A Soldier Speaks: Kelly Dougherty

By Celina R. De Leon, AlterNet. Posted August 24, 2005.

Editor's Note: As of August 23, 2005, 1872 American troops and between 22,500 and 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the war in Iraq. Domestically, the bill for the war has reached $204.6 billion.

This is the final in a four-part series profiling some of the tens of thousands of Iraq war veterans who have come home bearing the scars of battle -- emotional and physical wounds that may never heal.

Kelly Dougherty, 27, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, served with the National Guard in Kuwait in February 2003 and then served in Iraq from April 2003 to February 2004. She was stationed in southern Iraq, near the city of Nazaria.

Kelly joined the National Guard in 1996 as a medic when she was 17 to help pay for college. Now she is co-founder of a national coalition of American veterans who oppose the war, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). She speaks out across the country with IVAW about her experiences as part of the military police in Iraq and why she opposes the war and what she calls "the occupation of Iraq." IVAW is also working with senators and members of the House to draft the "Bring Them Home Now" Resolution, which calls for the immediate withdrawal of occupying forces in Iraq.

She spoke to AlterNet about the war and her work with IVAW.

What experiences or perspective made you want to co-found Iraq Veterans Against the War?

I think it was because when I was in Iraq, I thought I needed to get more involved when I got home because you really recognize how something like this affects you when you're sent halfway across the world for a year. So when I got home, it was February of 2004, and I didn't get that involved until July -- when I went to a Veterans for Peace Conference and I met a group of other Iraq War veterans who had kind of been working on the idea. I thought it could be truly useful.

What kind of work does IVAW do?

We do a lot of public speaking about our experiences in the war and in the military and why we're opposed to the war. We have also collaborated with some senators and congresspeople to draft the "Bring Them Home Now" Resolution, and other work. In the political sphere, we're trying to get more politicians engaged in trying to do something to end the occupation. And not only that -- but to take care of the veterans that come home and try to make people realize that many people aren't being taken care of when they get home.

How are veterans not being taken care of?

There is a huge lack of funding for, first of all, the VA [Veterans Affairs] system. The VA, before the war in Iraq, was already having a hard time taking care of veterans of past wars and past military service. And now they're taking care of thousands of people from the Iraq war and Afghanistan. We don't have the resources to take care of them so we have people who have been waiting for a year or more to get their back-up claims for their physical injuries.

And the military itself really discourages people from seeking medical help. I know some people who got sent home because of injuries in Iraq -- physical injuries and mental trauma -- and were treated so poorly and intimidated and harassed by the military so much that now most of their problems are continually exacerbated.

What were your feelings about the reasons for going to war with Iraq? Did they change once you were there?

Before I even found out I was going to Iraq, I was completely against the idea of going to war with Iraq and I couldn't believe the reasons that were being given -- the weapons of mass destruction and the league of terrorists and all of that. When I first got to Iraq, one of the things that I was really struck by was the poverty there -- and how poor the population was and how little they had, and how much had been destroyed by this war and previous wars.

And when I left, things hadn't much changed for them -- things actually got worse. Lots of people still didn't have any water. ... We weren't helping them at all. And to add, the continual degradation of the area -- not only by the insurgents -- but you don't hear every day how the Iraqi people are suffering at the hands of the U.S. military, and how so many people are arrested or detained, shot and killed, or whatever -- that are completely innocent, or that are trying to go about their daily business. So I think all that really solidified my views that the war was wrong, and first-hand how violence just creates more violence. We're really not accomplishing anything positive there.

Did you speak out against the war while you were in Iraq?

Everyone in my unit, or who knew me well, knew that I opposed what we were doing there. But as far as expressing my views, I would mostly just speak with people who had the same view that I did. When you're already in a stressful situation, when you're literally in a war zone, you don't want to have to be at war with people who you're serving with too.

When did you enlist and why?

I joined [the National Guard] in 1996. I was 17 and a senior in high school. I was looking at my options for college and I really didn't know how I was going to pay for my education. My stepfather had a son who was in the National Guard and encouraged me to go and speak to the recruiter. I was pretty reluctant at first, but then I went and, I don't know, it seemed like a pretty good deal at the time.

Celina R. De Leon is a social justice journalist based in Brooklyn, NY.

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