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Editor's Note: Sara Rich is the mother of an AWOL US soldier. Facing re-deployment to Iraq, Sara's daughter Suzanne Swift searched her soul and decided that she could not go back to Iraq and continue to go out on what she calls "useless missions." Nor could she continue to cope with the constant sexual harassment and fear of rape by her own officers and fellow soldiers that she had to endure. On Sunday June 11, Eugene police, without a warrant, raided Sara Rich's home and took Suzanne away to the Lane County Jail.  The following day she was taken to Fort Lewis, Washington. Her family is now asking for letters in support of Suzanne's request for an honorable discharge. Her family insists that Suzanne deserves the medical benefits due to any war veteran.
 

    Fear for My Daughter
    By Sara Rich
 
    It started out with being scared for her life when she signed up for the military. She assured me that she was promised she would not go to Iraq. I was not as trusting.
 
    She was sent to Iraq right out of her basic training. While she was packing, we cried, as she assured me she would be okay. One of her sergeants assured me, "Don't worry, ma'am, we'll take good care of your daughter." I desperately hoped that I could trust him to watch over her. I later found out he was one the first predators to try to have sex with her and make her "his private."
 
    She spent a long year in Iraq. I feared for her safety every waking minute. She frequently called me crying, telling me very little of the horror she was witnessing - only telling me it was hard. She told me that almost all of the other soldiers were sexually harassing her and that many of her sergeants and lieutenants were really pressuring her and making her life miserable for rejecting them. Calls from her often ended with "Oh, there goes gun fire - gotta go mom, love you."
 
    When she returned from Iraq, she was much more quiet and anxious than when she left. I offered to get her help, but she refused. She told me that if she opened that can of worms she would not be able to function as a human being. I asked her if she wanted to deal with the horrible sexual harassment charges against so many of her fellow soldiers. She said, no mom, it would only make my life even more of a living hell. Then she finally blew the whistle on one of her superiors for sexually harassing her, and she was treated like a pariah, while he was moved to a different unit and promoted. She put her head down and worked as a Military Police officer on Ft. Lewis. She was always shocked by the number of domestic violence calls she went out on. The fear of a mother of a peace officer was there, but at least I could call her and knew she was safe. We knew that she was going to be re-deployed to Iraq sometime after the mandatory 18 months' stabilization time is over. So, we were looking at November of 2006 for a second re-deployment. Our hearts were heavy at the thought.
 
    She came home for a visit and couldn't face me to tell me she was going back to Iraq much sooner than expected. My fear was skyrocketing. I asked, how can they do that, you will have only had 11 months of stabilization time? She told me that she refused to sign the paper waiving her rights to 18 months. She was told that her life would be hell in a shit hole if she refused to sign. They screamed in her face and intimidated her to the point that she would shake when she told the story. Our family prepared. She was packed, ready to re-deploy, keys in hand. She said, "I can't do this, Mom, I can't go back there." We shifted into action to protect our daughter.
 
    We networked with everyone imaginable. We knew that we would rather see her in jail than spending another minute in Iraq. We hired an attorney with experience in these kinds of military matters. And Suzanne went into hiding.
 
    Now here we are, facing what we knew was a real possibility. Suzanne has been returned to Ft. Lewis, and I am really scared. The military treated her horribly when she was a soldier, I can only imagine what they will do to her as a prisoner. She is a brave young woman and my hero. But there is only just so much stress an Iraq war veteran can handle.
 
    My fear for my daughter is real. My hope for and belief in my daughter and what she is doing is strong and unshakable. I truly believe she saved her own life with her courage. It is to be hoped that by telling her story and standing strong she can encourage others in the military to stand up, speak out, and refuse to participate in this illegal and immoral war.
 
    Thanks to you all. I knew this was going to happen eventually, so I had my ducks in a serious row. Today (June 12) I had a press conference, a vigil at the jail where Suzanne is, and I spoke to 10 different radio shows, some nationally syndicated, three TV stations, 3 newspapers and had a million calls.
 
On the day they returned Suzanne her to her unit at Ft. Lewis, we gathered early in the morning to catch a glimpse of her as she left the jail, to show her that we are here for her. I only got to talk to Suzanne for one short minute in which we were both crying so hard we could not talk.
 
LETTERS OF SUPPORT NEEDED
 
    Please write to Lt. Colonel Switzer, Ft. Lewis, Washington, to ask that Spc. Suzanne Swift receive an honorable discharge from the Army due to her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Lt. Col. Switzer
Department of the Army
Commander
504th Military Police Battalion
MS55, Box 339500
Ft. Lewis, WA 98433-9500.
 fax # : 253-966-9467.

After writing the letter, please fax a copy to Senators Wyden and Smith and Rep. DeFazio. See page 11 for the fax number:
 

Let me know if you send a letter and if you get a response.
 
Suzanne needs help with her legal and medical expenses. Donations should be made out to the Support Suzanne Swift Fund and mailed to Sara Rich, PO Box 51584, Eugene OR 97405. For a tax-deductible contribution make checks out to Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC), on a separate note say "military sexual harassment fund", amd mail to CALC, PO Box 10837, Eugene, OR 97440. 

Feel free to contact me at formydaughtersuzanne@yahoo.com.
 
Thanks so much from Suzanne and her family. We appreciate your love and passion. This is so important for us to do - not only to end the war, but also to defend women who are in the military.
 
 Sara Rich, M.S.W.
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INTERVIEWS:

KSOW - Internet Radio Interview- Summary: phone conversation with Sara Rich of Eugene, Oregon, concerning recent arrest of her daughter; Sara talks of the lies told to her daughter, Suzanne Swift, by recruiters, the conditions she suffered through in Iraq, including rampant sexual harassment, and...

Democracy Now! -  Interview with Swift's mother, Sarah Rich, 6/15/06 - Thursday, June 15th, 2006
Sexually Harassed Soldier is Arrested After Refusing to Redeploy to Iraq

Police in Eugene, Oregon have arrested 21-year-old Army Specialist Suzanne Swift for refusing to return to fight in Iraq. Swift served in Iraq for a year but decided she could not return and went AWOL. Not only did she feel the war lacked purpose, Swift said her superiors repeatedly sexually harassed her while serving in Iraq. We speak with her mother, Sara Rich.

Transcript:
MY GOODMAN: We're joined now in Portland, Oregon by Sarah Rich. She's the mother of the Army specialist Suzanne Swift. We welcome you to Democracy Now!

SARAH RICH: Hello, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Can you tell us exactly what happened to Sarah? What happened when she went to Iraq, and what happened when she came home?

SARAH RICH: I’ll tell you what happened to Suzanne. When Suzanne was 19, she was recruited into the Army, and they promised her she would never go to Iraq. The first thing they told her when she went to basic training is that she was going to Iraq and that she was going to die. She got home from her basic training and was immediately sent to Iraq, where we thought that she would be facing danger from the war, but mostly she was facing danger from her sergeants that were in charge of her.

She spent a year there and I sat on my hands not saying anything because she said that if I said anything about the sexual harassment and assaults, that she would be in more danger than she was in already. When she came home, I said, "Can I say something now?" She said, "No, please don't, mom. I’ll just get in so much trouble, and I’ll be a traitor to my country and to my unit. So I didn't say anything, and then within a month of her being back, her sergeant -- she reported to her sergeant and said, "Where do I report to in the morning, sergeant?" And he said, "In my bed, naked."

At that point she broke and decided to go and tell, and he was moved to a different unit, and she was shamed and treated terribly by her unit for some time. Then they told her she was going to be redeployed. We thought she would have 18 months of stabilization time. And they forced her to sign a waiver waiving her rights to 18 months and were sending her back 11 months after her first return from Iraq. She then prepared to go back to Iraq, and three days before her deployment, she had her keys in her hand. She was in the kitchen, and we were looking at each other, and she said -- she turned to me, and she said, "Mom, I just can't go back." I said, "Are you serious?" She said, "I’m serious. I can't go back there."

And from then on, she decided to go AWOL from the Army, and that was six months ago. During that time she's been seeing a psychologist, dealing with her post-traumatic stress disorder, and planning on turning herself back in. However, on Sunday night, the Eugene Police Department came to our house at 10:30 p.m., when we were all in bed, and came to the house and arrested Suzanne and took her to jail and now she's been taken back to Fort Lewis and put back in active duty with her 54th M.P. unit.

AMY GOODMAN: Have you had a chance to speak to her there?

SARAH RICH: I sure have. I sure have. She -- I talked to her on Tuesday, and I spoke to her on Wednesday, yesterday.

AMY GOODMAN: What did she say?

SARAH RICH: She said, “how can I help, mom? What can I do?” I said, “sweetheart, just stay safe.” They took her back and they put her under the care of one of the sergeants that we are actually pressing criminal charges against for the harassment in Iraq. So I called her attorney immediately, who was already on the base, for her, and he got her changed, and we got a no-contact order with that sergeant.

AMY GOODMAN: We invited the military to join us on the program, but they declined. However, Tammy Reed, a spokesperson from Fort Lewis where your lawyer is being held, in Washington, provided the following statement:

TAMMY REED: Specialist Swift has returned to Fort Lewis and is on duty in her unit. She will in-process back into the installation on -- today, Wednesday, June 14. She has also been restricted to her unit area and her pass privileges have been revoked, meaning she cannot leave Fort Lewis. Her chain of command is thoroughly investigating the circumstances surrounding her absence from the unit and no charges have yet been filed.

Because the matter is under investigation, and for privacy reasons, we cannot discuss details of Specialist Swift's case. The Army is committed to ensuring that every soldier is treated with dignity and respect, and the commanders take very seriously any claims of mistreatment, and investigate each claim thoroughly to determine the facts of the case and take appropriate action.

AMY GOODMAN: Tammy Reed is a spokesperson at Fort Lewis, Washington where Suzanne Swift is now being held. She's released from prison, she's with her unit. We're talking to her mother Sarah Rich in a studio in Portland, Oregon. Sarah, can you talk more about her experience in Iraq, and were there other women in her unit?

SARAH RICH: From what I remember, there were two other women in her unit, and most of the time the three women were separated and had their own rooms. Her experience with the war -- she was a Humvee driver so she was the driver of a Humvee for a combat patrol when she was in Karbala in Iraq, and she -- I think we were both just so shocked at the treatment that almost every one of the soldiers, the male soldiers gave her that we didn't quite know what to do for the first couple of months. Well, and we couldn't do anything because she would have been a traitor to her country and to her unit if she had spoken up.

There was one soldier who was her confidant and her friend and helped her, and when she was in real trouble or really scared of some of the sergeants and what they were doing to her, he was the one that would give her solace and comfort. She said he was the only man that was faithful to his wife in that unit, and how much she cared about him, and he's still her friend today.

So she encountered so much harassment that -- it was daily, sometimes it was hourly. She was punished. She was in her own room so she had -- you know, the some of the sergeants, especially this one main sergeant had access to her all the time. He would show up in the middle of the night, intoxicated, wanting to have sex with her and if she said no, she would be punished. She used to say, "He's just insane, mom. He's an insane person, and I’m scared to death."

AMY GOODMAN: And explain, then, how she told others about what happened, her superiors, when they had him moved to another unit, not punished, but moved, is that right?

SARAH RICH: This is somebody else. She has not reported this one. The only one that she reported was after she got back from Iraq and had been serving as a military police officer in Fort Lewis. Her direct supervisor, or the person she reported to, was the one who did that and he was a different sergeant. And he is one of the three we are going to be pursuing with criminal charges soon.

AMY GOODMAN: Suzanne Swift, right now, talking about the person that she had to deal with, even at Fort Lewis, explain there.

SARAH RICH: Explain there? When she was in Fort Lewis?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes.

SARAH RICH: And she was serving as a military police officer in Fort Lewis and she -- this is the one that when she went up to them the night before she was supposed to report to duty, she said, "Sergeant, where do you want me to report to?" and he looked at her, and it was in a group of people, and he said, "In my bed, naked." And that was the straw that broke Suzanne's back, and she said, "I can't do this anymore."

She turned around and went immediately and reported him. They were both investigated. She said she was treated horribly, that it was basically her -- both of their faults, that they were both culpable for the harassment and the involvement, and he was moved to a different unit, and she told me that he was promoted. I’m not sure if that's accurate. And then she was treated like a traitor. She called me, crying, for days afterwards because people would call her names, and not look at her, and not talk to her and it was very stressful and very sad for her, the way people would respond to her finally speaking up for herself.

AMY GOODMAN: Sarah, why did Suzanne join the military?

SARAH RICH: Well, she got a real good deal, Amy. They -- the recruiters really wooed her. She was in a -- She had graduated from high school. She was in a dead end -- well, she working at Safeway, and she was miserable. She hated going to work every day. She didn't know what to do. You know, we looked at college, and she just said she wasn't ready for college, and the recruiters were calling our home. They have our home number, and they were offering her travel and college money and training and if she signed up for the special deal of being a military police officer for five years instead of four, she would not be deployed to Iraq, because at that time they weren't deploying military police to Iraq, she was told.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, she was deployed.

SARAH RICH: Immediately.

AMY GOODMAN: What are your thoughts right now, Sarah, as Suzanne's mother, what do you want to happen right now? And will you be suing the military?

SARAH RICH: Well Suzanne is -- you know, this has gotten bigger than Suzanne. Right now I want Suzanne to have an honorable discharge because she has post-traumatic stress from being treated so horribly in a war zone by the people that were supposed to be caring for her and in charge of her very life were molesting and harassing her so I want Suzanne's rights to be honored, and I want her to be discharged from the Army with full benefits because her emotional and psychological well-being is so compromised.

But what's really surprising me, Amy, is the amount of women veterans that have been calling and emailing, saying, "That's exactly what happened to me, and nobody listened." It breaks my heart, and Suzanne is just shocked at how many people are supporting her and saying, "You're not alone and you're not crazy. That's what happened to me, and it wasn't your fault." And that's the big thing for Suzanne because she has really thought that this was all her fault.

AMY GOODMAN: Are you sorry she joined the military, Sarah Rich?

SARAH RICH: Oh, so sorry, so sorry that she joined the military, and that's one of the things I do, I’m a counter-military recruiter now, and Suzanne has said, "Mom, I want to join you as soon as I’m clear. I want to join you and tell kids what the recruiters are really doing. It's really like selling your soul to the devil to go be human fodder for an illegal war.”

AMY GOODMAN: What do you do as a counter-military recruiter?

SARAH RICH: We go to rural high schools, especially rural high schools because that's where the recruiters go, where there's kids that don't really have the money for education, where they don't have anything to do other than, you know, work in a gas station, possibly, that's, you know, what they have to look forward to. So when the recruiters come and they say, “let me take you out to lunch, let me give you this, let me promise you a college education. Let me promise you a future. Let me promise you world travel. And, you know, you probably won't go to Iraq, it will be over by the time you get in.”

So we go and we talk to these kids and we get them real fired up, but it's the kids that are already with us that are already against the war that are -- you know, because this isn't about anti-military, this is about the way that our military is being deployed and treated as human fodder that is so wrong. And we get these kids fired up, and they're the ones that work with their peers. They're the ones that are most effective in telling their peers, "Don't sign up. Are you kidding me? Don't risk your life."

AMY GOODMAN: Sarah, if people want to reach you, do you have a website or an email address that you want to share? Remember, this is public; it goes out on hundreds of stations so you could get a lot of mail.

SARAH RICH: Sure, somebody did set up an email account, and it's at Yahoo, and it's ForMyDaughterSuzanne@yahoo.com. And yeah, I’m already getting a lot of email. I was up for hours yesterday answering the emails.

AMY GOODMAN: Sarah Rich, we look forward to speaking to you again. We'll certainly follow your daughter Suzanne Swift's case. I just want to thank you for joining us from Portland, Oregon.

SARAH RICH: Thank you, Amy, so much.

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program  call 1 (888) 999-3877.

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NEWS ARTICLES:

Soldier complains of sexual coercion
By Susan Palmer
The Register-Guard
Published: Thursday, June 15, 2006

A Eugene soldier being investigated for deserting her military police unit has alleged that she was sexually harassed by two superiors and coerced into a sexual relationship with a sergeant while she was in Iraq.
Suzanne Swift, a specialist with the 54th Military Police Co. based at Fort Lewis, Wash., was arrested at her mother's house in south Eugene on Sunday and held at the Lane County Jail before being escorted by military police to Fort Lewis on Tuesday.
In a brief phone interview from the base, Swift said three sergeants directly in her chain of command began propositioning her for sex almost from the minute she arrived overseas. She was in Iraq from February 2004 until February 2005. When her unit was redeployed to Iraq in January 2006, she refused to go and remained in Oregon.
Swift is restricted to her base while the Army looks into her case, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Hitt said.
Though she can't leave, she is being treated with dignity and respect, he said.
Her unauthorized absence violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Her commanding officer could recommend a reprimand or a court-martial, which could result in her loss of all Army benefits and a sentence of up to five years in prison.
It's not clear how long the investigation into her absence will take, said Hitt, who did not specifically confirm that Swift's allegations are also part of the inquiry.
"The Army is investigating the details surrounding her absence from the unit," he said.
But Swift's attorney, Larry Hildes, said that her commanding officer, Lt. Col. James Switzer, assured him that he planned a criminal investigation.
"He's taking her allegations of sexual harassment seriously," Hildes said.
Hildes said that when Swift complained to the appropriate Army authority, an equal opportunity officer, her complaints were ignored.
For rejecting the advances of two of the noncommissioned officers, Swift said she was publicly humiliated and forced to do extra work.
Swift said she had a sexual relationship with her immediate supervisor in Iraq, but that it was a coerced relationship based on his power over her.
"In a combat situation, your squad leader is deciding whether you live or die. If he wants you to run across a minefield, you run across a minefield," she said.
Swift drove a Humvee in Karbala, a city southwest of Baghdad. On combat patrol, she was frequently assigned to visit Iraqi police stations, often the targets of insurgents.
"You have to be on your guard the whole time," she said.
While Swift didn't talk about sexual harassment with the other women in her unit, she's certain she wasn't the only one targeted.
"Nobody talks about it," she said.
But Swift isn't the only one to make these kinds of accusations. News reports of women being harassed and sexually assaulted in Iraq and Kuwait in 2004 prompted the Department of Defense to create a task force to examine the extent of the problem and to develop recommendations for dealing with it.
The Defense Department's sexual assault task force report concluded that its policies and programs aimed at preventing sexual assault were inconsistent and incomplete and left women particularly vulnerable in joint combat environments.
Swift said she believes that the military is taking her allegations seriously now. She is back in the barracks with her company, which returned in April from its second tour in Iraq. Swift said her fellow soldiers aren't treating her any differently than they did before. Those who were friends with her six months ago are still friends, she said.
"I hope more women will speak out against the horrible things that happen," she said.
But such allegations are notoriously difficult to prove, often devolving to the word of the victim against the word of the accused, Hildes said.
"That's the nature of sexual harassment," he said. "There are almost never witnesses."
While her allegations are serious, Swift faces a serious charge herself. By abandoning her unit for more than 30 days - the federal warrant lists her as missing since Jan. 9, 2006 - she moves from unauthorized absentee to the more serious category of deserter, a soldier with no intent to return, said Kathleen Duignan, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice. The nonprofit agency works to improve public understanding of the military justice system.
Her commander probably will take into account aggravating factors in her case, such as deserting during a time of war, Duignan said.
"It's a unique military offense," she said. "It goes to good order, morale and discipline." An effective fighting force requires soldiers who are ready to respond to their orders, she said.
That will have to be balanced against the harassment allegations Swift has made.
"I can't see it offering a complete defense, because they would say she should have continued to bring it up through the chain of command," Duignan said.
Hildes said he expects Swift will be discharged from the Army rather than face a court-martial, but Fort Lewis spokesman Hitt said no decision has been made yet.
Either way, the issues represented by this case - desertion and failure of trust among soldiers who need to work together - are troublesome on the battlefield.
"When good order and discipline falls apart, your effectiveness diminishes," Duignan said. "You take it a step further, and those are the kinds of things that lose wars."

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Army specialist refuses to return to Iraq
AWOL soldier's arrest brings out supporters
By Susan Palmer
The Register-Guard
Published: Tuesday, June 13, 2006

A soldier who deserted her Army unit to avoid a second tour of duty
in Iraq will be returned to Fort Lewis, Wash., today after being
arrested in Eugene on Sunday.
Eugene police arrested Suzanne Nicole Swift, 21, a specialist with
the 54th Military Police Company, after receiving a copy of a felony
warrant from the Fort Lewis provost marshal's office on Sunday. The
warrant indicated that Swift could be found at her mother's house and
officers arrested her there, Eugene police spokesman Rich Stronach
said. Swift had been absent without leave since January.
Swift was taken to the Lane County Jail where she was expected to be
handed over to military police today and returned to the Army base
near Tacoma. She could not be reached for comment.
Swift's mother, Eugene social worker Sara Rich, has been a vocal
opponent of the Iraq war, but said she didn't stand in her daughter's
way when Swift decided to join the Army in spring 2003. Swift had
graduated from South Eugene High School the year before and had been
working, but felt she wasn't getting anywhere, Rich said. The message
from Army recruiters - that she could receive an education and travel
- resonated. Rich said recruiters told her daughter if she signed up
for a five-year tour with the military police, she would not be sent
to Iraq.
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But it didn't work out that way. After Swift became part of the
military police, her company was deployed to Iraq in February 2004.
She was stationed in Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad.
The city - a holy site to Shiite Muslims - has seen its share of the
violence of war. Swift drove a Humvee on combat patrol there, her
mother said.
She came home to Fort Lewis in February 2005, believing she had the
standard 18 months decompression time before she would be redeployed,
Rich said. Mother and daughter visited whenever they could, but Swift
didn't tell her much about what she'd seen of the war.
"She had been through so much, but she didn't want to freak me out,"
Rich said.
Then Swift was asked to sign a waiver agreeing to return to Iraq
early, in January, 11 months after returning to the United States. It
was the last thing Swift wanted to do, Rich said. Having seen the war
first-hand, she had profound doubts about it, and had told her mother
she thought the war lacked purpose and that no one had benefited from
the U.S. presence in Iraq.
While she was in Iraq, she wrote to Rich about being repeatedly
sexually harassed by Army staff and was always anxious about being
assaulted, Rich said. She didn't complain because she thought it
would make things worse, Rich said.
Days before the redeployment in January, Swift was packed and ready
to go, but then broke down, car keys in hand, Rich said.
"She turned to me in the kitchen and said, `I can't go back there.' I
said, `Good, don't do it,' " Rich said.
So Swift stayed behind when the 54th Military Police Company returned
to Iraq. First she stayed with a friend in Brookings on the Southern
Oregon Coast, but in May, she came back to Eugene and moved in with
her mother.
Rich arranged for her to speak with an attorney and begin seeing a
psychologist for help with post traumatic stress disorder. She said
she would rather see her daughter imprisoned for desertion than
returned to Iraq.
Fort Lewis Army spokesman Joe Hitt confirmed that Swift would be
returned to Fort Lewis, but declined to discuss her situation
further. He said that her company commander will
determine appropriate punishment and that no decision had been made
in her case.
According to an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, the number of
soldiers absent without leave - AWOL, which means they are are
missing from their military unit for up to 30 days - is less than 1
percent of the total number of soldiers. In 2005, 2,011 soldiers were
reported AWOL, down from 4,483 in 2002, the spokesman said.
But those numbers don't add up, said the lawyer representing Swift.
Larry Hildes, a Bellingham, Wash., attorney who is part of a National
Lawyers Guild task force on military law, said there are hundreds of
lawyers around the nation representing deserting soldiers. He has
handled a dozen such cases since the Iraq war began and has four
current cases.
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A national hotline dealing with the rights of those in the military
gets a minimum of 2,000 calls a month, Hildes said, the majority of
them from soldiers who don't want to return to war.
"An increasing number have been to Iraq and are refusing to go back.
I've got interrogators and military police officers who will not go
back," Hildes said.
Desertion can bring a range of responses, from a reprimand and
re-integration with the unit to the loss of all military benefits,
court martial and a five-year stint in prison.
It carries a powerful social stigma, too, which Rich acknowledged.
But she sees her daughter's refusal to return the way she viewed her
daughter's willingness to serve in the first place.
"She went to Iraq once and she was my hero then," Rich said. "I think
it takes a lot more courage to say no than to go back and be fodder
for an immoral war."
Hildes said he had been in contact with base officials weighing
Swift's case, and the last he heard, they were considering a
nonjudicial punishment, possibly an administrative discharge.
The Register-Guard was unable to talk with the Fort Lewis commander
making the decision in Swift's case. The 54th Military Police Company
returned from Iraq in April. According to a base newspaper, the
company helped operate two compounds at Camp Bucca, the largest
prisoner-of-war facility in Iraq.
About 70 peace activists joined Rich for a vigil on Monday in support
of her daughter outside the Lane County Jail.

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Female Soldier Refuses to Deploy
Associated Press | June 13, 2006

EUGENE, Oregon - A 21-year-old woman who refused to deploy with her Army unit to Iraq for a second tour has been arrested and will be returned to Fort Lewis, Wash., Eugene police said Monday.

Eugene Police spokesman Sgt. Rich Stronach said Spec. Suzanne Swift, 21, told officers she did not want to go back to Iraq. She was picked up Sunday night at the request of the Army.

Stronach said Swift at first did not say who she was but was identified by tattoos described in the warrant and was arrested at her family's home without incident.

She was listed as AWOL late last year and her unit left for Iraq without her. She served her first tour in Iraq with a military police unit in 2004, her mother, Sarah Rich, told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Rich said her daughter broke down and said she could not return because of the war and the way she was treated. She said her daughter was belittled, called names, and frequently propositioned.

Swift is expected to be returned to Fort Lewis on Tuesday.

*****

Eugene Police Jail AWOL Soldier

By Kristian Foden-Vencil
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=927262

EUGENE, OR 2006-06-12 Eugene Police jailed US Army service woman Specialist Suzanne Swift Sunday night at the request of the military. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, Swift has been absent without leave since last year when she refused to return to Iraq.

Swift, who's 21, served her first tour in Iraq in 2004.

She was a Military Police Officer in Karbala. She drove a Humvee during combat patrols and was repeatedly shot at, according to her mother, Sarah Rich. She says her daughter was about to leave for her second tour when she broke down and said she simply couldn't -- because of the war itself and the way she was treated.

Sarah Rich: "She was belittled, she was called names daily. She was called fat. She was propositioned to have sex daily and if she refused she was treated like a dog and if she accepted she was treated like a dog."

Military Police from Fort Lewis are scheduled to collect Swift Tuesday and return her to her unit.

The unit is expected to leave for a third tour of duty in 2007.


© Copyright 2006, OPB

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