Donald Rumsfeld and the Ranger's Widow

     The Tacoma News Tribune reports that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been on a tour to promote his memoir, "Known and Unknown." On Friday, August 26, 2011, two people were expelled from his book signing at the Joint Base Lewis-McCord PX.

     Five to six security officers and military police officers led Ashley Joppa-Hageman, the widow of an Army Ranger who committed suicide at age 25, out of the book signing by the arm. Jorge Gonzalez, the executive director of the  anti-war group known as "Coffee Strong," was also removed from the book signing.

     According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Ms. Joppa-Hageman approached Ms. Rumsfeld with a program for her late husband's funeral. She told Mr. Rumsfeld that her husband had joined the army because he believed Mr. Rumsfeld's lies about fighting for justice for September 11th and about Saddam Hussein's regime having weapons of mass destruction.

      Ms. Joppa-Hageman complained about her husband's frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. When she voiced her belief that her husband took his own life rather than go on another deployment to Afghanistan, Mr. Rumself replied "callously" that he had heard about it.

     Shortly thereafter, Ms. Joppa-Hageman and Mr. Gonzalez were escorted out of the book signing and told not to come back. A spokesman for Joint Base Lewis McCord stated that Ms. Joppa-Hageman and Mr. Gonzalez were "causing a minor disturbance."

     Should we have expected Mr. Rumseld to be "callous" to a grieving Ranger's widow?

     According to the Washington Post, soldiers at Camp Buehring, Kuwait voiced their complaints about the lack of armor, the stop loss and other issues to Mr. Rumsfeld on December 8, 2004.



      Donald Rumsfeld replied, "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

     This writer is a former military wife. My husband retired on December 31, 2009 after serving 21 years in the U.S. Army. I hope that complaining to the former Secretary of Defense will help heal Ms. Joppa-Hageman's broken heart. I thank Ms. Joppa-Hageman and Mr. Gonzales for speaking up for the soldiers, veterans and military families who suffered because of Donald Rumsfeld's actions. I'm sorry that the military police and security officers at Joint Base Lewis-McCord behaved in such a rude and an insensitive manner toward a fellow soldier's widow.