Friday, after eight more men died Thursday in the war on Afghans and Representative Jim McGovern’s Amendment calling to end the war was narrowly defeated, a soldier’s mother has taken a stand and spoken out against the war.

Mary Hladky, a mother of a Soldier serving in Kandahar explains about the eight deaths, “The trap was set: first a small IED went off which injured some soldiers, other soldiers rushed in, and then the big one went off.”

The men were members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Hladky, a member of Military Families Speak Out, asked in a written statement today, “What are they dying for? A corrupt Karzai government the Afghan people don’t want?”

“No one ever gives a good answer to why our servicemembers keep dying – because there simply isn’t one.”

The number of U.S. Military Casualties In Afghanistan has reached 1,551 and foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan in 2011 has reached 189 according to Kashmir Watch.

Last year was the deadliest year for ISAF with 711 NATO-led soldiers killed.

This Memorial Day weekend, to honor men and women in uniform and those no longer with us, Hladky is urging the public to do two things:

1. Click here to send an email to the White House. Tell them why you want our troops brought home now.
2. Then, send the President & Vice President a handwritten letter. (They carry a lot more weight than an email.)

“This has got to stop. We must apply ‘people pressure’ and show our President that the American public will not remain apathetic.

“Join me in standing up and speaking out.”

If you have family members or loved ones in the military and you oppose this war, you can JOIN Military Families Speak out by clicking here or by sending an e-mail to mfso@mfso.org

Continue reading on Examiner.com 8 soldiers died Thurs. Soldier’s mother: ’What are they dying for?’ – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/8-soldiers-died-thurs-soldier-s-mother-what-are-they-dying-for#ixzz1NwpS6NkH

Black Hills FOX – Memorial Day weekend played host to a not-so-traditional observance in the Northern Hills. Military members and families from all across the country came together this weekend to be a part of a Sioux holistic healing retreat.

It’s well off the beaten path and that’s what makes it the perfect venue for a healing retreat. The 3-day retreat was hosted by members of the Sioux nation and utilized some non-traditional methods of treatment to help past and present military members, along with their families, cope with the devastating realities of conflict.

Healing ceremonies, drum circles and reflective painting were all a part of the prescription for the weekend. Arturo and Rossana Cambron traveled from Los Angeles to be at the retreat just three days after their son deployed for Iraq.

The Cambrons say, “I think it’s a very holistic way to approach this thing. Doctors tend to just treat the symptoms and here it’s a recognition that you need to be well inside before you can deal with all these other issues.”

Sunday was the final day of the retreat and coordinators say that they can already see changes taking place in those who participated.

Mike Bissonette says, “I’ve noticed some differences in their behaviors and their facial expressions and how they carry themselves and it’s more positive.”

Healers from the retreat say that the treatment will continue long after their guests depart and plan to offer their services through long distance communication if needed.

KOTA Territory News – This Memorial Day weekend, military families across the nation and even Canada come together in the black hills to find the healing they so desperately need.

Music from the drums help Arturo Cambron find healing.  He and his wife Rossana suffer a daily battle while their son fights a war in Iraq.

“All of the pain I feel as a mother whose son has just deployed for the third time and taking that deep breathe that you never let out until they come home,” said Rossana.

This weekend they learn how to pray, spiritually connect and most importantly how to exhale, even when they know they have more challenges ahead.

“It’s one type of burden but when he gets home it’s another type of burden because we don’t know the affects it will have on him,” said Rossana.

Something April Somdahl knows all too well.  After failing a psychological test Somdahl says her brother was sent back to Iraq for his second tour.

“He returned in August, he committed suicide on February 20th of 2007,” said Somdahl.

“The way I can describe it, my son returned home alive but dead inside,” said He Sapa coordinator, Georgia Stillwell.

The He Sapa or Heart of the People retreat helps military families find solace through Lakota ceremonies.  For four days, 20 people from all over the country and Canada learn how to release their trauma and sorrow.

“I wanted to help them to grieve and feel like their prayers are being answered somehow,” said Michael Bissonette, one of the event coordinators.

And family members say that’s just what this music and these rituals are doing for them.

The four day retreat ends Sunday with a closing talking circle and sunrise ceremony.  The Oglala Sioux Tribe will also host a Memorial Day ceremony at Black Hills National Cemetery.

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -The mother of a Bay Area man who died in Iraq in 2004 was one of the “Gold Star” moms invited to the White House Monday to mark Memorial Day and pay tribute to the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gold Star mothers like Karen Meredith of Mountain View come to Washington each Memorial Day to honor their children who died while serving their country. Meredith came for her son Ken, an Army Lieutenant killed in Iraq in 2004.

”It’s very hard to see Ken’s name on a headstone because it just doesn’t belong there,” said Meredith.

Meredith was one of 60 Gold Star mothers who attended a breakfast at the White House with the President and First Lady and later was stunned when Obama visited Section 60 at Arlington Cemetery where vets who died in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

”For him to come out, and I believe honor us with his presence, and to take the time to meet with some of the families, to me showed an understanding that this is a huge sacrifice that we’ve all paid,” said Meredith.

Earlier at the amphitheater of the cemetery, the President said the nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. It was the first time a president has visited Section 60 on Memorial Day.

The demise of bin Laden does little to undo the countless mistakes we’ve made in his name.

By Dante Zappala
reposted from The Philadelphia Inquirer

Amid the requisite flag-waving, chanting, and nationalistic fervor over the death of Osama bin Laden, I will not be rejoicing myself. There will be no vindication for me as I remember the sacrifice of my brother, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.

If the largely symbolic event of bin Laden’s death brings closure for the countless people affected by the tragedy of 9/11, I wish them peace. But his death does not offer any to me. It cannot undo the legacy of the reckless endeavors undertaken in the aftermath of that tragedy.

What may be convenient to forget in these moments of righteous chest-beating is that, shortly after the devastation perpetuated by this criminal, we accepted an ideology of permanent war. We waved not the Stars and Stripes, but the flag of revenge.

The so-called war on terror took us to Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 or bin Laden. Preemptive warfare was introduced to the lexicon of American foreign policy. We happily absorbed a series of fabrications that told us our own security depended on bombing and invading this country. In the process, we abandoned ideals that are essential to our tradition and spirit.

My brother was killed chasing a ghost, scouring the desert for weapons of mass destruction. But the true ghost we chase – the bin Laden that is still hidden to us – is our sense of security. In that regard, the legacy of bin Laden will be that he successfully baited us into endless conflict in the Middle East, putting us on a road to military, economic, and moral bankruptcy.

Will bin Laden’s death make us finally feel safe? This country spends more money on its defense than all the other nations on Earth combined, and yet we cannot say with any conviction that the wars in the Middle East have done anything to increase our security. The consensus, in fact, is that they have done the opposite.

The Iraq war is winding down without having met any clear military or political objectives. Waste, fraud, and mismanagement will define the conflict, as will what promises to be an indefinite military presence there. In Afghanistan, our forces have tripled, and though the definition of victory is ever-changing, we still cannot achieve it. And now we are engaged overtly or covertly in operations across North Africa.

Meanwhile, there are more than 1.5 million veterans of these wars, many of whom served multiple deployments. Traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder scar this class of heroes. More and more, the veterans of the global war on terror are in homeless shelters, prisons, or dead by their own hands. The toll will span generations.

Who has benefited from this sacrifice? I certainly have not. And I feel certain that most Americans have not.

Will the death of bin Laden resolve our need for permanent war? The likely answer is no.

Bad guys, both real and exaggerated, will continue to exist. We will remain fearful, and we will squander treasure and opportunity on the premise that we are perpetually threatened.

The only way to truly kill Osama bin Laden is to reevaluate what we have done in his name. We must take a long, hard look at why we continue to spend $10 billion a month and to accept, albeit with sorrow, the loss of life in Afghanistan. We must question why we so readily drop bombs in Libya while some of our own city streets resemble a war zone.

If we can face these hard truths, we can bury our ghosts along with this monster. Then, and only then, will we be vindicated.

Dante Zappala is the brother of the late Sgt. Sherwood Baker. He can be reached at zappala1@gmail.com.

On April 26th,  we marked a tragic milestone: 6,000 U.S. service members have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We mourn for these lost lives, as well as those who’ve taken their own lives as a result of their experiences. We extend our deepest condolences to all Gold Star families, and honor those who have chosen to speak out and channel their grief into ensuring that no other family goes through what they have gone through.

What you can do:

• Volunteer to send condolence cards to Gold Star families who are MFSO members. To volunteer, write to samantha@mfso.org
• Let other families know about the resource page we provide to help families cope.

Today, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are kicking off a new initiative called “Joining Forces,” which encourages every department of the government as well as companies, schools, philanthropic organizations, religious groups and local communities to recognize the burden placed on military families by the ongoing military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The burdens affecting military families, veterans, and service members are the results of government policies and practices, and need to be addressed by those responsible, rather than placing the burden on schools, non-profits, churches and local communities who are struggling themselves with funding cuts and affects of the ongoing recession.  Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Biden need to use their influence to change the policies that are hurting us.

Now is a critical time for the public, the media, and the White House to hear from military families about the real support we need!

Communicate with the public:

MFSO has launched a new website called “We Are Military Families” where military families can post their stories and talk about the real support we need.  If you would like to contribute a blog or a video to the website, please email samantha@mfso.org

Please spread the word by letting other military families know about this effort, as well as others who support us!

Communicate with the media:

Write a Letter to the Editor using this easy form and sample letter, click here to get started.  We’ve provided a sample letter and additional talking points. You can see our press release here.

Communicate with the White House:

Click here to write a letter to Mrs. Obama about real ways to support military families.

Click here to sign our petition to President Obama.
Help sustain our work!

Your donation to Military Families Speak Out today will be doubled by a generous donor! Please be a part of the effort by helping to sustain these efforts!

An Ohio Military Mom Goes to Washington DC…

As a mother of an infantry soldier currently serving in Afghanistan, I travelled to Washington DC Tuesday, March 22nd to ask our elected officials a few questions, such as:

• How long do we need to be in Afghanistan and what is our objective?
• Why do you think our troops should continue to fight & die for a corrupt Karzai government?
• Are you willing to continue to drive up the deficit to pay for the $120+ billion a year cost of this war?

Several of the legislative assistants actually squirmed in their seats when asked these basic, direct questions. You could see them thinking “I should be able to answer this question”.  Their response was that they would get back to me.   It is terrifying to realize that those who “support” the war can’t clearly define why.

While Mr. Boehner has asked our President some very basic, direct questions about our objectives in Libya, his own legislative assistant could not answer my very similar questions about Afghanistan.   I am awaiting an answer from Mr. Boehner.

Our volunteer military is seriously overextended and near its breaking point.   Never before have so few been asked to do so much.  Multiple deployments have wrecked havoc – skyrocketing suicide and PTSD rates, broken families, alcohol & drug addiction are just a few indicators of our military’s agony.

The majority of Americans do not believe that combat operations in Afghanistan must continue.  In fact, they want no personal involvement – don’t increase their taxes to pay for the war and don’t require their children to join the military.   It is immoral to continue a war when only 1% of the public support it with their children’s lives.

For years, the military has told us there is NO military solution to this war.  It is time the United States supports diplomacy and political negotiation with the Afghan people and neighboring countries to conclude U.S. military combat operations.

Polls show the vast majority of Americans want us out of Afghanistan.  No one else should die for a war that has lost any meaningful purpose.

I am asking you to call or write your Congressperson and Senators to demand an end to this war.   The life of my son, the lives of so many sons and daughters, as well as innocent Afghan women and children depend on it.

Mary Hladky
Military Families Speak Out