First officer to be court-martialed for refusing to deploy to Iraq, Lt. Ehrn Watada. If you’re going up to Washington this week stop by Ft. Lewis and show a little solidarity.
You have no idea what kind of guts it takes to do what he has done. I do. I was in his shoes many years ago. Facing another deployment to Vietnam I said no. Actually I said: I will obey orders but I will give none. My superiors sluiced me out the back door instead of standing me up to take the heat and set example. Watada is being asked much more of. He doesn’t need a lot of back slapping or tears of homage, just recognition that he has stood up like we ask our young soldiers to do, and fought for something vitally important to all of us — the very heart of our democracy. We will not obey unlawful orders. We, proudly, will not obey.