Anti-war woman's trip to see son serving in Iraq has surprises for both

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | April 3, 2004 | Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer

[Cincinatus' Wife]

'Hey, Nick. Your mom's here.' Anti-war Alameda woman's trip to see son serving in Iraq has surprises for both

........Galleymore was more political as a young mother, taking her young children on protest marches during the Iran-Contra controversy of the mid- 1980s. Her children hung out with the progressive thinkers she met while working for a food policy organization. But Galleymore's activism faded as her children entered adolescence, her time eaten up by the demands of single motherhood.

And somewhere along the line, her children didn't absorb her political perspective.

After Nick finished his third year at San Francisco State University and had been accepted for transfer to UC Berkeley, he announced that he had joined the Army.

"It was a total surprise," Galleymore said. "It wasn't like he needed money for college. He was already three years in, so that doesn't hold water."

She dismissed Nick's volunteering as a phase; it wasn't. Her son not only wanted to be in the Army, he wanted to be in an elite unit. He passed up completing his college degree and left for boot camp on Independence Day weekend, 1999.

Galleymore still doesn't know exactly why. They could never fully discuss it.

In January 2003, Nick was shipped to Afghanistan. He had become an Army Ranger, a jump master for paratroopers and a sniper. He was in the thick of the action. Last Dec. 19, his 26th birthday, Nick called to say he was headed to Iraq. At that point, with U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians being killed almost daily, Galleymore began to panic. She couldn't sleep at night, "because I was thinking, 'My kid is going to get killed for something I don't believe in, and I don't think he knows what he's getting into.' "

She began talking with other military mothers, hoping to get their perspectives on how to cope. But many knew little about what was going on in Iraq. Frustrating her effort to learn more about Nick was that she felt the news reporting from the front lines was giving an overly rosy picture of the U. S. occupation.

At wit's end, she decided that the only way to calm her fears was to go to Iraq. She got in touch with Code Pink, which has led about a dozen parents to Iraq over the past few months. After holding a fund-raiser, which netted half of the trip's $2,200 cost, she left for Iraq on Jan. 24. ................

[stocksthatgoup]

Tripe!

[Otta B Sleepin]

I agree.

I'm not disputing that she loves her son, but it's a selfish love that, as someone said previously, is projecting her own ideals onto her children.

At the end of the article, it said "But she knows they'll eventually understand each other; they're mother and child." To me, that translates as "I'm his mother, he's my child, so he'll eventually come around and do what he's supposed to."

She doesn't want to understand his way of thinking; she wants him to see things her way.

[misunderestimated]

"When Nick was in Afghanistan, I tried to think of a project we could work on together, expecting he would be coming out of the military this July, but he re-upped for three more years. I was thinking he'd need some kind of decompression time and maybe we could work on a project together-maybe two voices of war-a mother and son sort of thing."

Must be earth-shattering for a mindless pacifist to give birth to a warrior.

.

[Tennessee_Bob]

and she can't fatham the idea of him doing it because he "Didn't need the money for college"

Oh - well, didn't you know? That's the only reason any of us join the military - especially those of us that enlisted. I'm still trying to figure out how to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars I made while I was an enlisted man in the US Air Force.

Money for college - geeze. I'm betting she protests because she wants to make the world "a better place." Kind of like why so many of us joined the military.

[RGSpincich]

Galleymore prefers not to use Nick's last name so that he is not harassed by his colleagues for her anti-war views. She requested the same anonymity for her daughter, who likewise doesn't share her mother's opinions on the war.

Yahoo! Nothing like living with a lib to show you the idiocy of their logic.

[Milligan]

To get young people to object the war, this group is saying we are having the draft again. I think a couple of Dem's are pushing S89 and HR 163 and it's literally on the floor. When we turn over the authority in June, our troops involvement will be reduced...so no draft.
As a Mother, I would never undermine my child's morale when they are in uniform and in danger's way. This woman is selfish and stupied. Not giving support will make the soldier hestitate about his objectives. This will get him and others killed.
Thanks Mom....

[Ben Chad]

This is the kind of woman who drives a man to workaholism.

[RexBeach]

The deal is as simple as this: If you don't support the troops' mission, you don't support the troops!

Paul Kantner of "The Jefferson Airplane" once said that San Francisco was 49 square miles surrounded by reality. It seems this is still true.

[Uncle Hal]

Folks this all anti war propaganda in the anti war and ultra liberal SF Chronicle. Do you think they would have written an article about a mother who's son was in Iraq and who supported the war. I do not think so.

[daybreakcoming]

So far I haven't seen anyone post that she hates her son. She just loves herself more. He's 25 years old for gawd's sake - she needs to cut her baggage loose from him instead of trying to incorporate him into her politics.

And did I miss the part that mentioned a father? Wonder what he thinks?

[Barset]

This is OT, but wanted to tell you that about three weeks ago my friend's son answered the phone in Caracas and told me they were rounding up men between the ages of 18 to 45 and sending them to Cuba for training. I called my other friend right away, she was gone so I asked her maid if this were true. The maid said that it is voluntary, and the men are given money for their families for volunteering to go to Cuba to be trained.

[carmody]

Don't know if this has already been stated, but can you imagine moms during WWII following there sons to Germany?

And for the record, what is the difference between freeing the Jews from Hitler and freeing the Iraqis from Saddam? Nothing. Apparently, the Holocaust Museum has made more of an impression on conservatives than liberals. Surprise, surprise.

[WOSG]

"And apparently she values politics more than her son. "

Very good point. Politics trumps everything for the red brigades.

[mvpel]

And he's stuck, because he's an honorable man who probably takes the "Honor thy Mother and thy Father" commandment seriously, and wouldn't dream of publishing how he really feels about his mother's point of view.

[mrsmith]

A thread about a mother with a true interest in her soldier son:

Worried Soldier's Mum Emails Colonel In Afghanistan

Touchingly funny results ensue...

Recommended antidote!

[Drango]

In one essay, Galleymore asked for others to appreciate that the soldiers are in a dilemma, "caught in a military culture that encourages the numbing of most emotions but anger. Whip up enough anger in young men emotionally isolated, denied friends, family, lovers, even civilians clothes, physically exhaust them, nourish them inadequately, expose them to extreme temperatures and violent behavior, confine them to base and portray everyone else as murderous and you create impossible stress."

John Kerry and Vietnam redux.

[qam1]

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1982) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details.  

[TADSLOS]

Just another reminder that you can't pick your parents. Ranger on, Nick.

[beaversmom]

The woman is a fruitloop spreading propaganda.

[qam1]

After Nick finished his third year at San Francisco State University and had been accepted for transfer to UC Berkeley, he announced that he had joined the Army.

I wonder if Nick actually wanted to go to those schools or were they his mother's choice

, 'My kid is going to get killed for something I don't believe in, and I don't think he knows what he's getting into.' "

I am just speechless on that statement