I am a Veteran. Both humbled by,and proud of, my short service to the Nation that gave me birth. However,there is something deeply wrong when the military in this great Nation reduces itself to covering up crimes – any crime – committed by a service member or contractor to the military.
So I was disturbed when a family member pointed out to me a link to story I had only the most vague memory of ever hearing. The story of PFC LaVena L. Johnson – an American Hero. A young woman determined to make her own way through higher education by following a Family Tradition of military service to our great Nation. One of our proud soldiers found dead in Iraq some eight days before her 20th birthday from what the Army declared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Right away I had the “shields up” feeling I get when I’m about to be hit by Liberal anti-military/anti-American horseshyte -or- the increasingly lame “I-can’t-get-a-break-because-I’m-Black” syndrome made famous by Jackson and Sharpton. Still, I try to give every story a fair read because sometimes great Truths can be found in the strangest places.
I also thought of my own daughter who will turn 20 years old this month. Kelli, (aka: ‘JoJo’) is serving with the US Navy SeaBees – hardly the ‘norm’ for beautiful young blonds these days, or any other time! What kind of treatment can she expect while deployed?
The Bull read on…
Documents and photos suggest foul play in death of Private Johnson
By Sandra Jordan Of the St. Louis American
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 10:43 PM CDT
The Army claims the 5’1�? African-American soldier from North County died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with a rifle on July 19, 2005.
Her father, John H. Johnson, Ph.D. of Florissant, said color photos and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the military suggest otherwise.
“Our worst fears were substantiated when we started going through information from the Army,�? Johnson said.
Since his daughter’s death, Johnson has been searching for answers that align with the evidence in the case. Johnson hopes a congressional body can push for answers beyond the official report.
“The House Armed Services Committee is looking into Private Johnson’s case, but no decisions have been made regarding a formal investigation,�? said Lara Battles, press secretary for the committee.
Johnson was the first woman soldier from Missouri killed in Iraq. Questions surrounding her death were brought to the attention of U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton during her parents’ visit in April to Washington D.C., to speak with him and other members of Congress. Skelton spoke with the father and mother, Linda Johnson.
Her father, who previously served in the U.S. Army and worked and retired as a civilian personnel specialist for the Army, said efforts to obtain a CD-ROM of color photos taken by Army investigators were unfruitful until U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay spoke about the case at the Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch Congressional hearing.
“Clay put them on the spot during the Jessica Lynch hearings, so they sent (the images) to me,�? Johnson said, calling the photos “horrible.�?
He said the pictures and documents from the incident proved that his daughter had been brutalized – raped, beaten, shot and set on fire.
“Someone poured lye in her vagina to destroy evidence,�? her father said. “Her body was dumped in a dirty, filthy contractor’s tent.
“I told my wife I could let it go, but someone would get away with murder and I couldn’t live with myself.�?
Photos taken of PFC Johnson where her body was found and at autopsy were examined by the American. Although the body was fully clothed and on its back at the scene, nude images taken at autopsy show burns to the right side of the body and lividity (the pooling of blood inside the body after death) on her left side.
The victim’s nose appeared to be broken and pushed inward to the left side. There was an imprint that appeared to be a bullet lodged in the front of her head above her left eye, on the side of what was described by medical examiners as an exit wound.
A copy of a sketch in an official investigative document her father received from the Army, titled “Rough Sketch Depicting Crime Scene,�? raises questions about how Johnson could have shot herself with her own rifle, when, as outlined in the sketch, a cot is located neatly between the body and her weapon.
The written autopsy report by the Army called her death a suicide. Her father had the body exhumed and re-examined in 2007 by Dr. Michael Graham,medical examiner in St. Louis, who said Johnson died of a gunshot wound to the head.
After her death, the Army promoted LaVena Johnson to the rank of Private First Class, and awarded her with a Good Conduct Medal and an Army Commendation Medal.
Johnson picked up quite a few allies in his fight for justice for his daughter, including Army Ret. Col. Ann Wright, who resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service in protest against the Iraq War, several journalists and Veterans for Peace, a national organization headquartered in St. Louis.
Prior to the press conference updating activities surrounding the case, Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace said, “In the military, there is an epidemic of sexual assault not only to women but to men as well.�?
He offered a challenge to men.
“In order for us to ensure that our wives, our daughters, our aunts and our women are safe, we have to step up to the plate and hold men accountable in order for this to stop.�?
Johnson and his family intend to keep talking about the case and pursuing a thorough investigation until someone is held accountable in the death of his daughter.
In July, Johnson is slated to speak about his daughter’s case at a National Organization for Women conference in Bethesda, Md. as a panelist about rape and violence against women in the military.
So, unless the victim managed to rape herself, pour herself full of lye, beat herself, set herself on fire, and only then shoot herself in the head with a rifle (where the supposed exit wound was on her face) and leave a trail of blood leading away from her tent to the contractor’s tent where she was found I’d say we have a STRONG case for rape, torture, and murder of an active duty United States Army soldier here!
…and the Army still says she did all of this to herself. 
No! Actually, the Army didn’t even consider anything except the gunshot wound.
Someone is trying hard to feed The Bull horseshyte and I don’t like it!
I am, as stated time-and-again on this blog, a big supporter of the US Military and our Law Enforcement folks on every level. However, in NO circumstance is a cover-up allowable! Ever! And this story has that particular stench to it… There is no doubt now that this beautiful young woman, an American soldier, was raped, brutalized, and murdered while faithfully serving our Nation in a war on foreign soil. It is a deep loss when any of our Heroes die. But for to die such a death not at the hands of the enemy but her own comrades-in-arms or the contractors that are there to assist the soldiers? This must never be allowed to stand! Yes, in war there is a certain small place for mercilessness, but never, NEVER, against your fellow countrymen regardless of race, religion, or sex. We as a Nation can ill afford to have such acts of depravity occurring within our military.
To date the US Army is sticking to its story bald-faced lie, and Congress is still sitting with its collective thumbs up its collective ass – as always on every subject except saving some hitherto unknown species of athlete’s foot fungus from extinction.
The Army will do nothing unless forced by a higher power. Congress will do nothing unless they have their next election threatened by an rise in public ire shown by emails, letters, and phone calls. (With an approval rating of around 17% – half that of President George W. Bush – they feel that these calls, emails, etc. equals votes for the opposite ticket come election day…) So get out there and get your voice heard!
Demand Justice for PFC. LaVena L. Johnson. Is she any less deserving of Justice than the captured terrorist now being given the same rights as American citizens? The Bull thinks not.
Here we have something simple and clear.
It is not a case of Blacks vs. Whites. Nor is it Muslim vs. Christian, male vs. female, or Liberal vs. Conservative.
It is simply Right vs. Wrong.
Where do you stand?
Bull, out. 
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