Behind the IVAW Music; Matthis Chiroux

Last night Tankerbabe sent me this link to a blog post about a protest in New York City against “the war” and she pointed out that Matthis Chiroux was there. This morning I find a link from LT Nixon to a New York Times article about the same protest – it also mentions Chiroux.

Our interest in him goes back to the day that he announced his intention to disregard the letter he supposedly received from the Army ordering him to report for duty from his Individual Ready Reserve commitment. We’ve also checked out his somewhat spotty record and his false claim that he is an “Afghanistan veteran”.

But there is someone who wants to let everyone know the truth about Matthis Chiroux This person has been in email contact with me intermittently over the last few weeks. Whoever it is claims that they’ve known Chiroux for the last few years since he was stationed in Germany.

To begin with, Chiroux was not in any way “targeted” by the military to join. Prior to his enlistment, he had had several run-ins with the law, primarily due to truancy and drug use. Chiroux’s father, whom I feel very sorry for as he is a respectable man, urged his son to join the Army as a means of obtaining discipline and staying out of jail.

As you can see by his military records, Chiroux is by no means a war hero. His tour of duty extended to the far reaches of Tokyo, Japan and Heidelberg, Germany. This alongside a week in a non-combat area of Afghanistan.

I do not have enough information about his activity in Tokyo. However, I do know that his “duty” in Heidelberg consisted of insubordination to his superiors and smoking pot on a daily basis. As a fellow servicemember, I have to admit his work ethic was terrible. How he was promoted to sergeant is even further beyond me. And, finally, the fact that he boasts about his honorable military service is simply disgusting.

After Chiroux was dismissed from active duty, he took residency in Brooklyn, NY following the help of a female friend he had been acquainted with during Army training. I feel especially bad for both this woman, who was his neighbor and had to leave her own apartment on account of his behavior, as well as another young man he knew from Heidelberg, who became his roommate and who subsequently also moved out of Chiroux’s apartment following menacing threats. I have no doubt these two individuals would have more than enough information to put Chiroux in his place. However, I am unsure of their willingness to speak out against him.

Chiroux’s true character emerged after his orders to deploy. Prior to this moment, he had no inclination to rant against his “illegal war.” After all, it is easy to take from the government as long as you’re not serving it. Upon his realization that time was limited, Chiroux took a trip back to Germany to visit an ex-girlfriend. This is were the story gets interesting.. He was heard stating that he would run away to either Europe, essentially Spain, or to Canada as a means of avoiding the war. This was stated by him in tears of fear, not of any sense of illegality of mission at hand.

Following the advice of this ex-girlfriend, whom he would later use in the same way he uses many others, Chiroux decided to “speak out” against the war. He wound up finding the IVAW and obtaining their services. Since then, he has been receiving generous donations from people who believe in him, without knowing who he actually is. The last that I’ve heard, Chiroux spent almost his entire endowment on pot and has virtually nothing left to pay the lawyer working on his case. His behavior has become increasingly aggressive toward the people whom he had dubbed his friends. Furthermore, his greatest means of achieving financial aid is by his manipulation of women. He is nothing more than a common thug.

Yeah, I’ve noticed that the only people who defend Chiroux are women. Of course, most of what this person writes is just what we’ve suspected all along. There always seems to be a point at which these less disingenuous IVAW members suddenly become anti-war. For Kokesh it was when he got turned down for request to go back to Iraq because of he was busted for smuggling an Iraqi pistol from the first tour. For Millard, it was when he discovered that the Army wasn’t going to pension him off for his high school “back injury”. And for Chiroux, it was when his life was about to get uncomfortable after leaving Arkansas and living in Japan, Germany and New York City.

We suspected his attempts to get donations was a scam when we first saw his website. And it’s not like all of this stuff hasn’t been said before by other people. Many of the IVAW people that I’ve had the opportunity to communicate with are similarly disillusioned with Matthis Chiroux the crybaby drama queen liar.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Phony soldiers, Usual Suspects