Honoring Adam

The men who participated wore uniforms stripped of patches, badges and insignia and carried themselves as if holding invisible weaponry. They marched through the crowd, stopping at times to act out mock drills and raids, even detaining imaginary insurgents, forcing them to the ground and placing bags over their heads. The idea was to bring the images of war home to those commuters heading home after a long day spent in office buildings a thousand miles from the front lines. It was designed as street theater and intended to shock, to raise questions. What made this act of protest different was that it was not conducted by disaffected youth or aging hippies. No, the men wearing these barren uniforms had earned them: serving time in the United States Military, most in Iraq or Afghanistan. These boys were exercising the same right of assembly and free speech that they themselves had fought in bloody warfare to defend. Now, some of them now facing punishment. And as the wife of an Iraq Veteran myself, I have to ask: is the military’s issue with their conduct or with their cause?
On June 4, 2007, a Marine Corp. panel recommended that one of these veterans, Adam Kokesh, be reduced from an Honorable Discharge to a General Discharge, under Honorable Conditions and be released from his IRR commitment two weeks early. The action may seem minor, but it raises a serious concern: why is there punishment at all for a lawful act that Kokesh engaged in as a civilian? Kokesh at no point claimed to be a representative of the Armed Forces, nor did he speak negatively about the military or its commanders. In fact, he has repeatedly stressed his love for the Marine Corps and the United States Military. The street performance was never intended to insult the military or to deter potential recruits. The goal of these men was to bring home, in a dramatic way, the sights and sounds of warfare and of their experiences. It is my belief that this, more than anything else, is what the Commanders objected to when they convened their hearing against Kokesh.
My husband has been to Iraq twice now. On his second tour he volunteered his time in the base hospital, off-loading wounded and dead service personnel and civilians alike. No one can hold the hand of a dying man and come away from that experience unchanged. The sights and sounds of death will linger within him for the rest of his life. My husbands’ cousin was killed by an IED in Iraq on February 2, 2006. He died in the same hospital my husband worked in. This time, our entire family shared in the trauma and pain of loss. We have been touched over and over again by a war that most Americans never have to experience in any personal, direct way. These were the experiences that Kokesh and his friends were trying to bring to the pedestrians around them that day. The message was simple: respect for the troops means understanding what the troops experience overseas. It means acknowledging the sacrifices and the suffering they endure. And yes, it means questioning the cause for which these sacrifices are demanded. A friend of mine, himself a Korean War veteran once said “The lucky ones who die in war. It’s those who live that suffer most.” We are blessed to live in a country that does not demand compulsory military service. Fewer than 2% of our fellow citizens volunteer to serve so that those of us who remain at home can continue to enjoy the blessings of liberty. It is only right that those so blessed should fully understand the nature of the gift that those in uniform give us. It is only right that those who have served be allowed to exercise those same liberties upon their return. More than anyone else, these men and women have earned this right. And it is unacceptable that the Marine Corps or any branch would work to punish them for exercising the gifts guaranteed by the Constitution and by their own service.
This is not an issue of whether or not one agrees with Adam Kokesh. This is about the fact that no one in America should be punished for speaking their minds about governmental policy- especially when they have experienced the results of this policy firsthand. The National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars understood this fact and released a statement in support of Adam Kokesh and his comrades. Now as we battle for what our president has called “the hearts and minds” of those who oppose us, the Marine Corps and indeed the entire nation would do well to remember the advice of William O. Douglas, who served the longest term of any Supreme Court Justice, who said “it is our attitude towards free thought and free expression that will determine our fate. There must be…no limits on thought…No censor must preside at our assemblies.”