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Involuntary military service under the radar “There’s no way I’m going to deploy”
Wanted: Grassroots fundraising events for GI resisters
By Courage to Resist. May 29, 2009 Service members are courageously taking a stand against our nation’s endless occupation wars. Will you or your community organization step up to support them? These three Army soldiers are likely to face court martials—and a year or more in the stockade—possibly as early as July.
Courage to Resist has in the past raised funds for and covered the expenses of over a dozen GI resisters, including Cliff Cornell, Robin Long, and Agustin Aguayo. However, we believe a more decentralized effort right now can be more effective, and will unleash additional grassroots support for GI resisters. Involuntary military service under the radar
"I felt like I was being robbed of everything," Matthew Dobbs said over the phone from his home in Houston, Texas. "I had visions of military police banging down my door and dragging me back to war." Dobbs, a 26-year-old former soldier who served a tour in Afghanistan from 2003-2004, was recounting a story that has become familiar in the ongoing Global War on Terror. It is the story of a soldier who, after serving a tour overseas and being discharged from active duty, received involuntary orders to redeploy to Iraq or Afghanistan years later. Dobbs was not a victim of stop-loss, the policy of involuntarily extending a GI's term of service, sometimes after multiple tours in combat zones. This practice has recently garnered widespread negative attention and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates claims that it will be phased out. Rather, Dobbs was a victim of reactivation orders from the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR), a lesser-publicized form of involuntary service that has been fueling troop supply for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While there has been a strong reaction to stop-loss, IRR recall has slipped under the radar, creating the illusion that the problem of involuntary military service has been solved. “There’s no way I’m going to deploy to Afghanistan”
MARFA, Texas — “It’s a matter of what I’m willing to live with,” Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army (photo right with supporters), who is refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan, explained to IPS. “I’m not willing to participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong.” Agosto, who returned from a 13-month deployment to Iraq in November 2007, is based at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. While in Iraq, Agosto never left his base, located in northern Iraq. “I never had any traumatic experiences, never fired my weapon,” Agosto told IPS in a phone interview. “I mostly worked in information technology, working on computers and keeping the network functioning well. But it was in Iraq that I turned against the occupations. Through my reading, and watching what was going on, I started to feel very guilty.” Agosto added, “What I did there, I know I contributed to death and human suffering. It’s hard to quantify how much I caused, but I know I contributed to it.” Having served three years and nine months in the U.S. Army, Agosto was to complete his contract and be discharged on Aug. 3. But due to his excellent record of service and accrued leave, he was to be released the end of June. Nevertheless, due to the stop-loss programme, the Army decided to deploy him to Afghanistan anyway.
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Wanted: Grassroots fundraising events
Help provide civilian legal defense funds for military GI resisters
with a house party, music show, poetry night, film showing, or by
simply passing the hat at your next community/social/union meeting.
By Sarah Lazare, Courage to Resist for 
By Dahr Jamail, 
