Iraq Veteran Against the War

Benji Lewis laughs when he talks about the trouble he caught from a Marine staff sergeant for a tattoo he got before his second tour, a large peace sign on his forearm. He laughs when he says that part of the reason he joined the military, at 17,was because it was so cold in Minnesota.

Lewis does not laugh when he talks about what war has put him through, during his assignments in Fallujah and Hadita, and the sleep deprivation, malnutrition, and high stress he endured. He does not laugh when he talks about the rocket propelled grenades, the mortar fire, and the fact that he had to kill.

Last October, after being discharged for over a year, Lewis was on inactive reserve and was taking a political science class at LBCC,driven to understand the world events that had such an impact on his life.

One night that October, Benji was woken up by a phone call at 5 a. m. It was his dad. He told him a certified letter had come. Lewis was being recalled.

The next couple weeks were nerve-racking for Lewis. He lived on a diet of mostly coffee, wine, and cigarettes -- results of a previous conclusion that there is nothing good that can arise from war, and he did not want to be part of it any longer.

He decided he would not go back.

The day before he reported to Missouri and proved that he was fit for active duty, Lewis publicly announced at a Winter Soldier hearing in Portland that he was resisting activation due to his convictions. He is set to mobilize June 1st in California.


He is the second inactive reservist, in all branches of the military, to publicly resist activation.

“We are living in a country where things are changing. The war department is now called the pentagon, but certain things do not change. Pride doesn’t change. Greed doesn’t change. Corporate pillaging doesn’t change, and the voice of the people doesn’t change,” Lewis said in his testimony.

Leah Bolger, national vice president of Veterans for Peace, said there were a number of ways that Lewis could have avoided his recall-- one being to simply ignore it and go on living his life without penalty. She admires the courage it took to announce his resistance publicly and the degree to which he has become involved.

“He is now working very hard to make sure that other inactive reservists understand their rights and options and has quickly become an integral part of the peace movement both locally and nationally,” Bolger said.

Since his announcement, Lewis has joined a number of organizations, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, and Courage to Resist, and the peace studies program here at LBCC.

With these organizations, Lewis participates in outreach for Iraq veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. He is setting up a truth in recruitment program, which hopes to limit recruiters on college campuses and is working on a sanctuary city project in Portland, which would turn the city into a safe haven for soldiers who are conscientious objectors.

In an article Lewis wrote for The courage To Resist Web page, he calls out to other inactive reservists who may find themselves called to a war they feel to be morally wrong.

“We can say no,” Lewis writes.