Mary Flaig's Blog

Danny Chen was a sensitive, bright 19 year old, from NY City, who joined the Army with great optimism...he wanted adventure. "New York Magazine" has a gripping profile of him, by Jennifer Gonnerman...his background and what brought him to be an "alleged" suicide in a miserable area of Afghanistan, Kandahar Province. Instead of the roadside bombs, booby traps and ambushes that plague the people serving there, Danny was a victim of his supervisors...the people that were supposed to protect him. He was there for about a month and endured daily physical torture as well as verbal harassment. Danny's rank was that of Private...so far a lieutenant, 2 staff sergeants, 3 sergeants and 2 specialists (all white) have been charged in his death...5 of the 8 with involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. They report he shot himself but many more details are yet to emerge during the upcoming court-martial. Reading this article informed me that Asian Americans are not accepted in the Services...Harry Lew, a Marine, in Afghanistan, was another casualty of being tormented by his fellow soldiers...he committed suicide. One of few African American soldiers in Iraq, Brushaun Anderson, killed himself after repeated abuse...

How do you explain this heartbreaking brutality...? The Army has a growing number of suicides and homicides to deal with...maybe the mindset on all levels has to be reexamined...