James W. Prescott, Ph.D.
1140-23 Savannah Road
Lewes, DE 19958
302.645.7436
jprescott34@comcast.net
http://www.violence.de
http://montagunocircpetition.org
13 February 2013
Senator Chuck Hagel
Distinguished Professor
School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University CC 301
Washington D.C. 20057
Dear Senator Hagel,
First, Congratulations on your advancement to become Secretary of Defense—- America needs your help.
The military Mothers of this Nation also need your help. Attached is my letter to Secretary Gates of 18 November 2010 that opposes Mothers in Combat and the dangers to the mental and emotional health of Mothers and Children consequent to maternal-infant/child separation; a review of the psychosocial damage inflicted, which contributes to increased vulnerability to PTSD -- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; the non-response of Colonel E. Languirand, Chief, Command Policy and Programs Division, Department of the Army, which documents the failure of The Family Care Plan, dated 22 January 2010, enclosed; and highlights from a remarkable book: True Americanism: Green Berets and War Resistors by David Mark Mantell, which should be required reading by all Officers in the Military, if Humanity is to be restored in our military, enclosed. http://www.violence.de/prescott/letters/Mantell2.pdf
http://www.violence.de/politics.shtml#WOMEN_AND_MOTHERS_IN_COMBAT
In that book, Mantell states:
"Shortly after the first reports of the My Lai massacre reverberated through the American press, the mother of one of the involved soldiers told a journalist, "I sent the Army a good boy and they made a murderer out of him"; and
"The character of a nation, its policies and institutions, reflect its family life. One cannot be separated from the other, but most parents do not fully understand the implications of their own behavior for the immediate or future behavior of their children....It is my view, however, that the reactions of individual Americans to the war in Vietnam were wittingly and unwittingly created within the American family" .http://www.violence.de/prescott/letters/Mantell2.pdf
The military cannot change the American family, which produces the American soldier, but it can prevent the turning of Mothers into killers where equality is sought on the battlefield---a futile and destructive effort by Mothers and for human civilization.
Women and Mothers should not be called upon to fight the combat battles created by Men and historically fought by Men. http://www.violence.de/politics.shtml#WOMEN_AND_MOTHERS_IN_COMBAT
This is a request that you review the enclosed material with the intent that you, as Secretary of Defense, ban Mothers from the combat theaters in the world and from military assignments that separate Mothers from their infants and children.
I am copying this letter with enclosures to Army Secretary Hughes and President Obama. You may wish to share this letter and enclosures with Secretary of State, John F. Kerry.
With best wishes for your success as Secretary, Department of Defense.
Sincerely,
James W. Prescott, Ph.D.
Cc: President Barack Obama
Secretary of the Army, John McHugh