Mark is currently severing 7 months confinement at Fort Sill, OK. He is in high spirits and hopes to post an update to the blog shortly. Please send him your letters of support:

Mark Wilkerson
c/o Sarah Wilkerson
PO Box 25037
Colorado Springs, CO 80936

Yesterday, February 22nd Spc. Mark Wilkerson was sentenced to 7 months in prison with a Bad Conduct Discharge. Mark was charged with an Article 85 (desertion) and an Article 87 (missing movement) after failing to return from block leave on January 3rd, 2005. In December he signed a plea bargain admitting to his guilt and lessening his sentence from a maximum of 6 years to a maximum of 10 months.The Court Martial room was filled to capacity with family, friends, and supporters including members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and approximately 15 active duty soldiers.

The Court Martial began with a formal review of the charges and then proceeded to witness testimony. Six people testified on Mark’s behalf including his mother, wife, brother (who is presently active duty and appeared in uniform), a Sergeant, Sergeant First Class and Staff Sergeant, two of whom served with Mark in Iraq. None of the witnesses were cross-examined by the prosecutors, nor did the prosecution present witnesses testifying on their behalf.

Mark’s Platoon leader described his performance as a soldier in Iraq as “outstanding.” The Sergeant First Class described him as “a good person,” as a soldier who was capable of successfully completing a myriad of missions. The Staff Sergeant described him as reliable, and hard working. He went on to describe how he had been influential in persuading Mark’s Command to grant him off-base and leave privileges after his surrender.

Taking the stand, Sarah Wilkerson, Mark’s wife, described in great detail the letters she received and phone conversations she had with Mark while he was in Iraq. She described how his initial honor to serve turned into concern and finally disgust. How Mark witnessed the changing perception by Iraqis of American Soldiers from liberators to occupiers. How when an RPG was fired at a police station he was guarding he could not fire back although the person who launched the RPG was in clear site. And finally, how he had not been the same person since returning and the toll flashbacks and nightmares had taken on him.

Mark made the decision to plead guilty because to claim innocence would require an argument against the legality and justness of the war in Iraq. Although personally this may be what Mark believes, the process would be lengthy, costly, practically impossible for him to defend in a Court Martial and would incur a punishment upwards of 6 years.

Despite the overwhelmingly positive evidence of Mark’s character, the fact that Mark did not maliciously abandon his fellow soldiers and made every attempt to be discharged from the military through official means and then sought reassignment to a non-combat rear detachment, and the accolades and respect shared by his fellow soldiers, he was still given seven months confinement. Why? Because he was honest, and stood up for his beliefs. But more importantly, for the government to let Mark off with anything less would be an admission of the unjustness of their war.

I am now a twenty three year old man. When I made the decision to join the Army, I was a boy. When I made the decision to go AWOL I was still in many ways a boy.

I realize in retrospect that going AWOL may not have been the right decision for me to make, but given the circumstances I found myself in at that time, I felt it was the only logical decision for me. I felt as though I wasn’t being taken seriously by my chain-of-command. I was crushed when my conscientious objector application was denied. I had failed somehow in conveying in words just what I felt in my head and heart, and that was that I could not, in good conscience, serve as a soldier in the United States Army. I could not deploy to a foreign land with a weapon in my hand, representing my government. I am not willing to kill, or be killed for my government. When I enlisted in the Army, I thought I would be able to, but after Iraq, my beliefs became such that I could no longer participate.

This was what I told my chain-of-command. I felt they didn’t care what I said or believed. So I fled. I quit my job. No other occupation in the United States punishes you as badly as what the military does for quitting your job. But that’s ok. I’m willing to face whatever punishment the government deems appropriate.

In my Battalion’s Retention Office, there is a quote by Retired Army General Bernard Rogers, and it states “This is a volunteer force. Soldiers volunteer to meet our standards. If they don’t meet them, we should thank them for trying and send them home.” Well, I enlisted into the Army with the best intentions. I had other options. But I wanted to serve my country. And when I felt my country was doing the very thing we pretend to condone, I took a stand. And to me that is the core of democracy. If the Army feels as though I didn’t meet the standards, they should thank me for trying and send me home. There’s no lesson prison can teach me. Prison is established for criminals who committed crimes that the majority of our society can say in morally wrong. And with this crime, I don’t know if that can be said. Even though I committed a crime, I’m no criminal. And even if I do go to prison, I’m no longer a prisoner. My conscience is clear. I’m no menace to society. I have stayed true to myself and my moral code throughout my life, and that will never change. Just let me live my life, and I know I will live it well.

A few weeks ago, I got a call from my grandma on my father’s side. She had something really important to tell me, she said. Now, a little background on that side of my family. My father was in the Army, I had two uncles in the military. My grandpa was in the Navy during WWII, and he met my grandma, who was also in the military in some capacity, during those times. Going back to our country’s first conflicts, my family had deep roots in fighting for this country. My grandma’s favorite hobby is genealogy, the study of my family’s roots. So when she called me, she was telling me about how her half-brother had died fighting in Nicaragua during the 1920’s, and how her dad became enraged, and wrote the U.S. president, at the time Calvin Coolidge, to tell him what he thought. Here now is his letter, which my grandma came across only a few weeks ago:

Dear Mr. President,

According to dispatches of today, Jan. 3, from Nicaragua, my son, 1SG John F. Hemphill, was killed in action against General Saudino’s loyal troops.

For the death of my son I hold no malice or ill will toward Gen. Saudino or any of his men, for I think (and I believe 90 percent of our people agree with me) that they are to-day fighting for their liberty, as our forefathers fought for our liberty in 1776 and that we, as a nation, have no legal or moral right to be murdering those liberty loving people in a war of aggression. What we are doing is nothing less than murder for the sole purpose of keeping in power a puppet President and acting as a collector for Wall Street, which is certainly against the spirit and letter of our Constituition.

My son was 29 years old, served 3 years of his third enlistment, survived honorable service through the world war against Germany, only to be officially murdered in a disgraceful war against this little nation.

My father served through the Civil War, my two grandfathers died in action in the same war and I am proud of their records, so this is not from the pen of a radical, but from one who loves justice and fair play.

I have four sons and if necessity arose I would be willing to sacrifice not only all four sons but my own life as well in a war of defense, but I’m not willing to shed one drop of blood in a war of aggression, such as this one is.

You have lost a son and know the sorrow, and we as a nation mourned with you in your hour of grief. Suppose that son had fallen, as my son has, a victim to the greed of Wall Street, would you feel that the financial gain was worth the cost?

Respectfully, JNO S. Hemphill PS. I am asking the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to print this as an open letter to you.

When I read this for the first time, I couldn’t help but crying. Because through this letter, I can’t help but feel that my great-grandfather would be proud of what I’m going through, and could relate with me on many levels. I feel that reading this somehow connected me again to a part of my family that I haven’t been close to much lately, and I’m thankful for that. I also feel more now, than ever, that as a veteran, it is my obligation to speak out when I feel that an injustice is being done in our country today through this so-called War on Terrorism. The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq is now 2,887. And that number will continue to increase until the troops are out of Iraq. The election that recently passed showed the President and the rest of D.C. that the voters are tired of this war, among other things, and the Democrats must now show that they are more than just talk. They must take action in accordance with what the people who voted them in believe. I’m pessimistic of how much they can really do. The people of this country are the ones with the real power. Not the politicians. We don’t serve them. They serve us. Keep pressure on Washington D.C. politicians to make sure that they look out for us for once, instead of just looking out for themselves as they always have. If they don’t, call ‘em out. This letter that my great-grandfather wrote showed me that there are many people in the world and our nation today who forget about the lessons learned from past generations’ experiences. I feel that I could take this same letter, change Nicaragua to Iraq, write about some friends of mine instead of a son, send it to the president, and achieve the same result. Nicaragua is Iraq. Every war is different. Every war is the same. WE MUST LEARN FROM PAST MISTAKES TO AVOID FUTURE MISTAKES! I’m proud to be a member of a family of veterans, and feel that through my actions, I am making my great-grandfather, and the rest of my family, proud. Peace out till next time inspiration hits.

A friend of mine told me about this poem, and gave a book of E.E. Cummings poems. Now, I’ve never been a reader of poetry. I guess I always thought it was too, I don’t know, odd for me. But having read many poems, at least by Cummings, I’ve come to really appreciate it. It’s a real challenge, reading poetry. It requires reading out loud, and looking at each and every word and fitting each word together to make a relevent meaning. Poetry is like constructing a puzzle. It’s challenging, it’s new, it’s mysterious. It’s wonderful; especially this poem, which I can relate with, uh, rather well. Olaf is my homeboy.

i sing of Olaf glad and big

A Poem by E. E. Cummings

i sing of Olaf glad and big
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:
a conscientious object-or

his wellbelovéd colonel (trig
westpointer most succinctly bred)
took erring Olaf soon in hand;
but—though an host of overjoyed
noncoms (first knocking on the head
him) do through icy waters roll
that helplessness which others stroke
with brushes recently employed
anent this muddy toiletbowl,
while kindred intellects evoke
allegiance per blunt instruments—
Olaf (being to all intents
a corpse and wanting any rag
upon what God unto him gave)
responds, without getting annoyed
“I will not kiss your fucking flag”

straightaway the silver bird looked grave
(departing hurriedly to shave)

but-though all kinds of officers
(a yearning nation’s blueeyed pride)
their passive prey did kick and curse
until for wear their clarion
voices and boots were much the worse,
and egged the firstclassprivates on
his rectum wickedly to tease
by means of skillfully applied
bayonets roasted hot with heat—
Olaf (upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
“there is some shit I will not eat”

our president,being of which
assertions duly notified
threw the yellowsonofabitch
into a dungeon,where he died

Christ (of His mercy infinite)
i pray to see;and Olaf,too

preponderatingly because
unless statistics lie he was
more brave than me:more blond than you

Earlier this week, we junior enlisted soldiers were asked to write a paragraph about our experiences in Iraq. Supposedly, these statements were going to be read by someone important, a retired general maybe. Maybe they’re trying to find out what the soldiers think. Anyway, this gave me a good oppurtunity to say what I think to someone who might have some say in what happens in Iraq. Here it is:

As a veteran of the war in Iraq, I feel it gives me and fellow soldiers more of a right to say what the war in Iraq is really about than non-veterans. Before I deployed to Iraq during OIF1, I was full of optimism for what we could do to help the people of Iraq. One of our missions, after all, was to “win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.” And in that regard, we have failed miserably. In the year I was in Iraq, I saw kids waving American flags in the first month. Then they threw rocks. Then they planted IEDs. Then they blew themselves and others up in city squares full of people. The only conclusion I can come up with as to why this has happened is the way the American troops have treated the Iraqi people as a whole. From random raids of whole city blocks, to checkpoints that interrupted the daily lives of the Iraqis, to incidents of torture and even massacres, a majority of Iraqis now feel as though the American soldiers, once hailed as heroes and saviors, are now seen as conquerors. Civil war has erupted in the streets, and Americans are caught in the crossfire. And the insurgents feel as though they need to repel the foreign invaders. And this is not the fault of American troops on the ground. They are whisked away from the U.S. and sent to a foreign land where they are largely not welcome, being told to be alert for anything and everything. They experience lack of sleelp, in a hot country, and have an overbearing op-tempo. I see this not as the fault of soldiers on the ground, but rather as a failure of overzealous officers looking for promotions, and politicians and administrators increasingly frustrated from a lack of positive results in the war. Hundreds of billions of American dollars, thousands of Americans’ lives, and tens of thousands of Iraqis lives have all been wasted in this war. I feel as though many more soldiers want to say things like this, but are afraid of retribution, and who’s really listening anyway?

Let me comment a little on military cadence: They’re songs that are shouted during PT sessions in the early morning. The head of the group running will yell a little rhyme, and the soldiers running will repeat it. Supposedly, it helps us to breathe easier while we’re running. But I have always felt that it’s just another way for our leaders to maintain their authority on us, and I always found the cadences rather annoying. Let me give some examples:

“When my granny was 91, she did PT just for fun. When my granny was 92, she did PT better than you. When my granny was 93, she did PT better than me. When my granny was 94, she did PT more and more. When my granny was 95, she did PT to stay alive. When my granny was 96, she did PT just for kicks. When my granny was 97, she up, she died, she went to heaven.”

“C-130 rolling down the strip. 64 troopers on a one-way trip. Mission top secret, destination unknown. Don’t give a damn if we ever come home. Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door. Step right up on the count of four. If my main don’t open wide, I’ve got a reserve by my side. If that one should fail me too, look out below, I’m coming through. If I die on the old drop zone, box me up and ship me home. Pin those wings up on my chest, bury me in the leaning rest.”

There’s many more that talk about army chow, excercise, and women (in fact, you can buy a CD of army cadences at the PX), but most of them seem pretty harmless. However, last Friday, I was reminded of a cadence that I haven’t heard in a long time, and that I don’t feel has any place in the army AT ALL. But, here it is:

“Left right left right left right kill…left right left right you know I will. Goin’ to the church, where all Iraqis pray, pull out my machine gun, and blow ‘em all away! Left right left right left right kill…left right left right you know I will.” Other verses include “goin’ to the playground, where all Iraqis play, pull out my machine gun, and I begin to spray!” “Goin’ to the market, where all Iraqis shop, pull out my machete, and I begin to chop!”

This is brainwashing propaghanda at its best. Especially for the young privates who have not been to Iraq. By associating the words “kill” with the word “Iraqi”, it is telling the young soldiers that all Iraqis are enemies, and it’s okay to kill them. Wait a minute! Weren’t we supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people? How can you do that when the soldiers are not protecting the heads and chests of the Iraqi people, and sing about chopping them up and blowing them away? No wonder we’re not winning the supposed war on terrorism.

Here’s a short list of some of the many protest songs that have gotten me through Iraq and through my AWOL experience.

Masters of War - Bob Dylan - Greatest protest song ever. Recently, some kids in Boulder, Colorado decided to sing Masters of War at a talent show, and Secret Service showed up. Just shows that this song still scares the government.

When The President Talks To God - Bright Eyes - Conor Oberst gives his best Bob Dylan impersonation with this brilliant song which questions just how well our president REALLY knows God.

Imagine - John Lennon - A beautifully written song, full of optimism and hope.

Peace, Love, and Understanding - Elvis Costello - “What’s so funny ’bout peace, love, and understanding?” Nothing.

War Pigs - Black Sabbath - Greatest metal band of all time…made a protest song. How many metalheads jam out to this song and don’t even understand the meaning of it…sad

B.Y.O.B. - System of a Down - “Why don’t the Presidents fight the war, why do they always send the poor?” Indeed. Also, check out “Soldier’s Side” and “Boom!” also by System.

Holy Wars…the Punishment Due - Megadeth - “Killing For Religion, Something I don’t understand!” I think it’s tragically funny how every side in any war will make the claim that ‘God is on our side’

American Idiot - Green Day - How many teenage girls have rocked out to this song? Also, check out the music video for “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. Where’s the love, MTV Video Music Awards?

World Wide Suicide - Pearl Jam - Eddie Vedder’s pretty political only behind the scenes, but finally let the music speak for them on this song.

Anotomy of Your Enemy - Anti-Flag - Every song in their catalogue is an angry, intelligent protest song, but this song lays out the steps that every president will take to brainwash the public during times of war. Also check out “911 For Peace” “Gonna Die for the Government”

What’s Going On? - Marvin Gaye - “War is not the answer, only love can conquer hate”

Make Love, Fuck War - Public Enemy - Way to stick it to the man… where has all the revolutionary, activist hip-hop gone?

Letter From Iraq - Bouncing Souls - A good friend of mine, an Iraq veteran, wrote the lyrics to this song. And it is a very powerful message.

2+2=5 - Radiohead - “And it’s too late now, because you have not been payin’ attention.” References the ignorant people who have not been paying attention to the lies that were told by the administration during the buildup to the Iraq War. Radiohead is the greatest, most creative band in the world right now.

USAHoles - NOFX - Fun song, serious accusations toward Bush’s administration. Also, check out NOFX’s entire album “War on Errorism.”

Living With War - Neil Young - Felt it was his duty to make an album of original protest songs, and what a great job he did. Highlights include “Living With War” and “Let’s Impeach the President”. Listen to this album.

Emotive - A Perfect Circle - A fine collection of remakes of popular protest songs like “Imagine”, “What’s Goin’ On.” The highlight of this album is “The Fiddle And The Drum.”

I haven’t been a big fan of war films since I have returned from Iraq. Before Iraq, I was a huge fan. All the action, and the patriotic inuendo in the films. But since Iraq, I have come to realize that films like “Saving Private Ryan”, “We Were Soldiers” and “Black Hawk Down” spout patriotism, and use soldiers, and, in the case of “Black Hawk Down”, the civilians of Somalia, as props, just to be blown up for the entertainment of the audience watching, and to raise the testosterone of potential recruits for the military. There are very few war films that I feel show the realism of warfare, while not preaching to the audience too much about the necessities of warfare. Soldiers are real people with real emotions and dreams and goals and lives. Films like “Born of the Fourth of July”, “Platoon”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “Full Metal Jacket” I feel are the most disturbing, realistic war films, that show the emotions and the mixed feelings that soldiers go through. I feel the the new movie “Jarhead” JUST ABOUT fits that description.

I watched “Jarhead” on Saturday night. It is based on the memoir by Anthony Swafford, a marine and Gulf War veteran. I would like to read the memoir. But the film was adequate. I had my reservations about watching it. Too many war films patronize the situations the soldiers are put in. But the film was realistic in its portrayal of what it’s like to be a soldier who is in a combat zone, but doesn’t face combat. Marines, after all, are trained to kill, and when they don’t get to, they become restless. The film shows the difficulty in dealing with that. It shows the mindfucks that soldiers have to go through.

Speaking from my own experience in Iraq: Every day in Iraq was an inner struggle to keep from going crazy and just blasting away into the crowds that gathered around our trucks. I had to make a conscious effort to stay in focus and not use my MK-19 or SAW machine gun to level a whole city block. The loss of humility in every soldiers’ soul is hard to see. To see good people turn ugly, to see them do things they otherwise never would have done if they’d have never had to leave the U.S. for the goddamn war. I reference the Haditha massacre and the torture incidents at Abu Ghraib. I will never justify the behavior of these soldiers, but it’s hard to know what was in their heads when these crimes were commited, and I don’t judge them. Stirring the shit in Iraq, other soldier’s shit (which is referenced in Jarhead) is a metaphor for our lives. We were in the shit waist deep, and we were drowning in the shit, powerless to stop our mental slide into darkness. All we had was each other, for better or worse. Best friends became worst enemies, then friends again. Topics of discussion among us soldiers every night in Iraq: Muscle magazines, football, sex, women, lives we left behind, our childhoods, wrestling, masturbation, the difference between a Mexican & a Puerto Rican, Yankee versus Redneck, the Confederate flag (Heritage or Hate?), life lessons learned from the Boondock Saints, life lessons learned from Chuck Norris, the relavancy of rap-rock, which wives were having affairs, past sports injuries that seemingly every soldier suffered from (everyone was going to have great lives, but had to join the army because…sports injuries, kids, marriage, debt, jail), whatever excuse people could come up with to justify their poor reason for joining the military.

Be aware of the inaccuracies and propaghanda that hide and get justified as patriotism in films like “Black Hawk Down” and “We Were Soldiers”. Films are, after all, meant to entertain the audience. Instead, I recommend the books on which these movies are based on. They are more accurate, and are more critical of the wars, and the government officials who started them.

Greetings from Ft. Hood, TX. My first week here has come to an end, and in all honesty, it was a good week. It was a week spent reuniting with old friends, meeting new soldiers, getting acquainted with my chain-of-command, and, in general, re-familiarizing myself with the military. My body is sore now from all the exercising I’m doing again. But it’s a good pain-I’m getting in shape again. And that feels nice. And while it’s nice to be spending time with my Army friends, after work it definitely feels nice to go to my own room and spend some time with myself. I’m reading more again. I haven’t read this much since my deployment to Iraq. It’s something I’ve always loved doing, but I always make excuses to not do it. Well, no more. This week alone I’ve read Fast Food Nation, 1984, Creature by John Saul, and The Husband by Dean Koontz.

I have to read fiction once in a while to keep from going insane from the facts presented in non-fiction. Although 1984 is a fiction novel, it has very chilling visions of the future. But read more on that in my next blog. Anyway, I am enjoying the solitude I have right now. It allows me to think, and concentrate solely on my own thoughts - about the situation I’m in, and where I want my life to go when my military experience is over. But I also think about our country, and the war in Iraq. I’ve spent a lot of time speaking with fellow soldiers about how their experiences were in Iraq. And while some had better experiences than others, they all expressed how lucky they were to make it back to the U.S. alive. And some have expressed their anxiety about having to return to Iraq for possibly the third time - Imagine- Three year-long deployments to Iraq in 5 years! For anyone reading this, let that sink in for a moment. Sons, daughters, husbands, wives, parents, gone for years to Iraq and Afghanistan. And they do it for no reason other than they’re told to. Some agree, some don’t with the politics surrounding the war. I hope that a number of years from now when this war is over, hopefully years over by then, that we as a country can say that we did all we could to support and honor these soldiers. I want you all to remember that there is a difference between supporting the troops and supporting the war. Don’t let whatever anger you harbor about the war or the administration cloud your judgment about the troops. I try not to.