Army court martial of Eric Jasinski underway

[annm4peace]

Army court martial of Eric Jasinski underway



Courage to Resist. March 31, 2010

The Summary Court Martial of Army Spc Eric Jasinski is currently underway on Ft. Hood, Texas. After months of negotiations with the command, the Army opted to put Eric on trial after all. The outcome of today’s court martial is expected to result in 30 days in the stockade without medication or counseling. Supports are gathering this evening outside of Ft. Hood to protest in this court martial and to declare, “Our Soldiers need help, not jail!”

With a military health care system over-stretched by two ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, more soldiers are deciding to go absent without leave (AWOL) in order to find treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Eric Jasinski enlisted in the military in 2005, and deployed to Iraq in October 2006 as an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army. He collected intelligence in order to put together strike packets—where air strikes would take place.

Upon his return to the U.S. after his tour, Jasinski was suffering from severe PTSD from what he did and saw in Iraq, and from remorse and guilt for the work he did that he knows contributed to the loss of life in Iraq.

“What I saw and what I did in Iraq caused my PTSD,” Jasinski, 23-years-old, explained, “Also, I went through a divorce—she left right before I deployed—and my grandmother passed away when I was over there, so it was all super rough.”

In addition, he lost a friend in Iraq, and another of his friends lost his leg due to a roadside bomb attack. Upon returning home in Dec. 2007, Jasinski tried to get treatment via the military. He was self-medicating by drinking heavily, and an over-burdened military mental health counselor sent him to see a civilian doctor, who diagnosed him with PTSD.

“In late 2008 they stop-lossed me, and that pushed me over the edge. They were going to send me back to Iraq the next month.” When Jasinski went on his short pre-deployment leave, he went AWOL, where he remained out until Dec. 11, when he turned himself in to authorities at Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas.

With background information previously published by independent journalist Dahr Jamail.

http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/799/1/

[sabrina 1]

1. Dahr Jamail, one of my favorite reporters.

I haven't read about this before. Sad, we used to support those who were resisting going to Iraq especially those, like Kevin Benderman eg, whose conscience would not permit him to return after what he was asked to do there.

Good for this soldier for having a conscience. I guess there are some people who do hold onto their humanity.

What a horror this war has been. Dahr Jamail reporting on the ground and photos should have been on national TV. And if it had been, there would have been far more resistance to it. Which of course is why it wasn't.

This war is a crime. So how can it be a crime to refuse to participate in it?

I hope Eric receives real justice, which is unlikely.

[annm4peace]

2. I was able to hear Jamail when he spoke in MN

He is really incredible. He had a lot of very horrible stories to hear of the soldiers.

So many of them are very sick and they still go back to Iraq and Afghanistan. It is shameful of our government to keep forcing them to go back.

I wish had I a lot of money to send each of these soldiers who are resisting. they don't do it easily and they all pay for it. both financially and emotionally.

Over 1000 active duty soldiers have committed suicide since we went to war with Afghanistan

[sabrina 1]

3. He is incredible.

No one wants to talk about the horror inflicted on the soldiers. I did not know that many had committed suicide. Now of course even the left has lost interest as can be seen by this thread. During the Bush era, this soldier's story would have at least been covered on blogs and he would have had a lot more support.

Thank you for posting this ~ I wish we could help him and all the others like him who are suffering. While Karl Rove whines about a little heckling. I wonder if people like Rove have ever donated a penny of their ill-gotten gains to help the troops they sent into this hell.

[shedevil69taz]

4. I don't agree with being here in Iraq

but its not up to individual soldiers to decide that they're not going to obey an order like the ones you recieve to deploy. If it was the service members that did agree to go would have been in dire straits. It's a crime under the UCMJ for a very good reason to do the things that he did. (going AWOL and disobeying a lawful order)

It's up to our elected officials (by elected I mean congress the person who sent us here originally I don't think WON an election)to determine whether or not its right to keep us in a forign country more than 60 days, and determine the legality of large scale operations like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whether or not his chain of command should have tried to deployed him in that condition I can't say.

[annm4peace]

5. so instead of going AWOL they commit suicide

i would rather they resist.

[sabrina 1]

6. Regarding your last sentence, they have been sending

mentally ill and physically wounded soldiers into that hell for years now. That IS a crime and it is inhumane probably in violation of some international laws. We are no longer a country of laws, except for people like this soldier. Those who sent him there considering his condition, should be on trial. It is cruel what is being done to these soldiers.

As long as those who committed the crime of lying this country into war are not held accountable, I do not care what the rules are, they no longer apply because the whole operation is a crime and it is hypocritical to punish soldiers like this, while the real criminals we are told, cannot be brought to justice because we need to look forward. Fine, then lets treat this soldiers 'crime' the same way. Let's look forward, instead of backwards.

[shedevil69taz]

7. Fortunately some of us do care

because its the adherence, and enforcement of those laws that keep our military functioning.

It would be equally hypocritical for us to demand one person be brought to justice for something while we ignore whatever laws we wanted.

It also isn't criminal to deploy soldiers with mental or physical problems. Ill advised sure for the more extreme cases, and sometimes commanders do make the wrong call. If we held back in the states every person that wasn't perfectly healthy we would have a pitifil force indeed.

There are proper channels set up for soldiers to address issues if they think they are not getting the medical treatment they that need. If a commander is found to be denying it they do (and I have seen it myself) get hammered...HARD.

[sabrina 1]

8. This soldier tried those channels according to the article.

Others have also. As far as caring about the military functioning properly, it isn't. When the military is used the way it has been by war criminals over the past decade, it is up to Congress to end it. When Congress continues to fund a war that was illegal, it is left to those who took an oath to defend the Constitution to refuse to follow illegal orders. At least that is what we are told. But when someone actually takes those rules seriously, we see that they are just words.

[shedevil69taz]

9. According to this article

this is the last interaction he had with military officials before he decided the best course of action was to go AWOL

He asked if I was suicidal," Jasinski explained, "and I said not right now, I’m not planning on going home and blowing my brains out. He said, ‘well, you’re good to go then.’ And he sent me on my way. I knew at that moment, when they finalised my paperwork for Iraq, that there was no way I could go back with my untreated PTSD. I needed more help.

There are many more things that we can do AFTER that none of which were mentioned being used.

[gratuitous]

10. A government that sends disabled persons off to war

Is no longer entitled to cooperation from its soldiery, even if they did volunteer once upon a time. It's time the progeny of the profiteers were sent off to fight their families' battles.