Patrick Demmons

I am looking to re-engage in a meaningful way with other members of the veterans community. After my ETS in 2012, I haven't looked back much in reflection on my time in the Army, and my deployment to Iraq. In light of this recent divisive presidential election, and the very real prospect of new interventions and new fronts in the "war on terror", in addition to the vile anti-Muslim rhetoric growing in our country and our leadership, I felt it was time to speak up about my real experiences with actual muslims. I was a HUMINT. Team leader in Iraq, I was a trained Arabic Linguist with a very solid grasp of local Iraqi dialects. I recruited insurgents and criminals as intelligence sources for the military. I walked the streets almost every day and spoke to government leaders, local business leaders, women and children. I came to the quick realization that if you walk the streets looking for enemies, everyone looks like a potential target. In reality, the vast majority of people in Iraq are like people everywhere, just trying to make it through their day. I want to be able to speak to people who have never met a Muslim, and help them realize that they are really no different at all. I'm also shocked at the deep divisions and misunderstandings between Americans this past several years, and the gap between "red" and "blue" America. I am a white man, from a middle class upbringing. My parents are engineers and scientists with advanced degrees. I was raised in an incredibly multi-cultural city in northern California, with classmates white, black, Hispanic, Japanese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani, Nigerian, etc. I realize that not all parts of this country are this multicultural, but we are moving inexorably in that direction. I realize that not everyone had the same advantages I had in education and upbringing. What with the slow death of the middle class in this country and consolidation of wealth, my children face the prospect for the first time in generations of facing shrinking opportunity. I get why so many Americans are angry, distrusting, fearful. But if my time in the army taught me anything, it's that we all have so much more in common than we realize, that we are all "green", that we all have to embrace the suck, and that when working together to a common goal, absolutely nothing can prevent us from accomplishing our mission. Sadly, I've also come to realize how hurtful and destructive the collective power of military can be when turned on an amorphous enemy hiding amongst a civilian population. I've learned first hand how intelligence collection efforts harm real families. I've seen how much more we have in common with our professed enemies than our own government and leadership. Joining the army for me was a decision deeply rooted in patriotism and a family tradition of service. Serving at a time of war was a transformative experience which left me questioning the motivations of my government, and had me reevaluating my own morality. We are all human, worthy of living lives of dignity and peace. War is not the Answer.