National Nurses United

Connor_JulAug 2/9/12 5:07 PM Page 12 lives in Iraq and care for ICU patients, to regain sensation. Connor's case is currently pending review in the courts. But the arrest made Connor even more passionate about the Occupy Wall Street movement. "There's nothing like brute force to inspire activism," he said. C onnor was not always an activist or political person. Born in Kentucky into a career military family going all the back to his great, great grandfather, Connor grew up under strongly conservative values. His father, who is also a military historian, served two tours in Vietnam. An older brother, a ranger in the U.S. Army Reserve, recently ran as a Republican and Christian Conservative for the lieutenant governor position in South Carolina. One thing that makes Connor different, however, is that he is the only nurse in his military family. While other family members went to war to fight the enemy, Connor went to heal and patch people up. He did not discriminate. Anyone who came into his operating room received undivided attention and care. After graduating from nursing school, Connor joined the Army and served three years in Iraq. While he was there, he saw horrific things that he still carries with him today. There were too many wounded, both military and civilians, and children on his surgical table. He saw limbs torn off and bodies torn asunder. "The horror movies don't get it right," said Connor. "What you see on [shows like] China Beach, in movies about war. That's what you think it is. And then you learn, it isn't. It's much, much worse." Beyond this awakening to the realities of war, Connor experienced a political awakening in Iraq, too. While he was there, Connor was deeply embedded with the military men, workers, and Iraqi civilians who made up the base. He couldn't help but notice the profits being made by war contractors hiring the cheapest possible labor, charging astronomical fees to the U.S. military (and taxpayers), and reaping record profits. As he watched both military and civilian wounded pass through the hospital, as he observed the lives of low-paid workers serving military men, he began to understand that somewhere far away, someone was fiddling while Iraq, and all the people connected to it, burned. After returning from Iraq in 2006, Connor found a nursing job at Walter Reed Veterans Hospital which also fueled his commitment to healthcare equality. At the hospital for veterans, Connor noted that they kept a special ward for three-star generals and their family members. One patient there had her own chefs. "I worked in surgical ICU, a big, open room with just a curtain between patients," remembered Connor. "One patient was sent to this super ward and, one room over, a guy who'd lost both of his legs was crammed into a corner. That's when I thought, 'This healthcare system's got to change.'" To Connor, it also seemed unfair that veterans mostly had guaranteed healthcare but civilians didn't. At Walter Reed, Connor began to wonder about how his patients were faring after they were discharged. What happened to the blind vet, or the guy he'd treated who didn't have any limbs? He kept in touch with some of his patients, and he saw them decline once released. Like one of the men in Connor's unit in Iraq who committed suicide, there were others released from the military who were struggling, often without official recognition or support for war's emotional costs. Too often, Connor said, he saw veterans who were losing their personal battles at home. 12 N AT I O N A L N U R S E N ow that connor's eyes had been opened, he couldn't shut them to injustice. He could not just sit around and do nothing while so many people in his community were hurting. Though Connor returned from Iraq with the same emotional struggles many vets experience, it's something he and his wife Karen are facing together. Instead of being defeated by post-traumatic stress disorder, Connor channels his pain into action. In addition to being a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace, Connor also found an outlet for helping heal his community through his union, the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United. He believes in NNU's message about healing America, embodied in NNU's Main Street Contract for the American People campaign. The campaign proposes that a tax on Wall Street transactions can re-fund America with, among other things, jobs, homes, healthcare, and a good public education. When he learned last fall that NNU's Registered Nurse Response Network was staffing first aid stations at Occupy Wall Street encampments around the country, he volunteered at his local site, Oakland. There he was, face to face with the Occupy movement. "At first I was a bit scared," Connor said. "I didn't know what to expect. But if NNU is involved, I know they're going to support workers' rights, human rights." W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G DECEMBER 2011

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