We’re listening closely to what President Obama has to say this week – yesterday he made a pledge to support military families with a sweeping program, and tonight he will give his third State of the Union address.  Though he pledged his support to military families and clearly recognizes the special hardships we face, he stopped short of supporting us in the one way we’re all working for, that could do the most good for service members, veterans, military families and the rest of the country – an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  From all of the predictions, it is clear that he will barely mention the wars tonight, focusing his message on jobs and economic recovery.  As military families, we have a unique perspective on the state of our country, and this is a time when the media wants to hear what we have to say.

Here are a few ways you can respond to the State of the Union…

• Watch the State of the Union tonight at 9pm EST (it will be airing on every major news station, or watch it streaming online live)
• Keep a pen and paper (or your computer) next to you so you can quickly write down any responses
• After the speech is over tonight or first thing tomorrow morning, click here to write a Letter to the Editor
• Write a blog response to the State of the Union – send your blogs in the body of an email or as a .doc or .docx attachment to samantha@mfso.org. We’ll post the blogs on our website and on other sites. You can also post it yourself to any sites focused on the wars, veterans, military families, politics or the economy.

Members of Military Families Speak Out will be watching President Obama’s State of the Union address this evening, and though they know the focus will be on jobs and strengthening the economy, they’ll be listening closely for any mention of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m heartened to hear about President Obama’s pledge Monday for unprecedented support for military families. The best thing he could do to support us is to bring all the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m proud of my son for serving, but like most Americans don’t believe that how he is being used is actually making us any safer,” said MFSO member Pat Alviso, whose son is currently serving in Afghanistan.

Members of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families Speak Out are available for interviews about the State of the Union. If you are looking for a family with a specific story, please contact Samantha Miller, MFSO’s Communications Coordinator, for more information – Samantha@mfso.org, 818-419-6994

MFSO is a national organization of thousands of military families working to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, secure the care that our troops, veterans, and military families need, and support a foreign policy that will not lead us into such wars again. Gold Star Families Speak Out is a chapter of Military Families Speak Out made up of families whose loved ones died as a result of these wars.

MFSO has recently launched a new national campaign, The True Costs of War, highlighting the human and financial costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using online tools, local events, media outreach and grassroots lobbying, we are working to strengthen the voices of military families and build alliances with other organizations who agree that our troops and tax dollars belong at home.

For more information about Military Families Speak Out, please visit: http://www.mfso.org
For more information about Gold Star Families Speak Out, please visit http://www.gsfso.org

Earlier this month, MFSO was part of launching a new “Cost of War” sign in Rochester, NY. This is part of a growing effort to raise awareness about the financial costs of war. But we military families never forget the human costs of war, as it is our families that bear them. For more information on our True Costs of War campaign, go here.

Iraq and Afghanistan wars invisible to most

Mark Hare, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
November 16, 2010

A few dozen veterans gathered with friends and family in the parking lot of St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality last Thursday to mark the observation of Veterans Day with a solemn reading of the names of New Yorkers who have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflictss.

When they were done, they plugged in a borrowed “Cost of the War” electronic sign that will travel to several locations around Rochester over the next few weeks. Three messages scroll across the screen: “160,000
veterans are homeless tonight; 18 veterans commit suicide every day; all veterans need our support.”

The reading was organized by the Veterans for Peace, Chapter 23, who were joined by the local chapter of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Military Families Speak Out (against war) and the MK Gandhi
Center for Nonviolence at the University of Rochester.

“We just had an election and the war never came up for discussion,” said Paul Meagher of Rochester, a Vietnam-era Navy veteran who repaired Navy planes and radar. The troops today, he said, “are in a state of
perpetual deployment,” going back again and again to the war zone.

The Iraq combat vets Jim Bloom knows “are not doing too well,” says the 27-year-old Rochesterian, who served as a Navy corpsman in Iraq in 2004-05. “They don’t get the mental health services they need.”

Asked about his own health, Bloom said, “I have my days. I don’t really sleep.” He takes prescription muscle relaxants, he says, to keep him from “grinding my teeth so much that my eardrums become inverted.”

More than 4,400 service men and women have died in Iraq; more than 1,300 more have died in Afghanistan. Somewhere near 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq alone. The cost of the wars has already topped $1 trillion; caring for the physical and psychological injuries to veterans could cost another trillion.

Despite all the years of bravado about a war on terrorism and preserving American freedom, I have no idea what “victory” would look like in either place.

The best, maybe the only, way to end these wars and protect America against future misadventures, is to reinstate the draft, said Jim Swarts, an ordained Episcopalian priest who teaches history at the State
University College at Geneseo. “A draft would bring in the middle class,” he said, “and provide a balance, a different point of view.”

I spent my youth protesting the Vietnam War and the draft that conscripted so many of my generation into the meat grinder. As the father of two sons of prime military age, I can barely imagine calling for its reinstatement. But these wars are invisible, paid for with credit cards, waged largely off the TV screen, inflicting death and trauma on a tiny segment of our population — on beautiful young men and
women who will never recover from three and four and five tours in combat. The conflict drags on because most Americans have no stake in it.

There is no guarantee that a draft — with Vietnam-era exemptions for students, and those who know how to work the system — would be any fairer today. But without a draft, our leaders have been free to wage undeclared wars with no clear purpose, but with no consequences — except for those forced to fight them.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Military Families Available for
Interview

November 10, 2010
Contact: Samantha Miller
818-419-6994, Samantha@mfso.org

On Veteran’s Day, Military Families Remember the True
Costs of War

This Thursday, much of the country will commemorate Veterans Day with the usual mix of parades, ceremonies, and clearance sales. For families with loved in ones in the military, those caring for recently returned veterans, and those grieving for loved ones who died as a result of their military service, this day has a much more personal meaning. Members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), the largest organization of military families to speak out against war in the history of the U.S., are asking that
this Veteran’s Day, Americans look at what the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing each and every one of us.

Military families pay the ultimate cost of the wars: their loved ones serving multiple deployments to efforts that are not making us safer, returning home to limited job prospects and inadequate care, or not
returning home at all Every American, however, is paying the costs of wars whether they realize it or not. In
fiscal year 2011, it is projected that American taxpayers will contribute $119.4 billion towards the war in Afghanistan.[i] While the Pentagon has submitted a proposal to increase their budget by $500 billion in the next 10 years, the Obama administration is proposing a 3 year freeze on “discretionary spending,” the money which goes towards things like transportation, education, and housing.

“For the countless Americans whose lives have not been touched by these wars, Veteran’s Day is a convenient once-a-year effort to express support and reverence for our troops. For us, a family who has borne the cost, Veteran’s Day is just another day of pain, grief, and anxiety,” said Adele Kubein of Corvallis, Oregon, “We had to fight for five years just to get complete medical care for my disabled veteran. Where is the support and reverence when we need it?”

Adele’s daughter served in Iraq with the Army National Guard and became disabled as a result of her service.

Oregon is one of 48 states currently experiencing a state budget crisis, and has undergone cuts in state money for education and wage cuts and furloughs for state employees[ii]. Meanwhile, taxpayers in Corvallis, Oregon will contribute $17 million towards the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011[iii].

Members of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families Speak Out are available for interviews about Veterans Day and the cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you are looking for a family with a specific story, please contact Samantha Miller, MFSO’s Communications Coordinator, for more information – Samantha@mfso.org, 818-419-6994

MFSO is a national organization of thousands of military families working to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, secure the care that our troops, veterans, and military families need, and support a foreign policy that will not lead us into such wars again. Gold Star Families Speak
Out is a chapter of Military Families Speak Out made up of families whose loved ones died as a result of these wars.

MFSO has just launched a new national campaign, The True Costs of War, highlighting the human and financial costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using online tools, local events, media outreach and grassroots lobbying, we will be working to strengthen the voices of military families and build alliances with other organizations who agree that our troops and tax dollars belong at home.

For more information about Military Families Speak Out, please visit: http://www.mfso.org

For more information about Gold Star Families Speak Out, please visit http://www.gsfso.org

Click here to sign  up for campaign updates and let us know how you’re interested in getting involved

As military families, we know the true costs of war. It is our loved ones who are serving without adequate materials, returning home to failed job prospects and inadequate care. Most tragic of all for some of us our loved ones will never return home again.

But the American public is also suffering the true costs of war. It costs $1 million a year to keep one soldier on the ground in Afghanistan. The operational costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already surpassed $1 trillion. Economists estimate providing care for returning veterans will reach another $1 trillion.

Hundreds of thousands of American men and women are serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – wars that are not making us any safer at home. The wars are, however, hurting our troops and military families, and decimating our economy.

The Pentagon has more than enough money to quickly and safely bring our troops home now. Cutting off funding to the wars is the best way to support our troops.

MFSO members can play a critical role in educating and inspiring the public to mobilize direct pressure on President Obama and Congress to end the wars and provide comprehensive care to veterans and their families.  We hope you will join our campaign – we need your involvement!

Family Members of
Troops Currently Deployed, Recently Returned, or Killed in Action in
Afghanistan Available for Interview

Contact:

Nikki Morse, nikki@mfso.org or 347-703-0570

Deborah Forter, deborah@mfso.org or 508-237-5343

To connect with Iraq
and Afghani Veterans directly, contact Maggie Martin – IVAW Media Coordinator,
912.596.8484, maggiemartin1@gmail.com

October 7, 2010 – Today marks the 9th anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan War, now the longest war in American history, with 1,321 American service members killed in action, at least 8,000 wounded, tens of thousands of Afghani civilians killed, and over
352 billion of American taxpayer dollars wasted. Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), the largest organization of military families to speak out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calls on Senators and Representatives to bring our troops home now and provide the support they need to recover from the wounds of war, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain
Injury (TBI), and Military Sexual Trauma (MST).

Members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), and their chapter Gold Star Families Speak Out (GSFSO), will be participating in vigils and actions to mark this day. We are also involved in the launch of a national veteran-led campaign to end the military’s widespread practice of deploying wounded troops into war zones. Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) Operation Recovery: Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops will focus on ending the practice of deploying service members suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Military Sexual Trauma (MST).

One MFSO family member recalls the experience of her cousin who served in the US Marine Corps, and was deployed after 2 tours of duty, including the 2007 troop surge in Fallujah, Iraq, “He wasn’t mentally stable enough to return to combat operations in Afghanistan but the Marines deployed him anyway. He had to go because orders are orders. On December 26th 2009, just two weeks into combat operations in Afghanistan, he killed himself because he couldn’t handle the war raging in his head.”

How many more lost lives and injured young souls will it take before our Congressional leaders will demonstrate the kind of courage our loved ones in the military show every day? When will Congress stop thinking about political posturing, show the courage to end the war, and allow our surviving troops to heal and recover from this nine-year debacle?

Family members of both the Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans, including many with personal experience of having a loved one deployed while wounded, are available for interview. We will be supporting the IVAW press conference at 1:30pm at Russell Senate Office Building, (Constitution Ave NE, and Delaware Ave. NE) At this press conference, veterans and military family members will testify about their experiences with redeployment and announce the launch of Operation Recovery.

Military Families Speak Out includes over 4,000 military families whose loved ones serve or have served in the military since 2002; it is the largest organization of military families to be speaking out against wars in the history of the United States. Gold Star Families Speak Out is a national chapter of MFSO and includes families whose loved ones died as a result of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. More information about Military Families Speak Out can be found at www.mfso.org; more information about Gold Star Families Speak Out can be found at www.gsfso.org

-30-

Dear Members of Military Families Speak Out,

Iraq Veterans Against the War have always been an organization we are proud to support, and proud to call our allies.

They are about to launch their first strategic campaign – Operation Recovery: Stop the Deployment of
Traumatized Troops.

As military families, we know this story well. We have seen our loved ones sent back to war without adequate care for physical or mental injuries – care that they needed and deserved.

Because of our stories, we can play a vital role in this campaign. Right now, we are looking for a few people who can speak directly to the issue of redeployment of troops that are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Military Sexual Trauma (MST). If you are willing to write a short account of your story (anonymous or not), or be interviewed about this issue, please contact National Organizer Nikki Morse at nikki@mfso.org.

In addition, we can play a role by filling out the IVAW Pledge of Support. They have a goal of reaching 2,000 by October 7th when they publically announce their campaign. In the coming months we will be identifying additional ways to help build this campaign. Signing the pledge is the first way you can be part of it.

More information about the campaign, as well as the link to the Pledge, are found below. Please help build MFSO’s support for this vital campaign! Let us know you want to be involved, and if you have personal stories about this important issue.

Nikki Morse, Organizer

Military Families Speak Out

nikki@mfso.org

347-703-0570 (cell)

www.mfso.org

www.mfsotribute.org

(Below is the latest email from Iraq Veterans Against the War about
the campaign)

On October 7, the 9th anniversary of the Afghanistan War, Iraq
Veterans Against the War will announce our first-ever strategic campaign, Operation
Recovery: Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops.  As a loyal
supporter, we are letting you know about our plans before we make them public.

Join our campaign now by making a Pledge of Support.

Thousands of troops are being sent to war despite suffering from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Military
Sexual Trauma (MST). Many of us within IVAW have faced or are currently facing
deployment as we try to recover from the severe trauma we have already
experienced.

While we recognize that we must stop the deployment of all soldiers
in order to end the occupations in Iraq and Afhganistan, we see the deployment
of soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and
Military Sexual Trauma as particularly cruel, inhumane, and dangerous.  Military
commanders across all branches are pushing service members far past human
limits for the sake of ‘combat readiness.’ We cannot allow those
commanders to continue to ignore the welfare of their troops who are, after
all, human beings.

Because you are a trusted supporter, we are asking you to make a
commitment to help us end this systemic abuse of GIs’ right to heal, which only
furthers the cycle of dehumanization and destruction of these wars.

Sign the Pledge today.

By signing this pledge of support, you can stand with us in
solidarity and affirm:

Service members have the right to heal.

Because the military is desperate for warm bodies in the field, and
the VA doesn’t have the resources to serve all those in need, too often service
members are conveniently denied care or access to quality mental health
screenings.  We say, service members with PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat
stress have the right to high quality health care.  They have the right to
seek care and pursue treatments in the best interest of their health and
well-being.

Service members have the right to receive
medical care and advice from medical professionals.

A commander’s orders always supersedes the opinion of military
medical professionals when it comes to the well-being of our troops.  We
say, no military authority shall override the advice of medical professionals
regarding the health of service members.

Service members who experience PTSD, TBI, MST,
and combat stress have the right to exit the traumatic situation and receive
compensation and immediate support.

Too often, service members are forced to redeploy back into
dangerous combat, or train in situations that re-traumatize them.  We
say, individuals suffering from trauma have the right to remove themselves from
the source of the trauma. Service members who are not physically or mentally
healthy shall not be forced to deploy or continue service.

We will support service members standing up for their right to heal,
and we will stand against those responsible for violating them.

Will you stand with us? Sign the Pledge today.

We know that without the repeated
use of traumatized soldiers on the battlefield, the occupations in Iraq and
Afghanistan could not continue.

Those responsible for the deployment of traumatized soldiers will do
everything they can to hide the truth, but through our Operation Recovery
campaign, IVAW is prepared to make demands and back them up with collective
action.

For the past nine months, we have been developing this campaign.
In the coming weeks, we will let you know of specific ways to get involved.

Start today by signing the Pledge of Support.

We can’t do this without you.

Sincerely,

The Campaign Team

Hi!

I am so glad to see everyone here.

I am a very proud member of Veterans For Peace. My husband and I joined VFP in 2005. At the same time we joined Military Families Speak Out.

Our son Joe had joined the army in 2003 and by 2005 was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. We were against the invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan and knew we had to speak out, act out, rise up. Doing
nothing was not an option.

In February of 2006 Joe was deployed to Afghanistan for a year. It was my first deployment also. I didn’t know what to do or what to think. Why was I crying all the time? Why was I so angry at all the other
mom’s in the supermarket? Why did I have such hatred of the assholes with hummers?

MFSO helped me understand that it was ok to cry and that anger could be turned into action. They comforted me and held my hand and I knew I never had to say I’m sorry. They understood that I wanted to hear all the news but I didn’t want to hear all the news. They knew about the sleepless nights and I know they remembered holding their babies in their arms and never imagining having to let them go to war. They were and still are the sanity in my insanity that surely goes on for me and so many other military families.

My son Joe was stop lossed in September of 2006 until February 2007. His tour of duty was extended another 4 months. He spent 16 months in Afghanistan. During his deployment 71 soldiers from his brigade were either killed in action or died in accidents. 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division carved out the northern most outposts in Afghanistan. Two years later the army would begin closing them down. Outposts where my son said “good soldiers died”.

In September of 2007 Joe received his honorable discharge and left the army after serving 4 years on a 3 year enlistment. Joe enrolled in college full time, had a great paying part time job, had a daughter and
a son and the hope of change that was to come with a new president. Joe was proud of his service to his country and we are so proud of him.

Two years went by. Two years! In December of 2009 President Obama gave his surge on Afghanistan speech and the next day Fed-ex showed up at our door with orders for Joe to report for duty off the individual
ready reserve for deployment of no more than 400 days…to Iraq!

Thoughtless people told me he’s lucky he’s in Iraq like they used to tell me he’s lucky he’s in Afghanistan.

As of this month our combat commitment in Iraq has ended. I guess the combat infantry battalion my son is assigned to is there on vacation as are the entire 3rd infantry division, 3000 man brigades from the 4th
infantry division, Dave Cline’s old outfit the 25th infantry division, 2 combat aviation brigades and 2 national guard infantry brigades, all on vacation in sunny Iraq!

Standing guard over a stalled convoy, Joe writes, “after we dropped off our load at a little spot outside Tallil we pulled to the side in a friendly area and waited for the rest of our guys to catch up. We dismounted and smoked and joked for a little bit. That’s when the kids came up. I always liked talking to the local kids in Afghanistan. Their honesty and innocence about the only pure things in a shitty, shitty place. Here it is the same way. These poor children have known nothing but death and destruction in their young lives and even if after we leave, their country turns to peace, they will forever be scarred from the horrors they have seen. Life for them has always been about survival. Seeing little girls the age of my little daughter, running
alongside our convoy, their clothes dirty and their feet bare, offering anything, even themselves for just a bottle of water breaks my heart. Back on the base, eating ice cream and pizza and buffalo wings, just
makes the whole experience of war more disgusting. As these people starve to death, partly because of us, we eat like kings”.

To a certain extent our participation in MFSO and VFP has been a selfish act because we think that the American people, in spite of their yellow ribbons, don’t give a damn about American soldiers, but you do! I’ve found a community that not only believes in world peace but respects the courage and sacrifice of soldiers and their families. I’m so glad I’m not alone. Thank you Military Families Speak Out and
Veterans For Peace!

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!