Gregg Reese, contributor to the Los Angeles-based Our Weekly, has written on the case of PFC LaVena Johnson. The article provides an informative snapshot of the background behind LaVena’s death, autopsy findings and official statements, accounts of Congressional efforts that have thus far fallen short of results, and a broader look at the issue of
Philip Barron
Another troubling story of a “non-hostile” military death in Iraq, another military family desperate for answers from an uncommunicative Army. CNN reports on the death of Army Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson: Darryl Mathis waits in his Pensacola, Florida, home for the body of his 24-year-old son to return home from Iraq. Mathis, a military [...]
Dilemas, a new Spanish-language online publication by journalism students in Santiago, Chile, recently published a story on the LaVena Johnson matter written by its US correspondent, Fernando A. Torres. En espa
The bleak refusal of Army investigators in response to the Johnsons’ call for a renewed investigation of LaVena’s death has been well-noted here and elsewhere on the Web. LaVena’s case is just one of many, however; stories of other soldiers whose deaths are shrouded in secrecy, and whose loved ones still await investigation and explanation [...]
A second hearing on sexual assault in the military is being held today by the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, a branch of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The hearing will be held in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building and was to begin at 10:00 am Eastern. [...]
A message board has been added to the PFC LaVena Johnson website. The new forum, running on phpBB which will be familiar to many, provides space for discussion and community beyond the scope of website commenting. The style of the forum is provided by Brian Gardner, author of the Revolution theme for WordPress which the [...]