The final chapter of IVAW’s Matthis Chiroux

In regards to Matthis Chiroux, the deserter who had his administrative discharge hearing yesterday in St. Louis, it was the best we could hope for. Chiroux writes as if he scored some huge moral victory, but the board gave him the worst discharge they could award under the circumstances;

Today, I stood before the Army. I looked a board of officers in the eyes, and I told them I thought they were sending people off to participate in war crimes. And what did they say? Get out of here, Sergeant, and keep your damn G.I. Bill!!!

Indeed, folks! The Army awarded me a recommendation for a general discharge under honorable conditions from the Individual Ready Reserve for my refusal to deploy to Iraq last summer. This landmark decision means not only am I a free man, I’m free to continue school this fall with the “new” G.I. Bill that I earned while on active duty.

Though this discharge is identical to the one I refused in exchange for having this hearing, I can now rest easy knowing I never submitted, I never backed down and the Army has heard my story.

And not just my story, but the stories of those brave veterans at Winter Soldier and those who’ve participated in IVAW’s Warrior Writers’ program. Full texts of both books were submitted to the Army this morning, and I can only imagine the fun they’re having transcribing them into the record.

I testified, Marjorie Conn, the president of the National Lawyers’ Guild, testified, and my mother Patricia testified as to why my refusal to deploy was quite legitimate and not deserving of attack by the military.

Though Maj. Laws, the prosecution, did everything he could to keep my legal arguments from the ears of the board (he even prevented me from reading to them from my Constitution calling the document irrelevant), our voices were heard loud and clear by a board of gentlemen who’ve given me a new respect and hope for our nation and servicemembers world-wide.

The hearing, which lasted around four-and-a-half hours, cemented in my mind that not only is military resistance to our illegal occupations righteous, it is finding new breath amongst troops who are fed up with the status quo.

This all came after a provocative appearance this morning on the local Fox News Channel (http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-ap-soldier-on-trial-042109,0,1094348.story) in which I wore a patriotic symbol of distress (an upside-down flag) on my uniform.

During the hearing, my girlfriend Alexandra among others were present in the board room to offer moral support. Having them there made all the difference as I squared off with the military over human slaughter that we’ve all been forced to bow down to.

So what does this mean for the military? RESIST!!!! Now’s the time, ladies and gentleman. The flood-gates are open. Your leaders are listening, and more and more, they are agreeing. Resisters are moving away from being the exception, and slowly becoming the norm.

If I can refuse to go to Iraq, climb monuments, march into presidential debates, lobby congress, face the military, not go to jail and not even loose my G.I. Bill, we just don’t have any excuses anymore! Resistance is rising, and IVAW will stand firm underneath it. My story is now history, and I humbly pass the torch.

More to follow soon on my testimony at Winter Soldier and the juicy details of my hearing. Now, I’m going to sleep like I haven’t in a year!

Peace and Solidarity,

Matthis Chiroux

Yes, he wore an upside down flag to the Fox interview. I’m pretty sure his scraggly-ass turned it right side up for the board, though – especially since he doesn’t mention the flag in regards to the hearing.

This is the guy you folks at IVAW have attached yourself to. Now he claims he’s going to testify at Winter Soldier – about what? What has he seen? What has he done even related to actions in this war. He’s already demeaned the job YOU did, because he’s not done anything, he’s said “So what? You didn’t either”.

Chirouz is out there, as a former member of IVAW told me yesterday, selling the Warrior Writer books with your writings, your experiences, your attempts to deal with what your tours were like, to line his own pockets and buy more pot – and doesn’t have an inkling of the meaning of your words. He’s stealing your valor, your money, your life for his selfish reasons.

And it’s all because pretty boy Chiroux didn’t want to be uncomfortable. He didn’t “resist”, he bailed.

Chiroux thinks his GI Bill benefits are a foregone conclusion, but that’s not exactly true. I talked to LTC Quon yesterday, the Personnel Command PAO in St Louis, and she told me that some personnel think because the discharge is described as general under honorable conditions, it is as good as or the same as an honorable discharge. However, a general discharge may preclude participation in the GI Bill, service on veteran’s commissions, and other programs where a fully-honorable discharge is required. It’s up to the DVA whether they’re going to curtail his benefits or not. But I’m pretty sure that to preclude another monkey parade like this one, the Shinseki DVA will continue his benefits.

Here are some of the past posts on Chiroux;

Chiroux’ military records. Chiroux real personality by someone who knows him. Chiroux, the blow hard, tries to defend himself and pulls everyone down into the mud with him.

Chiroux talks like this is only the beginning, but, folks, as soon as he’s tapped the money and the good will from IVAW, he’ll be gone, gone, gone. He got his free education and that’s all he wanted. Unless you folks keep pouring money over him, he’ll leave faster than a Spanish hooker on payday night (if you’ve ever been in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas you’d understand that one).

One former IVAW member emailed me yesterday;

think about it he was a combat corespondent, he could have had the world as his oyster and done real reporting from the front and spin it as he could… but he would rather balk at the thought of getting stitched by a AK and coming home in a coffin.. my thought is he could have been a ‘private joker’ if you know what i mean. but he choose to stay home. and in that his cred is shot for me at least.

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