Sergeant Benderman: Serving Time for Having a Conscience
The following e-mails are presented in their original form
with the permission of the author, Monica Benderman- wife of
Sergeant Kevin Benderman.
The decision to publish them was made because no attempt at a
narrative was able to capture the matter-of-fact anger of the
first e-mail, nor the frustrated anger of the second.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Briefly, Kevin Benderman had served as an army mechanic for 10
years when he developed moral and religious objections to the
war in Iraq and, after serving there in 2003, he refused to
deploy there again. He filed an application for conscientious
objector status on 28 December 2004.
His application was denied and he continued to refuse to serve.
Subsequently he was tried and was acquitted of desertion but was
convicted of the lesser charge of missing movement, meaning he
skipped his Jan. 8 deployment flight. He was sentenced to 15
months' imprisonment, a loss of pay, and dishonorable discharge
at the court martial. He is still in prison.
It should be pointed out that the wheels had fallen off the WMD
argument by the time of his trial and that Sec. Rumsfeld said in
a little covered DOD Press Conference that but for WMD's, there
would have been no war, much to the astonishment of a reporter
who asked about "all the other reasons" for the war.
To find out more about Sgt. Benderman, His military record, his
writing expressing his reasons for not going back to Iraq after
serving there, Sec. Rumsfeld's statement, and/or if the reader
wishes to help (with even a simple note of support), sites,
links, and an e-mail address are provided below.
One should note the discrepancies for violations (note 45 days
for a Captain selling body armor on E-Bay vs. 15 months for Sgt.
Benderman, etc.) and the conditions of the prisons.
The first e-mail was in response to a query as to the status of
some submitted questions for Sgt. Benderman and when the answers
could be anticipated. The second e-mail was in response to a
query as to the first e-mail being published. Subsequent e-mails
clarified the second as an affirmative response.
________________
Monica Benderman's e-mail on status of Kevin Benderman's
responses to submitted questions:
To give you some background into the last 2 weeks - because I
don't remember if I have already -
Kevin still has not been in contact with any attorneys. He
requested contact with the Trial Defense Services here at Ft.
Stewart, as they are still responsible for his post trial
procedures, but the prison said that he could not contact them,
that he would have to wait for someone from their office to
contact Kevin. He has been at Ft. Lewis for 2 months, now, and
still nothing, and put the initial request in during the first
week he was there.
I was to have received official info from Ft. Lewis during his
first week there as well. We waited and waited.. I finally
complained about that through Amnesty, and appeals were sent to
the installation from Sept. 9 - 12th. Interestingly enough - I
received a letter 2 days ago, from the Lt. Col. in charge of the
correct. facility. The letter was postdated to Aug. 29th, one
month after Kevin arrived there, and it said that the letter was
to notify me that Kevin was had "safely arrived at Ft. Lewis."
Stupid people, they postmarked the letter Sept. 15th, so
clearly, the only reason they even sent it was because of the
Amnesty appeals. Many of the inmates were amazed to hear that I
had gotten a letter. Some of them have been there for 10 months
or more, and still their families have received no official
notification.
We also had to use Amnesty to appeal for Kevin's right to a
civilian chaplain. The warden at the facility called Kevin into
his office and told Kevin that he felt that I was pushing for a
civilian chaplain, but that he wanted to see if Kevin really
wanted one. He told Kevin that he would prefer that Kevin use
the prison chaplain. Kevin said he would not. He has been trying
since he first got there, to get the prison chaplain to address
his concerns over his first CO application and the manner in
which it was handled. The prison chaplain told him that he would
not help because he didn't agree with Kevin's beliefs -- he said
that he believed in war.
The prison is an all male facility, but they use female guards.
This is a great concern to the inmates. The block guard desk is
positioned right in front of the showers. There are no
partitions, no shower curtains.. and the toilets are there in
the open as well. The female guards watch the inmates taking
showers. Big problem, and against Army regs.
There is no heat at the facility. There are only 2 crisis
counselors for 225 inmates. There are exposed water and sewer
pipes, and the raw sewage leaks from the pipes onto the hallway
floors in the living areas of the inmates.
The DOD regs. require 80 sq. ft of living space per inmate, the
inmates at Ft. Lewis are given 40 sq. ft.
The DOD regs require 1 shower for every 8 inmates. In Kevin's
unit, there are 2 showers for 20 inmates. There is 1 working
sink there for 20 inmates, and 2 working toilets.
There is supposed to be rehabilitation classes. Kevin, of all
people, is required to take a class in "The Impact of Crimes on
Victims." AMAZING!!!! There are no rehab classes.. the
justification is that the war is expensive and they cannot
afford to offer them.
Kevin is eligible for parole on Jan. 27th, but first the
Convening Authority here must approve his conviction and the
sentence. He has not done this to this date. In order to have a
parole board hearing, Kevin must have a confirmed place to stay,
comfirmed employment, no counseling statements, and I am
soliciting letters of reference from as many people as possible,
to be mailed to the parole office at Ft. Lewis by the middle of
November, with a copy to me as well, so that the prison cannot
say that they did not receive them.
There is so much more -- this is just the beginning.
But - we feel that it is very important that this information
find its way to the public from as many directions as possible.
Also -- there was a Cpt. here at Ft. Stewart, in Kevin's unit,
Cpt. Schenk, S-1, 2-7th infantry. This Cpt. received 45 days
confinement for selling Body Armor on EBAY.. each piece was
valued at $2000.00. This man was selling it for $4,000 a piece.
There's more... much more.
________________
Monica Benderman's e-mail responding to request for
permission to use her e-mail directly:
Would you like to add that the female guards at Ft. Lewis were
operating a prostitution ring? They, and a couple of the male
guards, at least one of which was discharged for this, arranged
for a separate personal bank account, and gave the number to
inquiring inmates. These inmates would then transfer funds from
their commissary account to the personal bank account. Once the
funds transferred.. the final transaction was arranged.
Would you also like to mention that not all inmates are lucky
enough to have someone to leave their personal property with?
Some have to leave it in the property room. Many leave debit and
credit cards. One inmate was willing to give me his name. He was
incarcerated at Ft. Lewis all last month, and his debit card was
in the property room. Still, someone managed to use his debit
card to charge $270.00 at the Ft. Lewis PX. Several other
soldiers have reported amounts even greater being charged to
their card. They are not in the position to be able to do
anything about this.
_________________
To read more about Sgt. Benderman's plight, a brief outline
containing the e-mails, his military record (including awards
and medals), one of his articles (reflecting his position), and
Sec. Rumsfeld's statement are available at Ameripundit.com. More
information is available at Kevin Benderman
Timeline.
Notes of support can be sent to monica@bendermantimeline.com or
through the Kevin Benderman Timeline site above.