'Haji' among service members was also addressed in several of the testimonies -- as well as its effect of objectifying other human beings.
Normally a title indicating a position of honor in Muslim societies, since 9/11 it has been hijacked by service members as a catch-all for the Iraqi and Afghani people, regardless of their religion. Some soldiers even extend the title to those from other nations, most notably India and Turkey, who are hired by U.S. contractors to work on military bases. "I never really consider myself a racist person," 82nd Airborne Division veteran Hart Viges said, "but everything was 'haji this,' 'haji that,' 'haji smokes,' 'haji burger,' 'haji house,' 'haji clothes,' 'haji rag.' "'Haji' is the same as 'honky.' It's the same thing. I had to catch myself."
Many of the veterans displayed photographs and videos during their testimony; some brought snapshots of themselves overseas, but people in the audience were noticeably disgusted when they saw what Army veteran Kristofer Goldsmith had brought home from the war.
At one point during Goldsmith's deployment to Sadr City, the expansive slum northeast of Baghdad, a mass grave was discovered by the local population. Goldsmith and a few other soldiers were tasked with photographing faces for identification purposes as the bodies were exhumed.
A series of images depicting horribly disfigured bodies in various states of decay were projected onto several large screens positioned around the auditorium. The tone in the room changed; people in the audience gasped audibly.
When he got to the last body, Goldsmith explained, it was so disfigured that a photograph would not have helped with identification. He decided to radio in for guidance as to whether or not he should bother photographing it. He was told to do it despite the fact that the photo would be useless.
"Whoever was on the other end of the radio wanted to see it... [but] not for identification purposes," Goldsmith said, adding that, to his knowledge, none of the photographs were ever used for their purported purpose. "They didn't put them up in police stations" so relatives of the victims could come and identify the bodies, Goldsmith said. The photographs were "war porn"-- something common on popular internet video sites since the beginning of the occupations.
Since returning from Iraq, Goldsmith has struggled with what he experienced on that day.
"When my friends ask me if I want to go see [ultra-violent horror film] Saw 4, I say no, because this [pointing towards the photographs] is what I see when I see those types of movies."
When Goldsmith went to the VA after suffering from depression and addiction to alcohol, the doctor handling his case concluded that he was not deployable. His unit was getting ready to go back for a second deployment, and he was pushed over the edge when he found out his contract was being put on "stop loss" status.
He grabbed a bottle of vodka and a bottle of pills, found a place he could be alone, and mixed them. When he awoke, he had somehow been found by police and was handcuffed to a gurney in a mental hospital, where he would spend the next week. When his commander heard about his problems, he wanted Goldsmith charged with malingering -- an offense reserved for service members attempting to avoid duty by feigning illness or injury.
When he went to Army lawyers about the situation, he said he was told that fighting such charges would be "useless" and "disgraceful."
Goldsmith, who had graduated at the top of his basic training class, was eventually given a discharge characterization of "Under Other Than Honorable Conditions" for "Misconduct: Serious Offense" and was denied all school benefits, which had been his original reason for joining the Army.
"Winter Soldier" was named after a 1971 event at which veterans of Vietnam, with direct testimony about their own experiences, recast the 1968 My Lai massacre as one of many outrages produced by a military culture tolerant of the killing of civilians, torture of prisoners, and razing of villages. A veteran of that earlier conflict made the link explicit.
"I can't tell you guys how proud us old farts are of you" for coming forward with testimony, said Berry Roma, national coordinator for Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
IVAW representatives said the event was a success. "This is our most powerful showing yet," said national membership coordinator Shalom Keller. Keller tracked five new membership applications in a five-hour stretch on the group's web site, ivaw.org. "We are about to hit critical mass."