Vet Net, "Unsung," and 2000 signatures

Chuc Smith of Veterans for Peace, who co-hosted the airing of Vet Net (station KDHX) in which I was a guest, is pleased to report that the show is now available in streaming audio. It can also be downloaded as a podcast. Our show on LaVena Johnson is the first one available. Get it here!

Last weekend, many visitors came to the petition site by way of an impassioned piece on the LaVena Johnson case posted at Welcome to Pottersville. It was heartening to read, and a fine example of the writing and advocacy many others are doing on behalf of LaVena's family.

LaVena’s death just eight days shy of her 20th birthday would be an excellent counter recruiting commercial as to why you should do everything in your power to keep your daughter from enlisting. The straight A student, who wasn’t ready for college right out of high school, wanted to travel, earn money for college for later. She was seduced by the siren call of a recruiter at Hazelwood High School who told her only what he wanted her to hear, what she wanted to hear. After her funeral, her father went through her drawer and found a recruiting brochure that said, “Earn $25,000 toward college.” [...]

Gone now are the pie in the sky promises of college and $25,000 for it. Now, her usefulness at an end, the Army cannot and will not even tell her family the truth about her death. Here’s what they will talk about: When LeKesha Johnson, the youngest of the five Johnson kids and the sole surviving daughter, became a senior, the Army began calling the family. When the Johnsons finally told them that they’d already lost a daughter in Iraq and that no one else would be enlisting, the calls kept coming, anyway. Back then, the Johnsons didn’t know they could opt out and prevent the DoD from using No Child Left Behind to get their contact information. Now they know but only too late.

I recommend everyone to read the post in its entirety. Heartfelt thanks to the author (a Shaker not unlike yourself, or myself), who goes by the non de plume "jurassicpork." I will gratefully post his actual name here should he grant his permission.

Last night the number of signatures on the LaVena Johnson petition passed the threshold of two thousand. Each name on this list, every concerned person, is valued and important.