Board recommends 'general discharge' for soldier [who had refused deployment to Iraq]

Associated Press - April 21, 2009 (WAAY)

OVERLAND, Mo. (AP) - An Army sergeant who had refused deployment to Iraq said a board recommended he receive a "general discharge under honorable conditions."

Matthis Chiroux (MAY'-this shuh-ROW'), now of Brooklyn, N.Y., but originally from Auburn, Ala., had an administrative hearing Tuesday in suburban St. Louis.

The 25-year-old reservist has been in the military since 2002, but believes the war in Iraq is wrong and that U.S. authority there is illegitimate. He says his lawyer considers the hearing's outcome a victory.

Army Lt. Col. Maria Quon (KWAHN) said she couldn't release the board's recommendation due to privacy rules.

However, she said its findings are not the final word. That decision rests with Maj. Gen. Sean Byrne, who oversees the Army's Human Resources Command. She said it could take weeks for that determination.

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Matthis Chiroux's note of celebration

Via Naomi Wolf:

"Today, I stood before the Army. I looked a board of officers in the eyes, and I told them I thought they were sending people off to participate in war crimes. And what did they say? Get out of here, Sergeant, and keep your damn G.I. Bill!!!

Indeed, folks! The Army awarded me a recommendation for a general discharge under honorable conditions from the Individual Ready Reserve for my refusal to deploy to Iraq last summer. This landmark decision means not only am I a free man, I'm free to continue school this fall with the “new” G.I. Bill that I earned while on active duty.

Though this discharge is identical to the one I refused in exchange for having this hearing, I can now rest easy knowing I never submitted, I never backed down and the Army has heard my story.

And not just my story, but the stories of those brave veterans at Winter Soldier and those who've participated in IVAW's Warrior Writers' program. Full texts of both books were submitted to the Army this morning, and I can only imagine the fun they're having transcribing them into the record.

I testified, Marjorie Conn, the president of the National Lawyers' Guild, testified, and my mother Patricia testified as to why my refusal to deploy was quite legitimate and not deserving of attack by the military.

Though Maj. Laws, the prosecution, did everything he could to keep my legal arguments from the ears of the board (he even prevented me from reading to them from my Constitution calling the document irrelevant), our voices were heard loud and clear by a board of gentlemen who've given me a new respect and hope for our nation and servicemembers world-wide.

The hearing, which lasted around four-and-a-half hours, cemented in my mind that not only is military resistance to our illegal occupations righteous, it is finding new breath amongst troops who are fed up with the status quo.

This all came after a provocative appearance this morning on the local Fox News Channel (http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-ap-soldier-on-trial-042109,0,1094348.story) in which I wore a patriotic symbol of distress (an upside-down flag) on my uniform."