Grieving parents speak against the war
By Joe Cohen jcohen@theacorn.com
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There was a picture of Marine Alex Arredondo in full uniform, another of him holding a gun, and another of Alex smiling next to his little brother John. And then two more posters were hung. Poster No. 4, of Alex lying in an open coffin, makeup disguising the wound from the fatal bullet that entered his temple and took his life in Iraq. Poster No. 5, a picture of his headstone.
Then his father wheeled in a coffin draped in an American flag with Alex's combat boots attached to the top. His uniform was draped on the coffin.
After being announced, the guest speakers from Massachusetts walked forward together and took the lectern.
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Mlida Arredondo is Alex's stepmother. His mother lives out of state and is raising a second son. She wants to maintain her privacy and does not take part in public talks about the Iraq War. Two unwelcome visitors
Mlida Arredondo told the audience that in 2003, on her husband's birthday, she heard on the radio that two Marines had been killed in Iraq.
She drove home from work that day to find that her husband had set himself on fire, having also splashed gasoline inside the van of the military men who had come to their home to deliver the bad news.
Then the fuel ignited. Arredondo was hospitalized for weeks with burns over nearly a third of his body. The Marine notifications officers were not injured. They were inside Arredondo's home, waiting to speak with Mlida.
Arredondo told the library gathering that in his sudden grief he had grabbed a hammer and gasoline from his garage, smashed the military van with the hammer and splashed gasoline inside the van. He said he had not planned to torch it, but his 64-year-old mother touched him as he poured gas into the van and startled, he flicked the button on a barbecue lighter he was holding.
The flames almost killed him, searing 26 percent of his body.
Arredondo remains angry about the way his 17-year-old son was recruited into the Marines.
"It only takes one parent's signature to allow your child to be recruited," he said. His boy pledged his allegiance to the Marines just three weeks before Sept. 11, 2001.
"The recruiter promised me my son would be okay and come home alive a better man. The day I was told he was killed I called that recruiter. There was no answer. He'd changed his phone number."
Arredondo said the government seduced his son into the military, promising him a $50,000 scholarship when he got out of the service. The scholarship offered to new recruits this year is $70,000 with an additional $20,000 signing bonus.
"What they don't tell you is that if the soldier screws up or even gets a non-battle-related injury all of the bonuses go away," he said.
Illusions and questions
Arredondo, who was born in Costa Rica, remembers what it was like when he arrived in America.
"When I first came to this country I saw Vietnam veterans sleeping on park benches," he said. "This is the most powerful country in the world and they treat their veterans like this?"
He said he felt that President Bush had lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction.
"In Costa Rica we had two presidents locked up in jail for being crooked and that's a Third World country. I expect more from America," he said.
Arredondo has appeared on Spanish and English language radio and television throughout the U.S. and internationally. He participated in the "Bring Them Home Now Tour," with Gold Stars Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out, where he met with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and Kofi Annan, secretarygeneral of the United Nations.
The Arredondos were in California visiting the Camp Pendleton base where their son had lived and trained.
Mlida Arredondo said a good Marine never leaves his friends behind, so the couple visited the base, spending six hours with the young people there, feeling an instant bond with the brave soldiers whom they consider family.
"They are a band of brothers and I love them. Any Marine is welcome in my house any time," Mlida said.
The Arredondos remain distraught that it took 10 months to receive an official e-mail from the government explaining exactly how their son was killed. "It still doesn't make much sense," Carlos said.
"They said he was engaged for three hours in heavy combat before he was shot in the temple and killed. My question is . . . where was his helmet? They said he wasn't wearing it."
'We need a change'
Mlida said that last Thanksgiving the couple went to help serve meals to homeless veterans and made a disturbing discovery.
"The vets after they serve have to go it alone. We were shocked to see that there are already homeless Iraq war veterans with medical and mental problems.
"One in five soldiers come back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," she said. "This year the U.S. government cut $145 million from the PTSD program. That didn't make the front page.
"I talked to a veteran who told me he couldn't get a job as a security guard because he 'had no experience,'" the mother said. "I guess carrying an AK-47 for your country doesn't count towards experience."
The couple talked about their anger toward the Bush administration. "Very few of them have family who have served or have served themselves," Mlida said. "You know what I figure? That they can't handle dealing with what we are dealing with."
Carlos Arredondo has traveled with Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in the war and made national news last year by organizing protests and camping outside Bush's Texas compound. "I've seen a lot of people who believe we need a change," he said.
"I'm here from Boston and a Third World country because I believe we can make a little difference here. Republicans threw the rock (that started the war) and then they hid their hands. I'm angry. We need a change."
Tom Mullens, president of the Democratic Club of the Conejo Valley, said that having the Arredondos speak of their loss humanizes the soldiers in the Iraq war.
"I think everyone is concerned about what is going on in Iraq," Mullens said. "The human toll is sometimes hard to understand until you come into contact with someone who can relate to what it's really like, losing a son in combat."
Newbury Park resident Andy Goetz brought his three children to hear the speakers. "They see the news and what's going on in Iraq and this makes it much more personal," Goetz said. "It's important that our kids start thinking about politics and something intellectual apart from video games."
The audience reacted to the speakers' remarks with hushed silence and repeated ovations. A question and answer period followed.
The Arredondos have established three scholarships in Alex Arredondo's name. To learn more or to contact them, visit alexandercarlos.hogger.net.
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