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
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 veteran himself, was seething with anger Thursday as he spoke about the death of Army Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson.
Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin, 26, are said to have been shot and killed by another U.S. soldier on Sunday at a base south of Baghdad.
Darryl and his wife, Maxine (Dawson’s stepmother), say the military has told them nothing about the incident: no details on his death, no information at all.
His voice shakes as he says he believes that the military has let him down.
“I’m very disappointed — very,” he said. “If I would get a straight answer, if they would actually tell me what’s going on, I would have something to work on; but right now, I have nothing to work on. Everything I’m getting, I’m getting from the media.”
As with the case of PFC LaVena Johnson, the initial military response has been grudging, fragmented, and contradictory:
CNN phoned an Army base in Fort Stewart, Georgia, to ask for more details on the incident. CNN was then e-mailed another press release — this one written by Gen. Tony Cucolo, the commanding general of the Third Infantry Division — that a press officer said had been drafted on Wednesday.
That release also had not been e-mailed to reporters, as is customary.
“We do know one soldier, a fellow noncommissioned officer, allegedly opened fire and mortally wounded his squad leader and fellow team leader,” reads the statement.
A spokesman at Fort Stewart said, “A soldier has been taken into custody. The incident is under investigation, and that is all I can say.”
The spokesman would not even confirm information in his commanding general’s press statement.
It remains to be seen whether the front-page media attention given to Sgt. Dawson’s death by CNN will result in a more forthcoming response from Army investigators. We hope that CNN will broaden the scope of its attention to include LaVena Johnson, and other soldiers whose deaths in service remain shadowed.
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 by military authorities, are coming to light. In May of 2007, this website noted an article by Diane Farsetta, senior researcher for the Center for Media and Democracy, titled
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. Slated to appear before the subcommittee is Dr. Kaye Whitley, chief of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office of the Department of Defense. Whitley had been subpoenaed to appear for the first hearing, but had been prevented from appearing by Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Michael Dominguez. The panel’s reaction to that earlier interference by Dominguez:
Full committee Chairman Henry Waxman called the DoD
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 LaVena site employs.
Visitors are invited to stop by the forum, look over the posting guidelines, and begin the discussion!