Veterans' Events Hit Eastern Iowa with a Flourish

In the wake of the five-year anniversary marking the war in Iraq, a number of veterans-related events are scheduled this week in eastern Iowa, primarily Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.

"Doonesbury’s" Garry Trudeau: As part of the 2008 Coe College Contemporary Issues Forum, Garry Trudeau will be speaking at the Contemporary Issues Forum in Cedar Rapids at 7:30 tonight. The event was originally scheduled in February, but was rescheduled because of inclement weather.

For the past 37 years, Trudeau has communicated primarily through his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip, "Doonesbury." However, the war in Iraq has indirectly prompted him to speak out on related issues, bringing the war home to readers through the experiences and perspective of B.D., a veteran of Gulf War I and the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.

For many "Doonesbury" readers, the war in Iraq hit home in April 2003, when Trudeau decided to blow up B.D's leg while B.D. was serving in Iraq. B.D.'s leg had to be amputated, and his injury, coupled with the psychological effects of his experiences, helped inspire more than 220 strips. It also resulted in two books: "The Long Road Home" chronicles B.D.'s journey home and transition into the civilian world, while "The War Within" captures B.D.'s internal struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In addition to bringing the war home through "Doonesbury," Trudeau has helped capture the day-to-day experiences of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan through his milblog (military-blog), "The Sandbox." Lightly edited by longtime editor David Stanford, "The Sandbox" features dispatches from milbloggers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, who share their observations, comments and anecdotes with readers at home.

Read an exclusive Iowa Independent interview with Trudeau here.

Tickets for the event, at $10 for the general public and $5 for students and seniors, can be reserved by calling the Coe Box Office at 319-399-8600.

“Iowa Stories: The Vietnam Experience”: In 1989 University of Northern Iowa professor Marilyn Shaw, 57, of Cedar Falls wanted to preserve Vietnam war memories through the oral tradition, which she adapted into an oral-interpretive play, "Iowa Stories: The Vietnam Experience." The play will be performed for the fifth time at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Englert in Iowa City. Tickets are $12.50.

Drawing from 28 interviews with Vietnam veterans from Iowa, Shaw interweaves their stories into nine character archetypes for her play. As one of the vets told Shaw, “You can hate the war, but don’t hate the warrior, because the warrior is doing what he [or she] was trained to do.”

University of Iowa Anti-War Committee’s Peace Week: As part of its Peace Week, the University of Iowa Anti-War Committee is sponsoring a number of veterans’ events designed to bring discussions about war and peace into the community and the classrooms.

Andy Duffy and Jason Munford will be part of a panel discussion at the South Room in the UI’s Iowa memorial Union at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Duffy, an Iowa National Guard medic who served at Abu Ghraib prison in 2005-06, founded the Iowa City chapter of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and recently testified at the Winter Soldier hearings in Washington, D.C.

Munford, an Air Force veteran, will share his experiences as a conscientious objector after he was ordered to deploy to Iraq.

Thursday night will feature Eli Painted Crow, a retired Army veteran of 22 years, who will share her recent experiences during a recent deployment to Iraq and explain why she’s speaking out against the war. A Native American from the Yaqui Nation, she is a grandmother of eight and mother of two sons who both served in the military. She will be speaking in the Iowa Room at the IMU at 7 p.m.

During the 2006 Veterans for Peace Conference, she spoke out about a barrage of injustices she said were committed by members of her unit during her deployment to Iraq. She said she witnessed and faced several incidents of discrimination, racism, sexual harassment and sexual abuse/assault committed by her fellow soldiers, prompting her to leave the service upon her return.

Eli Painted Crow Speaks at 2006 Veterans for Peace Conference



Moreover, in conjunction with the Peace Week’s events, the UI Veterans’ Association will host a forum on veterans’ benefits, health care and homelessness. Guest speakers will include Mike Hull, post commander of American Legion Post #17, Iowa City; Stephanie Linn, President of UI Veterans Association; and Tom Kelly, co-founder of Vets Helping Vets. The forum will take place at 7 p.m. Friday in the Illinois Room at the IMU.

Originally posted on "Iowa Independent"

Exclusive: On Eve of Coe College Lecture, Trudeau on 'Doonesbury' and War

For the past 37 years, Garry Trudeau has communicated primarily through his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip, “Doonesbury.” However, the war in Iraq has indirectly prompted him to speak out on war-related issues, bringing the war home to readers through the experiences and perspective of B.D., a veteran of the wars in Vietnam, Gulf War I and Iraq. And now, as part of Coe College’s annual Contemporary Issues Forum, Trudeau will share his insights with Iowans Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Cedar Rapids.

For many Doonesbury readers, the war in Iraq hit home in April 2003, when Trudeau decided to blow up B.D’s leg while B.D. was serving in Iraq. B.D.’s leg had to be amputated and his injury, coupled by the psychological effects of his experiences, helped inspire more than 220 strips. It also resulted in two books: “The Long Road Home” chronicles B.D.’s journey home and transition into the civilian world, while “The War Within” captures B.D.’s internal struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In addition to bringing the war home through “Doonesbury,” Trudeau has helped capture the day-to-day experiences of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan through his milblog (military-blog), “The Sandbox.” Lightly edited by longtime editor David Stanford, The Sandbox features dispatches from milbloggers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, who share their observations, comments, and anecdotes with readers at home.

The Sandbox was conceived in October 2007, after Trudeau had spent a great deal of time interacting with soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital and reading milblogs online. During a telephone interview, Stanford stressed to the Iowa Independent that The Sandbox’s focus is nonpartisan and nonpolitical and that it provides an outlet for soldiers to share the details of their experiences, minus any classified information, of course.

(Be sure to click on to the new widget for "The Sandbox" on the right-hand column.)

Iowa Independent also conducted an e-mail interview with Trudeau, and here are his responses:

Iowa Independent: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once said writers need to be sadistic, meaning they had to do terrible things to their characters to see what they are made of. I gather the same holds true for cartoonists. That said, when B.D was wounded in the Iraq War and had to have his leg amputated, what did you discover B.D. was made of through your own creative process?

Trudeau: I think you've framed that question just right -- it has been a journey of discovery, albeit one that was hastily planned and with no preconceived notions about the outcome. I rarely think more than a week or two out in writing the strip -- I just commit to an idea and see where it leads me. When B.D. was wounded several years ago, there was a fourth-panel reveal in which the reader discovered that he had lost a leg. Equally shocking to some was that B.D. was not wearing his helmet -- for the first time in over three decades. What that signified was that life thereafter would never be the same, that for the first time, B.D. was no longer in control. So that's what I had to build on -- the expectation of profound change -- but where it would take him was initially unknown to me.

Only later, after I learned a lot more about real wounded warriors, was I able to weigh plausible possible outcomes -- including a path out of bitterness towards empathy for peers who had also endured the ravages of war. B.D., it turns out, isn't as self-contained as everyone, including himself, had always assumed.

Iowa Independent: B.D.’s experiences parallel those soldiers who have been physically and/or mentally wounded while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet, as the war comes home in staggered stages, we’re just beginning to see some of the problems our troops are facing in the short and long term. What do you perceive to be some of the biggest challenges for our troops in the future and what role will B.D play, if any, in this process?

Trudeau: I have no idea what role B.D. might play (see above). And I don't imagine the challenges facing returning troops will differ greatly from those who've returned from past wars. In some respects, those difficulties will be mitigated by greater public awareness -- as well as significant advances in rehabilitation, both physical and emotional. (For instance, PTSD wasn't even formally recognized as a medical condition until well after the Vietnam War.) The biggest problem now is one of resources; there's just not enough infrastructure in place to manage the huge array of readjustment issues our troops face when they get home.

Iowa Independent: “The Sandbox” provides soldiers an opportunity to share their experiences and insights by connecting with other soldiers, family members, friends and civilians. After World War II and Vietnam, when soldiers returned to their civilian lives, there was a “gulf” of experiences between soldiers and civilians that led to a number of psychological disconnects and ensuing problems. What role do you see The Sandbox playing in regard to bridging the psychological gulfs of experience between Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their civilian counterparts in America?

Trudeau: It'd be a little grandiose for us to think of The Sandbox in those terms. I don't think any one blog can have the kind of impact you're suggesting, but we do hope that by posting stories of real-time, everyday soldier experiences, we are providing a small window into what it's like to be downrange. At the end of the day, though, if you haven't experienced combat firsthand, you're probably never really going to grasp what it's like. For that reason, soldiers will usually prefer to talk about war in the company of their peers.

Iowa Independent: As the end of the Bush reign closes in, you will have to let go of a certain degree of familiarity, stemming back to your days at Yale with George Bush. Do you see, or feel, a sense of creative rebirth with the next presidency?

Trudeau: Well, not exactly. The dismal truth of my profession is that what's bad for the country is great for satirists -- and vice versa. It will be extraordinarily difficulty for any succeeding administration to fail as spectacularly as the Bushies have. All of us are sad to see them go.

Originally Posted on "Iowa Independent"