Be the Change- Pfc. Lavena Johnson

We often wonder what we can do to affect change, but as long as we can read and write we can make our voices heard and let our representatives know what matters to us.

Pfc. Lavena Johnson was sent home from Iraq with a broken nose, bruises, cuts,evidence of acid on her genitalia, and a hole in the left side of her head from a long barreled rifle. Cause of death....Suicide. Oh, and did I mention that a pair of white surgical gloves wear burned to her hands?

Lavena isn't the only woman who has suffered this injustice. 10 other families have contacted her father with similar stories about their daughters.

Contact your representative on the Senate Armed Services Committee and encourage them to reopen her case.

Senator,
It is imperative that we do everything possible to ensue that our troops are well cared for while they serve and afterwards, in life and in death. I am disheartened by the treatment of far too many famiiles of deceased female soldiers, especially Pfc. Lavena Johnson.

"When LaVena's father finally brought himself to look at his daughter's corpse in 2005, sent home from Iraq with a report that she'd committed suicide by shooting herself in the left side of her head with an M-16 — which, by the way, is not a handgun but a relatively long rifle, he thought there was something wrong.

Private LaVena Johnson's nose was broken, teeth were loose, one eye was concave and there were abrasions over her body. The supposed M-16 hole to the head was far too small for the revolver-sized exit wound, and was on the wrong side of her skull for a right-handed woman to have pulled the trigger. Her genital area showed evidence of acid, perhaps used to destroy DNA evidence. She had white military gloves glued to her burned hands."

I implore you to please prompt a new investigation of Pfc. Johnson's death, and please do not make the mistake of assuming that this is an isolated event. Ten other families have contacted Lavena's father with similar stories. If you do not you accept and condone the shoddy and possibly fatal treatment of female soldiers who willingly risk their lives for all of our safety.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

Senate Armed Services Committee
Democrats
Carl Levin, Chairman (Michigan)
Claire McCaskill (Missouri)
Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Conneticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Mark L. Pryor (Arkansas)
Jim Webb (Virginia)

Republicans
John McCain, Ranking Member (Arizona)
John W. Warner (Virginia)
James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Susan M. Collins (Maine)
Roger F. Wicker (Mississippi)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia)
Lindsey O. Graham (South Carolina)
Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina)
John Cornyn (Texas)
John Thune (South Dakota)
Mel Martinez (Florida)

Read about the facts of the case here.