Widow of Army Ranger forced to leave Rumsfeld's book signing

"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." Donald Rumsfeld

Well that was the way they all seemed to think about sending troops into Iraq as the talk about Afghanistan was forgotten about even though there were still troops there, risking their lives while being ignored.

FOX news took the lead on omitting any harm being done to the troops making people believe the administration cared but like the above piece, reality was under-reported. Suicides went up and the DOD was scratching their heads to figure out why. The Army came out with a stunning study saying that redeployments increased the risk of PTSD by 50% but the administration was not about to make any changes. They continued the practice. A like study showed the need for dwell time between deployments, yet men like Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann received hardly no time home. He was do to return into combat for the 9th time. Troops were sent into Afghanistan 10 years ago in October yet this was supposed to be his 9th time?

Did any of this bother Rumsfeld? Cheney? Bush? Did the lives of the men and women sent bother any of them? All of them have books and PR agents to spin what happened but families left behind have graves to visit and heartaches to heal.

Ranger's widow expelled from Rumsfeld book signing
Two people were removed from a Donald Rumsfeld book signing Friday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, including the Yelm widow of an Army Ranger who blames the military for her husband’s suicide.

JORDAN SCHRADER; STAFF WRITER
Published: 08/28/11

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld begins to sign a copy of his book for Jorge Gonzalez while Ashley Joppa-Hagemann looks on. Gonzalez and Joppa-Hagemann were later escorted from the event Friday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. (PHOTO COURTESY OF COFFEE STRONG)

Two people were removed from a Donald Rumsfeld book signing Friday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, including the Yelm widow of an Army Ranger who blames the military for her husband’s suicide.
Security officers for the former secretary of defense escorted Ashley Joppa-Hagemann out by the arm, she said Saturday. She and Jorge Gonzalez, the executive director of Coffee Strong, a Lakewood-based anti-war group, confronted Rumsfeld as he promoted his memoir, “Known and Unknown.”
According to an account posted on Coffee Strong’s website: “Mrs. Joppa-Hagemann introduced herself by handing a copy of her husband’s funeral program to Rumsfeld, and telling him that her husband had joined the military because he believed the lies told by Rumsfeld during his tenure with the Bush administration.”
Joppa-Hagemann complained about Rumsfeld’s response Friday to her account of Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann’s multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and his death at age 25. Hagemann belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.


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