VOICE of SOLDIERS

August 30, 2005

WDUN’s Martha Zoller spent the weekend in Crawford, TX as part of the “You Don’t Speak for Me, Cindy” protest caravan. Among the people she met was the family of a fallen Marine, Lt. J.T. Wroblewski, known to his comrades as “Lt. Ski.” Martha tells his story in the latest installment of her Voices of Soldiers column: http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/hall/newfullstory.asp?ID=95552

By Martha Zoller

August 20, 2005

Backlash Against Cindy Sheehan Grows

Radio Talk Show Hosts Joining the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" Caravan - Heading to Crawford, Texas on Sat. August 27th (SACRAMENTO) - Cindy Sheehan has announced she plans to return "very soon" to her anti-war vigil in Crawford, Texas. When, and if she does, she'll find she has some company.

The national organization that supports our troops and the war against terrorism, Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org ), is leading the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" tour, and the effort is growing by the hour.

Military families and talk radio hosts are bringing Americans along caravans - with all roads leading to Crawford, Texas for a giant "We Support Our Troops & Their Mission" rally in Crawford on Saturday, August 27, 2005. Leading the delegation is Deborah Johns of Northern California Marine Moms. Deborah's son, William, has served 2 tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The main caravan leaves from San Francisco, California on Monday morning (August 21st). Supporters will be joining the caravan along the way and cheering it on at stops. The caravan heads throughout California (stopping in Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Los Angeles and San Diego) traveling through Arizona (stopping in Phoenix) and New Mexico (stopping in Albuquerque). Once in Texas the caravan will pick up even more supporters at stops at Amarillo, Fort Worth, Dallas and Waco before arriving in Crawford.

Radio Hosts Joining the Caravan Talk radio hosts are helping to promote this event - with many joining the caravan along the way. The caravan kicks off in San Francisco where Melanie Morgan of KSFO 560 AM will lead her listeners along the first leg of the caravan. Morgan will also travel to Dallas, Texas on Friday to join the final two legs of the caravan into Crawford. "For the past few weeks this nation has heard from those voices in America who advocate surrender in the war against terrorism.

Now, it's time to hear from the other side of this debate.

We are going to rally Americans together to show the terrorists overseas that our nation has not lost its resolve nor its nerve to prevail in the fight against their violent, extremist agenda," said Melanie Morgan who serves as Chairman of Move America Forward. When the caravan arrives in Sacramento, California it will stop off at the studios of KFBK 1530 AM - where KFBK's Mark Williams will interview the caravan attendees as he fills in for the "Tom Sullivan Show."

Williams will get live reports on the caravan each day before he flies to Dallas, Texas on Friday to join the final two legs of the caravan into Crawford. "Since our region of northern California is the place Cindy Sheehan calls home, we owe it to the nation to present another voice from this area. That's why Deborah Johns, the Marine mother, and I are heading to Crawford, Texas. We have a message for the President and the American people:

Now is not the time to pull our support from the heroic mission our sons and daughters are serving in Iraq," said Williams. Talk show host Martha Zoller of WDUN 550 AM Atlanta/Gainesville is also heading to Dallas to join the final two legs of the caravan and she's invited her listeners to come down for the caravan and pro-troop rally in Crawford on August 27th - to stand by her side.

"I am going on the "you don't speak for me, Cindy" tour because of the American heroes who have lost their lives in the Global War on Terror. Casey Sheehan is an American hero and he had to live with the knowledge that his mother didn't understand what he was doing...he had to die with that knowledge, too.

The media has elevated Cindy Sheehan as the voice of those families who have lost loved ones, but Cindy Sheehan speaks for a very small minority. We're going to tell the rest of the story now," said Zoller.

Also traveling from the Atlanta area is Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson (Ret. - U.S. Air Force) who broadcasts "The Buzz Cut" radio show on the RighTalk Radio Network. Patterson shares something in common with the other talk show hosts heading to Crawford, Texas - he just returned from Iraq as part of the 10-day "Voices of Soldiers" tour.

"Our troops serving in Iraq made it very clear that they believe in the mission they are serving in. We must stand by them now, for if we don't we only will embolden the terrorists who are doing everything they can to weaken America's resolve. If we turn our backs on the mission in Iraq now, then our sons and daughters who have been killed in this conflict will have died in vain," said Patterson.

Additionally, caravans to Crawford to join the August 27th rally are being planned from Louisiana, Florida, Connecticut and other areas throughout the nation. Many caravans are being organized in conjunction with the supporters of Free Republic at their website, www.FreeRepublic.com

Starting Wednesday this week, Move America Forward will begin airing a 60-second television commercial promoting the "Support Our Troops & Their Mission" rally in Crawford, Texas. The ad is expected to air nationwide on cable news networks. You can view the ad online at the Move America Forward website - www.MoveAmericaForward.org Move America Forward will provide continuous updates on the caravan and rally at its website - www.MoveAmericaForward.org

Before I left for Iraq in July, Gordon Sawyer loaned me a book by Ernie Pyle. Pyle was the premier war correspondent of World War II and he told the stories of soldiers.

On the plane between Dulles and Frankfurt, Germany, I read his book, "This is Your War." The first thing I noticed is that he took the time to note each serviceman's name and where he lived in the United States, right down to the street he lived on if he had it. It occurred to me in reading this book that no one was telling the stories of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coasties of this war. These are not political stories, they are the stories of the day to day lives of men and women who have made it their life's work to defend this country and complete this mission.

Since I got home, this thought has continued and been punctuated by the coverage of 11 soldiers from my home state National Guard in Georgia and 21 marines from the Ohio area giving the ultimate sacrifice for this effort in the Global War on Terror. I want to remember the servicemen I have met and tell some of their stories to you.

So each week, at least once a week, I will tell the story of a member of our armed services and what they are accomplishing.

I will start with 1st Sgt. Eugene Dufrene of Gulfport, Mississippi. I met DuFrene on a hot a dusty afternoon at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. I missed my helicopter to the Green Zone/International Zone and was disappointed about that. I decided to go to the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) building to see who was there.

There was a group of soldiers that just came in from a 2 week mission in towns surrounding Baghdad. Camp Liberty was The Plaza Hotel in New York City to these dusty and tired men. After telling them who I was and why I was there, they asked me to sit down and talk with them for a minute. 1st Sgt. Dufrene was nominated to be the spokesperson for the group. I talked with him for a few minutes with the tape rolling to use at another time for an interview and there didn’t seem to be much there beyond the niceties of casual conversation.

When I turned the microphone off, then the discussion got interesting. I asked him if he would let me record again as he was talking about their mission and how they were training Iraqi security forces in the more remote areas around Baghdad. He explained how his unit had put together training for units like his to use around Iraq. He believed that several other units had adopted the method they were using. Most of these guys were police and firefighters in their civilian lives, so law enforcement training was something that they knew something about.

You could see the light in his eyes as he talked about his brothers in that unit as well as his active duty brothers. Most of the guys in this unit had been with the Mississippi National Guard out of Gulfport, Mississippi for 10 years or more. There was one in their unit that had only been in 2 1/2 years and had spent half his time in Iraq. He was the kid of the group. Eugene talked about what they were trying to accomplish and how they had worked through the obstacles of getting over here, making sure they had what they needed and making sure that they got the job done.

He made me proud while I was listening to him because you heard the voice of a soldier who had ups and downs in his service but knew through his own ingenuity and the partnership of his brothers in arms to work through the system and find the solutions to the problems they are faced with every day. He also talked about the support they get from home. From many of the Guardsmen from other parts of the country we heard the same thing.

In fact, most of the National Guard members I talked to said that they have an easier time getting support form home because most of them had been in the Guard for over 10 years, so their families knew each other. In addition, most of these guys have work contacts through their own employment or the employment of their spouses as a resource to pull from.

Dufrene said that whenever he needed something, he called his wife, asked for it and he would have it. He commented that his active duty brothers were really the ones that needed support. Throughout my visits with Eugene and his men and other men and women in the camp, they all said they weren’t the ones that needed help.

They always pointed to some other group of service men and women that we needed to be sure to talk to because they were the ones that really needed support. Isn’t that just the way that heroes talk? 1st Sgt. Eugene Dufrene represents the rule of what I saw there. Men and women who put the mission first and who want people to know that they are proud of what they are doing. They want us to know that it is better in Iraq than when they got there and they want us to know that they want to finish the job. DuFrene knows that what he is doing will effect generations of Americans and their safety and he is proud of that.

I am proud to know Eugene Dufrene and I wish him Godspeed on his mission and a safe return home to his wife and two children in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Martha Zoller is a talk show host and political analyst. Her first book, Indivisible, is hitting book stores November, 2005.

Since writing this piece, I received an email from 1st Sgt. Dufrene which included the names of his team: SSG Jay Morgan SSG David Sanders SSG James Bonnett SGT Rob Young SGT Ashley Cato SGT James Banta SPC Robert Newton

All these great Americans are from C Company 1-155th Infantry. Godspeed to them all.

Home

Producer... Dan Hare
Email
Telephone 760 942 5988

Up-dated on August 30, 2005