Iraq War vet shares antiwar message in new CD set

Bent on retribution, Tomas Young joined the U.S. Army two days after 9/11. When he learned he was being shipped to Iraq instead of Afghanistan, he says he felt hoodwinked and sought medication “to quiet the angry voices in my head.”

Instead, he found solace in other angry voices – specifically the rebel yells of Public Enemy, Bad Religion and Dilated Peoples.

The protest music did more than soothe the disappointment of heading to what he believes was the wrong battlefield. It also helped Young cope when he was shot and paralyzed.

Now he hopes the same songs “will light a fire in the belly and brain and get people involved in the process of change. I want my buddies to be brought home.”

Young, 28, curated the new “Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran,” a 30-track double CD that includes Against Me!’s “White People for Peace”; Lupe Fiasco’s “American Terrorist”; Talib Kweli and Cornel West’s “Bushonomics”; Bright Eyes’ “When the President Talks to God”; Pearl Jam’s live cover of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”; and other rebellious fare by System of a Down, John Lennon, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Roger Waters.

It also boasts Eddie Vedder’s previously unreleased “No More,” performed live with Ben Harper, and Michael Franti and Spearhead’s “Light Up Ya Lighter.” Both are featured in the “Body of War” documentary directed by Ellen Spiro and produced by Phil Donahue.

The film, which Time magazine dubbed “almost unbearably moving” when it was unveiled to unanimous acclaim in Toronto last Sept. 11, splices prewar debate with Young’s postwar ordeal.

His story began with patriotic fervor.

“I enlisted as a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11,” he says. “I saw the president with his megaphone, leading a we-will-rock-you chant. My heart swelled, and I wanted to go after the people who attacked us. I called my recruiter on Sept. 13.”

Later informed he’d be joining the Iraq invasion, “I felt extremely betrayed,” Young says. “I became depressed and despondent. I lashed out at my superiors.

“My heart wasn’t in it anymore. I was now the civilian in green, just there to do my job and get out in one piece.”

Depressed, he went to a battalion doctor but was told he couldn’t have medication without first seeing a chaplain.

“I’ve never been a religious person, but I went to the chaplain, who looked me square in the face” – and said he’d feel better once he got to Iraq and went to war.

Young’s depression deepened, and though he eventually received Prozac, he was told he’d have no access to refills in Iraq.

Not that he’d need any. On April 4, 2004, his fifth day there, he was shot.

Despite initially lucking into clerical duties, Young was sent with “all available hands” to provide security for a rescue mission. Returning in a ramshackle truck, they encountered sniper fire while rolling into Sadr City.

“We were sardines in a can, taking gunfire from a roof,” Young says. “I felt my body go numb and I dropped my M16.

“My mind said, ‘I’m going to be a quad.’ I begged someone in the truck to finish me off, but I only got out a hoarse whisper.”

He was flown to Kuwait, then Germany, before spending three weeks at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and returning to hometown Kansas City, Mo., in a wheelchair to face months of rehab.

A bullet that entered above his left collarbone had left him paralyzed from the chest down. He was 24.

“There are still days I find myself wishing my ticket had been punched, but since I have been put here, I better use my newfound platform to get some things done,” says Young, who speaks at rallies and is a spokesman for Iraq Veterans Against the War.

When Spiro and Donahue embarked on the documentary, they requested original music from Vedder, who in turn contacted Young.

“Eddie kept asking, ‘What can I do?’ I didn’t want financial help from him. I did want to raise funds for Iraq vets. So the soundtrack idea came up.”

The Pearl Jam singer asked Young for a wish list of 30 songs and promised to deliver a single disc of 15. Vedder’s appeal to artists resulted in the twin set and offers of promotional support.

Sire Records donated $100,000 to Iraq Veterans Against the War, which also gets all album proceeds.

In a letter to musicians, Vedder wrote: “If you knew Tomas, you would see the brilliance behind this venture, for he is devoutly passionate about music. And, if I may add, highly opinionated.

“He has taught me a great deal, and our friendship has become one of depth and sincerity. I know why he loves and respects you as artists, and I see how he relies on the strength of the songs to help him through each day. It is a true living example of the power of music.”

Guitarist and political activist Tom Morello, represented on the soundtrack by Rage Against the Machine’s “Guerilla Radio” and The Nightwatchman’s “Battle Hymns,” says Young “is a testimony to the power of song.”

“This tremendous playlist helped Tomas get through the physical challenges to become a leader in the anti-war struggle,” Morello says.

“There’s something intangible that’s hard-wired in human DNA that makes music feel like the truth. I hear from soldiers and vets all the time about how Nightwatchman music inspires them to get through the day or feel less alone. This particular compilation can be used as a battering ram for peace and justice.”

Young, who has a brother serving his second tour in Iraq, concedes that “most of the feedback has been positive because we’re preaching to the choir. Members of a different choir call me a war criminal.

“But pessimism is self-defeating. I’m hoping our efforts pay off. If people flood theaters and Best Buy but don’t do anything, I’ll wish I had stayed home in Kansas City.”