MAMMA: Our History

WELCOME! Thank you for visiting our About MAMMA page. As you've probably guessed, this page will attempt to share with you some of the history and an outline of the 'Problem' !that brought MAMMA into being. Please, make yourself comfortable....this could take awhile, especially since we'll be taking a DETOUR (part of MAMMA's construction) to some history of the Until We Have Answers (UWHA) group. We'd offer some refreshments, but no can do.........SORRY! *smile*

Though MAMMA is a fledgling, it's establishment evolved from involvement with the UWHA group and stalled efforts to establish the Scott Michael Beimdiek Foundation. For this country to flourish under the claim "...with liberty and justice for all!", the matter of 'questionable' manner of death rulings, by the military, requires attention!

Prior to passage of the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), when a grieving family had the lifeless body of their loved one tossed onto their doorstep in a body bag and the military just turned and walked away, there was no way to even ask the questions that come with such a tragedy, and there are LOTS of questions. If the military's prepared report of the incident that took the life of a loved one didn't make sense to the family and they asked, 'Why?'...the military, like any unyielding authoritarian was always able to end question sessions with the declaration, 'Because I said so!'. If a family persisted in disputing anything or even hinted that there was a problem with the report....by the time the military was finished manipulating things, the only 'problem' seemed to be a matter of the family being 'unable to accept' what had happened to their loved one. (AKA: "It's their problem"!)

When family filed FOIA requests started generating reports, even those with huge sections blacked out, that didn't make any sense to anybody, outside of the military, the media took note. The exposure that followed made huge cracks in the walls of isolation that the military had erected around 'individual' families, who had been led to believe that 'their' situation was "the only one" of it's kind. Some of the families, who learned of each other through media reports, got together and the rest, as they say, "Is History".

The Until We Have Answers group was created in January of 1993. The early 90's saw families from 36 states join the group, all bound by the thought that it was the 'NOT KNOWING' that bothered them the most. 'Though some families had 'official' manner of death rulings that were so unbelievable...they rivaled 'Fairy Tales'!, ALL of the families wanted honest answers and a complete accounting of the circumstances that surrounded their loved one's death. (Our visitors are invited to visit MAMMA's Honor Roll.)

In early '94, some UWHA people went to DC and marched. Their efforts resulted in Section 1185 (a) & (b) of Public Law 103-160 for fiscal year 1994. Part (a) was to be a DoD review of 'Policy & Procedures for Death Investigations' and (b)was, (at DoD's discretion) a review or reinvestigation of any questionable death ruling that exhibited sufficient discrepancies. There were deadlines. Would it surprise you to be told that NONE of them were met? (We didn't think so!*smile*) On Jan. 26, 1996, an eighty one page report, supplemented with appendixes A through E, was released by DoD. The WHOLE thing can be summarized with ONE sentence: "Tighten ranks with uniformity, control the media, make sure that everybody sticks to the story (no matter how absurd) and nobody will be able to prove anything!"

By late '95, some of the qualifying families started getting DoD - 'FINAL' Reports. Would it surprise you to hear that ALL of the 'cases' merited only a 'review' and that none of them produced anything contrary to the 'original' findings? (Didn't think so! -smile) Needless to say, the families raised a ruckus! They DEMANDED Senate Hearings! Finally, Senator Kempthorne, Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, agreed to Chair a hearing on Sept. 12, 1996 (So much for Fiscal year 1994!) Hearing? FARCE is more accurate! UWHA was told that only five (5) families would be allowed to testify, they would have only five (5) minutes each and they were to stick to generalities and NOT go into any details of their own personal situations. RIGHT!!!

On Sept. 12, 1996, MAMMA's directing CEO was sitting in the back of the room and reading the written testimony, submitted by some of the 'OFFICIALS', who'd deemed the Hearing unworthy of a personal appearance. She just about went BALLISTIC!!!!! The 'testimony' she was reading was for a "Suicide Prevention Workshop"!Apparently these people believed that these "POOR" families had come to DC to help figure out ways to 'Prevent' ADDITIONAL suicides and to make a case for better support of families affected by 'suicides' in the future. There wasn't a single indication that any of the assembled families were pressing for a "MURDER" ruling to supersede the current mislabeled 'Suicide' -manner of death- ruling. UNRREAL!!!! [Later, Beth George, mother of Tommy Burkett and founder of PACC (refer to the MAMMA Supports page), shared that the media had been told the same thing. At least it explained why so few reporters had made an appearance at the news conference UWHA held prior to the hearing.] Needless to say, the whole thing was DEMORALIZING and started a downward spiral, for UWHA, that the group has yet to recover from!

Then Senator, Rod Grams (R) MN, submitted a prepared statement to the Sept. 12th Subcommittee Hearing. He testified that there were three (3) Minnesota 1185 military cases. [A note from MAMMA: there are now at least seven (7) Minnesota families that would qualify under Section 1185 and one of those involves a three year old, who is 'officially' listed by NCIS as a SIDS death.] After a brief summary of each of the situations his testimony states (and we quote):

So...what happened? NOTHING! Former Senator Grams, like many other Senators, who make promises...didn't follow through. Picture being trapped in the basement of your collapsed home. How would you fair if every 'relief worker', who extended a 'helping hand', became overwhelmed and withdrew the aid you so disparately need? Senators are this country's WORST rescue squad! *smile* Because they won't cross party lines or state lines to work together, they present little threat to the military, who promptly dispatches them with their tails between their legs and mumbling, "it's a military issue"!

You probably noticed the word 'former' in front of Senator Grams' name...he didn't win his bid for reelection. His defeat, puts all of Minnesota's 1185 military cases back to 'Square One'...a position that the military LOVES! Anyway, if any of our visitors have any thoughts, ideas or 'ins' that would get the ball that Senator Grams dropped, rolling again...we would appreciate hearing from you!

Are you starting to feel like you're reading a book? Well, maybe you are...*smile*! After Washington, all we kept hearing was the phrase, '...you need to write a book!' How does 'MURDERS AMONG US: The Military's Gift To Society', by Jan Beimdiek, sound to you? Do such books truly alert people to the type of situations that inspired Benjamin Franklin to write, 'A stitch in time saves nine.'? Or, do such books convey the message that the subject material is being addressed? [Do you remember the four people; everybody, anybody, somebody and nobody that we introduced to you earlier? *smile* Well, when we tell people about these situations, 'everybody' seems aware of problems in the military, they know that 'anybody' can be affected, they assume that 'somebody' is looking into it and are appalled when they're told that 'nobody' is working to resolve these issues.]

In February of 1999, the Norton Publishing Co. released the book 'A Glimpse of Hell: The USS IOWA Tragedy and Cover-Up' by Charles Thompson III, a former producer for 60 Minutes. Did this book, in any manner, shape or form, dispel the Navy's ``a queer did it'' disinformation campaign? NO! Interestingly, the same ineffectiveness can be noted for Patrick J. Finneran's in-depth narrative of the USS Indianapolis (this piece is part of the http://www.ussindianapolis.org site ). The survivors continue their efforts to clear their commanding officer's name. We urge you to visit their site and join your voices with theirs...apparently, for 'Truth, Justice and the American Way' to prevail in today's world, it takes a lot of shouting!

In the early '90's, a series of articles by David Zucchino, for the Philadelphia Inquirer, swelled the ranks of the UWHA group. In late '99 and early '00, another series of articles by John Hanchette, for the Gannett News Group, probably would have done the same thing, but UWHA was already pretty well defunct.

It would be great to be able to suggest that you get some milk and cookies, sit back and 'enjoy' the 'story', as it unfolds...BUT!

 

Enter........MAMMA

'SURVIVOR'...now there's a Buzz Word for you! We are sure that most of our visitors have had to deal with the death of someone they loved. All to familiar is the phrase: 'You have to get on with your life!'. Even under the best of circumstances, when there aren't glaring questions surrounding the death, it's difficult to be told to: 'accept your loss' or 'bad things happen to good people'. Loss? Happen? For the UWHA people, it's a matter of THEFT and it's deliberate!

After the fiasco in Washington, frustration took it's toll and many UWHA families tried, desperately, to slip into 'survivor' mode! They knew, all to well, that pent up anger and frustration was detrimental to their health. Many wanted to follow the sage advise, of family, friends and even strangers, and direct all those 'negative' feelings into something 'positive'. Scott Beimdiek's family was one of these and serious thought was given to getting Scott's Foundation started. 'However, when Linda Hankel opened an account under the foundation's name, a haunting question arose. What medical student would take PRIDE in receiving a scholarship from an institution founded in memory of a person who had been STUPID enough to have caused their own death? (When people wonder if there's anything WORSE than the death of a child...it's easy to answer YES! It's a terrible thing to know that a young person was viciously and violently stripped of their LIFE...it's worse when they have also been stripped of their DIGNITY!)

Were you aware that in the 'handy school and office edition' of the New Webster's Dictionary, the word 'survivor' is only 10 words past the word 'surrender'? (Think about that! *smile*) Isn't it un-American to surrender to something that's wrong? Isn't there something 'wrong' when the number of military families, having problems with the 'official' manner of death ruling for a loved one, continues to grow? Isn't there something 'wrong' when affected families can't even do something 'positive' for their loved ones, when such attempts result in a 180 degree turn about that again brings them face to face with the unaddressed 'Problem' that originally caused their pain? It was time to reevaluate the situation.

When UWHA formed, it was a loosely knit 'support' group. UWHA's primary goal was to buffer some of the additional stress that confronts 'new' grieving military families, who find themselves questioning an 'official' manner of death ruling. While it was hoped that the strength of 'the growing 'numbers' would add weight to everyone's efforts, each family was expected to 'work' their own 'case'. As none of the 'old' grieving families had either the emotional strength and energy or the resourses to 'work' for anyone else, the rational made sense. However, this 'policy' was fraught with drawbacks and stumbling blocks.

This 'policy' was a drawback for those families, who knew there was a 'problem' but who felt that they would never be able to 'prove' their own 'case'. So, why bother joining a group that wouldn't 'help' them in a battle that would rival fighting City Hall? Another of it's drawbacks was the exclusion of certain other families. For example, by the time Bill and Connie, who knew nothing of Section 1185 of Public Law 103-160, had even heard of the UWHA group, Connie had suffered three mental breakdowns and their marriage was suffering. [We have to ask: Do any of you know any families, who wouldn't have problems if they had been through an intense 'homicide' investigation of the death of their son, only to have the authorities draw the conclusion that their son was responsible for his own death and 'officially' list the death as an Autoerotic Asphyxic Accident, even though they submitted, to the family, an autopsy report for a man, who stood 5'10' and wore a size 10 and a half shoe, while their son stood 6'4' and wore a size 13 shoe? Now, how could they be expected to effectively 'work' their own 'case'?

One 'major' stumbling block of this 'policy' was that some families did a bit of manipulating and sought to 'use' the 'numbers' to advance only 'certain' cases. This fact eventually caused a 'split' in the group. Worse, whenever a family tried to make the 'case' for a 'growing problem', by explaining their 'own' situation, the view of the 'forest' was obscured by the #1 'tree'. The 'Big Picture', invariably looked like this: 1! It's quite disturbing to have a Senator's staff member note that 'murders' happen every day and in the scheme of things, 1 more is inconsequential. Some of the 'Mothers and others' decided that a more accurate 'BIG Picture' should look like this: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +....and growing! That, people, is called 'Alignment'. (Do you see where this is going? *smile*)

Now that we have M+others Aligned, just what IS the 'PROBLEM'? Gee! That is a good question! Apparently, nobody had ever really tried to define the 'Problem' we so desperately wanted addressed. In accordance with our growing belief that the military has been actively engaging in the practice of covering up murders and in order to rectify that little oversight, we submit the following 'Outline':

Well, for what it's worth, that's our 'Outline' and you'll note that we have filled in the Military & Murder sections of MAMMA. It saddens us to note that lots of the information that supports this contention is currently at risk of drying up. Many of our battle weary 'veterans' are slipping into the role of "survivor" and getting additional information is like looking for 'puzzle pieces' amid the carnage of a WAR ZONE! Anyway, after years of picking up those "PUZZLE" pieces and putting them together, we believe we've found the 'cause' of the 'problem'. We introduced you to it in our 'Outline' when we used the word, 'Killology'. As this word will be popping up frequently, you might want to consider detouring to the messy construction zone of MAMMA's Project. At the bottom of the page is a link that will take you to a site that explains 'Killology'.

Are you familiar with the old saying: "There's a right way, a wrong way and then there's the Military way!"? The military likes having things their way and they'll go to great lengths to get it. Some of these people have gotten so "twisted", they no longer put their pant legs on one straight leg at a time, rather they need help being "screwed" into them! *smile*
Consider their twist on experts:

Consider the twist that leads to inherent cover and prohibits individual accountability:

 

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In a relatively short period of time, the Contact from PACC (Parents Against Corruption and Cover up) was followed by contact from AGWVA (American Gulf War Veterans Association), STAMP (Survivors Take Action Against Abuse by Military Personal) and AIDS/war. The warmth, support and encouragement that has poured out from the people, involved with these groups, has been phenomenal! The fact that each group displayed such a diversified view of the enormous power that the military wields, was staggering! [How does that old saying go...'power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely'?]. MAMMA supports their efforts and encourages you, our visitors, to find out more about these groups. The addresses for their web sites are listed on the MAMMA Supports page...which is, of course, under construction. We ask you to Please, bear with us on this...as the construction woes won't last forever! *smile*

Having determined that Alignment was paramount to Accountability, when dealing with the Military, we found ourselves visualizing success as a step closer if ALL of these groups would start working together. We decided that the best way to promote such a concept was to lead by example and thus it was that we came out of the gate with the battle cry: "MAMMA supports the Gulf War Vets!"

To reiterate, MAMMA came into existence, founded on the premise that an injustice to one is an injustice to all. We stress the 3 R's: