Monica Benderman
Monica Benderman is married to Sgt. Kevin Benderman, an active duty soldier serving 15 months in confinement at Ft. Lewis, WA, for requesting Conscientious Objector status. Sgt. Benderman has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
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Articles by Monica Benderman
October 13, 2008
Monica is a senior care advocate. Her husband was a ten-year Army veteran who served a combat tour in Iraq and a year in prison for his public protest of war. She continues to work within their community to promote resources for veterans and the elderly.
Monica may be reached at mdawnb@coastalnow.net .
Please visit their website, www.BendermanDefense.org to learn more.
June 01, 2008
Earlier this week I was put in contact with the mother of a young Iraq veteran. Michael is twenty years old, with experiences no young person should have to face.
Michael chose to serve in the National Guard. Michael returned from Iraq with more than one medal for his service. But after a ye...
May 24, 2008
I received an email message not long ago – it contained these statements:
"It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom o...
March 19, 2008
Monica, and her husband, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a ten-year Army veteran who served a combat tour in Iraq and a year in prison for his public protest of war, continue to work within their community for peace. Their book "Letters From Ft. Lewis Brig" is now available at bookstores and through Lyons Press.
They may be reached at mdawnb@coastalnow.net. Please visit their website, www.BendermanDefense.org to learn more.
March 17, 2008
Can you hear me; this one voice of dissent speaking out for freedom, the freedom to be who I am – in peace?
Would you listen; as I gave my thoughts on where we have arrived together – knowing that I am not walking in your shoes, but my own – and the path we travel intersects nowhere else but whe...
January 20, 2008
"There was a consensus that last year was not productive…Our expectations were dashed," so John Isaacs was quoted as saying at a meeting of anti-war groups last week. One group alone has been said to have "spent $12 million last year" in actions opposing the war. "Our expectations were dashed." Mine...
November 29, 2007
The doors have opened on another holiday season. Utility workers have spent hours hoisting holiday decorations to the tops of buildings and attaching lights to all the telephone poles in town. It won’t be long before the entrance displays of massive armored fighting vehicles that represent the muscl...
November 21, 2007
I received an email last week. Almost two pages long and with only enough sentence breaks to count on one hand, it was coming from a place I knew all too well and recognized instantly – the heart of a military wife who wanted to lose control but knew she was all that stood between her husband...
August 02, 2007
Reyam is fourteen years old. Her name means “white gazelles”. She’s a beautiful girl who loves to draw and chat with her friends. She’s bright, and works hard on her lessons. It’s three in the morning in Georgia, and the computer monitor and two candles cast the only light in the room as Reyam a...
July 28, 2007
We can say with little doubt that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were part of a greater conspiracy to strike fear in the hearts and minds of the American public; enough fear to set off a reaction of anger and rage which was destined to initiate a war we had no business fighting.
We can say w...
July 23, 2007
It’s about time Americans faced the truth.
Today a Marine not only convicted of conspiring to commit kidnapping, larceny, and making false statements; but the murder – MURDER – of an innocent Iraqi man, was given his sentence. He is to receive a reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge. ...
July 07, 2007
“On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, and its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.
Is not nationalism — that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders m...
June 30, 2007
“Hi Monica, May I express myself about this on-going war? It's got to be tough just keeping your chin up and not to give up hope to end this war. I have always supported our troops that fought, and got injured and for those who died for our country. My son Kevin served 20 years in the air force and ...
June 20, 2007
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past….. They tell us…that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Shall we gather strength by irresolut...
June 11, 2007
“These are the times that try men’s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation ...
May 07, 2007
Juan was sixteen or he could have been twelve. Neither one of us spoke the other’s language but we communicated with hand signals, drawing pictures in the air and pointing to symbols to describe the words we couldn’t understand.
Stretching out into the deepening surf of the southern Gulf of Me...
April 29, 2007
He walked up to us after a speaking event. There had been several questions about GI Resistance and how to encourage more soldiers to resist. He came apologetically. He said it was his tax dollars that were funding the war. We agreed. He said he was not ready to face the consequences of refusin...
April 25, 2007
“I am writing to you because you have been elected to serve the people. I am one of those people; my family is one family in America. We are just a family, we care about each other, we work hard and we believe in good things. We have a modest income, not much, but enough to give us what we need. Lik...
April 02, 2007
Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Home of the “Mighty Third Infantry, Rock of the Marne.”
I always find it interesting as I drive through the gate onto post. As the contracted gate guards check my ID and verify the registration on my car, they give a subtle smile, a military signal to move-out, and call...
March 27, 2007
The Veterans For Peace caravan came through Hinesville, Georgia last week. It was the first time since the start of the war that a group from the Peace movement had held any actions in this military town, home of the Third Infantry Division, the division to invade Iraq.
Hinesville is a quiet ...
March 04, 2007
I remember the first time I visited the Viet Nam memorial in Washington, DC. I wasn’t very old and neither was the wall. I was not sure I understood why there had been a war; even to this day I am not sure I understand that. I didn’t understand the feelings I had inside when I stood at the entran...
January 09, 2007
In the Military Courts –Martial of Sgt. Kevin Benderman, having filed a Conscientious Objector application after ten years of honorable service in the Army including a combat tour in Iraq:
“COMES NOW THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its counsel, and files this Motion in Limine.
...
May 20, 2006
Statement made by Monica Benderman
Thank you for giving me this time today. I would like to preface my comments to Congressional representatives by reading a statement from my husband, Kevin Benderman, a US Army Sgt. who is currently serving a 15-month sentence at the Regional Corrections F...
April 18, 2006
Driving on a community road not far from here, I passed a new construction site. The structure will be imposing upon completion, but even without seeing the finished product, its representation is enough to inspire questions. The sign posted announces the future site of a ?Chapel Complex? and the ...
April 18, 2006
"I have learned from firsthand experience that war is the destroyer of everything that is good in the world; it turns our young into soulless killers, and we tell them that they are heroes when they master the "art" of killing."
These are the words of Sgt. Kevin Benderman after having served a tou...
March 28, 2006
When a soldier no longer wants to fight, when his conscience tells him that he can no longer believe in the mission and commanders order that soldier back to combat against his will, there is something wrong. There is something very wrong when commanders send that soldier to jail simply because th...
March 27, 2006
In the past three years, I have stood on both sides of the war – and felt the extremes of frustration, anger, pride, love – but mostly frustration – and always love.
As the war began, three years ago, I was proud of my husband, a Sergeant in the US Army. He was a soldier who was committed to...
March 24, 2006
Back in 1620, Pilgrims came to this country to get away from the repression they felt by those in England who would not allow them to practice their religion freely. No one from another country went to rescue them. No one brought guns to their land and destroyed their king, or fought their battles...
March 18, 2006
Late last August, barely a month after my husband was sent to prison for filing a Conscientious Objector application, we all watched as history was made. Hurricane Katrina roared into view, and America sat watching its story develop on the evening news.
A storm was brewing ? and weather fore...
February 11, 2006
Three years ago we were spending time together, every moment we could, building the type of relationship we would need to survive the unknown we were about to face.
It was our choice – going to war. Based on the information we had, and knowing that we don’t take our commitments lightly, we k...
January 26, 2006
To those ex-patriots of America who profess solidarity with the actions of Americans who are speaking out against the corruption and abuse of our Constitution and the rights it affords the American people:
To those who speak behind the veil of aliases from computers in coffee shops so their a...
January 17, 2006
Terrorism is the use of fear tactics to coerce others to bend to your will or way of thinking. Terrorists employ threats as a means of controlling the actions of others.
The root of terrorist actions lies in simple aggressive behaviors, often referred to as disciplinary actions, designed to...
January 11, 2006
Have you forgotten? We are people.
Have you forgotten? There are feelings inside.
Have you forgotten?
We are fighting for our lives. We are fighting for the right to live in peace, as we choose. We are fighting to live by what we believe, in the hope that others will be all...
December 29, 2005
Christmas comes but once a year. Why?
Maybe it is a reminder.
Churches are full on Christmas Eve. So many pay homage – listening to the story of Christmas. Year after year, children memorize the Christmas story, learn to point in the direction of the Star of Bethlehem, and surroun...
December 15, 2005
His name was Earl. He spent his days in a wheel chair, hand propelled, sitting along the sidewalks of the seawall in a Victorian city along the coast. He kept all of his possessions in a shopping cart, while his valuables hung from the handles of his chair. I met him one night while walking on th...
December 13, 2005
The Regional Corrections Facility at Ft. Lewis, Washington is vintage World War II. The windows are cracked and can’t be closed. It’s below freezing on most nights now.
I could go on – but what good will it do in this country of warmongers, idealistic pacifists, and evangelicals? Nothing like...
December 07, 2005
... at the exclusion of the few courageous members who are willing to stand on their own and speak the truth ... with all due respect.
What are you afraid of? That without your office you are nothing? That it is your elected office that makes you who you are, and if you lose it, you will be ...
November 30, 2005
War -- Guns, tanks, chemical weapons, killing, devastation, inhumanity.
Why do we go to war? Why does anyone pursue another to the point of war?
Forget who instigated it. At war – both sides kill. Soldiers are told their side is right – they are given guns and ordered to kill as man...
November 10, 2005
Americans blindly move through the fog, running from themselves, believing in saviors who will pull them above the fray just before they go over the edge. We don’t face anything head-on. When the going gets tough, Americans go drinking. We have Prozac, Zyprexa, Ambien, Xanex – and a world of chem...
October 28, 2005
Kevin Benderman sits in jail. An injustice. He did not want to go. He did not take his stand, break a law and dare the courts to put him in jail with a stiff sentence. Kevin Benderman put his principles on the line and dared to trust that his rights would be respected as the constitution he foug...
October 27, 2005
As we watch the events of our lives unfold millions of people breathe the word “conspiracy” as if everyone is out to get them. Why?
The only conspiracy is the conspiracy of incompetence.
It begins by being afraid – very, very afraid. Of what – the men with guns? That happens later,...
October 26, 2005
It’s been two and a half years. There are almost 2000 soldiers deaths officially accounted for. How many family members does that come to? Is there a number?
The war has cost billions. Where did it all go? Is there an accurate number?
There are thousands of Iraqi causalties. Does anyone...
October 14, 2005
Please visit Sgt. Benderman’s website, for a chronology of events, complete with documentation, leading to his court martial, along with a continuous discussion about Conscientious Objection and veterans’ issues.
On July 27, 2005, Sgt. Kevin Benderman was found guilty of Missing Movement and sent...
August 31, 2005
In an amusement park that I used to take our kids to, there was a roller coaster ride called the “Corkscrew.” It turned, and twisted and even reversed itself and went backwards after the first full cycle of track was completed. We would stand in line for a hour just to have a 3 minute ride, only t...
August 17, 2005
From Sgt. Kevin Benderman – Prisoner of Conscience for objecting to war
“I have come to the conclusion that the Creator does not want us to fight wars or to leave our brothers to die in hunger or disease. We have been given the things we need to provide all men on the planet with what they ...
July 21, 2005
The wife of a US National Guardsman wrote that if her husband were to have died during his tour of duty in Iraq, "I would be promoting all the good he did in this world and not downsizing it and belittling the efforts he and his comrades made." (Shona Emery, NH Union Leader, July 15).
My husban...
July 07, 2005
On July 28, 2005, in a small non-descript courtroom on Ft. Stewart, Georgia, a Courts Martial is scheduled to begin. Again. One Army NCO who decided that he had no choice but to make a conscious choice NOT to return to war is being put on trial for caring about humanity.
This soldier ful...