Resistance — Armies of One
“Bring Them Home Now” takes on new meaning, in this note about a GI resister from Fort Bragg, written today by Chuck Fager of Quaker House in Fayetteville:
Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:54:53 EDT
Dear Friends–
I am rushing to send you this note about work with a GI resister that bore fruit today. You may see or read
about it in the news, and I hope to get this to you at least a bit ahead of the wave:Sgt. Ricky Clousing, a GI in the 82d Airborne, went AWOL in June 2005 from Ft. Bragg, after a tour in Iraq.
In Iraq he found the war contrary to his moral and religious convictions, and after returning in the spring of 2005
he sought out counsel about what to do, from Quaker House among others. His decision was that he could not stay
in his position, and he left in June. I did not know this until he sent me an email, sometime after his departure.
At this time I also did not know his full name or where he was headed.Earlier this summer, I met an attorney from Washington State while at a Quaker gathering in Tacoma.
The attorney told me he had been working with an AWOL GI who wanted to surface and make an antiwar
witness, and it turned out to be the same GI, Sgt. Ricky Clousing.Ricky surfaced on August 11 in Seattle, at the Vets for Peace convention there. (There was national press,
including a report about it in the Fayetteville Observer.) He then turned himself in to army authorities at
Ft. Lewis, near Seattle. I knew about this and talked with some folks there who were organizing on his behalf,
but was only a cheerleader for him.Then early this week, the army ordered Ricky to report to Ft. Bragg on August 18, today. When I found
this out, I interrupted a week of vacation in New Jersey and drove through most of last night to be at RDU
airport to meet him this morning. Some press also met us there.As I write, Ricky is here at Quaker House, trying to contact the AWOL Apprehension Unit at Ft. Bragg to
get instructions about where to report. When he does, I’ll take him out to the post (unless they come to pick him up).As you know, Ricky becomes only the second public GI resister from Ft. Bragg and the 82d Airborne to surface
since I arrived here in 2002. (The other one was Jeremy Hinzman, who “surfaced” in Toronto.)We have no idea yet what action the army plans to take against Ricky; but he could be charged with desertion
and face court-martial. There will likely be further support efforts for us and others to be involved in on his behalf.At the least, how about putting on a vigil on his behalf??
When Ricky went AWOL from Ft. Bragg, according to press reports:
“He left a note on his door, with [Dr. Martin Luther] King’s quote:
“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’
Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’
But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe,
nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”Peace,
Chuck Fager
Quaker House
Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg NC
www.quakerhouse.org