IVAW Ft. Hood chapter Members Mysteriously Receive Simultaneous Honorable Discharges

“I told them [commanding officers] I would go to jail before I would go back to Iraq,” said Ronn Cantu, former Staff Sergeant and president of the IVAW Ft. Hood chapter, who had already served two tours in Iraq. While such a statement would normally be grounds for court martial, instead Ronn was given an honorable discharge. Four other chapter members, all who wanted out of the Army, also received discharges within weeks of each other. While it served to dismantle the Ft. Hood chapter, it also released the members from the difficult choices confronting them as GI resisters. Ronn is now active in the Austin, TX chapter which considers Ft. Hood its satellite chapter and reaches out to the remaining active duty members there. An important lesson can be drawn from this experience: IVAW remains a palpable threat to the active duty military. Stay tuned for the Austin, TX Winter Soldier Hearings, coming up on February 28.

-thanks to Iraq Veterans Against the War