The Patriot Files Forums  

Go Back   The Patriot Files Forums > Veterans > Veterans Memorials

Post New Thread  Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 05-13-2011, 04:57 PM
BLUEHAWK's Avatar
BLUEHAWK BLUEHAWK is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: May 2002
Location: Ozarks
Posts: 4,638
Send a message via Yahoo to BLUEHAWK
Distinctions
Contributor 
Arrow Arlington West



Welcome to
ARLINGTON WEST SANTA MONICA Each Sunday from sunrise to sunset, a temporary memorial appears next to the world-famous pier at Santa Monica, California. This memorial, known as Arlington West, a project of Veterans For Peace, offers visitors a graceful, visually and emotionally powerful, place for reflection.
Arlington West Mission Statement

In accordance with the Veterans For Peace Statement of Purpose, the Arlington West Mission Statement is to honor the fallen and wounded to provide a place to grieve to acknowledge the human cost of war to encourage dialogue among people with varied points of view to educate the public about the needs of those returning from war.
Visiting Arlington West

To take in the full expanse of crosses, one stands breathless at the enormity of what one sees. Each cross, carefully positioned in the sand with a uniformity appropriate a memorial for this purpose, represents all American military personnel who've lost their lives in the US war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon deeper reflection, Arlington West also powerfully represents the path our country has embarked upon.
When one visits the Arlington West Memorial at Santa Monica, one will see mementos placed on some of the crosses, many with fresh cut flowers. Arlington West also represents those who've lost their loved one or close friend.
In celebration of their lives, family and close friends of the fallen write their own heartfelt words and dedicate these to their loved one. A gold star is placed by us on dedications made by those who are family. Those dedications made by a friend or those who served along side an individual, will have a silver star placed on their dedication.
Veterans For Peace and dedicated volunteers of Arlington West are careful stewards of these dedications and currently maintain an archive of over 1600 such mementos. Mementos are added to those that may already have an existing dedication made to an individual. We also maintain a log of these dedications, making it easier to see if an individual has ever been visited before.
A Sea of Crosses

As one stands looking out over the sea of crosses, one will notice a swath of red crosses standing among the white ones. As the numbers of American lives lost increases daily, one red cross is representative of 10 military personnel each.
For those who've lost their lives within the week past are flag draped coffins with blue crosses positioned in front of each of these. The cross was chosen for its simplicity, not for its religious connotation.
The “wall” of names has been replaced with pillars positioned where the public can review the frequently updated list of fallen American military personnel since day one of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The list contains the name, age, rank, branch of service, unit assigned to, date and place of the circumstance of death, as well as their hometown and state.
Grim Milestones

Using the officially acknowledged account published by the U.S. government, miltary fatalities in Operation Iraqi Freedom exceeds 4,400.
Estimates of American military casualties between Iraq and Afghanistan combined place the wounded at over 500,000. These numbers more accurately reflect the reality of combat and other occupational hazards characteristic of day to day military operations.
Combining coalition forces with US occupation forces in Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom and now Pakistan, and the fatalities increase to well over 7000. Not included in these numbers are those service members who commit suicide while on temporary leave or have been discharged from active duty service.
Although rarely mentioned, journalists and “private contractors " (a.k.a. corporate armies), are also casualties of the U.S. occupation war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Newly released Pentagon statistics show that in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of armed contractors is rising. And with the supposed "end of the US war in Iraq," the massive army of security contractors is growing, not shrinking.
Mercenary Private Military Forces

According to these statistics released by the Pentagon, with Barack Obama as commander in chief, there has been a 23% increase in the number of “Private Security Contractors” working for the Department of Defense in Iraq in the second quarter of 2009 and a 29% increase in Afghanistan, which “correlates to the build up of forces” in the country.
Overall, contractors (armed and unarmed) now make up approximately 50% of the “total force in Centcom AOR [Area of Responsibility].” This means there are a whopping 242,657 contractors working on these two US wars.
More detail regarding this rise in private contractors is available here.
Military Deaths by Suicide

Military deaths by suicide have been on a dramatic rise in recent years. According to the Army Times, the Army is on pace to shatter the record suicide rate set among soldiers in 2008. In April 2010, the U.S. Army released its quarterly suicide data for the month of March.
A newly released study reported by the Army Times on April 24th, 2010, indicates that there are as many as 950 attempted suicides per month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department. Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11% of those who don't succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.
In 2007, CBS News conducted a survey of all fifty states - with only forty-five of those states reporting - showing that over the past 10 years alone, an average of 120 veterans per week from among all branches of service, have taken their own lives through suicide. See how they got their numbers here.
In the meantime, according to the military, the National Guard and Reserve suicide rates are climbing at a rate of one a day, a level not seen since the Vietnam War.
Female Fatalities in Iraq

One pillar stands alone, dedicated to just female service member fatalities. As one glances through the list of names, one will take notice of the several who've taken their lives through suicide just as equally as those who've been killed in action.
Of these fatalities is one reported to be a suicide by the U.S. Army. However, the family has demanded another investigation into the probability of a coverup of a rape / homicide. We refer you to this web site for more information.
Persian Gulf War 1990-91

To deliver our concept of justice, democracy, and freedom, 88,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Iraq during the US Gulf War of 1991 with only 7% of these being of the so-called “smart bomb” variety. This “smart bomb” technology requires the use of GPS beacons to be placed in their intended target locations well in advance of our long range cruise missile strikes. However, the bulk of firepower delivered during the Gulf War were of the “old fashioned” variety - “dumb bombs.”
With an increasing number of both US military personnel and private military “contractors” in Afghanistan - and now Pakistan, and with remote controlled armed aircraft controlled from military bases within our own country hovering over targets thousands of miles from our shores, the fatality rate among the civilian population in those countries will most surely skyrocket.
We are not worth more.
They are not worth less.


As the numbers of military personnel lost and wounded are acknowledged, a sign nearby begs attention to the number of Iraqis killed. It reads,“if we were to acknowledge the number of Iraqi deaths, the crosses would fill this entire beach”.
In October 2006, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, published a survey in The Lancet Medical Journal. This survey, known as the “Iraqi Mortality Survey,” shows statistically that since the U.S. invasion of March 2003, the number of Iraqi deaths exceeded 655,000. While this study has come under scrutiny in the past few years, its findings have remained unchanged. Johns Hopkins published a response to these questions available here. Listen to an interview with the lead author of this study.
By January 2008, Opinion Research Business (ORB), a prestigious British polling firm, reviewed their previous analysis and revised this number to over 1 million Iraqi deaths since the US invasion and occupation of March 2003.
In January 2008, the World Health Organization, with the assistance of the Iraqi government, conducted a survey of 9,345 Iraqi households and estimates that between 151,000 and 223,000 Iraqis died from violence between March 2003 and June 2006.
None of these studies include mortality rates from the immediate aftermath of the US led Gulf War of 1991, nor the impact 12 years of sanctions had upon the people of Iraq.
Regardless of which study is more accurate, one thing is certain; the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq has only increased the number of Iraqi fatalities as a consequence. Unfortunately, this will most certainly be true of the occupation of Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The Disappeared and Displaced

While others languish in prisons put in place by the occupation forces for those caught or suspected of resisting the occupation of their country, an unknown number of Iraqis and Afghanis have been disappeared, with no sign or trace of their whereabouts.
In addition, an estimated 2.5 million Iraqi's have fled the violence in Iraq, seeking refuge in neighboring countries, while an estimated 2 million have been internally displaced from their homes.
Shock and Awe at Ground Zero

The Obama administration says the last combat brigades have left Iraq. Is this the end of the Iraq war or just a rebranding of the US occupation? More than 50,000 troops remain in Iraq as well as 4,500 special operations forces and tens of thousands of private contractors. The US Embassy in Baghdad, the largest in the world at roughly the size of eighty football fields, stands as a permanent reminder of the power and arrogance of a nation oblivious to the carnage and mayhem wrought in its name.
Mission Accomplished?

As of February 2008, the cost of the U.S. war in Iraq, subsidized in large part by U.S. tax dollars, is estimated to be between $350 to more than $720 million per day ($500,000 per minute) with costs exceeding $12 billion per month.
According to John Pike, the head of the research group GlobalSecurity.org, an estimated 250,000 bullets have been fired for every insurgent killed in Iraq. That's not just a waste of ammunition; it's also a reflection of how badly the country has been damaged and how indiscriminate some of the fighting has been.
Isn't it about time we rethink our stratagies in Afghanistan as well? Perhaps we're not giving more serious consideration to the course of direction our country has embarqed upon?
While more people in the United States die from lack of health insurance, side-effects from the legal use of perscription medications, traffic accidents, and salmonela poisoning than of terrorism, one might ask just how many lives were lost during the “Cold War” in the name of “anti-Communism”?

We are all connected

Each cross powerfully represents more than the loss of an individual life, it also represents life as concentric circles of intertwined relationships.
Volunteers Are Welcome

We love volunteers! This has become a monumental task! Setup starts at 6:00 am on Sunday mornings - rain or shine - and taken down shortly before sunset.
A candlelight vigil is placed at the base of each cross at dusk on special occasions. Please see our volunteer and or the Calendar page for more details.
Arlington West Memorial
is Non-Partisan and Non-Sectarian



Last edited by BLUEHAWK; 05-13-2011 at 05:02 PM. Reason: adding source
sendpm.gif Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
From West Ranch to West Point Prep: 525th BfSB Soldier makes the cut The Patriot General 0 04-19-2011 05:22 AM
Arlington leadership moving forward in fixing problems at Arlington National Cemetery The Patriot Army 0 04-17-2011 09:22 AM
Arlington West shifts focus from Iraq to Afghanistan - The Daily Sound The Patriot Iraq 0 08-05-2010 05:28 AM
President Honors America's Veterans ~ Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia Otis Willie General 0 11-11-2003 03:26 PM

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.