Remember this name: Charles Whittington. It's "CJ" to his friends.
When you find out what's being done to him, you will.
I can't forget him.
I talked with him on my KSFO radio program last week, and it was one of the most painful interviews I've ever done. He spoke in a stunned monotone.
This 24-year-old went through hell serving in Iraq and now that he's back home, he's enduring another kind of hell at the hands of the administration of the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville.
It wasn't the first time I've interviewed military, nor the first time I've interviewed military personnel accused of crimes by our own government and facing trial for their careers and lives – just for doing a soldier's job.
But this was the first time I interviewed a vet at the mercy of vindictive and unyielding college officials who suspended him from school, ordered him to sign papers agreeing not to go on campus under threat of trespass charges and who demanded he undergo psychiatric evaluation before they'll even consider reinstating him.
How do they even have the right to do that?
What did Charles Whittington do?
He wrote something the administration of the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Md., didn't like.
It wasn't that they didn't like it but that some students complained. Whittington's words made them uncomfortable so, now he's gone – forced out and not allowed back.
It's all because of an English class essay he wrote about his war experiences and feelings about killing.
He told me the instructor, Linda De La Ysla – who urged him to write about Iraq – graded it "A" and suggested getting it published.
It was, in the campus newspaper on Oct. 26. But on Nov. 5, Whittington was called on the carpet by Dr. Richard Lilley, vice president of enrollment and student services, and Caroline Scott, dean of college life and other college officials.
Campus spokesman Hope Davis told the Baltimore Sun, "We all believe in freedom of speech, but we have to really be cautious in this post-Virginia Tech world."
There's no connection between the essay and Virginia Tech. That shooter was not a vet, and his killings weren't war-related.
Whittington's only "sin" involved words about personal experiences.
Deborah O'Doherty, president of American War Mothers of Maryland, Star Spangled Banner Chapter, is a friend of Whittington and accompanied him to the meeting for support. She says he's been deprived of due process, she doesn't know if there'll be legal recourse and it's an example of a throwaway attitude toward veterans.
De La Ysla refers any questions to the campus spokesman.
The administration laid down the law to Whittington, suspended him, banned him from campus and ordered the psychiatric examination. Nothing was negotiable.
Does Whittington know who complained? No.
Has he seen proof of the complaints? No.
Has Charles Whittington faced an accuser? No.
Did he violate the code of student conduct? No.
What caused the "problem" is that his short essay spoke of war and killing as addictive. He said, the constant exposure to hostile, dangerous situations with the lives of your unit at risk creates in soldiers the feeling that killing is a way of life, making them numb to violence.
He wrote of his personal demons because of his experiences and the enduring guilt. He said the guilt is the hardest.
Whittington volunteered for the Army in 2005, served in Iraq and was injured three times in roadside explosions. The second time, he lost a finger on his right hand. Determined to stay with his unit, and even though he's right handed, he learned to shoot with his left so he could complete his tour. He says he lied to about the pain so he could rejoin his unit.
The third explosion ended his Army career. Unconscious for five days, he was sent to Germany and then to El Paso, Texas. He lost memory and had to relearn to walk. He has ligament and nerve damage to his neck, arm and back and was medically discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Again, there was the guilt at leaving his unit in Iraq.
He drank too much, had an auto accident injuring some people and served three months prison time.
He says he's not a religious man, but he met with chaplains and doctors who advised a journal. All of his writings have been private – until now.
Whittington told me it took a long time, but with counseling and medication, he has things under control now and wants to move his life forward.
He has visitation with his children and started college to better himself. He earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during his first semester and looked forward to continuing that.
Then, he got that "A" for the essay and everything hit the fan.
The administration maintains it isn't trying to punish him but wants him to seek help.
Yet, he has the results of the psychiatric exam the school demanded, showing him to be no danger to anyone.
What now? It's anyone's guess but he's locked out of college because of words on a page that someone found threatening.
He doesn't know if he's lost his G.I. bill. He has no job, no money, no school and just a room in his parent's house.
Will the fact that his psychiatric test results are not private hurt him in the future as he seeks employment, loans or other college?
Will there be any repercussions to the school for invading his medical privacy?
If not, why not?
I'll never forget what O'Doherty told me Charles Whittington said to the administrators when they threw the book at him.
Referring to his classes, Whittington begged them: "Please don't do this to me. It's all I have left."
They didn't care.
Merry Christmas.