Pacific Diary

Lt. John Avery and ARM3c AT Graham Jr

In the summer of 1942, on his 21st birthday, Alfred Theodore "Ted" Graham, Jr., a trumpet player, volunteer fireman, and newspaper reporter from Jacksonville, New York, enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

After training as an aerial gunner-radioman, ATG was assigned to Bombing Squadron 15, serving on the aircraft carrier USS Essex, which departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on May 2, 1944, for combat duty in the Pacific.

Between flights in dive bombers engaged in battles with Japanese forces over islands from tiny Wake to the Philippines, Iwo Jima to Formosa, "Otto" Graham took copious notes and wrote letters, diary entries, and articles for the ship's newspaper and an aircrew newsletter, commenting on virtually everything--until the morning of November 11, 1944 (Armistice Day), when he was killed in a sea battle in Leyte Gulf.

Among "Gunner" Graham's possessions, shipped home in a small gray box stenciled "Camera Assembly Gun Sight Aiming Point," was a flight log book recording dozens of dive bomber missions, two gray-covered diaries detailing daily life from the state of his bowels to the swirl of battle, photos of himself and friends in flight uniforms and at ease in tee shirts, notes on midnight thoughts, ribald ditties on Navy life, snapshots of Hawaiian good-time girls. Posthumously, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and numerous other medals. His name was engraved on the flagpole at Camp Barton on the shore of Cayuga Lake, where he had made Eagle Scout.

Ted Graham was my uncle, whose legacy prodded me as I grew up--to be a better Boy Scout, to join the Army and go to war, to be a better writer. It has taken much longer than planned to figure out how to share his war diaries--hastily jotted in pencil and pen and hard to read in many spots--with the public. Then it dawned on me to post what I can on a website, along with other items saved in a family scrapbook. Here are some excerpts from the website--http://atgrahamjr.blogspot.com/--which is a work in progress:  

Hand-written notes sent home after he was killed in action:

Man, it seems, is conceived, born unto the world, lives his life, then leaves the world. But man born unto a war world generation may live but only a part of that life, not realizing even the lesser of his dreams. I am of that age and thinking perhaps some chronicler may some day wonder what some of this great group thought, dreamed, cherished and felt. From the war many will live, of course, but they, in their busy life, may take no time to write their thoughts. Hence, this:

For 20 years a man doesn't have much to show--physically. A class ring, pilot's wings, maybe, a cuff link or two ...

I WANTED WINGS

I wanted wings 'till I got the God-damned things,
Now I don't want 'em anymore!
They taught me how to fly,
Then they brought me here to die
I've had my belly full of war!
You can save all those Zeros
For the God-damned heroes,
Cause Distinguished Flying Crosses
Don't compensate for losses.
I wanted wings 'till I got the God-damned things,
Now I don't want them anymore!

I'll take the dames while the rest go down in flames,
I've no desire to be burned!
Air combat's no romance
It made me wet my pants,
I'm just an asphalt Arab I have learned.
You can save the Mitsubishis
For the crazy sons of bitches.
I'd rather have a woman,
Than get shot up in a Grumman.
I wanted wings 'till I got the God-damned things,
Now I don't want 'em anymore!

I'm too young to die
Even in a PBY
That's for the eager not for me!
I wouldn't trust my luck
To be picked up in a Duck
After I'd crashed into the sea.
I'd rather be a bar sop,
Than a flier on a flat-top,
With my hands around a bottle,
Rather than around a throttle.
I wanted wings 'till I got the God-damned things,
Now I don't want 'em anymore!

There is no promotion
On this side of the ocean,
And the guys at home don't really care!
You can have the new style chutes
And those fancy fighter boots,
I'll take comfy slippers and a chair.
You can be a hot shot in a Wildcat,
I'll take the hot-spot in a top hat.
To be the leader of a flight,
Ain't my idea of delight.
I wanted wings 'till I got the God-damned things,
Now I don't want 'em anymore!

At my bit I'm not a chafin'
For the joy of doin' strafin'
I hate the violent use of tail and rudder!
As for livin' like Flash Gordon,
I'll take boating on the Jordan,
I'm a simple soul and all for home and mudder.
You can have your shoulder holster,
I'll take resting on a holster,
And I'll trade my long "pig sticker"
For a tall cool drink of likker.
I wanted wings 'till I got the God-damned things,
Now I don't want 'em anymore!

Hey waiter - bring another round!

Atleast 14 of the VB-15 tail-gunners in this undated group photo died in combat actions in the Pacific between May 19-November 14, 1944: Sam Hogue, Guy Henry, Ken Jackson, Bill Lowe, L.G. Murray, J. Daniel Downey, George A. Duncan, Stan Whitby, Carl Shetler, Norm Schmidt, Chuck Swihart, Ted Graham, Paul Sheehan, Simon Dorosh. In most cases, they died with their pilots. In some cases, pilots died and gunners survived.

Of the 100 pilots and gunners in VB-15 who sailed to war in 1944, "45 came home unhurt. That was the highest loss rate in any Navy dive bombing unit during WWII," according to research by Steven R. Whitby for his book, "World War II Exploits of Bombing Squadron 15 and the Short Life of ARM2c Stanley Nelson Whitby while Flying from the USS Essex (CV-9) in 1944."

Losses for Air Group 15, which VB-15 was attached to along with fighter planes and a torpedo-bombing unit, were "Pilots: 43 killed or missing and 12 wounded. Crewmen: 29 killed or missing, and 13 wounded," according to "Pacific Champions" by Morris Markey in Liberty magazine, May 26, 1945.

For more information:
http://atgrahamjr.blogspot.com/

Combat Paper: On the Cutting Edge

Luana Ritch and Tina Drakulich at Combat Paper workshop

Tina and Joe Drakulich are still haunted by the mural their son David painted during leave before returning to war. David’s painting of a sunset-glowing mountainside city rising amid a meadow filled with black crosses conveyed a stark premonition that he would not be coming home from his third combat deployment. 

The 22-year-old paratrooper died in January 2008 on an Army patrol in Afghanistan. His parents were devastated—not only by grief, but also by an unexpected tsunami of post-traumatic stress that can sweep through survivors in military families. After relentless anguish that severely affected their jobs and life at home on a mountain range outside Reno, Nevada, the Drakulichs created an arts foundation in honor of their son and began networking with other Gold Star families, Blue Star families, artists and veterans.

Their networking on behalf of their vision of art helping to heal war wounds led to co-hosting a series of Combat Paper workshops, culminating in a weekend gathering at the Nevada National Guard headquarters in Carson City last month.

This event led to a memorable diversion from a vacation trip to California, when I was invited to participate in the workshop and read from the latest collection of my poetry, Life After War & Other Poems, published by Combat Paper Press. While there, I talked about developments at the Combat Paper program in New Jersey, hosted by the Printmaking Center of NJ and expanding to workshops at colleges and art institutions. 

As several veterans and military family members cut up old uniforms and created hand-made paper on which to imprint an astonishing variety of artwork, I learned about an impressively wide-scale collaboration by Nevada arts groups, state agencies and state colleges in providing arts and writing workshops for veterans and military families in various locales in the Sagebrush State.

Tina Drakulich teaches art therapy classes at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Reno. Jill Berryman, president of the Nevada Alliance for Arts Education, learned of the Combat Paper Project at a conference in San Francisco. With a son who served in Iraq and another son in the Air Force, she invited Combat Paper founder Drew Cameron, who had recently moved to San Francisco, to meet Tina and do workshops in Nevada.

The two women liked the initial workshops in Reno so much they convinced others to help sponsor a bigger event this summer in the state capitol at the National Guard headquarters.

One young veteran showed up with several uniforms donated by battle buddies. A Vietnam veteran came with his wife, but found it too emotionally unsettling to go inside the room where the workshop was held. His wife returned the day of my poetry reading with a copy of Winning Hearts & Minds: War Poems by Vietnam Veterans, which I’d helped compile and co-edit in 1972. There was a further serendipitous connection, we discovered: the upset vet served in Vietnam with a friend of mine.

Luana Ritch showed up with her 1970s-era Women’s Army Corps field jacket, which held a lot of unsettling memories. She wasn’t sure whether to put the old WAC uniform in a museum or cut it up and turn it into an artistic statement. Among these memories was serving in South Korea in 1980 in her summer-weight uniform and being denied winter gear by a supply clerk. “You are non-essential personnel!” the young woman was told by a fellow soldier at a base within battle distance of the heavily armed DMZ border with North Korea, she recalled.

Ritch, a retired Army Reserve staff sergeant, arrived at the Combat Paper workshop via writing workshops sponsored by the Nevada Office of Veterans Services and taught by professors at state colleges. She attended the writing workshops, she said as she sloshed paper pulp made from sliced up pieces of her old field jacket, because a PTSD counselor at the VA suggested writing poetry as a creative method of therapy.

“Don’t say I’m not welcome/ Don’t tell me I’m not useful,” she wrote in a poem in an anthology published last year by the Nevada Veterans Writing Project. “Just say that I’m a woman/ Just tell me I’m a soldier.” Other poems she wrote in that collection about episodes in her 26-year military career are titled “Anger,” “Nightmares,” “Something Wrong,” “Being Jumpy,” “Grief” and “Healing.” 

In her day job, Ritch is head of the state Health Statistics bureau, which recently issued a stunning report on skyrocketing rates of suicide among young male and female veterans in Nevada. She knows a great deal about grief. Now she was looking to learn more about healing. 

As she weighed what to put on the paper she was crafting, Ritch examined a variety of art pieces that Tina Drakulich had created on paper made with one of her son’s Army uniforms. These included a photo of David in uniform printed on sheets of Combat Paper, a swirling abstract art piece that encapsulated a tuft of hair from a family horse that died recently, and paper cranes made of carefully folded squares of Combat Paper. Her plan is to create a mobile installation with one thousand paper cranes as a contemplative war memorial.

Paper cranes made of Combat Paper    (photo/Jan Barry)

“Now I get what this is about,” Joe Drakulich abruptly said, after conversing with nearly everyone in the room and trying out each of the hands-on steps of papermaking, in which people talk about whatever is on their minds as they work together, until they generally hit upon something that really bothers them, triggered perhaps by a memory buried in an old piece of uniform.  “It’s about revealing what is unseen.”

Joe Drakulich is a native Nevadan who trains horses, flies his own airplane and drives long-haul delivery trucks. He also sings opera and loves art. He’s still trying to figure out how to heal after his son died in Afghanistan. He liked the creative process of Combat Paper. Tina Drakulich juggles her work as an elementary school teacher with directing the David J. Drakulich Art Foundation.

As the small group of veterans and military family members sliced up uniforms on tables set out on a basketball court, put small pieces through a portable beater that creates a watery pulp and strained pulp through screens to create sheets of paper in various military hues, National Guardsmen and women on weekend duty stopped by to see what was going on. Some asked if they could participate in future workshops.

The Drakulichs’ goal, working with Jill Berryman and others, is to create a Combat Papermaking workspace and conduct on-going art workshops in Nevada.

This is how they framed their mission statement: “David died at the age of 22, struck by an I.E.D. in Afghanistan, he left a legacy that includes over three hundred works. His ongoing work, now by proxy, is the David J. Drakulich Art Foundation: For Freedom of Expression. Friends and family joined to create this organization that helps veterans, active service members and gold star families and memorializes David for what he had been know for, art. Hence the vision statement, Art Heals War Wounds, has been created and now guides the foundation’s activities.”

For more information:
www.nv.ngb.army.mil/nvng/index.cfm/public-affairs/news-releases/military-uniform-art-helps-heal-combat-wounds1/
www.davidsartmemorial.org/

   

Military Culture and Suicide

One of America’s biggest hidden tragedies is suicide. When I was growing up in the 1950s, it was a virtually forbidden topic. When I began working as a news reporter in the 1970s, I bumped into a tradition in journalism that suicides were not reported. When a Vietnam veteran in a small town I covered as a community news reporter killed himself, I didn’t know what to do with the information.

Now the lid has burst off an explosive human rights and public health issue. 

“More U.S. soldiers have killed themselves than have died in the Afghan war,” Time Magazine noted in a recent front cover special report. The current military suicide rate is roughly one death per day, Time reported. Meanwhile, military veterans have been committing suicide at a furious clip, about 18 per day.

How to stop an epidemic of soldiers and veterans killing themselves in greater numbers than are dying on battlefields has baffled military leaders and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Despite crises hotlines and post-traumatic stress counseling programs, instituted in response to concerns that many soldiers have done multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has clung to its Napoleonic attitude that armies are trained for killing people, not fostering healthy citizens.

When a young recruit slit his wrists during my Army basic training at Ft. Jackson, SC in the summer of 1962, a drill sergeant screamed at our platoon that he would personally provide razor blades to anybody else who wanted to kill themselves. That hard-boiled attitude didn’t deter soldiers who decided to end it all. The next year, during my tour in Vietnam, suicide was a leading cause of death among the U.S. military expeditionary force—after aircraft crashes and guerrilla warfare firefights. Suicide continued to be a leading cause of death among Vietnam veterans for years. But it was long hidden by the lack of publically reported statistics on suicides by soldiers and veterans.  

Despite the rhetoric of concern for the welfare of soldiers by today’s military leaders, little has changed.

These days, the U.S. military is revealing it has a very big problem, based on suicide statistics that have skyrocketed in recent years. At the same time, the Marine Corps is court-martialing a Marine who slit his wrists in Okinawa—a punitive action that hasn’t put a damper on the rising rate of suicides, which more than doubled in the Army since 2003 and is heading upward in all armed services this year.

Nor was the appalling rate of military suicides reversed by a blistering message from Major General Dana Pittard, a commander at Ft. Bliss, Texas, who wrote “on his official blog that he was ‘personally fed up’ with ‘absolutely selfish’ troops who kill themselves, leaving him and others to ‘clean up their mess,’” Time Magazine reported. 

Despite the towering anger and angst of military commanders, the suicide rate for veterans is ever higher. A recent state study in Nevada found that “female Nevada veterans committed suicide at more than triple the overall rate for females statewide and nearly six times the national rate for females,” KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported in March. “Nevada male veterans had a suicide rate 62 percent higher than the statewide rate for males and 152 percent higher than the national rate for males.”

However, the CBS-affiliate station’s report added, “No national statistics exist for veteran suicides, so it is impossible to compare Nevada to other states, though some studies have estimated that the suicide rate among veterans nationally is three to four times that of the general population.”

The New York Times dug deeper into national studies of veterans’ suicides and reported in April that “Preliminary figures suggest that being a veteran now roughly doubles one’s risk of suicide. For young men ages 17 to 24, being a veteran almost quadruples the risk of suicide, according to a study in The American Journal of Public Health.”

Government officials speculate that the alarming suicide rate among veterans in Nevada is due to the region’s high unemployment. Yet that doesn’t explain why other folks also facing a grim and long-lasting drought in jobs but didn’t serve in the military don’t kill themselves at a similarly high rate.   

Among the worrisome statistics now available is that the majority who killed themselves while on active duty were not in combat. This suggests that U.S. military culture is a big part of the problem, regardless of where one serves. The military attitude is that the solution to international disputes is to whip the troops to continuously train for, supply equipment for, transport and wage endless war in numerous places around the world. Surely this is depleting the ability to cope among a great many exhausted soldiers, whose complaints are ignored.

Wartime military culture drums into soldiers, from cooks and mechanics to front-line grunts, that the solution to seemingly intractable problems is to shoot or blow something up and kill somebody. Is it any wonder that so many soldiers who kill themselves shoot themselves?

According to Time Magazine’s report, the majority of suicides are committed by enlisted men, whose problems are often attributed by the military to be personal. In the military hierarchy, enlisted men have little voice to speak up for themselves. In a case highlighted by Time, however, the wife of an Army doctor was brushed aside by a military commander when she sought help for her over-stressed husband—who hung himself in March while on duty at Trippler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. Now that wife and other widows and family members are publically telling the stories of their lost loved ones and pressing for changes in how soldiers and veterans are treated.      

The total number of U.S. military deaths by suicide since 2001 is now more than 2,600—in contrast to just under 2,000 military fatalities in Afghanistan, Time reported last week. The news magazine did not break down how many of 4,486 military deaths in Iraq were self-inflicted.

Among the stories that should be widely heeded is that of the death of Army Colonel Theodore Westhusing, who shot himself in June 2005 shortly before his tour in Iraq was to end, leaving a bitter suicide note addressed to his commanders.

“I cannot support a msn [mission] that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied -- no more,” Westhusing, who was 44 and due to return to teaching at West Point, wrote. “I didn't volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored.” Westhusing’s wife told Army investigators he’d conveyed these concerns to her, as well. “I think Ted gave his life to let everyone know what was going on,” she said.

As The Texas Observer noted in an extensive report: “The disillusion that killed Ted Westhusing is part of the invoice that America will be paying long after the United States pulls its last troops out of Iraq,” wrote reporter Robert Bryce. “Some 846 American soldiers died in Iraq in 2005. Of those, 22 were suicides. Westhusing’s suicide, like nearly every other, leaves the survivors asking the same questions: Why? And what was it that drove the deceased to such despair?”

Perhaps Westhusing and many others might still be alive, if the U.S. military provided a civics course that encouraged soldiers to speak up about troubling experiences and were attentively listened to in discussing what can be done to improve the situation.

In the absence of such action, some soldiers, veterans and family members have been sharing their own stories in public meetings and to the news media and working on climbing out of black holes of despair through art and writings about disturbing experiences in the military and since coming home.

In whatever forum or format, speaking out can be life-saving for a soldier or veteran in anguish, as well as for the public to understand what’s going on in our military that’s so devastating.

For more information:

healthland.time.com/2012/07/12/military-suicide-help-for-families-worried-about-their-service-member/

www.8newsnow.com/story/17122300/report-paints-grim-picture-of-suicide-rate-among-nevada-veterans

www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/opinion/sunday/kristof-a-veterans-death-the-nations-shame.html?pagewanted=all

Steve Mason: Writing His Way Home

When he died at age 65 in May 2005, Steve Mason’s obituary appeared in newspapers across America. Virtually all of them noted that Mason was “the poet laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of America whose searching blank verse was read at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.” That line, repeated nationwide from the Los Angeles Times obit, set the theme for an outpouring of journalists’ tributes to a war veteran who wrote his way out of despair.

Nearly 20 years earlier, an astute reporter in Chicago described how Mason burst onto the literary scene several years after the end of the war in Vietnam with poems that seemed to speak for a generation of veterans—poetry that Bantam Books published in a mass paperback run of 50,000 copies of Johnny`s Song: Poetry of a Vietnam Veteran, which the Chicago scribe noted was “an extraordinary printing for a first book of poetry.”

“Steve Mason says his poems appear in print pretty much as they spilled out of his pen, undecorated by afterthought, uncleansed by revision. He calls them raw meat,” Chicago Tribune reporter Mary T. Schmich wrote in an extraordinary feature story published in June 1986. The title of her article was taken from a Mason poem: ‘A Lot Of Good Men Died In Vietnam. But Like Some Of You, I Was Born There. So Sometimes (like You) I Just Get Tired Of Waiting For Me To Feel Like Me Again...’”

And then she pulled from her interview with this raw poet, who professed not to read much poetry, essential details of his story:

“Once home, he discovered that Vietnam had become the only world he understood; he asked to go back. The Army sent him to officers` training school instead, with the promise of a return to the jungle later.

“In 1969, with the rank of captain and without having gone back to Vietnam, he left the military. ‘I got divorced, resigned my commission and went to live in a ghetto in Washington, D.C. I just smoked cigarettes and lived in the ghetto for six months and the newspaper boy brought me food.' ... He became a full-time Vietnam vet, obsessed with sifting sense from the confusion that had followed him home. His major occupation for almost two decades was the unpaid one of brooding.

“He decided writing might help, though he had done little of it. He chose poetry for its economy and intimacy, despite his inexperience with the form. ’I thought what I`d do was dehydrate the experience so that each person who read the poems would be adding the hot water of their own experience in Vietnam and could serve it up themselves at proper strength,’ he said. ‘I thought only poetry could do that.’”

Schmich summed up her insightful interview with a memorable detail that obituaries recalled when Mason died of lung cancer in Ashland, Oregon. 

“He writes his poems in a single sitting, though that fact tells only half the truth. In the years before he found the focus to put the poems on paper, they had been inventing themselves inside him. His long poem ‘The Last Patrol’ took a mere 14 hours to write; he prefers to say it took 17 years and 14 hours.”

And then she added a zinger that propelled this story of a seemingly accidental poet into another realm:

“He had expected to find himself through the poems. ‘Instead of me,’ he said, ‘I found us.’ He discovered a collective conscience, a voice that transcended his private experience and became the voice of the generic veteran. The pleasure he derived from the poetry came not from a solitary exorcism but from the contribution he could make through his words.”

For more information:
articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-06-13/features/8602120427_1_vietnam-veterans-poems-poetry
news.google.com/newspapers?id=1fEeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=64MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5674,8047729&hl=en

The Day After: Election Results and War Issues

The day after Iraq war veteran Jason Castle lost his long-shot challenge in the primary election for the 5^th Congressional District in New Jersey, news reports did not even mention his signature stance that it’s time to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

In the wake of primary elections in New Jersey in which Castle got 35 percent of votes in a three-way race to challenge the incumbent, Republican Congressman Scott Garrett, a news reader could be forgiven for not having a clue as to what former Marine Sgt. Castle was about in seeking voters’ nomination to run for Congress. The winner, with 55 percent of the vote, was Adam Gussen, who ran on his record as a Teaneck Township Council member 

Meanwhile, the news from Afghanistan noted that suicide bombings and a NATO airstrike on a village made Wednesday “the deadliest day for Afghan civilians so far this year,” according to The New York Times.

Oh, and by the way, US military fatalities from a decade of fighting in Afghanistan approached or topped 2,000 this week (depending on various listings)—although that was hard to find in news reports. And, as we know from periodic reports, thousands of veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unemployed, homeless, suffering from traumatic injuries. On average, 18 veterans commit suicide every day.

“More than 6,500 veteran suicides are logged every year — more than the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since those wars began,” The New York Times reported in April. “One reason for veteran suicides (and crimes, which get far more attention) may be post-traumatic stress disorder, along with a related condition, traumatic brain injury…Estimates of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury vary widely, but a ballpark figure is that the problems afflict at least one in five veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq. One study found that by their third or fourth tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, more than one-quarter of soldiers had such mental health problems.”

According to local news reports, barely 30 percent of registered Democrats voted in Bergen County, the heart of the newly redistricted 5^th Congressional District. The other 70 percent presumably could care less who represents them in Congress or how things are going in a war that’s primarily kept going by Republican saber-rattling in Congress.

Yet in the neighboring 9^th Congressional District, two incumbent Democratic members of Congress, competing for a newly redistricted seat, hotly debated who could push harder for a quicker end to US combat operations in Afghanistan. The Obama administration plans to hand military operations over to the Afghanistan government in 2014, while starting to withdraw a large number of troops over the next year.

“I’d like to accelerate that withdrawl,” Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. said during a debate last month at the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County in Teaneck. “We do need to help our own people,” he said, referring to redirecting war funds to job-creation and other issues at home. Rep. Steve Rothman countered that he recently voted for the Barbara Lee amendment to the defense bill, which would limit funding for the war in Afghanistan to “the ‘safe and orderly withdrawal’ of U.S. troops,” as CNN reported on May 17.

“Lee's amendment to withdraw troops was defeated 113-303, but it did demonstrate the willingness, again, for a significant number of Democrats to split with the president on his war policy - over a hundred Democrats voted for it,” CNN noted.

On Tuesday, Pascrell defeated Rothman in the Democratic primary election. The stance on Afghanistan by both incumbents was, no doubt, nudged by public attitudes. Support for continuing the war tanked in the polls earlier this year.

“According to the CBS News/New York Times survey, many Americans would like to get troops home sooner. Forty-seven percent of Americans said they would like to see the timetable for the departure of U.S. troops moved up. Thirty-three percent think the schedule for withdrawal should remain as is, and 17 percent think the U.S. should stay in Afghanistan for as long as it takes,” CBS noted in March.  

 

 

Castle for Congress: A Marine Aims to Change the Mission in Washington

Jason Castle

 Voters in northern New Jersey have a choice this year to elect a very different and refreshing member of Congress than the usual incumbents. Jason Castle is a Marine veteran of Iraq who wants to quickly wind down the war in Afghanistan and boost reinvestment and jobs at home. He is running in Tuesday’s primary election seeking to become the Democratic candidate in the newly redistricted 5th Congressional District, which sweeps across the top of the state, encompassing much of suburban Bergen County, a rural portion of Passaic County and most of rural Sussex and Warren counties. That seat is currently held by conservative Republican Scott Garrett, who is seeking reelection. 

Castle gained a strong endorsement by The Record, the region’s largest newspaper, over his opponents in the Democratic primary: Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, whose governmental focus has been limited to parsing school and municipal budgets, and Diane Sare, a supporter of the LaRouche campaign to impeach President Obama.

As The Record’s editorial stated: “While Castle lacks day-to-day political experience, his personal narrative is impressive. A Marine veteran now working in the information technology industry, Castle served in Iraq and also on presidential detail as a member of the Silent Drill Platoon. Castle proposes forming collaborations among colleges, trade organizations and companies to identify where jobs in a region are needed and to then develop training programs to fill them. It’s a good idea.

“Castle may not be an expert on the ins and outs of Congress, but he is intelligent and persuasive. Democratic voters in the 5th District should give him a chance on Tuesday, although we wish Castle was now living in the district. He plans to move from Cliffside Park to Teaneck by the end of June. Nevertheless, we like the idea of a charismatic military veteran going against Garrett, who is New Jersey’s most conservative member of Congress.”

A 30-year-old New Jersey native, Castle is mounting a challenge to both Garrett and the grid-locked Congress over the federal government’s priorities during the past decade of costly global warfare capped by economic disaster at home. As he put it in a campaign statement:

“The United States needs to responsibly reduce our military commitments abroad. We can no longer fight wars without a direct mission or clearly defined objectives. These wars tax our servicemen and women mentally and physically and leave our country vulnerable to other threats. For these reasons and many others, we must end our involvement in Afghanistan.

“As a Marine, I know that we cannot be successful in a war where we are unable to define success. America can no longer afford to commit billions of dollars and thousands of lives to the vast and divided country of Afghanistan. We need to build roads and schools in America and pay down our own deficit. More importantly, we must bring our young men and women home to their families.”

For more information:
www.castlefornewjersey.com
www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/155874495_Castle_in_the_5th.html

Environmental Writing 2012

Ramapo College, May 2012                (photo/Jan Barry)

Are electric cars the wave of the future? Why are bomb squads frequent visitors to a New Jersey business park? What’s up with both solar panels and natural gas pipelines spreading across the Garden State landscape? These are just some of the timely and essential ecological issues that 15 student-reporters at Ramapo College of New Jersey explored in the Spring 2012 Environmental Writing class.

Here’s a sampling of insightful passages on topics the students researched and reported in magazine-style final writing projects, which are posted on our class website, ramapolookout.blogspot.com, along with a wide array of other eco-themed assignments.

“In April it was predicted that as the election pressures become more intense and gas prices rise, the president and administration may accelerate the review process and allow the northern leg of the pipeline to move forward more quickly. However, gas prices are currently in decline and have been for the past five weeks, as reported on Friday by the Huffington Post.

“According to the Los Angeles Times, ‘that day when hundreds of thousands of barrels arrive from Canada is at least a decade away, however, and much of the gasoline refined from Canadian oil would probably be exported, industry analysts say.’ ”

--from “New Keystone Pipeline Plan: What’s It Mean for the 2012 Elections?” by Lauren Haag

“Fort Detrick, a military base located in Fredrick, Md, was the main testing and research center for herbicides used in Agent Orange.  In recent years, area residents have raised concerns about what they see as a cancer cluster in the nearby neighborhoods surrounding Fort Detrick. Government officials deny there is a cancer cluster, although the state health department and a National Academy of Science panel are now taking a look at it.

“There is much skepticism as to whether the military will take any responsibility or admit to any wrong-doing. Randy White, the founder of the Kristen Renee Foundation, named after his daughter who died of brain cancer, has raised concerns about a possible cancer cluster based on surveys of residents of the area. White said that he had no confidence in the Department of Defense or a National Academy of Science review getting to the bottom of the issue in Fredrick.”

--from “The Lingering Legacy of Agent Orange” by Deshaun Mitchell

“You’re a devoted recycler. You’ve installed solar panels in your house. You drive a hybrid car. You have a homemade compost pile in your backyard. You live an eco-friendly life, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. But what happens when you leave your personal green kingdom for a summer vacation trip with the kids or a weekend getaway with your spouse? Do you abandon your green morals for a few days, or do you stick to your roots?

“Staying green while traveling can be a challenge, but in recent years more and more eco-friendly hotels have been popping up, and classic hotel chains like the Marriott and Hilton have been adapting practices that cut back on water use and air pollution.”

--from “Go Green: Eco-Friendly Hotels” by Diana Stanczak

“The students also found that vapor intrusion from the VOCs in the groundwater is a real threat to nearby buildings.  The area where the contaminants are found is right where a movie theater and parking lot are proposed.  This means careful investigation is needed to determine if vapor intrusion is a threat to indoor air quality.  Mitigation measures include a vapor barrier and venting systems.

…

“More suggestions include solar panels on buildings or in parking lots to reduce heat and produce clean energy.   Additionally, using LED parking lot lamps with special covers to reduce light pollution and in the long run, save on electricity and maintenance costs.  The use of native plants for landscaping was suggested, and not just for the bio-retention basins.  Native plant usage reduces water, fertilizer and maintenance needs, but also eliminates the threat of invasive species infiltrating the valuable wetland and riparian river habitat nearby.  They also stressed the importance of an efficient waste cycling program with the goal being zero-waste, which seemed to intrigue the members of the Environmental Commission and residents at the public hearing presentation.”

--from “Ramapo College Students Assess Proposed Mall’s Environmental Impact” by Barbara Bodden

“There obviously are serious concerns with the mega-million project, including damage to the pristine land--tearing through the Ramapo Reservation--and also the problems that come with fracking for natural gas for the pipeline. I wonder what is the point of reserving land if you’re going to destroy it anyway. Reservations are turning into layaways for companies. The same way department stores used to let customers put products on reserve to buy them at a later date, is what going on here. People and other businesses can’t build on this land. How strange that a gas-related project gets precedent over everything else.”

--from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Project: Why Is It Allowed in Preserved Parkland?” by Thomas Babcock

“The installation of solar panels in New Jersey ranks among the highest in the country and is set to continue to grow. Over the past couple of years, solar panels have exploded onto the New Jersey landscape. They were most commonly seen in multiple-acre solar farms, on rooftops, and car ports. But now they quite likely line the streets of your local neighborhood.

“Behind a majority of New Jersey’s solar energy projects is its largest utility provider, Public Service Gas and Electric (PSE&G). It is recognized by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) as the nation’s third most solar connected utility, ranking behind only Pacific Gas and Electric in California and Florida Power and Light Company.”

--from “Solar Panels Spreading Across New Jersey” by Joseph Pianese

“In a time where IPhones and fast cars are celebrated more than natural things, it is safe to say that humans have drastically affected this planet. It is hard for people to remember that we were not always the superior species to walk this vast realm, but that before us Earth belonged to the animals.

“Is it a scary statistic to learn that almost 99% of living organisms that were here when the Earth was created are no longer in existence. Every day, more and more of our beloved creatures are forced out of their homes and into extinction. Although oftentimes not a primary concern to most humans, there are plenty of reasons and statistics proving why they should be concerned.”

--from “Animals: Pertinent to Our Survival” by Alexis Lopez

“Last summer, Tennessee Gas expanded the existing pipeline from 30 feet in width to almost 200 feet.  In these areas where the pipeline already exists, specifically in the region off of Clinton Road, waterways were flooded with excessive runoff, motor oil and other fluids from bulldozers and construction vehicles used in the projects, and wetlands along its route have been contaminated, say residents who were directly affected.

“The Monksville Reservoir, which is the starting point for the extension, holds up to a billion gallons of water, and serves as the backup water supply during droughts for the Wanaque Reservoir. Approximately 3 million people are served by this water system. The plan is to drill under the reservoir, minimizing its impact to the water body, which extends 505 acres, and is a popular fishing spot.”

--from “Gas Pipeline to Mahwah Set Off Alarms” by Victoria Ahlers

“Over thirty years ago, it all started with just 12 farmers in a parking lot on 59th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. Now it has grown to become the biggest and most diverse outdoor urban farmer’s market system in the country. There are now 53 markets, over 230 family farms and fishermen participants, and over 30,000 acres of farmland protected from development.

“Since the creation of the greenmarket, the relationship between farmers and city residents has changed rural communities and urban spaces. There is an improvement in consumer health and people who are in need of fresh and nutritious food can get it through the organizations EBT/Food Stamp and Youth-market program. The market has also helped support immigrant farmers, educate school children and city residents about regional agriculture importance, provide an opportunity for medium sized farms, and influenced chefs and local eaters in one of the most popular and famous cities in the world.”

--from “Bringing Farm Life Back to New York City” by Vanessa Camargo

“Since the concept of environmental justice was recognized over three decades ago, the issue has been growing in size and importance.  However, it is still far from where it needs to be.  Environmental Justice issues are largely under-reported, and hardly ever show up in local, state, or national political debate.  This is because residents of poor and minority communities have little to no representation in government, and therefore have little to no voice.  

“As it stands now, environmental justice issues are all too often left to be discovered and advocated for by the residents of the affected communities and environmental groups.  In these cases, the residents and environmental organizations are usually up against large corporations whose financial status and sheer size give them the upper hand.  The fact is, the task of discovering toxic waste and other harmful pollutants in communities should not be left to the residents.  It is the responsibility of government, specifically on the local level, to protect the interests and well-being of its people; therefore, it is they who should be held responsible.”

--from “Environmental Justice: A Growing Issue” by Bliss Sando

“In most towns, the discovery of a misplaced military explosive would have been big news, but this incident in Edison went by without a peep from the media or government officials.  This was not the first time a shell was found in the ground below bustling Raritan Center. 

“They only found one this time,” said Lieut. Salvatore Filannino, the public information officer at the Edison police department.  

“Raritan Center is one of the largest business parks on the East Coast of the United States, and the biggest in Middlesex County, NJ.  It contains approximately 100 buildings and a daytime population of 45,000 workers.  Raritan Center includes several hotels, banks, a day care center, and the main studio and newsroom of News 12 New Jersey. So this issue of old munitions may affect all different types of people in Edison, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

“In years past, it was home to the Raritan Arsenal, a sprawling military base…”

--from “Bomb Squads at a Business Park: Another Day at the Office” by Richard Fetzer

“The odors have become more noticeable to Middlesex residents for the past three years. Some residents describe the odors as unpleasant, and some say the odors are not that bad. The overall issue that the Board of Health is concerned about is if these odors are safe.

“There has been no confirmation that the odors produced are dangerous to the residents, officials said. In fact, all of the products that Spray Tek converts are consumable products by manufacturers that are highly regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.”

--from “Fragrance Company and Town at Odds over Odors” by Molly Rothberg

“I remember driving into Pennsylvania for a weekend away some months ago and seeing signs on every lawn in the neighborhood I was driving through. Each sign read “FRACK” circled and crossed.

“I had thought “FRACK” was someone running for office that no one seemed to like; my friend told me otherwise. He informed me what hydraulic fracturing was, but I didn’t believe him that these people were lighting their sinks on fire and so I had to Youtube it.”

--from “Hydraulic Fracturing: A Brute Enemy to Water” by Samuel Arnowitz

“Electric cars are beginning to become more popular and are said to be better for the environment. With the rise of this, it is important to understand what an electric car is, the difference between electric and gasoline powered cars, and if they really are better for the environment.”

--from “Are Electric Cars the Way to Go for the Environment?” by Amanda Daley

“The Ramapo River is a popular destination for trout and fly fishermen and a retreat for families in the summer. Part of the Passaic River Basin, it is the most populated river in Northern New Jersey.

“On the surface, the river looks to be in great condition and a safe haven for wildlife. However, looked at more closely, the river is heavily polluted due to commercial development over the last few decades. Also, according to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, industrial companies used the river as a hazardous waste disposal site.”

--from “State of the Ramapo River” by Luan Madani