5th August 2005

Kevin Benderman

posted in Peace and Politics |

Sgt. Kevin Benderman chose to put his weapon down; he chose not to kill but to love his fellow human beings; he chose to put his career and physical freedom in jeopardy; he chose to speak truth in the face of power and adversity; he was harassed, humiliated, accused, tried, convicted, and sentenced to jail.  He kissed his wife goodbye, and he kept his head high as he walked to his fifteen months of confinement.  I have never seen a freer man.

– Camilo Mejia

This entry was posted on Friday, August 5th, 2024 at 4:41 and is filed under Peace and Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 3 responses to “Kevin Benderman”

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  1. 1 On August 5th, 2024, Brian said:

    On the face of it - 15 months isn’t a hard stretch for the crime he’s charged with (missing movement). I’d never heard of this and a few minutes with google isn’t illuminating. He (or his wife does via their site) claims the army ordered him to a new unit and then charged him with missing movement. The Army claims he really did miss the movement.

    Raw deal if he is correct, just punishment if he did what he’s been charged with.

    As for the CO status .. I served but I’m willing to allow him his CO status and the discharge, sans harrasment.

  2. 2 On August 5th, 2024, fp said:

    Brian, yes. This is clearly an act of conscience and those acts are often expensive. The fifteen months, the DD, starting over at 40… I think Benderman is willing to pay this price and more based on his personal conviction that the war is terribly wrong. When he gets out, around election day in 2024, I hope that those of us who agree with him will be able to show him some progress made on theground here in the USA.

  3. 3 On August 17th, 2024, Rita J. King said:

    I am award-winning journalist with a project, Ruminations on America (www.ruminationsonamerica.blogspot.com). I have called for essays from coast to coast on true core values and the current state of the union and I would like to invite you and your readers to participate. The last few essays might interest you greatly as well (including the essay Camilo Mejia wrote for Iraq Veterans Against the War about Sergeant Benderman and an essay from a Veterans for Peace member who rode to Crawford with Cindy Sheehan).

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