"This Is the same as jeopardizing every men and women on the front line. That was the most angering moment for me. From this point on I had no pride in my work, No reason for being in Iraq. It was obvious to me that security was not the top priority for the troops and as one person not allowed to do my job efficiently and to the highest ability was the final straw. Finding that out is the hardest. It was my last reason for staying. For giving my life. You believe you are doing the right thing."
Kimberly stopped believing she was doing the right thing in Iraq, and she stopped believing the United States was doing the right thing in Iraq. Americans were getting wounded and killed, but she saw more of Iraqi suffering. As iPolitics.ca reported in 2012:
"Rivera was troubled
by a two-year-old Iraqi girl who came to the base with her family to claim
compensation after a bombing by U.S. forces.
"'She was just
petrified,' Rivera explained. "She was crying, but there was no sound, just
tears flowing out of her eyes. She was shaking. I have no idea what had
happened in her little life. All I know is I wasn't seeing her: I was seeing my
own little girl. I could imagine my daughter being one of those kids throwing
rocks at soldiers, because maybe someone she loved had been killed. That Iraqi
girl haunts my soul'."
What Happens When You
Look For a Christian Answer to War?
Troubled by the war, Kimberly was reading the Bible in an effort to make sense of the conflict between her faith and her experience. She came to believe that, faced by Iraqi civilians and given an order to shoot, she would not pull the trigger. She knew this could put other soldiers in danger if she didn't shoot. She took this concern to her chaplain for guidance.
This chaplain was not about to discuss religious questions with her, certainly not the peaceable aspects of Christianity. He was hard line, unyielding about her duty to fulfill her mission, basically telling her to suck it up.
He could have advised her of her rights, that there was a regulation, AR 600-43, that gave her the right to petition to be classified a conscientious objector. That might have been the Christian thing to do, but the chaplain didn't do it.
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