Text from an November 5, 1991 Washington Post article exposing the circumstances of my cousin’s death during the 1991 Gulf War.
The military reported that he was killed by Iraqis during a conflict near Kuwait. It turned out that the military lied and that he was actually killed by another American tank. This false reporting was rampant during Desert Storm.
I was in college at Ohio University during the first Gulf War. While I supported my cousin as a soldier, I was actively involved in large scale anti-war protests on my campus.
Upon learning of his death I wrote a letter to the school newspaper decrying the war and my cousin’s death. Soon after the article was published I was called into the ROTC office and harassed by military personnel for my “unpatriotic behavior.”
I am curious, just how patriotic is it to lie to the family of a fallen soldier?
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1 comment:
This is a really powerful piece Scootking. I like your brief written introduction and your spoken words were really touching too. It's amazing the power that stories have when they are *told* to us. It is a remarkably different experience than reading them on our own. Your telling of this story helped me really sit down and listen...and feel.
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