You and the Military

by Alan Shapiro

Student Reading 5:
Two soldiers, two mothers

Antoine and Phyllis Grimes

"Positive direction. According to Phyllis, that's what Antoine needed most. He had graduated from high school, but she felt an advanced education could help him get on track for a solid career. She knew the Army would give him just that." This is how one of several stories about mothers and their sons or daughters begins on the Army website, www.goarmy.com.

The Grimes family tree has included a number of Army veterans, including Antoine's older brother, Kevin, so Phyllis Grimes suggested that he talk with him. Liking what he heard, Antoine joined the Army at 20 and became a Human Resources Specialist. In this position he could help other soldiers develop their Army careers as well as help administer Army funds. This includes ensuring that a soldier receives what he or she has earned, especially after getting married or receiving a change in the Army's housing allowance.

In the spring of 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq war, Antoine was sent to Iraq. "Once I found out he was going to be deployed, I was not a happy camper. I was very nervousÖbut I just had to have faith that things would be okay," Ms. Grimes says.

And things did turn out okay, according the Army website. Antoine, it says, "came home safe and soundóready to start planning his future. Currently, Antoine lives with his wife and young son at Ft. Knox, Kentucky and continues his work as a Human Resources Specialist. The Army pays for his education, allowing him to take college courses through an online correspondence program, eArmyU, 100% tuition free. As Antoine works toward his degree in computer technology, his own family is taken care of, too. The Army covers most of their health care expenses, they get a monthly food allowance and Antoine's wife is now searching for a job with the Army's assistance."

As for Phyllis Grimes, she lives in Arizona but is in regular touch with her son. "We talk quite frequently and we do a lot of emails with him and his wife also," she says. "About once every six months, we're able to visit in person, if either I'm going to his Post or wherever he's located, or he comes here for a little R&R."

At 26, Antoine has a number of options. He can make a career in the Army "or make a well-equipped return to the civilian world. With his degree, he can be a computer technician or software programmer. With his Army experience, he can achieve greatness."

Ms. Grimes is very pleased with what Antoine has done. "I'm very proud of the choices that Antoine has madeÖ.Seeing him now, a married young man with a bright prospect on his future, I've just seen a fantastic change."

Casey and Cindy Sheehan

"I said to my son not to go," Cindy Sheehan told Veterans for Peace in Dallas, Texas, August 8, 2005. "I said, you know, it's wrong. You know you're going over there. You know you and your unit might have to kill innocent people, you know you might die. And he says, 'My buddies are going, I have to go'Ö. So what really gets me is these chickenhawks, who sent our kids to die, without ever serving in a war themselves. They don't know what it's all about." (www.AfterDowningStreet.org)

At 24, Casey was, like Antoine Grimes, an Army Specialist. (Casey was a Humvee mechanic.) And like Antoine, Casey was deployed to Iraq. But on April 4, 2004, two weeks after he arrived, Casey was killed in the Sadr City section of Baghdad.

Two months later, Cindy Sheehan and her family, as well as the families of other American soldiers killed in Iraq, met with President Bush. The White House releases very little information about such meetings. But according to Cindy Sheehan, the president did not know her son's name and behaved improperly toward her by referring to her as "Mom" during the session.

Cindy Sheehan said that the president had told her that he could not imagine losing a loved one like an aunt or uncle or cousin. Sheehan broke in to say that Casey was her son. She said she thought he could imagine what it would be like, since Bush has two daughters. Sheehan told the president that he should think about what it would be like to send his daughters off to war.

"I said, 'Trust me, you don't want to go there'," Sheehan said. "He said, 'You're right, I don't.' I said, 'Well, thanks for putting me there.'" (New York Times, 8/8/05)

According to a Newsweek article (8/22/05), most soldiers' families "encourage the president to stay the course in Iraq. Newsweek quotes Inge Colton, whose husband, Shane, died in April 2004 (about the same time as Casey Sheehan) when his Apache helicopter was shot down over Baghdad. "To oppose something my husband lost his life for would be a betrayal," said Colton.

And Ronald Griffen, whose son was killed in Iraq, wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial (8/18/05) that "Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me. I grieve with Mrs. Sheehan, for all too well I know the full measure of the agony she is forever going to endureÖ.In August 2003, five months into Operation Iraqi Freedom and after three years of service, Casey Sheehan re-enlisted in the Army with the full knowledge there was a war going onÖ.Those who lost their lives believed in the mission."

Sheehan says she'd had doubts about the Iraq war from the beginning. But it was the death of her son, meeting with the president, and the continuing war in Iraq with its death toll of American soldiers now rising to almost 2,000 that made her decide to publicly challenge Bush about the war

On August 6, 2005, Sheehan drove to President Bush's 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas. She wanted to speak to him but was blocked by police. Vowing to camp out where she was stopped, she insisted she would stay there in the broiling heat until the president either spoke to her or returned to Washington, D.C., where, she said, she would continue her protest. A growing band of supporters helped to make her vigil a media event. Bush sent his national security advisor and his deputy chief of staff to speak with her, but she insisted it was the president himself she wanted to see.

But the closest the president came to Sheehan was when his motorcade passed her roadside camp. As she waited, an Iraq War veteran from Fort Hood, Texas, challenged her anti-war stance. According to the New York Times, Sheehan "pulled him away from the glare of the cameras to explain the impact of her son's death. Afterward, she said the soldier had admitted that his mother would probably be protesting as well if he died." Said Sheehan: "I told him, I think we both agree, we want the troops to come home as soon as possible. The difference is our definition of 'soon.'" (New York Times, 8/13/05)

Unlike Antoine Grimes, Casey Sheehan did not return home "safe and sound." And unlike Phyllis Grimes, Cindy Sheehan is not proud, only very angry. She calls the president and his top officials "war criminals"; she says Bush lied the U.S. into the war and should be impeached; she uses profanity when she talks about him. (www.AfterDowningStreet.org)

What would Sheehan say to the president if she had the chance? According to the San Francisco Chronicle, she wants to ask him why he calls the Iraq war a "noble cause" and why he insists that "we must stay the course." She wants to ask him what "noble cause" her son died for. She wants to ask him, if the cause is so noble, "why hasn't he encouraged his two daughters to enlist?" She wants to tell him "the only way they can honor my son's sacrifice is by bringing the troops home." (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/11/05)

At a Congressional hearing, Sheehan was questioned about her use of profanity when speaking about the president. She replied: "We as Americans should be offended more by the profanity of the actions of this administration than by swear words."

For discussion

1. What questions do students have about the reading? How might they be answered?

2. The Grimes' story is one of several in the "For Parents" section on the Army website. Why do you suppose the Army posted this story? Students might be interested in checking the site for other, similar stories. What do they think of them and why?

3. The Sheehan story is obviously one the Army website would not post. What do students think of Cindy Sheehan's behavior? Why? Why do you suppose she pulled the Fort Hood veteran "away from the glare of the cameras" to talk with him? In using the word "chickenhawk," what does she mean and whom is she talking about? Why do you suppose she calls President Bush and his top officials "war criminals"? How do you think the president would define the "noble cause" for which U.S. soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq? How would you?

4. Do you think the issues and questions Sheehan wants to put to the president are reasonable? Why or why not? How do you think the president would respond to her concerns?

5. Why do you think some parents of soldiers killed in Iraq, such as Inge Colson and Ronald Griffen, disagree with Sheehan?

This lesson was written for TeachableMoment.Org, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. We welcome your comments. Please email author Alan Shapiro at ashapiro7@comcast.net.

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