Army SGT Refuses Iraq Deployment

Jo Sul · 01-13-2005, 11:06

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/13/obj....ap/index.html

SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) -- A mechanic with nine years in the Army, including a role in the assault on Baghdad, has refused to return to Iraq, claiming "you just don't know how bad it is."

Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, said he became morally opposed to war after seeing it firsthand during his first Iraq tour. Now he faces a possible court-martial after failing to deploy Friday with his unit.

"I told them that I refused deployment because I just couldn't go back over there," Benderman said Wednesday. "If I'm going to sit up there and tell everyone that I do not believe in war, why would I go back to a war zone?"

Lt. Col. Cliff Kent, a Fort Stewart spokesman, said Benderman was being considered absent without leave because he had orders to deploy to Iraq while the Army processed his conscientious objector claim.

"He was AWOL from the unit's movement," Kent said. "Beginning the application process for conscientious objection does not preclude you from deploying."

Benderman has been reassigned to a rear detachment unit at Fort Stewart while his case is processed, Kent said. Kent said the Army has not decided whether to bring charges against him.

Gaining objector status is a time-consuming process for soldiers, requiring meetings with counselors and a chaplain with lengthy paperwork reviewed far up the chain of command. Under military law, a person must be opposed to war in all forms to be considered a conscientious objector.

"If a person said, `I'm not opposed to war, but I'm opposed to the Iraq war,' they would not qualify," said Louis Hiken, an attorney with the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild.

Filing an objector claim does not prevent the Army from prosecuting soldiers for disobeying orders.

In May, a Fort Stewart court-martial sentenced Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of the Florida National Guard to a year in prison for desertion despite his pending objector application. Mejia filed his claim after refusing to return to his unit in Iraq while home on leave.

In December, a soldier who re-enlisted with the Marines after becoming a Seventh-Day Adventist was jailed for refusing to pick up a gun. Cpl. Joel D. Klimkewicz, 24, of Birch Run, Michigan, told his superiors he was a conscientious objector and cited his new religious status. It was rejected in March 2004.

Benderman served in Iraq from March to September 2003 with the 4th Infantry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas. When he later transferred to the 3rd Infantry at Fort Stewart, Benderman said, he was already questioning the morality of the destruction he had witnessed.

"You can sit around your house and discuss this thing in abstract terms, but until you see and experience it for yourself, you just don't know how bad it is," he said. "How is it an honorable thing to teach a kid how to look through the sights of a rifle and kill another human being? War is the ultimate in violence and it is indiscriminate."

Asked why he waited until a week before his unit deployed to file notice of his objector claim, Benderman said, "It takes time for you to make sure that you 100 percent want to do things. This is not something you make a snap judgment on."

**Airbornelawyer** · 01-13-2005, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jo Sul

"I told them that I refused deployment because I just couldn't go back over there," Benderman said Wednesday.

...

Lt. Col. Cliff Kent, a Fort Stewart spokesman, said Benderman was being considered absent without leave because he had orders to deploy to Iraq while the Army processed his conscientious objector claim.

"He was AWOL from the unit's movement," Kent said. "Beginning the application process for conscientious objection does not preclude you from deploying."

...

He may be "considered absent without leave" for now but that is not the appropriate charge. It is desertion.

UCMJ Article 85(a)(2): "Any member of the armed forces who quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service is guilty of desertion."

UCMJ Article 85(c): "Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the desertion or attempt to desert occurs at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct."

CPTAUSRET · 01-13-2005, 11:36

BUG F*CK!!

This POS doesn't have the Cojones for it (not everyone does), but he is wearing a uniform which means that he doesn't get to pick and choose where he goes. Uncle Sugar does, "needs of the service"!

War isn't fun, Viet Nam definitely wasn't fun! But if your country calls, you answer the call!!

Terry

Thesis · 07-08-2010, 04:58

Gentlemen,

I am a SDA, who is deciding to commit going to church again, but I still don't understand why some people would refuse to deploy. When you're a soldier, you have to do what you are told.

I believe in avoiding violence but if it knocks on your door, you can't expect it to become exhausted at knocking right?

I'm in it for my country and my island that supports America.

I wonder if there are any SF's that are SDA as well?

Richard · 07-08-2010, 08:30

CO's a tough call - I've seen it go several ways, some honestly and some dishonestly - however, to some, I guess a person in America should not be allowed to change their mind if they have an honest life-changing turn of personal conscience over whether or not they can further justify an issue as morally contentious as war or the taking of life.

MOO - better he remained here than to deploy and then become a divisive detractor from his unit's focus while they are committed in-theater.

However, YMMV - and so it goes...

Richard's $.02

Saoirse · 07-08-2010, 08:54

When I was in, Haiti got hot...mid 80s. As per most young people, everyone was about kicking butt and taking names. However, we had one guy decide, inexplicably and suddenly, to become a CO. This was a guy who loved to drink and fight (I think he was Irish LOL). Needless to say, it didn't wash and for all his objecting that was in vain, we didn't deploy. Once he realized we weren't going anywhere except to "train" around Bragg, his CO attitude quickly diminished. From that point on, he was a thorn in our sides and nobody wanted him around. I don't know what happened to him but I'm sure that if the 1SG had his way...it wasn't pleasant.

I realize we all go through our foibles in life that change our view on how we see things. Is this guy real in his conviction or is he woosing out? Only he knows and has to face himself at the end of the day for his decision.

Streck-Fu · 07-08-2010, 09:12

Did he reenlist since his last deployment? I'm fairly certain he has (if he was active in 2003)....I have no sympathy.

I would not criticize someone who went to war and decided they want no more of it and decided to not reenlist.

If this guy went to war and then reenlisted, he knows what his obligations are. Do the prison time.

Thesis · 07-08-2010, 09:38

Well I've did away with drinking, and fighting is always something I'm not afraid of but I avoid the situation at all cost until it's the very last resort.

The thing that get's me is the 6th Commandment. I hope I'm not impeding on anyone's beliefs. I'm just expressing my thought and would like some opinions.

I still don't believe in a few SDA views, and that's why I don't go to church because some definitions like the 6th Commandment.

I've always accepted the meaning of "thou shalt not murder" instead of ," not kill."

Like King David's story. Warring for God was a good example.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like violence but I want to sorta have a perspective that to become a more professional soldier, you should see it in the same perspective of a surgeon.

They go in the operating room knowing that they will see gory stuff and pressed with the fact that the patient will live or die. It just depends how knowledgeable and well taught the surgeon is and of course not to mention experience.

As for faith, that is my fuel for going through rough times. Nothing beats a prayer.

Richard · 07-08-2010, 09:49

Quote:

Nothing beats a prayer.

Personally, I always found great solace in having a working radio and a responsive FAC/Covey on the other end of the transmission.

However, YMMV - and so it goes...

Richard's $.02

Utah Bob · 07-08-2010, 09:54

Quote:

Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, said he became morally opposed to war after seeing it firsthand

He's not the first. He won't be the last. It may have nothing to do with cowardice.
I have no problem with true COs. I don't know if he really is or not but that's for the Army to decide.
I try not to judge from my easy chair.

Thesis · 07-08-2010, 10:28

Will I still be able to go to church and be a QP if that ever becomes a reality?

Richard · 07-08-2010, 10:42

Quote:

As much as I don't want to interrogate, will I still be able to go to chruch and be a QP if that ever becomes a reality?

Free will and a free country - it's up to you.

Richard's $.02

Penn · 07-08-2010, 11:11

Excuse my ignorance, what is an SDA?

And Richard

Quote:

I always found great solace in having a working radio and a responsive FAC/Covey on the other end of the transmission

with Good grids coordinate for the fire mission

greenberetTFS · 07-08-2010, 11:22

I don't know about his CO,he plays that card a week before deployment.........

He reenlisted after his tour in Irag.....

Something doesn't make sense to me about this,it kinda smells to me...........

Big Teddy

Thesis · 07-08-2010, 11:23

SDA stands for Seventh Day Adventist. We're protestants that worship on Saturday. Only difference is we don't eat pork and we view our bodies as the temple of God. We follow the bible literally, and we look more into the New Testament.

I've been backsliding, but I'm trying to get back into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penn

Excuse my ignorance, what is an SDA?

And Richard

with Good grids coordinate for the fire mission