Sergeant Benderman: Serving Time for Having a Conscience
Published October 23, 2005
Kevin is eligible for parole on Jan. 27th, but first the Convening Authority here must approve his conviction and the sentence. He has not done this to this date. In order to have a parole board hearing, Kevin must have a confirmed place to stay, comfirmed employment, no counseling statements, and I am soliciting letters of reference from as many people as possible, to be mailed to the parole office at Ft. Lewis by the middle of November, with a copy to me as well, so that the prison cannot say that they did not receive them.
There is so much more — this is just the beginning.
But - we feel that it is very important that this information find its way to the public from as many directions as possible.
Also — there was a Cpt. here at Ft. Stewart, in Kevin's unit, Cpt. Schenk, S-1, 2-7th infantry. This Cpt. received 45 days confinement for selling Body Armor on EBAY.. each piece was valued at $2000.00. This man was selling it for $4,000 a piece.
There's more... much more.
Monica Benderman's e-mail responding to request for permission to use her e-mail directly:
Would you like to add that the female guards at Ft. Lewis were operating a prostitution ring? They, and a couple of the male guards, at least one of which was discharged for this, arranged for a separate personal bank account, and gave the number to inquiring inmates. These inmates would then transfer funds from their commissary account to the personal bank account. Once the funds transferred.. the final transaction was arranged.
Would you also like to mention that not all inmates are lucky enough to have someone to leave their personal property with? Some have to leave it in the property room. Many leave debit and credit cards. One inmate was willing to give me his name. He was incarcerated at Ft. Lewis all last month, and his debit card was in the property room. Still, someone managed to use his debit card to charge $270.00 at the Ft. Lewis PX. Several other soldiers have reported amounts even greater being charged to their card. They are not in the position to be able to do anything about this.
To read more about Sgt. Benderman's plight, a brief outline containing the e-mails, his military record (including awards and medals), one of his articles (reflecting his position), and Sec. Rumsfeld's statement are available at Ameripundit.com. More information is available at Kevin Benderman Timeline.
Notes of support can be sent to monica@bendermantimeline.com or through the Kevin Benderman Timeline site above.
- Sergeant Benderman: Serving Time for Having a Conscience
- Published: October 23, 2005
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Writer: AmeriPundit
- AmeriPundit's BC Writer page
- AmeriPundit's personal site
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Attn: Dave (I had other priorites during Desert Storm) Nalle;
Since you claim to know what motivates people to do things...was politics the reason GW Bush deserted the Guards his last two years of meetings, or was it because of his lack of moral fiber and his addiction to cocaine?
Actually, it was politics, MCH. He took his leave of absence with what he believed to be permission from his superiors in order to work on a political campaign.
BTW, MCH. Howcome you didn't file as a CO during your 4 years in the navy?
Dave
WRONG, Nalle.
When Bush was permitted to transfer to Dannelly AFB to work on Winton Blount's campaign, his orders, dated Sept. 15, 1972, read: "Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnispeed, DCO, to perform equivalent training."
www.cis.net/~coldfeet/doc11.gif
By your own words (and several other officers involved) he didn't show up. So either you're a liar, or you're just ignorant.
No wonder you failed as a history teacher.
Dave, every military person knows orders are orders. You follow them to the letter. That's why they are called orders. George W. knew what he was doing
Yes, MCH, we all know that some claim he didn't report in, while others claim that he did. No one has definitive proof one way or the other that I've seen. And not reporting for training and doing it later isn't exactly the same as desertion by any stretch of the imagination.
As a general rule you're not a deserter unless you get charged and tried as a deserter. Show me the transcripts of Bush's trial and his dishonorable discharge or maybe find something less pointless to do with your time.
But good job, you've derailed another discussion with total irrelevancies.
Dave
Perhaps the point of the post has been missed. Regardless of what one thinks they see in Sgt. Benderman's writings (or project onto them), and taking into account the well-worn "contractual" argument, does it not shock the conscience that our servicemen and women are forced to serve time under these conditions?
More importantly, it is difficult to believe that anyone can overlook the fact that Sgt. Benderman is serving 15 months for refusing a second tour while a Captain who took much-needed Body Armor and converted it for his own profit received only 45 days.
That is a tough one to explain. Especially to the potential widows, widowers, and/or children who may lose a loved one in Iraq as a result of this extremely base, yet easy to identify, war profiteering.
After all, Sgt. Benderman simply refused to participate in any more killing. The Captain who took the Body Armor doesn't seem to care who gets killed- even our own soldiers.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/38385)
Isn't it generally impossible to get CO status in the middle of a war which you've already participated in? He didn't suddenly develop a conscience, he just changed his politics. I read his essay and it's pretty clear that he's motivated more by politics than by pure conscience.
I feel for Benderman and his family, and the prison sounds like it ought to be investigated, but at the same time it sure sounds like he put himself where he is. That said, there really ought to be better ways to handle this sort of situation. What harm would it have done to reassign him to non-combat duties?
Dave