MFSO Newsletter November 2019

Marine combat veteran who served in Iraq facing deportation to El Salvador (NBC News)

“… His sister said that during his time in detention, Segovia Benitez has helped other detainees and is “really loved.”

“He’s very helpful and obviously cares about people,” she said.

Jeff Merrick, a retired master sergeant with the Air Force, said deporting veterans like Segovia Benitez after they served time was a “total disgrace.”

“They got into trouble, yes, they had issues, but they served their time, and instead of like other citizens, where they’re released back into the community, where they can have a life again, they’re committed to a life term of exile,” said Merrick, who is a board member with the group Military Families Speak Out.”

Military Families Speak Out participated in the 23rd annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 9, 2019 on Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach. Photo by Geronimo Quitoriano

POSITION STATEMENT ON WAR WITH IRAN, September 2019

Military Families Speak Out is opposed to the recent decision made
by the President to send troops to Saudi Arabia. There is no need to
sacrifice the lives of our loved ones in the US military over a regional
conflict between the nations of Saudi Arabia and Iran. The US should
be joining the international effort to find diplomatic solutions instead, to prevent another disastrous war in the Middle East.

March 13, 2018

Military Families Speak Out urges all members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to move HR Bill 1229 (Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force) out of the committee and into the House of Representatives for a full vote. Military Families Speak Out is a national organization made up of families that have loved ones in the military since 9-11. This bill is of utmost importance to our families because the AUMF has been the legal authority used to justify sending our families to fight in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and anywhere else in the world without first getting any new authorization from members of congress. We urge you to co-sponsor the bill and get the repeal of the AUMF out of committee for the following reasons: 

• The AUMF has been the legal authority used to justify our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Congress has failed in its constitutional responsibility to vote to authorize the use of military force for over 16 years. 
• The AUMF had expanded the president’s power to use military force anywhere in the world and has reduced congressional oversight
• It is extremely dangerous to allow the current 2001 AUMF to be the final say for allowing armed conflict. New wars, such as in Niger or even war with N. Korea is under consideration and could be justified under the AUMF. 
• The War Powers Act of 1973 is a federal law that was intended to check the power of the president so that troops can only be committed to armed conflict if congress can declare war. A constitutional crisis has been brewing while the AUMF repeal bill sits in committee, 
• The AUMF has no time or geographic distinctions and three presidential administrations have refused to step forward to get an approval for wars that have killed thousands of our troops, caused endless suffering and resulted in the killing of well over a million innocent civilians, mostly women and children.
• With no credible information of why military force is being used it is imperative that Congress vote on the AUMF. 
• It is our families who pay the price for wars. We are at the front lines making the sacrifices of America’s most treasured resources. 

It is our military men and women, their families, and innocent civilians involved in these many conflicts, who have suffered most.   

It’s time for Congress to show some courage and do its constitutional duty to debate and then vote on the authorization of war.  It is the least they can do when asking our military men and women to put their lives on the line.    

Pat Alviso

National Coordinator

Military Families Speak Out

P.O. Box 4193

Seal Beach, CA 90740

Work with the Military Families Speak Out media team and leadership to grow their membership and help bring our troops home and take care of them when they get here. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/OEP-MFSO

Job Description: Military Families Speak Out Organizer
Working With: Military Families Speak Out Media Team
Bill Scheurer, OEP Executive Director
Marie Rhoades, OEP Youth & Young Adult Director

On Earth Peace is managing this paid internship under its internship program, on behalf of Military Families Speak Out, with grant funding from The A.J. Muste Memorial Institute.

About Military Families Speak Out
Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) is an organization of military families across the US and around the world who are opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have a loved one currently serving in the military, who has served in the military since 9/11 or who has died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The mission of Military Families Speak Out is to advocate for all U.S. troops to leave Iraq and Afghanistan now and to speak out against unjust military interventions. MFSO supports policies that utilize diplomacy over military force. We support the troops and work hard to ensure that their needs are met while deployed and when they return home. https://militaryfamiliesspeakout.com/

About On Earth Peace
On Earth Peace (OEP) is a nonprofit organization helping people work together for justice and peace, using the spiritual and practical disciplines of active nonviolence, community building, and conflict transformation. We work through mutual equipping and accompaniment, serving churches and community groups, youth and young adults, and other individuals of all ages. OEP is also an agency of the Church of the Brethren, a Historic Peace Church. http://www.onearthpeace.org/

What You’ll Do
You will help MFSO grow its peacebuilding mission to “bring our troops home now, and take care of them when they get here.” Here are specific tasks you will be doing for MFSO:

• Expanding our social media presence.
• Call MFSO members to ask about doing interviews.
• Call and welcome and learn about new members.
• Organize all interviewee contact info by state/city, military family member relationships, branches of military, deployment histories, and current military status (including active duty, currently deployed, veteran, discharged, wounded, Gold Star, suicide, etc.).
• Collect and maintain media contacts by state/city.
• Ask other groups to share their media list.
• Help develop and send out press releases.
• Search and collect media coverage of our interviews and events.
• Post these and other pertinent stories and events in social media.
• Re-engage inactive/lapsed members.
• Assist leadership team with outreach for new members and partners.
• Consult with media coaches in preparing for and processing member and partner calls, and in helping members prepare for and report back on media interviews.
• Assist in updating general and specific talking points.
  Help media team with regular and special newsletters.
• Assure that the principles and practices of active nonviolence and skilled movement building are integral to all activities and conversations in all our MFSO interactions.

What You’ll Learn
You will gain valuable experience in community building and organizing, and will develop a firm understanding of the right tactics to combine online marketing with overarching outreach goals. You also will learn how to work in a professional environment and have abundant opportunity to make lasting connections. Specifically, you will grow in these and many other important skills:

• How to cultivate sustained impact, engagement, and community.
• How to build relationships with a wide variety of people and organizations.
• How to track social media and other analytics, and report results.
• How to develop compelling content that will be shared by influencers.
• How to learn from creative feedback and viral loops, and discover new ideas.
• How to develop, manage, and evaluate effective community building strategy.
• Deep exposure to the principles and practices of active nonviolence and conflict transformation for building justice and peace throughout your life.
• An understanding of the culture of the military and military families, and sensitivities and protocols for working with military family members and friends in a crisis and/or a state of anxiety during deployments, homecomings, or injuries to or losses of loved ones.

What We’re Looking For
Do you have natural gifts for making friends, forming relationships, and building community? Do your friends look to you in social media for the latest trends, ideas, and online memes? If so, we also are looking for these specific interests and skills:

• Passion for the work of justice and peace, and a genuine interest in learning more deeply about the practices of active nonviolence and conflict transformation.
• Creative self-starter who is comfortable with taking initiative and working on your own, and with working in close collaboration with teams and groups as needed.
• Multitasking finisher who can prioritize and make progress on multiple projects at once (both in parallel and serial), and is committed to finalizing each project on time.
• Detail-oriented influencer with strong written and verbal communication skills, and a good eye for compelling graphics, photos, videos, headlines, and stories.
• Enough power-user technical savvy to manage the tools and techniques of various online productivity tools and social media platforms creatively and effectively.
• Strong social organizing skills and instincts for calling people into community.
• Ability and eagerness to work in the practices of one-to-one community building via email, phone, chat, and video meetings, and where available in person.
• Creative energy and drive with a desire to come up with fresh ideas to grow MFSO membership and build engagement, participation, identification, and belonging.
• Willingness to try new things, take risks, accept responsibility, and learn.
• Ability to understand many different kinds of people, to listen to and speak to them, and to build bridges while maintaining clear commitments to our core values.
• Ability to listen to people in crisis and help them feel heard and supported.
• A high degree of intellectual and emotional confidence and maturity to comprehend and work with abstract concepts at a practical, concrete level of application.
• A marketing or communications major will help, since will be part of a media team.

Location
This job will be done from your school or home. You will need good reliable internet and phone access. You will need enough time in your schedule to be available for regular phone and video meetings, as well as be reachable as needed by email, phone, text, and video call.

Position Available (Date)
This job is available all three semesters (fall, spring, summer) on a rolling basis. MFSO currently has funding available for one full semester of work, with hope for renewal based on results.

To learn more and apply go here: https://www.onearthpeace.org/internships
Revision date: 9/25/2019

DEPORTED VETERANS, RESOLUTION ON (Submitted by Willie Hager, Chapter 174)

Resolution on amending U.S. Code to clearly state that U.S. military servicemembers are noncitizen nationals and to petition the President and the Department of Homeland Security to stay the removal from the U.S. of all foreign nationals who are serving or who have served in the Armed Forces of the U.S.; to lobby all members of Congress state by state and district by district to honor their sacrifices, and to amend United States Code and provide all alien servicemembers the equivalent status of a Noncitizen Nationals. Whereas U.S. servicemembers are being and have been deported after serving in the military from the U.S., and Whereas the current U.S. Code provides: that the term “national of the United States” means: a citizen of the U.S., or a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the U.S. (8 U.S.C. 1101(a) (22)), and Whereas Federal law requires everyone who enlists/re-enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States to take the Oath of Enlistment. This Oath and the Oath of Citizenship contain this pledge of loyalty, and Whereas veterans who have served our nation in every war from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan strongly believe the oath of enlistment is a permanent oath of allegiance to the U.S.;