Recruiters Back Down: Grandmothers Enlist In Army To Protest Evil War In Iraq

December 12, 2005

Recruiters Back Down: Grandmothers Enlist In Army To Protest Evil War

In Iraq

Dec. 6, 2005 by Dane Smith, Star-Tribune [Minneapolis-St. Paul]

Eleven antiwar activists who are the grandmothers of 48 grandchildren

marched into an Army recruiting station near the University of

Minnesota Tuesday morning and volunteered to enlist.

The protesters described themselves as longtime peace activists. " The

idea is to make a statement about the futility of war, " said Sue Ann

Martinson of Minneapolis, a spokeswoman for the event.

Initially, recruiters at the station refused to allow the women to

fill out enlistment forms. Then they sat on the floor, and Martinson

said they were prepared to be arrested.

" I respectfully asked them to leave, and they have refused, and I've

asked the police to help us resolve this, " Capt. Valent Bernat, a

recruiter, said as events unfolded.

After police arrived and spoke with the protesters, recruiters agreed

to allow them to fill out enlistment forms. They did so and departed.

" There's incredibly aggressive recruiting going on, " Martinson said,

explaining the protest's purpose.

" Our children are not cannon fodder, " read one of the protesters' signs.

One of the 11 was Erica Bouza, wife of former Minneapolis Police Chief

Tony Bouza and a longtime peace activist. " We grandmothers cannot sit

quietly by and watch our youth being cajoled into the Army to die or

be maimed in a senseless war, " Bouza said in a news release.

Mary Lou Ott of Edina, who said she is the grandmother of 19, said the

recruiters were " very polite and kind to us. " But, she added, " This is

a bloody war, an evil war, an immoral war, and we wanted to find

creative ways of demonstrating that. "

Bernat said the maximum age for enlistment is 40 for the Reserve and

35 for the regular Army. But he described the 11 grandmothers as " a

nice group of ladies " and expressed relief that the incident was

amicably resolved.

" We're not here to get people in trouble, " Bernat said. " I served a

year in Iraq. I have my opinions. They have theirs. "

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