Small Towns, Big Sacrifices

The Nation: Rural America Suffers Disproportionately In Iraq

(The Nation)  This column was written by Jason Mark.

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The drumbeat-steady reports of US casualties in Iraq carry names that are strange to most of us, sites of combat like Taji and Balad. The hometowns of the fallen soldiers and marines are often nearly as unfamiliar, spots like Shawnee, Oklahoma; Riverton, Kansas; and Mansfield, Washington — the kinds of towns that exist at the far edge of most Americans' attention.

Rural America may be at the outskirts of our national life, but it has become ground zero in terms of troop casualties. The war is taking a disproportionate toll on our rural communities. According to a study by the Carsey Institute, rural areas have suffered 27 percent of casualties but hold only 19 percent of the population. The survey also concluded that the death rate for rural soldiers, as a percentage of their hometown population, is 60 percent higher than for soldiers from cities and suburbs.

Becky Lourey, whose son Matt died when his helicopter was shot down over Buhriz, says she is not surprised that so many casualties come from small towns. Matt Lourey grew up outside Kerrick, Minnesota (pop. 71), where his family managed an alfalfa and beef-cattle farm. His mother says that in the tight-knit towns of the area, Matt and many young people like him feel an urge to serve their community but have few opportunities outside the military. "I do know that rural kids grow up wanting to make a difference," Lourey says, pointing out that three other young men from the area have also died in Iraq. "I think there's a real crisis in this country the way college costs have risen. If you don't have a lot of money, the Army is a way to go to college."

The lack of opportunities in small towns and the allure of military service is a reminder that, two and a half decades after the "farm crisis" hit the headlines, rural areas continue to struggle economically. People living in rural communities are nearly 30 percent more likely than urbanites to live in poverty.

To focus attention on the cost rural communities are paying for the war, a new organization, Farms Not Arms, is enlisting farmers in the effort to end it. The founders hope that by encouraging farmers to speak out, they can bridge the divide between the antiwar coasts and the more prowar interior. "I think there's a lot of unhappiness about this war," says George Naylor, an Iowa corn and soy grower and president of the National Family Farm Coalition. "A lot of farmers who might be Republicans, but who aren't right-wing Republicans, have changed their views on the war."

Farms Not Arms has two main goals. The first is to increase the visibility of farmers at peace marches. Farms Not Arms members across the country will carry the group's banner at six marches marking the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion. Some 350 farmers have endorsed the group's statement opposing the war, which says, "While we foolishly try to police the whole world, we have lost the ability to feed ourselves." Organizers hope to have 10,000 signatures by the end of the year.

The second goal is to recruit farming families to offer their farms as refuges where returning vets can heal their battle scars through the quiet, steady pace of agricultural work. "All of these guys are coming back trashed," says Will Allen, a Marine veteran from the 1950s who today runs Cedar Circle Farm in Vermont, the state with the highest percentage of battlefield losses. "Farming is healing. We know that, because we've done it. We're in post-traumatic stress too. Because we're in bankruptcy, or we've already lost the fucking farm."

Farmers make up a tiny portion of the population. But Farms Not Arms organizers believe that despite their small numbers, they can have an outsized influence on the debate. They say there are natural cultural links between farmers and soldiers — a shared belief in hard work, discipline and collective effort — and that these similarities can be used to connect with rural soldiers and their families and convince them that it's time to end the war.

"I feel like as farmers we don't have a lot of political baggage," says Michael O'Gorman, a co-founder of Farms Not Arms. O'Gorman says he started thinking about how to oppose the war after his son enlisted. "I think we're expounding pretty American ideals here, Jeffersonian ideals...Maybe this is a wake-up call for America, that we can't be the country we set out to be and have more soldiers than farmers. Maybe we can bring the country together."

[plowhandle]

The Republishit Party, put into office by the cross-eyed Baptists and bible-banging Fundamentalist morons of rural America, offer the flower of American Youth at the Altar of Greed and Corruption...the war in Iraq.

Any idiot who supports this party pays the price with the blood of his children.

[torocaca]

"People that come out of the military are not employable, who in their right mind would want to employ some dude with post traumatic stress that will not show up to work, that could have angry outbursts, who resolves situations by shooting things?" Posted by andrew_693

This from a moron who probably never served an honorable day of his life serving his country.

I came out of the military, spent over half of my adult life there, including three of my teenage years. I got a college degree while in the military AND working part time jobs, and I now work in the aerospace industry.

Get a life, andrew, instead of being a troll, posting flames on boards, the subject of which you know absolutely nothing about.

[i-tack]

The only way a person can join the military is basically by being too dum to go to college or poor. College costs are expensive because Bush allowed states and colleges to name their prices so like any other business, they screw you in order to make profit. People that come out of the military are not employable, Posted by andrew_693 at 04:18 AM : Mar 18, 2007

"too dum"? Pretty hilarious Andrew! Nice to know that you are dead wrong on so-o-o many things. Do you know how many Fortune 500 companies are being run by people with distinguished military backgrounds? Check it out when you are ready to realize how "dum" your comment is.

Your comment on Bush and college expenses is equally "dum". Prices in universities have been rising at rates exceeding the rate of inflation longer than Bush has been in office. I guess the Bush must have been manipulating the world from his ranch at Crawford long before he became President.

People with a military record are MORE employable, not less. That is unless you would rather employ a person who has sat around a coffee house complaining vs. a person who has committed themselves to an endeavor that will build character at the expense of luxury and selfishness.

[andrew_693]

The only way a person can join the military is basically by being too dum to go to college or poor. College costs are expensive because Bush allowed states and colleges to name their prices so like any other business, they screw you in order to make profit. People that come out of the military are not employable, who in their right mind would want to employ some dude with post traumatic stress that will not show up to work, that could have angry outbursts, who resolves situations by shooting things?. The only jobs they can perform are night watchman or other security related things and even there I would not hire somebody with mental problems or someone who is handicap, like most of these ex military are.

[nynative1340]

It's amazing to me that anyone would make the U.S. Military a career, let alone sacrifice four years of their life, after Reagan royally scr*ewed the military retiree back in the '80s.

What short ******** memories this nation of sheep has.

Look up 'USFSPA.'

When I dedicated more than half of my adult life to the U.S. (for nothing) the military was about evenly split between democrats and republicans. Now it appears that the military is predominately republican. I find that hard to believe, considering that the military is comprised predominately of non-white minorities.

But, if it's true, it's also ironic. Young democrats deserve a better life than to waste it for their country, a country that really doesn't give a ***** about them, dead or alive, after it is all over. Bush is proof of that.

Let the young dumb republicans defend the possessions of the wealthy.

[down-ndirty]

"Conservatism is a ploy. A ploy to get you (the middle class or non-wealthy) to help the wealthy and super wealthy in this country to protect their positions and possessions. Conservatism is a morally bankrupt belief system centered on self-interest. What conservatives seek is not to protect America (or the sanctity of America as they often claim) but rather the positions and the possessions of the most affluent Americans. We need only look at the basic positions of conservatives to see that conservative lore is based upon self-preservation and not self-sacrifice." http://thebentblade.blogspot.com

Conservatives back wars like in Iraq because it not only preserves their wealth, it adds to it. Most wealthy conservatives own stock in industries that benefit from war (e.g. Haliburton) and therefore when we are in a war, their wealth increases substantially.

The wealthy don't sacrifice anything during wartime, not their children, not their wealth, not their possessions; they simply sit back and reap the benefits.

[dirtydog55]

This story is a re-run of another story about six weeks ago: "Rural America Shoulders Burden in Iraq."

According to the previous story the death rate for rural American soldiers in Iraq is 60% higher than the death rate for soldiers from cities and suburbs, in fact, the exact words used in this story.

Just prior to the publication of the previous story, Newshour's Jim Lehrer asked George W. Bush: "Why have you not, as president of the United States, asked more Americans and more American interests to sacrifice something?"
And here was the President's pathetic but revealing answer:

"Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night."

In other words, our President wants %u2014 has always wanted %u2014 most of us to do nothing whatsoever. Proof enough that our President is totally out of his mind; he's totally lost it. For him, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a circus sideshow.

He could not possibly care less about the casualties; he has not attended one military funeral. The American casualties in Iraq do not include a Bush, and the 600,000 Americans who personally know someone who was killed in the two wars do not include a Bush.

So what does he have to lose? Nada. He's already lost his mind.

[dirtydog55]

"That's because rich white liberals live in the big cities.......... they don't want to fight.....they want the middle class and poor to fight on their behalf........." Posted by perception5

perception5 is a troll; he's best ignored.

A troll is an individual who chronically posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that they have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life, as in, %u201COh, ignore him, he's just a troll.%u201D

[bluestardad]

SUPPORTING AN ALLY DOES NOT MEAN SELLING OUT YOUR COUNTRY!

HERE ARE THE REPUBLICAN SENATORS UP FOR REELECTION IN 08 WRITE THEM ASK THEM IF THEIR SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL TRUMPS THEIR DUTY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING KILLED FROM THEIR STATES?

ASK THEM HOW MUCH AIPAC INFLUENCES THEIR VOTES ON IRAQ?

http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm


Alexander, Lamar- (R - TN)
Allard, Wayne- (R - CO)
Chambliss, Saxby- (R - GA)
Cochran, Thad- (R - MS)
Coleman, Norm- (R - MN)
Collins, Susan M.- (R - ME)
Cornyn, John- (R - TX)
Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID)
Dole, Elizabeth- (R - NC)
Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY)
Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC)
Hagel, Chuck- (R - NE)
Inhofe, James M.- (R - OK)
McConnell, Mitch- (R - KY)
Roberts, Pat- (R - KS)
Sessions, Jeff- (R - AL)
Smith, Gordon H.- (R - OR)
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK)
Sununu, John E.- (R - NH)
Warner, John- (R - VA)

If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your ELECTED OFFICIAL and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

The House Speakers email address: [e-mail]

[e-mail] Here is the Republican Party email address too!

[e-mail] Here is the Democratic Party email address also!

[scott4261]

I'm more inclined to believe that more young people from rural areas sign up because they see military service as an honorable family tradition.
Posted by opfor311 at 07:42 PM

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Well, I do think you are right about that. And yes, The Nation did not focus on that part of the story, as it should have. But it is also true that many from rural areas join the military as a way to get ahead in life and to get an education. And I was pointing out that to blame this phenomenon on "rich white liberals living in the cities who are unwilling to fight" is a misnomer. How many "rich white conservatives" are fighting? Truth is, usually, the rich don't, no matter their politics. With few exceptions, the poor do.