Whatever your view of Cindy Sheehan, her pleas and anguish are hard to ignore. She is a lightning rod for strong opinions, this mother making an anti-war stand near President Bush’s Texas ranch.
We all have a right to our opinions – you do, I do. But when it came to writing about Sheehan, I wanted to hear the thoughts of those most entitled to share them.
Myra Rintamaki and Dave Calavan are two of those people. Their sons, Marine Cpl. Steven Rintamaki and Marine Pfc. Cody Calavan, were killed last year in Iraq.
The Lynnwood mother and the Stanwood father have that ultimate sacrifice in common. They don’t, however, agree about Sheehan, whose son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, also was killed in Iraq in 2004.
In addition, the Iraq war has claimed the lives of Army Spec. Justin Hebert and Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr of Snohomish County, and Mariner High School graduate Todd Drobnick, who worked for a defense contractor.
“Cindy Sheehan, I look at what she’s doing as part of her grieving process. It’s very personal, a soul-searching activity,” said Myra Rintamaki, whose son died in a blast Sept. 16, 2004, while in a Humvee on patrol.
Sheehan’s peace vigil began when Bush went to Texas on vacation a few weeks ago. This week, she plans a bus tour that will end in Washington, D.C. She also appears in an anti-war TV commercial released by Gold Star Families for Peace, a group of people who have lost family members in Iraq.
“I can’t say what she’s doing is good or bad, right or wrong. As a mom, she lost her child,” Rintamaki said of Sheehan. “I have essentially taken this year and become almost apolitical. It is just devastating to lose a child.”
Dave Calavan is more critical of Sheehan. His son Cody, a 19-year-old machine gunner and graduate of Lake Stevens High School, was killed by a car bomb May 29, 2004.
“I think what she’s doing is supporting the enemy, and I find that unacceptable,” Calavan said.
“At the time this war started, the president and the Senate decided it was a good thing to do. As long as people are in danger, I’m not willing to second-guess them,” he said. “I feel we won’t know the result until it’s over.”
Cody Calavan, his father said, had been in the military less than a year. “We’d had that long talk, and he decided he wanted to go,” Calavan said. “Cody wanted to be a policeman. His grandfather was in the military, his brother-in-law and a cousin were in the military. He decided somewhere along the line it would be good training.”
Calavan said he doesn’t believe oil is the sole reason for the war in Iraq, but “I also believe people do what’s in their national interest. This country runs on oil, and it has to be considered.”
Rintamaki, who adopted her son as an infant, said her focus now is on the first anniversary of the 21-year-old’s death.
On Sept. 16, the family will hold a private remembrance. A candlelight ceremony is planned for 7 p.m. Sept. 17 at Brackett’s Landing on the Edmonds waterfront. Music will be played in his honor that weekend at the family’s church, University Presbyterian in Seattle.
Rather than take a political tack, Rintamaki has been involved with a Marine mothers organization. “I basically have a lot of surrogate sons through the Marines,” she said.
She participated in a homecoming for her son’s battalion, which is based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. “Steven’s battalion is getting ready to go back to Iraq in September. My heart goes out to all the men going back,” Rintamaki said.
As a member of the University of Washington Alumnae Board, a scholarship committee, Rintamaki worked with the U.S. Marine Corps Foundation to fund a scholarship in Steven’s name. One entering UW freshman will receive a year’s tuition.
“That’s really to honor young people’s dreams,” Rintamaki said.
Steven Rintamaki attended Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood and a Seattle private school. “He worked with a recruiter while he was still in high school,” Rintamaki said. “He chose to go in, and as a mother, I fully supported him.
“He was doing what he wanted to do. It might not have been my first choice in careers, but it was a good choice for him. I can still say that, even though he died doing his job as a Marine,” she said.
A year after Steven Rintamaki’s death, his mother supports his fellow troops.
“The overall goal is independence for Iraq, and for our servicemen and women to come home,” Rintamaki said.
Asked about a timeline, she said: “That’s the apolitical part. I’ve taken a middle line. My need is to support the men and women who are serving.
“Certainly,” she said, “I would love for the war to be over.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein julie@heraldnet.com.
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