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Cpl. Jason M. Bogar

173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

Afghanistan

A war death close to home . . .

I was shaken and deeply saddened to learn of the death of Cpl. Jason M. Bogar in Afghanistan on Sunday, 13 July. Jason visited one of my PAR Model orientations a couple of years ago. I explore my connection to Jason in the Reflections section of this e-newsletter.

Jason's death illuminates how the descent into powerlessness lowers our violence immune systems. I sift through my own experience of this vulnerability in the PAR Explorations.

When Jason visited my PAR Model class, he told me that the model had obvious applications in the military. I agree. I pursue Jason's thought further in the PAR Applications.

I've included a link to the article about Jason which appeared in The Seattle Times in the "In the News" section of this e-newsletter.

This month's featured resource, is the Ernest Becker Foundation. Becker has been a very significant influence in my work and the Foundation is a great resource for information about Becker and his work.

Thanks for taking the time to look over my E-Newsletter.

— Ari Cowan

eflecting on a death close to home, I offer my personal reaction to the death in Afghanistan of 25-year-old Cpl. Jason M. Bogar. Violence touches all of us in one way or another. In this case, it became very, very personal. There was so much promise for Jason's life. His loss has further firmed my commitment to get the PAR Model out so that we help eliminate the violence deaths young men like Jason.  More . . .

ar is the central theme for this month's e-newsletter. As much as I'd like to think I'm immune to violence, I'm not. I still get "low grade infections." I explore my experience of powerlessness, rage, and recovery. More , , ,

ason's death on 13 July makes a discussion of applying the PAR Model in war settings timely. In this exploration I take a look at some of the traditional ideas about what causes war, the nature of war and its evolution, and how the PAR Model fits in. I think it's time for a strong departure about how we thing about and conduct war. More . . .

Cpl. Jason Bogar remembered for heroism in Iraq, Afghanistan
The Seattle Times, USA — 25 July 2008
Cpl. Jason Bogar, who died in Afghanistan on July 13 had a passion for military service and photography. At a memorial service Friday in Seattle, Bogar received a Bronze Star, and a video montage of his slides was later shown by his family.

63rd anniversary of atomic bombing of Nagasaki
Reuters, UK — 09 August 2008
Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki with a solemn ceremony on Saturday and a call for world powers to abandon their nuclear weapons.

Violent women "stretching police"
BBC News, UK  — 09 August 2008
Increasing numbers of violent women are stretching police resources, a police association has warned.

Spousal violence puts health costs at 4.1% of GDP: study
bdnews24.com, Bangladesh  — 09 August 2008
Share of physical health costs inflicted by domestic violence against women accounts for 4.1 percent of the Bangladesh's GDP, according to a study by private research organisation Centre for Policy Dialogue.

UK gives Kenya Sh269m for peace building
Business Daily, Kenya — 24 July 2008
Kenya yesterday got a Sh269 million (US $4.16) grant from the British government to help finance peace building programmes that were established in the wake of the deadly post-election violence that left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced 300,000.

Making peace by making film
Bowen Island Undercurrent, Canada — 07 August 2008
20 Palistinian and Israeli youth come to British Columbia, Canada to participate in Peace It Together, an initiative that aims to promote peace in the Middle East through collaborative filmmaking.

France accused in Rwanda genocide
BBC News, UK  — 05 August 2008
Rwanda has accused France of playing an active role in the genocide of 1994, in which about 800,000 people were killed.

The link below will take you to a featured resource which provides an expanded understanding of approaches to understanding and ending violence, practical peacebuilding, or contemporary thought about the role of violence in our lives.To make the connection below, click on the name of the resource.

The Ernest Becker Foundation
The mission of the Ernest Becker Foundation is to bring advances in social scientific theory to the public in efforts to reduce human violence. The EBF is devoted to multidisciplinary inquiries into human behavior, with a particular focus on our brutality toward one another.

Additional resources, including recommended reading and viewing can be found on my Resource page.

Got some ideas, opinions, enhancements, and expansions on the material covered in this E-Newsletter? Lovely. Please send them off to me via e-mail (click here for contact information) . I'll dial them into my thinking and, in some cases, post them in this section of the E-Newsletter.