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HÖCHST i.O., Germany – The Evangelical Association for the Pastoral Care of Conscientious Objectors (Evangelische Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Betreuung der Kriegsdienstverweigerer - EAK) recently recognized the Military Counseling Network as a 2008 recipient of the Friedrich Siegmund-Schulze Award for Nonviolent Action.

The €3,000 prize was awarded Sept. 24 at EAK’s assembly meeting at the Höchst Monastery in Höchst in Odenwald near Darmstadt.

National EAK chairman Walter Herrenbrück noted that, while the road to conscientious objector status in Germany is easily travelled, in other nations such recognition is more difficult.

“The promotion of the fundamental right of conscientious objection is still indispensable,” he said. “This freedom must be preserved.”

MCN was recognized based on its efforts to support and assist U.S. Military conscientious objectors obtain honorable discharges. The organization assists roughly 100 U.S. Military servicemembers annually in a wide area of fields, also including family and medical hardships.

Former MCN director Michael Sharp acknowledged some could find it unusual that a historic peace church such as the Mennonites would work so intimately with professional soldiers.

“Jesus taught and lived a revolutionary idea,” said MCN counselor Michael J. Sharp. “No one is so far away, that they are not here with us. No matter what, they remain our neighbor.

“... For Jesus it was irrelevant whether people were prostitutes, thieves, or Roman soldiers,” he continued. “They all could experience transformation.”

MCN is a project of the German Mennonite Peace Committee. Committee director James Jakob Fehr noted the significance of such recognition from outside the Mennonite community.

“The German Mennonite Peace Committee is very excited about this prize for MCN,” said Fehr. “MCN has a well-earned reputation for caring about and helping soldiers. We are proud to be associated with their work and extend our congratulations, as well.”

At the ceremony, EAK also recognized the Village of Friendship in Vietnam. Founded in 1998 by former United States soldier George Mizo, the village works to rehabilitate victims of the Vietnam War and pursues reconciliation, understanding, and social work projects with a focus on those handicapped by war.

The award – named for the 20^th Century Protestant German pastor, teacher and theologian who proved influential in ecumenical and social causes – has been given six times in the last 14 years, most recently to London-based War Resisters’ International in 2004 for its work assisting conscientious objectors around the world.

The Path of Most Resistance recently premiered at the Frontline Club in London as part of the establishment's Forgotten Season film series.

The film chronicles two U.S. military servicemembers who struggle to be discharged as conscientious objectors and the organizations (such as the Military Counseling Network) helping them.

A brief preview (featuring MCN counselor Tim Huber) can be seen at the following link, around the 55-second mark:

Forgotten Season

The June 2008 issue of Sound Off - featuring articles about Pfc. Robert Weiss and Sgt. Yovany "Geo" Rivero, a film review of "Battle for Haditha," and a final column from counselor Michael Sharp - is now available.

Sound Off - June 2008

VILSECK, Germany – U.S. Army conscientious objector Robert Weiss was sentenced to seven months confinement during a court martial May 13, 2008, at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany.

Weiss pled guilty to charges of desertion and missing movement, which reduced the court martial’s proceedings mostly to the sentencing phase.

In early December of 2007, Weiss learned his application to be classified a conscientious objector and receive an honorable discharge was denied. Weiss was assigned non-combatant duties while deployed to Forward Operating Base Prosperity in Iraq at the time, and learned of the development immediately before travelling to the United States on leave.

As his leave expired and his Dec. 22, 2007, return flight to Iraq drew near, his C.O. beliefs compelled him to miss the flight and avoid the combat patrol duties he would be assigned upon landing.

While Absent Without Leave, Weiss lived in the Goshen, Ind., area and spent time speaking to Mennonite church groups about his experiences. He eventually turned himself in to military authorities Feb. 11, 2008, in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

“I had no intention of boarding the flight, your honor,” he said to judge Peter Masters. “… I believe they would have transitioned me to a Stryker [combat vehicle] driver position.”

The charges of desertion and missing movement can carry a maximum punishment of death by firing squad or seven years in prison, however defense lawyers for Weiss were able to secure a special court martial rather than a general court martial. A special court martial can issue a maximum punishment of 12 months in prison and a Bad Conduct Discharge, whereas a general court martial has a much higher punishment ceiling, and the possibility of a more serious Dishonorable Discharge. Both convictions are felonies.

Defense lawyers for Weiss orchestrated a pre-trial agreement with prosecutors that included guilty pleas, no out-of-country witnesses, and no jury, relying instead solely on a judge.

Though this agreement carried a prison sentence of eight months, Judge Masters issued a seven-month sentence, to be served at the U.S. Military Detention Facility Europe at Coleman Barracks in Mannheim, Germany. The sentence also included a Bad Conduct Discharge, reduction to the lowest enlisted rank, and forfeiture of $898 per month for seven months.

With good behavior, Weiss’ lawyers estimate he will be released after six months.

In his closing remarks during the sentencing portion of the trial, civilian defense lawyer David Court presented an overview of what the U.S. Military Code of Justice seeks to accomplish through criminal punishment. Court concluded most aspects – like rehabilitation and protecting society – simply did not apply to someone guilty of essentially refusing to commit an act of violence against other human beings.

“The only tenant that is relevant is to maintain Good Order and Discipline,” he said. “Those three letters [G.O.D.] that’s where Robert J. Weiss sees his command. He believes the requirements of his spirituality overcome that of a soldier.

“… He will believe he is being punished because he broke the Army’s rules, but not because he broke higher laws,” Court said.

Though shackled as he left the building, Weiss managed to rotate a wrist, flashing one last peace sign before boarding a van for Mannheim. He had only two words to say.

“God bless.”

May 5

By Avram Goldstein

(Bloomberg) – The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government’s top psychiatric researcher said.

Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven’t provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Washington.

Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. About 1.6 million U.S. troops have fought in the two wars since October 2001, the report said. About 4,560 soldiers had died in the conflicts as of today, the Defense Department reported on its Web site.

Based on those figures and established suicide rates for similar patients who commonly develop substance abuse and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, “it’s quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths,” Insel said.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, is the failure to cope after a major shock, such as an auto accident, a rape or combat, Insel said. PTSD may remain dormant for months or years before it surfaces, and in about 10 percent of cases people never recover, he said.

Difficult to Predict

“We don’t yet know how to predict who is going to be the person to be most concerned about,” Insel said.

The Pentagon didn’t dispute Insel’s remark.

“The department takes the issue of suicide very seriously, and one suicide is too many,” said spokeswoman Cynthia Smith in an e-mail.

The department has expanded efforts to encourage soldiers and veterans not to feel stigmatized if they seek mental health treatment, Smith said.

Soldiers who’d been exposed to combat trauma were the most likely to suffer from depression or PTSD, the Rand report said. About 53 percent of soldiers with those conditions sought treatment during the past year. Half of those who got care were judged by Rand researchers to have received inadequate treatment.

Failure to adequately treat the mental and neurological problems of returning soldiers can cause a chain of negative events in the lives of affected veterans, the researchers said. About 300,000 soldiers suffer from depression or PTSD, the report said.

Treatment Options

Researchers aren’t sure whether it's appropriate to treat such patients with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a class of medications that include Prozac, and other anti-depressants, Insel said. His institute is examining that question and novel treatments for PTSD, including using so-called virtual reality technology.

The psychiatric association reported last week that a survey of 191 military members and their spouses found 32 percent said their duty hurt their mental health, and six in 10 believed seeking treatment would damage their careers.

More than 15,000 psychiatrists are attending the professional group’s meeting.

Nov. 13, 2007

(CBS) They are the casualties of wars you don’t often hear about - soldiers who die of self-inflicted wounds. Little is known about the true scope of suicides among those who have served in the military.

But a five-month CBS News investigation discovered data that shows a startling rate of suicide, what some call a hidden epidemic, Chief Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reports exclusively.

“I just felt like this silent scream inside of me,” said Jessica Harrell, the sister of a soldier who took his own life.

“I opened up the door and there he was,” recalled Mike Bowman, the father of an Army reservist.

“I saw the hose double looped around his neck,” said Kevin Lucey, another military father.

“He was gone,” said Mia Sagahon, whose soldier boyfriend committed suicide.

Keteyian spoke with the families of five former soldiers who each served in Iraq - only to die battling an enemy they could not conquer. Their loved ones are now speaking out in their names.

They survived the hell that’s Iraq and then they come home only to lose their life.

Twenty-three-year-old Marine Reservist Jeff Lucey hanged himself with a garden hose in the cellar of this parents’ home - where his father, Kevin, found him.

“There’s a crisis going on and people are just turning the other way,” Kevin Lucey said.

Kim and Mike Bowman’s son Tim was an Army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road.

“His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn’t there anymore,” Kim Bowman said.

Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim shot himself. He was 23.

Diana Henderson’s son, Derek, served three tours of duty in Iraq. He died jumping off a bridge at 27.

“Going to that morgue and seeing my baby ... my life will never be the same,” she said.

Beyond the individual loss, it turns out little information exists about how widespread suicides are among these who have served in the military. There have been some studies, but no one has ever counted the numbers nationwide.

“Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,” Bowman said.

Why do the families think that is?

“Because they don’t want the true numbers of casualties to really be known,” Lucey said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.

“If you’re just looking at the overall number of veterans themselves who’ve committed suicide, we have not been able to get the numbers,” Murray said. CBS News’ investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.

Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers.

CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.

“There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem,” he said.

Why hasn’t the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?

“That research is ongoing,” he said.

So CBS News did an investigation - asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.

And what it revealed was stunning.

In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.

Dr. Steve Rathbun is the acting head of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department at the University of Georgia. CBS News asked him to run a detailed analysis of the raw numbers that we obtained from state authorities for 2004 and 2005.

It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)

One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)

“Wow! Those are devastating," said Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst who is now an advocate for veterans rights from the group Veterans For Common Sense. “Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems,” he said.

“We are determined to decrease veteran suicides,” Dr. Katz said.

“One hundred and twenty a week. Is that a problem?” Keteyian asked.

“You bet it’s a problem,” he said.

Is it an epidemic?

“Suicide in America is an epidemic, and that includes veterans,” Katz said.

Sen. Murray said the numbers CBS News uncovered are significant: “These statistics tell me we’ve really failed people that served our country.”

Do these numbers serve as a wake-up call for this country?

“If these numbers don't wake up this country, nothing will,” she said. “We each have a responsibility to the men and women who serve us aren’t lost when they come home.”

An update: The chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, responded to the CBS News story Tuesday.

“The report that the rate of suicide among veterans is double that of the general population is deeply troubling and simply unacceptable. I am especially concerned that so many young veterans appear to be taking their own lives. For too many veterans, returning home from battle does not bring an end to conflict. There is no question that action is needed.”

How the study was conducted

The Military Counseling Network was highlighted in the Mennonite Central Committee Peace Office 2008 first quarter newsletter.

MCC Peace Office Newsletter

The Military Counseling Network recently concluded its 2008 Speaking Tour (Feb. 18 to April 8). Over the course of 51 days, MCN counselors Michael Sharp and Tim Huber made 77 presentations and spoke to 6,294 people.

Sharp and Huber began in Washington, D.C., working their way west across the United States, making stops in Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico and California. They presented in four high schools, seven colleges and universities, two seminaries, and 16 churches. By plane, bus, train, and automobile, the two covered 15,929 miles (25,634 kilometers).