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Feedback ForumSend us your opinions, reactions, and ideas about "AWOL"Submissions for this question are no longer being accepted. Previously submitted comments appear below. Comments may have been edited for content or space. Poster: Mike Wheatley Comment: I watched the article in regards to the 2 soldiers who had decided not to return for another tour in Iraq. It brought back memories & emotions to when I was 18, and had made the same decision after returning from a 12 month combat tour in Vietnam. I fully understand how they feel, and how the public is quick to judge because of thier decisions. But it is not only the effects of watching fellow soldiers die, or be injured, but the pain & suffering that trickles from the families & innocents always caught in the middle of war. The things people do not see on the media..the women & children with the look in thier faces that only combatants and people who experience can notice & understand. I also turned my self in to military authorities after 7 years of living with the fear & uncertainty of being a deserter, but I had to do it. I did my alternative service & my discharge was upgraded, but the guilt still, and always will, remain with me because of my decision. It is a tough choice, but one that remains with you to the end. I wish these 2 young men the best, but I know how they will feel years down the road..and I often think death in combat would have been the easier way out, at least you can die with your dignity. Poster: Donna Martin Comment: How ironic that college students are fighting for minimum wage for others and not their financially disadvantaged peers. Colleges are the worst offenders when it comes to paying students less than minimum wage! I am a teacher and a single parent of two children. I have no extra money or assets. My daughter attends Smith College. She works as part of a “work-study” program which simply means that the college will allow her to register for classes without having the balance of her tuition paid. Her work has nothing to do with her studies or her major. As a Resident Assistant, she was on call 24 hours; 7 days a week which boiled down to far below minimum wage. Ironically, it’s only the “poor” students who need to work. At a school like Smith, any hours of the day devoted to work, interfere with necessary study time. It seems to be another example of “keeping the poor man down”. Poster: Steve Juniper Comment: It is noteworthy that AWOL soldiers subject to being automatically charged with desertion under the UCMJ for being AWOL for more than 30 days include not only those featured on last night's segment, but the the president of the US, who was guilty of the same offense, although so he could party, drink and get stoned, rather than because of any kind of (heaven forbid!) genuine moral conviction. Poster: ian scott Comment: I appreciated the AWOL feature but as a Canadian taxpayer was a little taken aback by the nonchalance of your view of the Canadian refugee system being used by the serviceman who came to Canada. Basically he took advantage of a loophole in our system which forces the immigration department here to review EVERY claim no matter how irrelevant to the purpose of the refugee program or specious on the face of it, and while the claim is being vetted, months go by and our government must provide health insurance and welfare to the applicant pending their review. In the case of the AWOL serviceman, this means I am subventing his personal decision to desert, which is not what our systems intended. His is one on many such cases of forcing Canada for pay for foreigners' personal decisions. I wish the serviceman all the best, but not in Canada, not on my dime. Poster: Bez Booth McCauley Comment: I appreciate that you did a program on conscientious objectors. The situation is bleak for them but there are many people out here anxious to help and it would have been interesting to viewers and useful for those who think becoming a CO is there only course, if you had included this information. There are Vetrans for Peace, former COs and people in the peace churches among others who understand the problems and have offices to help. One near Fort Bragg is Quaker House. Their GI Hotline had 3,512 calls and contacts between January and June of this year. Poster: Carl Webb Comment: Camilo was one of the people that inspired me to desert the US Army. http://carlwebb.net Poster: Mario Rios Pinot Comment: I think your show is on the cutting edge. There seems to be a fairer presentation of different views these days esp. anti-war views. I think the war in Iraq is wrong on all levels including morally, which is why I support soldiers that go AWOL. Soldiers that follow their consciences hekp weaken the pro-war party. Poster: Hinmahtooyah Comment: Maybe someone, who has never been there yet granted a defacto pardon to someone else who also has never been for committing a greater breach of trust than the acts of conscience of those who have been there but choose not to participate any longer in such horrors of injustice, will find in his heart the courage to do the honorable and just act of pardoning those he has led astray. Poster: Hinmahtooyah Comment: Maybe someone, who has never been there yet granted a defacto pardon to someone else who also has never been for committing a greater breach of trust than the acts of conscienceness of those who have been there but choose not to participate any longer in such horrors of injustice, will find in his heart the courage to do the honorable and just act of pardoning those he has led astray. Poster: Rev. Mary Anderson Comment: The burden being placed on these young men and women is so great. I wonder at the politicians who put them in harm's way and the pundits who cheered them on. They are not interested in the wounded bodies and minds of the soldiers. They do not listen to their stories and their pleas to stop this nightmare. Poster: Jim Brillon Comment: Mr. Aguayo's story is a reminder that we must all stand up for the values which we know to be true at the center of our consciousness. I'm proud of him and the beautiful example he provides for his family and his country. I wish him the best as he works to rebuild his life in the aftermath of probaby the most wasteful and senseless foreign policy blunders this country has had to endue at the hands of it leaders. Thank you, PBS for sharing his story ant the other brave stories of conscience with us. Poster: Anonymous Comment: I have been to Saudia, U.A.E, Bahrain and have seen that it is definately not what the U.S media potrays it to be. It is the complete opposite infact. I do not know why the U.S media is spreading so much hatred about the muslim world? Now there are somethings which come to my mind of why the U.S government is having a war. The oil, the religion or the people? It cant be religion or the people because they are all living here in the U.S of A. Oil? Poster: Judith Crews Comment: God bless them and give them courage. They've served their time and risked their lives for their country already. Those who sent them there had no military service. Before anyone can condemns these men they must serve in Iraq themselves. Poster: L. Czachorski Comment: War should always be a last resort--the Iraq invasion was a mistake by the Administration. Now our brave troops and their families are paying a very high price. Members of the military who feel compelled to become conscientious objectors should be given a fair hearing--and they should not be stigmatized. They are taking a moral stand that requires strong convictions and a willingness to stand up for their beliefs. We keep congratulating ourselves that since Bush invaded Iraq, there have not been further terror attacks in our country--unfortunately the Iraqi people are now facing terrorist attacks almost daily. Should we think that it is OK for them to deal with the death and destruction--just as long as terrorist attacks are not happening here? We have to think seriously about what our continued presence in Iraq is costing the Iraqi people. Poster: Charles Stills Comment: Tonight's show was probably the best I've seen since Bill Moyers left and the show lost a half hour. The second segment on the living wage was really strong. The first segment was even more powerful. I knew some about Agustin Aguayo before the broadcast. James was new to me. That the two and others are forced to make ethical and moral stands goes a long way towards explaining how wrong the war in Iraq has been from the start. Their stories and the way NOW told them really shined a new light. Thank you. Poster: A J Michels Comment: Congratulations -- this thoughtful, courageous reporting reveals another dimension of the national wound that the war in Iraq has inflicted on our country and especially our young men and women in uniform. |
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