This summer MFSO will launch the Military Families Speak Out Oral History & Archiving Project, and we want you to be part of it!

The MFSO Oral History & Archiving Project will record and preserve the story of MFSO: the experiences of the families, allies, and staff that were a part of it and the lessons learned in the only organization in U.S. history in which military families spoke out against a war.

From July through September of 2013, we will collect stories, writings, pictures, and videos from as many current and former MFSO members as possible. We will interview members on their experience with and reflections on MFSO. We will collect physical memorabilia to store at the Swarthmore Peace Collection, an academic archive that chronicles movements for peace and justice. Stored artifacts from the movement can include everything from banners and buttons to photos, old paperwork, and meeting notes. MFSO’s oral histories will also be stored at the Swarthmore Peace Collection and on an easily accessible website.  Additionally, we are partnering with the StoryCorps Military Voices Initiative, a publicly-funded project which aims to tell the stories of the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and their families.  Participants in the Oral History Project may have the option to participate in StoryCorps as well.

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE:

Every military family holds an important piece of the history of MFSO, whether you were an active member, a spokesperson, attended an event, or felt connected through reading the emails.

There are a number of ways you can share your story:

• Write your history: Using the MFSO Oral History Interview Guide, submit your written reflections on MFSO to mfsoarchives@gmail.com
• Submit video, audio, photographs, or other media to mfsoarchives@gmail.com, or contact us for a physical address and other options.
• Record an Oral History: Using the StoryCorps Military Voices Initiative question guide and/or the MFSO Oral History Interview Guide, partner with another MFSO member, family member, friend, or ally to make an audio recording of your experiences either in person or over the phone. Click here for full instructions on recording an interview, or email mfsoarchives@gmail.com for help.
• Organize a local “listening day” with other current or former MFSO members to reflect together on the question guides. If you have at least six MFSO members in your area interested in recording an oral history, we can work with StoryCorps to help you organize a listening day. Get in touch with mfsoarchives@gmail.com if you are interested.
• Donate artifacts to the Swarthmore Peace Collection: If you have physical memorabilia from your work with MFSO that you would like included at the MFSO Archive at the Swarthmore Peace Collection, click here for more information and full instructions.

We will also be reaching out to members individually for phone and in-person interviews, as well as arranging listening days in a number of cities.  If you’d like to arrange an interview or help organize a local listening day, please email us at mfsoarchives@gmail.com

The MFSO Oral History and Archiving Project is directed by former MFSO staff members Samantha Miller and Nikki Morse with help from co-founder Nancy Lessin and former board members Adele Kubein and Jack Amoureaux, and in collaboration with the current MFSO Board of Directors. We appreciate and look forward to your participation. If you have questions, please email us at mfsoarchives@gmail.com.

Military Families Speak Out is deeply saddened by the death of co-founder Charley Richardson, who passed away Saturday, May 4th. Charley has been a beacon of hope and inspiration, a mentor and teacher, and a shoulder to cry on for so many of us in this movement and beyond.

The seeds of MFSO were sown in the summer of 2002 when Charley’s son, a U.S. Marine, was being deployed and it became clear he would most likely be ending up in Iraq. As life-long peace and labor activists, Charley, and his wife Nancy Lessin, knew they couldn’t sit by silently while their son was being sent into harm’s way, to a war that should not be happening, an illegal and immoral war of aggression. They brought a sign to anti-war protests with their son’s picture on it that said, “Our Son Is A Marine – Don’t Send Him to War for Oil!” Charley and Nancy were overwhelmed by the response they received to the power of their voice as a military family protesting the war.

At one of these rallies they met another a father whose son was facing deployment to Kuwait. Together, they formed Military Families Speak Out to organize and amplify the voices of military families in opposition to an invasion of Iraq. Just months later, Nancy and Charley spoke at a press conference, offering their home phone number for MFSO; within days, two hundred families from around the country joined the organization.

In February, 2003 Charley and Nancy were lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit against then-President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, calling for a temporary restraining order that would prevent the U.S. from invading Iraq until there was a congressionally mandated declaration of war. Three active-duty service members, other MFSO members and twelve Members of Congress were part of that lawsuit. The case went two rounds in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and finally failed on March 18, 2003. The bombs dropped on Baghdad the next day.

For the next two years MFSO existed in Charley and Nancy’s living room. On top of their day jobs as prominent labor activists, Nancy and Charley wrote grant proposals, helped members start chapters, trained families on how to speak to the media and pushed tirelessly to create a home for families like them, who had loved ones in the military and were opposed to the war. Families came to them with the same story. “Thank God I found you. I thought I was the only one! What can I do to be a part of this?”

In 2005, MFSO was able to rent an office and hire a small staff. The chapter network grew from 6 to over 30 chapters. MFSO members spoke at local, national and international press conferences; rallied and held vigils at the offices and homes of Senators and members of Congress; formed chapters on military bases and base towns; collected and delivered tens of thousands of letters, postcards and messages to elected officials; spoke at forums in churches, union halls, community centers, high schools and universities; appeared on “The Lehrer News Hour,” “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” National Public Radio, and CNN; and were featured in articles in The New York Times, Military Times, War Times, Stars and Stripes, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and other local, national and international press. MFSO helped to change the definition of what it meant to “support the troops,” as MFSO’s mantra “Support Our Troops – Bring Them Home NOW!” caught on across the country.

In May, 2007, Charley and Nancy received devastating news—Charley was diagnosed with a very advanced, aggressive cancer. Originally given a prognosis of 18 months to live, he defied the odds and continued to live, fight, and love to his fullest. He learned to take vacations, welcomed three dearly beloved grandchildren, and laughed and played with his growing family. Charley continued his work as a labor educator and MFSO leader through the ups and downs of his struggles with his illness, treatment, and declining health. Charley brought his all to his life work, till he could no longer work.

Charley passed away peacefully on May 4th, 2013 at home after a six-year battle with cancer, surrounded by his beloved wife and co-agitator Nancy, and their loved ones. Our best testament to the life and work of Charley Richardson is to continue his legacy in word and action. May we all hold close what he has given us and carry him with us in all that we do. Rest in power Charley — the power of a life well-lived and well-loved.

Charley’s impact on us all is beautifully stated by several MFSO members on a Facebook tribute page (where details about sharing condolences and donating in his honor are held, and where information will be shared about a Memorial to be planned for the summer):

Connie C:

“Charley & Nancy – I don’t think either of you realize what an impact you had on my life. When we first met (at Mike and Betsy’s) I was struggling – I had voted for W in 2000, my brother was in Afghanistan and I was confused. Charley’s gentle soul and kind spirit helped guide me. I found my voice – it was shaky – but I learned that I could speak – and to my amazement – people listened. Charley you were my teacher. Thank you for helping uncover the wise, peaceful, liberal, brave being that I really am!”

How grateful we are for the email you sent to us back in 2005. “Thank you” just does not seem to say enough for all you and Charley have given to us and to so many others. We are holding all of you within our hearts and sending loving, comforting thoughts your way. Thank you Charley for giving so much of yourself to right the wrongs, you will always be with us. Linda & Phil

Charley and Nancy, I met you at such an awful time in my life. My daughter was physically compromised and at war. After all the rejection I was facing because I hated the Iraq war, you embraced me, as you did so many of us, and you pointed us in the right direction. My prayers, my love, and my hugs from Georgia are with you. As I told you Charley, this picture (below) makes me smile. It’s my favorite picture from the anti Iraq war movement. I faded it because I can see the graphics on my desktop much better that way. It looks like you are saying “we’ve won!”. Charley and Nancy you both HAVE won. you have won my heart and the hearts of so many. I love you both more than there are words. Thank you for coming into my life.

What to look for in this edition:

• Jeffrey Lucey and Military Suicides 
• Jobs Not War goes to DC
• IVAW: What’s up in 2013
• Brooklyn for Peace holds forum on drones in the commons
• And more!

Click here for newsletter

What’s inside this newsletter?

• Catch up on the Jobs Not War Campaign,
• Peace Activists WIN : NBC’s Offensive War ‘Reality’ Program is Canceled. We called for the program to be cancelled, we protested at NBC studios, and now we can celebrate the end of a terrible program.
• Updates from Bergern County MFSO

Click here for Newsletter: Collateral Damage

The Record: Letters, March 25, 2013

Regarding “Lessons of Iraq guide us as we confront Iran” (Other Views, March 19):

The recent column by U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J, describes lessons he says he has learned since the U.S. invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. New Jersey Peace Action applauded Menendez then, but we cannot applaud support for military action against Iran today under any circumstances.

The last 10 years of war in Iraq and 11 years of war in Afghanistan taught us that war is costly. More than 8,000 U.S. and coalition members lost their lives, with thousands more injured or diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. More than 4 million Iraqis were made into refugees. We’ve spent more than $1.7 trillion on both wars during a time of economic recession.

Rather than put “all options on the table,” let’s pick one — diplomacy — and stop threatening Iran. This fight isn’t just about Iran not having nuclear weapons. It’s about all countries in the Middle East becoming nuclear-weapons-free. Parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty planned a conference on this topic in December 2012 in Helsinki, but it was postponed. The United States claimed that political instability in the Middle East made it the wrong time.

But it is exactly the right time. Domestic opposition to a U.S.-led invasion of Iran would be tremendous, as many Americans are war-weary. War against Iran through either the front or the back door would be disastrous. When will we learn that diplomacy will work better than war to create a genuinely secure Middle East?

Madelyn Hoffman

Bloomfield, March 22

The writer is executive director of NJ Peace Action. The letter was also signed by Paula Rogovin of Bergen County Military Families Speak Out.

Read original article here

With a retired teacher strumming, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone” on a guitar, anti-war activist on Wednesday trod across the Teaneck Armory’s lawn and, one by one, placed orange, pink and lavender flowers on a military tank.

The gesture ended a two-hour gathering of songs and speeches by the Teaneck Peace Vigil to mark the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and renewed calls for an immediate end to the war in Afghanistan.

“Ten years, we have been doing these vigils, over, and over and over again — and we’re still here,” said Paula Rogovin, lead organizer.

Since August 2005, the group — including current and retired teachers, military veterans and even parents of active duty military personnel — has gathered every Wednesday near the Teaneck Armory property to call for an end, first to the Iraq War and then war in Afghanistan.

Nearly 4,500 Americans service members died and more than 30,000 were wounded in warfare in Iraq before combat troops departed at the end of 2011. Troops are expected to remain in Afghanistan through 2014.

“War is madness,” Frank Wagner, 71, a Vietnam veteran from Bogota , said of why he’s attended the vigils for six or so years.

Six veterans held a banner reading, “Out of Afghanistan.” Others held signs decrying the use of unmanned drone aircraft equipped with missiles. Others urged “Bring Our Troops Home, Send the Politicians” and sang the song “Let There be Peace on Earth.”

A 94-year-old Rutherford resident paced the corner, shouting into a bullhorn that the troops should be brought home and there should be no more blood for oil.

Noting vigils held in all weather, Karen Decolle of Leonia said “I never believed in it [the war]. … Most people don’t even think about it or even remember that it’s happening, but it is … and people need to be reminded that this is happening and that we need to end it.”

Rogovin read a letter from John Fenton, whose son Marine Sgt. Matthew Fenton of Little Ferry died in May 2006 from injuries sustained in a vehicle bombing near Fallujah. Fenton wrote of the “tremendous hole in the hearts of the families” who lost loved ones and said he feared another war.

“I hope that I am wrong, but I believe you should hold onto your young children very tightly before it is too late,” he wrote.

Read original article here

Dear Members & Supporters of MFSO,

As Military Families Speak Out faces major organizational changes, we want to thank you for your support and participation over the last 9 years. Together, MFSO members, supporters, and donors have made a difference in the lives of our troops, veterans and families:

• We worked every day to change attitudes towards the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With our efforts, along with so many others, those wars are drawing to a close and the soldiers are coming home.
• We participated in local, regional and national events to bring our focus and mission before the public.
• We visited Congress members at home and lobbied them in Washington, and sponsored post cards campaigns and email campaigns to speak clearly to our elected officials.
• We wrote editorials, gave interviews and educated the American public on the true costs of the wars, including the needs of soldiers and families to heal from the trauma of war.
• In 2011 we held our first healing retreat in South Dakota for veterans and their families.

Due to the economic situation that many progressive organizations are currently facing, Military Families Speak Out has been forced to change our structure. Under the advisement of the MFSO’s co-founders, Charley Richardson and Nancy Lessin, as well as past Board members, it was decided that for the foreseeable future, we will no longer have paid staff or national office. Effective August 1st MFSO became an all-volunteer organization.

MFSO will continue as a virtual organization, run by the all-volunteer Board of Directors. We must now ask more of our members to help us speak out against the war in Afghanistan, possible unjust future wars, and to make sure our nation takes care of our troops before, during and after their deployments. This organization is too important to lose. We count on your continued support to continue to keep MFSO and its mission viable via the website and Facebook, as well as the activity of members at the local and national level.

After losing significant foundation funding in the past few years, we are now relying almost exclusively on individual donations from our members and supporters to keep the organization going. If you value MFSO and want to see the organization continue, please give as generously as you’re able. Click here to make a donation.

The Board of MFSO values ALL contributions, ideas and feedback from members and supporters, and we’d like to hear from you about these recent changes. You can provide feedback through our online form, an all-member conference call on September 10th, or by emailing the Board at mfso@mfso.org

• Click here to fill out our online feedback survey and let us know what you want from MFSO and how you’re willing to be involved.
• Join us for a conference call with MFSO Board members, open to all members of MFSO, on Monday, September 10th at 8pm EST. Conference Call information: Call-in number 605-477-2100, access code 226816#.

We invite you to join with us as we change with the times. Our presence may be different, but the dedication of MFSO and its place in the community of support for soldiers, veterans and their families is unchanged.

The MFSO Board of Directors
Katy Zatsick, Board Chair
Mary Hladky, Vice Chair
Rosalie Donatelli, Treasurer
Diana Clements, Northwest Representative
Maureen Casey, West Coast Representative
Dottye Ricks, At-large

Military Families Call for Immediate End to the War in Afghanistan

After more than ten years of war in Afghanistan, military families, along with the majority of the American public, want to see a real end to the war. The U.S. – Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by President Obama and President Karzai on May 1st, however, continues combat operations through 2014 and commits the U.S. to military and financial support for Afghanistan well beyond 2014.

At least 1,957 troops have died and 15,300 troops have been injured trying to create a stable Afghanistan. We have lost 381 service members since Osama bin Laden was assassinated. Yet after 11 years and over half a trillion dollars, the U.S. has not been able to stop the Taliban nor create an effective Afghan government.

“Why is it that neither the military nor our president can ever clearly explain how the U.S. benefits from another 2 years of combat? Our troops could easily be home by the end of 2012. How many more young lives will be sacrificed before 2014? How many more times will my son be sent into harm’s way in a war that’s wasting our country’s resources and not making us any safer?” asked Mary Hladky of Springfield, Ohio, whose son just returned from his first deployment to Afghanistan.

While many U.S. troops will come home by the end of 2014, others will remain in Afghanistan for training and counterterrorism operations with the Afghan National Army, a mission that still includes combat and other significant risks. Furthermore, there is a significant threat posed by the Afghan troops being trained, many of whom have turned their guns on their U.S. counterparts, resulting in 35 deaths last year and an unknown number of attempted attacks.

“When an Afghan in uniform wounds — or misses — his American target, it has not been reported. We don’t know how many of our service members have been attacked by ANA troops or Afghan police.  Since our loved ones will be working closely with the ANA in training for the next 12 years, this horror of war is unacceptable,” said Anna Berlinrut of Maplewood, New Jersey, whose son will deploy to Afghanistan in Fall 2012 for his 6th combat tour.

There is no military solution in Afghanistan. 2 more years or 12 more years is not going to change that fact.  The time for our troops to come home is now.

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Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) is a grassroots organization over over 3,000 military families whose loved ones have served in the military since September 11, 2001.  As the only organization of military families in the U.S. speaking out against the war in Afghanistan, we say: End the war now, bring the troops home, and take care of them when they get here.  For more information visit mfso.org