Paid Internship Announcement: Work with the Military Families Speak Out Media Team!
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
Position on Deported Veterans (In Support of Veterans For Peace)
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.;
MFSO Position Statement on President Trump’s Immigration Policy
Military Families Speak Out supports the action of governors of 11 states in denouncing President Trump’s immigration policy of separating children from their parents at the southern border by pulling their National Guard troops from the border and announcing that they won’t be deploying any more of the state’s military or will recall troops already sent. The states include Colorado, Delaware,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. MFSO does not want our loved ones in the military to be part of enforcing this inhumane policy.
Military Families Speak Out is a national organization of families whose loved ones have served or are currently serving in the United States Armed Forces. We urge the governors of the remaining states to take a similar action and withdraw or recall their state’s National Guard.
Donate to MFSO
After 17 years of military intervention resulting in the needless loss of lives and trillions of dollars spent on endless wars, the Trump Administration has requested options from the military for withdrawal plans, including a complete withdrawal. This means we could be seeing the end of the war in Afghanistan finally within our reach. This, along with the order for the complete withdrawal of troops from Syria and the scaling back of support to the Saudi action in Yemen is a good sign that even this administration is recognizing the futility of continuing all of these wars.
MFSO has always been at the forefront of this struggle, and is well poised to push hard this coming year to be the voice that can make a difference in finally getting all of our troops home and back in the arms of their loved ones. And so we begin the New Year with a campaign to lobby members of Congress and tell the story of the human cost of war- the story that our members know personally.
The voices of our active duty military, veterans and their families must be heard. We are the people, along with millions of civilians in these war-torn countries, who have paid the price, and continue to pay the price, of a senseless U.S. foreign policy.
As you know, bringing all of our troops home has always been the main goal of MFSO, and our members are in a unique position to demonstrate the reality of war. By speaking from experience, we bring the reality of war home – death, lifelong injuries, post-traumatic stress, moral injury, suicide, traumatic brain injury, and much more.
We firmly believe that our families have been instrumental in getting the country on our side, so that the majority of Americans now understand that these wars do not make us safer, but in fact, have created more enemies for us.
In our concerted effort to end the war in Afghanistan, we ask for your help to continue this arduous work. Pease consider making a one-time donation to MFSO. If you have not already joined the growing list of sustained donors, please consider doing so. We are an all volunteer organization, without dues, and no hired staff. By supporting Military Families Speak Out, your tax deductible donation goes directly into funding actions that promote stopping unjust wars.
In 2018, your generous donations supported MFSO in:
Numerous national and internationally aired interviews from around the country
Poor Peoples Campaign actions- CA, MO, DC
Op-Ed editorials
MFSO literature distribution across the country
Meet up, a new member orientation, outreach, tabling and member support at Veterans for Peace Convention- Minnesota
Regular on-going vigils across the nation
Workshop presentations in MI and CA
Congressional lobbying for a new AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force)
Support for members participating in actions across the country
Key organizers for 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day weekend in DC which included the Silent march at Arlington Memorial, the Peace Congress, feeding the homeless and Occupy the VA.
Heart 2 Heart Tour- CA, ORE, AZ, NM, and OK
Support for families of deported veterans and their families, including border visits and assistance to prevent deportations and support to pass legislation to end veteran deportation
As this year draws to an end, MFSO is ready to confront the biggest challenge yet- to end the war in Afghanistan. Won’t you please consider being a part of history and making a one-time donation or become a sustaining member today?
MFSO welcomes all comments from members and supporters. Please send us your thoughts throughout the year via our website, Facebook, email or just give us a call anytime.
Pat Alviso
National Coordinator
Military Families Speak Out
MFSO Actions Around Armistice Day
It was a whirlwind of activities over Veterans Day weekend. Attached you will find pictures of MFSO members in attendance that included our main event which was a silent march to the war memorials in DC on the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day and organized by Marcia Westbrook, WVA. Included were Paula Rogovin, NJ, Sabrina Waller, Ill, Cindy and Al Glatkowski, SC, Stacy Bannerman, Ore., and Pat Alviso, CA, Other events attended by MFSO members included a caravan tour, the Peace Congress, Veterans Occupy the VA and a peace concert in McPhearson Square. Please send your photos of actions in your area and we will get them out as well.
Link to CBS coverage of action/event at Independence Mall https://cbsloc.al/2qFFLvf
Report from Celeste Zappala, Gold Star Families Speak Out member, Philadelphia
Sunday November 11
I had heard of the decision to award Bush the Liberty Medal in the summer. Gold Star Mom Sure Niederer had asked if we should be present, but I had thought to go to Washington DC with the Vets to protest the Trump parade. By early November I knew I could not go to DC, and felt I must be a voice opposed to George Bush being honored with a medal for serving veterans of the war he so foolishly started. I checked with my friends in the Peace network but could not find any actions planned at the Constitution Center where the medal would be awarded.
By Friday, I felt compelled to go and be a witness for the Truth- even if I was alone. Fortunately, when I posted a call to protest, a few of the old Peace friends responded. On Sunday morning I asked the members of my faith community, the First United Methodist Church of Germantown to stand with me. As the sun began to set on Independence Mall a dozen of us were present. I held a huge picture of my fallen son, Sgt Sherwood Baker, and others held signs saying remember, 4,541 plus Americans dead, 500,000 plus Iraqis dead- for a war based on lies.
The street in front of the Constitution Center was fairly quiet. Well dressed guests passed through safety stations to go in, we stood on the opposite side of the street- barely close enough to see each other’s faces. Shortly after 5 we heard whistles and a drum- the vets of About Face appeared.,- the Calvary had come! Full of energy and enthusiasm, they took their place directly in front of the recently erected tent where the ceremony would take place. Chants and speeches, their voices filled the air and we, the civilians chanted with them.
The Vets had brought a sound machine, and a projector- when finally Joe Biden then Bush spoke, we stood directly in the front of the thin plastic shield that divided us from the folks in the tent, and began to yell “:Shame”. We called, “Bush lied, people died” “No awards for endless war”. One of our friends, the former wife of a Vet, Stacy Bannerman, was removed from the tent after she attempted to interrupt the ceremony to return the medal she had received in recognition of her husband’s service.
In the darkening street, the Vets and we older folks chanted and yelled- and we were heard in that tent. Joe Biden and George Bush could not escape our shaming of them. The sound machine provided the wail of a siren for the entire speech, and the Vets whistled – shrill and persistent.
George Bush accepted the lies created by his administration and chose to begin a war in Iraq. The whole World was injured by that mistake. George Bush did indeed open the gates of Hell, and to this day, hundreds of thousands of people are still paying the price, their lives are forever altered, the loss of hundreds of thousands of people will echo for generations. This man deserved no medal of honor. His work to support veterans can not redeem him if he can never account for his betrayal of the truth. For those of us screaming outside that tent, the loss and pain we carry is permanent, but as one Vet said, “we are together, we are here, we have our voice.”
End U.S. Wars At Home And Abroad. Reclaim Armistice Day.
Join Veterans For Peace and Military Families Speak Out for Armistice Day on The Mall in Washington DC on 11/11/2018.
Visit www.NoTrumpMilitaryParade.us for a full list of the weekend events.
This includes a concert on McPherson Square Saturday night, an interfaith service Sunday morning, a solemn veteran and military family-led march on Sunday at 9:00 am and more events at McPherson Square Sunday afternoon, including a BBQ for homeless vets.
How Are We Supporting our Troops when 20 Veterans Die by Suicide Every Day?
Excerpts from the speech given by Mary Hladky, MFSO Steering Committee Member, on May 20th in Jefferson City, MO at a Poor People’s Campaign protest of militarism. Soon after Hladky
issued this critique, she and 16 others blocked a
street, were arrested, and were released.
I am Mary Hladky. My son, Ryan, was an Army
Infantry Officer. During his deployment in
Afghanistan, the troops experienced some of the
highest death and injury rates of the war.
Today I want to talk to you about the war economy
and the incalculable harm this obsession does to all
Americans, and especially soldiers.
War drains the treasury of money. The Costs of
War Project at Brown University says US wars over
the past 16 years have cost $5.6 trillion. Our
officials justify this spending in the name of
national security. There is little left, it seems, for the
welfare of the people.
These same officials defend these massive expenses
as part of “supporting the troops”. But supporting our
troops should mean bringing them home and
taking care of them when they return.
How are we supporting the troops when many
military families need public assistance such as
food stamps to make ends meet, while defense
contractors rake in record profits?
There are 3 million veterans of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan. These soldiers have seen more
combat than veterans of any other wars. Many have
experienced moral injury – a violation of a person’s
moral values, core beliefs. The shame, guilt, and
torturous remorse that becomes moral injury often
results in suicide.
How are we supporting our troops when 20
veterans, from all wars, die by suicide every day?
Today, here and across the country, and all over
the world, our voices declare our work for a more
peaceful world, the hope of a movement; to realize
that true security is not measured by the size of our
military, but the welfare of our people.
Just before the arrest of Mary Hladky, Michael
McPhearson, and other activists
Photo by Bennette Dibben, PeaceWorks