CURTIS: Iraq vet aims to fulfill mission at Tent State

By Abby Curtis, Special to The Rocky

Published August 26, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated August 26, 2008 at 1:53 a.m.

Text size  

• 1 Comment
• Email
• Print

Sholom Keller sat on a park bench at the Tent State University encampment at the City of Cuernavaca Park Monday afternoon and whipped a worn copy of the U.S. Constitution out of his back pocket.

His blue eyes bright behind his glasses, the slight guy from Brooklyn, N.Y., showed off the handwritten oath inside the booklet's front cover. It's the oath he took in January 2001, when he enlisted in the Army's 101st Airborne Division:

"I, Sholom Keller, do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same."

Seven years later, Keller, 26, is out of the Army, lives in Philadelphia and is an organizer with Iraq Veterans Against the War. He's one of the veterans manning the guard tower at Tent State, and earlier in the afternoon, he helped lead a class in "security training." He'll soon be heading to the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities, doing the same thing all over again.

Why? Because he hasn't forgotten the oath he took when he was just 18. "I wanted to dedicate my life to a cause greater than myself," he said. "I had a real sense of pride in being an American. I wanted to give back to my country."

Keller speaks with the emphatic cadences of a poet, and he has a lot to say.

"I didn't take an oath to wage war against whomever the president decides to fight," he said. "I took an oath to defend the Constitution, and with it, the nation and the people. And the oath didn't expire when I got out of the Army."

Today, on the peaceful grounds of the park, Keller is waging his usual battles: against apathy, against the war in Iraq and against what he sees as a weakening of the Bill of Rights - especially when he thinks about protesters being allowed to congregate only in the so-called "Freedom Cage" behind the Pepsi Center.

It's a lot of fighting. But then he is experienced at war, with six months in Afghanistan and a year in Iraq under his belt.

Keller looked around Tent State with satisfaction. A speaker exhorted the crowd to get involved in progressive activities. The line for a chance at free Rage Against The Machine tickets moved slowly and steadily. The smell of Indian food and cigarettes hung in the air.

All right, it wasn't Woodstock. But it wasn't nothing, either.

"What I feel is a big problem with America today is that we don't have a citizenry that's as engaged as it should be," Keller said. "But then I come out here, and I say, 'Hey, we have something.' "

• August 26, 2008

  3:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ksells writes:

  While this story is very short, I think I understand the issues involved. It makes me sad that the troops being sent into Iraq are being brainwashed into thinking that we went in for the purpose of overthrowing Saddam in vengence for 9/11. The public relations reason was to get the weapons of mass destruction at the time. And the Bush administration used the weird logic that if none were found, they must be there. And of course, it would distract from the utter failure, that has continued to this day, that Bush has not brought those who were guilty for 9/11 to justice. 9/11 was simply Little George's response to his feeling that his daddy didn't go far enough in the first Iraq war. Wrap yourself in the flag and who can complain.

Featured

• Legislature Blog

  

  Read live updates from the opening of the 2009 legislative session.

• Rocky multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.

• Who's next?

  

  Complete coverage of the Broncos' search for a new coach.

• Rocky year in photos

  

  View an audio slide show of staff selections from 2008.

• Winter Escapes

  

  Your insider’s guide to the copious joys of the coolest season.

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  Open Mic: Two-man advantage with Avs

• Shanahan's career

  

  See photos from Mike Shanahan's career as Broncos coach.

• 12 days of Drew

  

  Look back at the year that has been with Drew Litton.

• A dream fulfilled

  

  A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production