Under The Hood to protest deployment. [ CJP ]

I sit down to write this with a lot of disappointment and sadness. I was a strong advocate of Under The Hood Café when I came back from my second deployment under the Stop-Loss policy. I made a film for them advocating their cause and why you should donate. The film, titled The Resistors (Yeah, I know how I spelled it.), was in my opinion one of my best films. After moving away and a long list of things happening there that I disagree with, I decided to take the film down. One of which was the infiltration from the International Socialist Organization (ISO). While I am not upset if a person chooses something like Socialism, I do get very angry when their agenda is to not work in conjunction with, but rather take control of an organization or establishment. Clearly, this has happened there. Many warned Cindy Thomas of this. A manger of sorts who runs the day-to-day duties of Under The Hood. But those warnings where dismissed over time and you have what Under The Hood has become today.

This is why the protest this coming Friday outside the East Gate of Ft. Hood to call attention to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s (3rd ACR) deployment is not much of a shocker. Not a shocker, but grossly disrespectful. There will be your usually suspects there: ISO members who never served advocating things like G.I. Resistance and other action that could harm a Soldier’s future without taking any real risk themselves. Bobby Al Hypocrite Whittenberg who claims to be a “radical feminist” but pals around with Matthis the rapist. Speaking of the rapist, it’s my understanding he’ll be there too representing Iraq Veterans Against The War in grand style as a board member and as someone who lies about his service. But this action burns me up to no end because of there will be actual deployed Veterans protesting as well as Cindy Thomas. When Cindy and me where friends she took the time to come to my second deployment when I was under Stop-Loss. She has also seen the Father of her children deployed twice. The second time, when he damn well shouldn’t have been because of medical issues that where 100% honest and documented. So when they say this is to bring attention to the fact that the Army does in fact deploy Soldiers who shouldn’t be going I can’t figure out how she doesn’t see this as disrespectful. She has certainly changed. No matter your stance on the war, that’s a rough day for everyone. I remember both times it was rough on my family and others. I’m against the war in Iraq still, but I would never think about protesting on that day. How is this supposed to help the Soldiers or their families? If a Soldier is deploying when they shouldn’t be for medical reasons, which I’ve witnessed first hand, or under the Stop-Loss policy, I can’t see how holding signs and chanting “They’re our brothers! They’re our sisters! We support war resisters!” is going to do much but piss people off. It’s a shallow action done by willfully indoctrinated people who do not truly care for the lives of Soldiers of their families, but instead are more concerned with pushing their point of view on others regardless of the impact it will have.

We’ve already seen Under The Hoods track record for helping Soldiers. But I must temper my criticisms with the new information I get so I will say that two independent sources, neither ISO members, have told me that lawyer James Branum has changed his tactics and is working on becoming better at the cases he takes on and how he handles them. If someone corrects himself or herself, I am obligated to be fair and acknowledge it. But the fact remains that Under The Hood is more focused with the “movement” and G.I. Resistance then helping Soldiers regardless of their stance on the war. If I were wrong they would have proven this already. There is no shortage of videos and posting speaking about the resistance part, but none on Soldiers they’ve just helped and got a positive outcome for. Once again, to be fair, Under The Hood wasn’t always this way. In the beginning they did help a Soldier I once new through some tough times.

However this new action of protesting this deployment is as shallow as any of their other useless marches only this time so much more disrespectful given the cavalier disregard for the thoughts and feelings of Soldiers and their Families on one of the hardest days of Army life.

Casey J Porter

Tags: anti-war crowd, Bobby Whitenberg, Code Pink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, ISO, Matthis, Under The Hood, VFP

Category: Politics