Laughter, Tears, and Unity - A Report From Camp Casey

Crawford, TX
August 19-21, 2005
Photos by katinmn and PuraVidaDreamin

I arrived home from Crawford about 5 p.m. Monday evening and took great relief in our Minnesota weather.

Minnesota connections

Minnesota was well represented. State senator Becky Lourey and US Senate candidate Colleen Rowley were there. I also met Tom Selinski, a filmmaker from Duluth who is working on a documentary about the media’s complicity in advancing the war on Iraq. I got to speak with Becky and Colleen Saturday before they left to return to Minnesota. Both said they wished they could stay longer and will return if needed. We estimated there were a dozen Minnesotans in Crawford this past weekend.

It was about 100 degrees every day in Crawford but there was often a nice breeze and plenty of shade in the nice new grassy spot where Camp Casey 2 is situated. A local landowner graciously shared a parcel of land less than a mile from Bush’s ranch to Crawford’s extended visitors. With two camps in place, Bush can’t leave his ranch without passing by one of the groups of protesters.

The volunteers were awesome - almost everyone was a volunteer

The volunteers responsible for organizing all the visitors to the Peace House and Camp Casey 1 and 2 seem to have hit their stride. It's organized chaos. Joy is evident because of what Cindy Sheehan has launched through her vigil and visitors and long-term volunteers alike are upbeat and hopeful.

Upon arriving at the Peace House at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, I took pleasure in pinpointing St. Paul on the Peace House map. Each pushpin represents a home city of a visitor to Camp Casey.

People from all over the country were arriving and departing hourly. There were about 2,000 people there in support of Cindy and they were shuttled by volunteers among the three locations.

It seemed like everyone volunteered to do something, whether it was helping unload supplies, cooking, directing traffic, driving shuttles, or whatever was needed. I had volunteered to help with media relations but found myself assisting my friend PuraVidaDreamin in the Medic tent. PVD is an RN from Cape Cod. We coordinated our schedules and met up at the Austin airport and rented a car, shared a hotel room, chipped in on groceries (which it turned out we didn’t need since the food at Camp Casey was both plentiful and far more delicious than ham and cheese sandwiches that we had back in the hotel refrigerator). There were no serious illnesses or incidents. The Medic tent was situated conveniently close to the outdoor camp kitchen and PVD treated at least five people for knife cuts, offered a cooling reprieve for overheated workers and a half dozen people who experienced heat exhaustion.

PuraVidaDreamin, a registered nurse from Cape Cod in Massachusetts, begins to set up the Medic tent at Camp Casey.

CC2 was still being set up when we arrived, and since no one was designated as head of health care, Deb jumped in to receive supplies and establish the new Medic tent. She ended up running it for much of the two days at camp, with help from other patriotic doctors and nurses who came to support Cindy, even if only for a day. In this way we all felt a part of the effort. Just being present at the vigil shows the American peoples’ resolve to bring the war to an end.

PuraVidaDreamin and I were interviewed by a Polish TV station, a Veterans for Peace member who has a radio program on Long Island, and by World News Tonight. I heard they used the segment with PVD. I hope she got to see it.

If anyone reading this is thinking about going down to Texas to hold vigil, please just do it! History is being made there. There is palpable resolve, determination, love and hope present. There's a peaceful grassroots resistance taking place and its heart is on the Texas prairie and emanating outward. People are coming and going all the time -- most of us can stay just a short time -- and it's going to take thousands of us to keep the momentum going. Go and be inspired by, and gain strength from, all the patriots at Camp Casey. We have just begun to fight!

Contrary to what the press may be reporting, there were only five or six counter-protesters at the camp. They hung out across the road from the campers at the original camp. The original Camp Casey is going to stay intact, and veterans are going to remain camped there. Additional people are camping at the new site, too.

Camp Casey 1 was very cramped with about 25 small tents and a couple buses lining the ditches along the roadside at the time I visited. The counter protestors lined the ditch on the other side of the road with three state troopers stationed between the Sheehan supporters and the pro-war group. I heard that one of the counter protestors was arrested when he crossed over the road. No abusive language is allowed.

The officers I spoke with were polite and friendly and dispelled the myth that law enforcement officers in rural Texas are all pro-Bush. I asked a couple officers if I could take their picture and one joked: "No, I'm afraid it would end up on the Internet and someone would put my head on a woman's body."

Before heading over to Camp Casey 2 I paused to contemplate the tent that Cindy put down in the ditch on that hot and dusty little side road on August 6. I couldn’t hold back the tears. There were pictures of Casey and other fallen soldiers in front of the tent, and bouquets of fresh flowers.

Sheehan camp site

I didn't get to meet Cindy since she had left before I got there to be with her mother. But she left behind her presence -- sadness at our great loss as a nation mixed with hope and resolve for a peaceful future.

In case you missed it, DistressedAmerican, an anthropologist and protest artist from Albany, New York, recognized that we have reached a turning point in the opposition to the war. He depicted the significance of Camp Casey through this “monument” which he displayed at Camp Casey 2.

Performers, clergy and speakers come to lend support

Musicians Steve Earl and James McMurtry performed Saturday and Joan Baez performed Sunday evening. These celebrities who came to entertain the Sheehan supporters did not seek publicity, and gave their time to show their support and solidarity.

Two prayer vigils were held Sunday morning. Bush supporters held an “I give a sheet” vigil, prayer rally, and breakfast in Crawford at 8 a.m. The pro-war groups signed bed sheets with words of support for Bush.

An interfaith service was held at Camp Casey later Sunday morning. Numerous clergy from around the country came to pray for the soldiers’ families, for Bush, for the Iraqis, for children, widows, and Cindy Sheehan and her mother. There was even a prayer for the media, that they might find the strength to seek out and report the truth.

Soldiers and mothers

I was moved and a little surprised at the numbers of active soldiers and veterans who were present at Camp Casey. There were WW11 vets, a Korean War veteran, numerous Vietnam veterans, and several veterans of the Iraq war. I also met a young concientious objector from San Francisco.

Jeff Key presents the perfect image of a Marine -- tall, handsome and strong in both body and spirit. Currently a reservist assigned to Camp Pendleton, he served at the Iranian border for nine months beginning in March 2003. Key is a tragic example of how the Bush Administration has used and abused our military.

A woman interviewing Jeff Key needed to stand on a chair in order to properly videotape her subject. Key is a Marine from Alabama opposed to the war.

He joined the Marines five years ago and has become an outspoken opponent of the war. His journal entries which have been compiled in book form and titled “The Blood of Profits” are soon to be published by a major publishing house. The Blood of Profits alludes to Revelation scriptures about Babylon, where he spent some time and which he described as “troubling and beautiful. I was in anguish and in bliss at the same time. It was the most spiritual time of my life.”

He also wrote a one man play – “The Eyes of Babylon” which ran for eight weeks in Los Angeles, and is now headed for Broadway. He performed the play each evening at Camp Casey. It is both a solemn and an irreverent look at war.

Key, who will turn 40 in October, arrived at camp just after Cindy had departed to tend her mother. But he was not dismayed. “It’s all unfolding in a perfect way. Maybe God brought me here to give energy when she was away.”

When talking about what drew him to Camp Casey his eyes brimmed with tears. He was in Crawford for Casey Sheehan, as a fellow soldier who had served in Iraq. “I’m here knowing that could be my mom. And I love my mama,” he said in his rural Alabama accent. “I would want my buddies to be here and help her say what she wanted to say.”

His words to all those who are committed to making Bush stand down on his imperialism in Iraq and the Middle East: “Let them know we understand that they are doing it for us and that we are doing what we can in a bad situation.”

Key played taps at dusk every evening he was at the camp, standing at the foot of 200 crosses that were erected at the new camp. Other crosses remain at the original camp.

Eddie Boyd of Baltimore, Maryland, served in the military from 1974 to 1987. An African-American who grew up in Miami’s depressed Liberty City, he said he used to be a staunch advocate of the military. For poor young men in his community, the only options were joining the military or becoming immersed in crime. Of his 10 best friends from Liberty City, eight of them are dead because of crime related activities.

Eddie Boyd served in the military from 1974-87. He said today’s military is preying on poor and disadvantaged youth and engaging in an economic draft.

Boyd said America continues to engage in an economic draft, drawing disadvantaged youth to serve in the military because they have no other options. He despises recruiters’ methods for luring young recruits. He’s witnessed recruiters hosting events for prospects that sell boot camp like “it’s a summer camp.” Brightly colored hummers blare party music, and recruiters promise free beach toys for those that attend.

Stephen Funk, 23, San Francisco, enlisted immediately after 9/11 in an act of patriotism to protect the country. But following boot camp and becoming aware of the president’s focus on Iraq and not Osama Bin Laden, he realized Bush was seeking an elective war against a people who were not our enemy.

He learned from soldiers returning from Iraq of the awful impact on the Iraqi citizens and the rampant mismanagement of the military. He elected to seek conscientious objector status. The decision resulted in charges of being AWOL and he spent five months in prison in 2003 before being given a “bad conduct” discharge. He also racked up a $10,000 legal bill, which anti-war groups stepped in to help cover while he gave interviews to Mother Jones and other media and spoke at anti-war rallies.

Today he is a student at Stanford University and is leaning toward a major in biology. “Bush was wrong to say the war was worth it. No one needed to die in Iraq. The focus should have been on Osama Bin Laden.”

Nicholas Przybyla, 23, is a Navy veteran who served in the Persian Gulf from 2001-2002. He was part of an amphibious landing force. Przybyla shot video during the March 2005 military protest at Fort Bragg that was attended by 5,000 members of the military and supporters. His video of the Ft. Bragg rally is called “Operation: Veteran Freedom.” He interviewed many veterans and soldiers who are currently serving. The interviews describe their experiences with freely dispensed anti-depressants by the military, the effects of depleted uranium on both Iraqis and children, and other realities that are not reported in the corporate media.

Przybyla and Funk manned a table at Camp Casey 2 on behalf of Iraq Veterans Against the War. There were brisk sales of the video whose profits went to the organization.

“You would have liked my son.”

Lynn Bradach of Portland, Oregon, was one of three Gold Star moms at Camp Casey last weekend. Minnesota state senator Becky Lourey was one of them.

Lisa Bradach smiles through the tears while remembering her son Travis who was killed in Iraq in July 2003.

Bradach, a friendly and active woman in her 40s was generous with her time. She runs regularly, speaks at appearances with Gold Star Mothers for Peace, and is also an active member of Adopt-A-Minefield. She is frustrated by the lack of response from Americans who are pro-war or apathetic. “My son died because the country did not fight the policies of this president.” Of Bush she says: “This man has to be held responsible.”

Her face lit up when talking about her son and his interests, and added. “You would have liked my son.” When she was about to leave us she said, “My son thanks you!” and then she burst into tears. She apologized, saying the grief is always there but that the outward signs come and go. We cried with her and tears and hugs were shared all around.

Despite political attacks at home, Colleen Rowley (right), Minnesota candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006, traveled to Camp Casey to show support for soldiers and their families, including Lynn Bradach (center). Rowley is among a handful of candidates who are speaking candidly about the war.