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Having seen Mejia speak at the Unitarian Church, after which he received a peace award from the church, I was deeply inspired to buy his book, and share it with young people of near draftable age. Purchasing the autobiography, I was pleased to recognize that he is a decent writer, and so precise in his details as a commander as to paint a vivid picture of life around him.
His reading centered on the end of the novel on his mental "freedom" which he won for himself upon his conviction for desertion and maximum sentencing of one year in prison. A light sentence, but the maximum that could be alloted as he had been in the armed forces for more than 8 years, and was not as yet a naturalized citizen of the U.S. Meiia is a Nicaraguan, a nation badly battered by the U.S. government through Contra forces during the Iran/Contra debacle. Mejia's parents were renowned Sandinista's, none-the-less alienated in his new country he felt the need to serve.
He served his time, and then signed up for the National Guard, duped into believing he would never be sent overseas as such. He was, of course, but what makes this novel, and his story so alarming is that Meija is a Staff Sargent of foreign descent on ground zero during the occupation of Iraq. He had first hand exposure to the disorganization of that occupation, and the declining mood of the country of Iraq to the soldiers, as a result of his commanders looking for high body counts for badges and medals.
Continual inhumane and unsafe activities are conducted throughout, Meija is not innocent in his compliance with harm towards Iraqis, or in carrying out negligence in conducting activities which are illegal by International law. At one state in the begining Meija is given control of an illegal Iraqi prisoner of war camp, ie. detainee camp, where no physician is working, but torturers are operating. He is not the torturer but the jail keeper, and there are places here, and when he shoots a teenage protester that we lose our respect for Meijia.
But he makes no excuses for himself. He accepts that he towed the line not only for his survival, but because it was the way of life to which he was exposed, and the peer network in which he worked. However, what made Meijia different is that after such activities he would reflect brutally and painfully over the details over and over, it was by this he slowly began to realize he was a conscientious objector...
The brutality of Meijia's turning, his recognition of the skinny children as so similar to the children of Nicaragua, his idenity within the army changes. And with it his temperment, and ability to operate in the harsh attitudes that he previously was able to use while turning off his mind to the constant suffering and pain all around him.
We must ask ourselves, would we do the same, do we risk our careers when we see that others are being harmed by our actions. And what does it mean to sacrifice one's reputation for the sake of others.
It is sad that Meijia had to relate back to his native Nicaragua to recognize this injustice, it points to the subtle turning of the American mindset that we so easily block away from those who are suffering around us, often depositing our suffering overseas, or dumping them from hospitals late at night.
Meijia, in his officers uniform, has an epiphany of a lost emotion to the American political world, compassion.
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The Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Sergeant Camilo Mejia by Camilo Mejia
rvt, July 9, 2007
Having seen Mejia speak at the Unitarian Church, after which he received a peace award from the church, I was deeply inspired to buy his book, and share it with young people of near draftable age. Purchasing the autobiography, I was pleased to recognize that he is a decent writer, and so precise in his details as a commander as to paint a vivid picture of life around him.His reading centered on the end of the novel on his mental "freedom" which he won for himself upon his conviction for desertion and maximum sentencing of one year in prison. A light sentence, but the maximum that could be alloted as he had been in the armed forces for more than 8 years, and was not as yet a naturalized citizen of the U.S. Meiia is a Nicaraguan, a nation badly battered by the U.S. government through Contra forces during the Iran/Contra debacle. Mejia's parents were renowned Sandinista's, none-the-less alienated in his new country he felt the need to serve.
He served his time, and then signed up for the National Guard, duped into believing he would never be sent overseas as such. He was, of course, but what makes this novel, and his story so alarming is that Meija is a Staff Sargent of foreign descent on ground zero during the occupation of Iraq. He had first hand exposure to the disorganization of that occupation, and the declining mood of the country of Iraq to the soldiers, as a result of his commanders looking for high body counts for badges and medals.
Continual inhumane and unsafe activities are conducted throughout, Meija is not innocent in his compliance with harm towards Iraqis, or in carrying out negligence in conducting activities which are illegal by International law. At one state in the begining Meija is given control of an illegal Iraqi prisoner of war camp, ie. detainee camp, where no physician is working, but torturers are operating. He is not the torturer but the jail keeper, and there are places here, and when he shoots a teenage protester that we lose our respect for Meijia.
But he makes no excuses for himself. He accepts that he towed the line not only for his survival, but because it was the way of life to which he was exposed, and the peer network in which he worked. However, what made Meijia different is that after such activities he would reflect brutally and painfully over the details over and over, it was by this he slowly began to realize he was a conscientious objector...
The brutality of Meijia's turning, his recognition of the skinny children as so similar to the children of Nicaragua, his idenity within the army changes. And with it his temperment, and ability to operate in the harsh attitudes that he previously was able to use while turning off his mind to the constant suffering and pain all around him.
We must ask ourselves, would we do the same, do we risk our careers when we see that others are being harmed by our actions. And what does it mean to sacrifice one's reputation for the sake of others.
It is sad that Meijia had to relate back to his native Nicaragua to recognize this injustice, it points to the subtle turning of the American mindset that we so easily block away from those who are suffering around us, often depositing our suffering overseas, or dumping them from hospitals late at night.
Meijia, in his officers uniform, has an epiphany of a lost emotion to the American political world, compassion.
(8 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)