Over the past year, the Board of Directors has worked hard trying to keep Military Families Speak Out running as an all-volunteer organization while facing a number of serious obstacles. After much consideration and in consultation with past and current leaders and allies, we have no choice but to close down the organization. This was a very difficult and emotional decision for all of us, as MFSO has represented a source of strength, support,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
When a NATO troop is killed by an Afghan in uniform, that death is reported. But The Associated Press has learned from a U.S. official granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the “insider” problem, that when an Afghan in uniform wounds — or misses — his U.S. or allied target, the attack is not reported. Nor are the number of troops wounded who were attacked alongside those who were killed...
by: Anna Berlinrut, Mid-Atlantic MFSO Board Representative Nine days after Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly massacred 17 unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, including young children, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered an emergency review of the military’s use of mefloquine an anti-malaria drug, commonly known under the trade name of Lariam (made by Hoffman-LaRoche). The normal dosage of Lariam is one pill before going into an area known to have malaria-infected mosquitoes and one pill each week the...
*Click here for a downloadable pamphlet of this fact sheet* No one is paying attention to this war – not even Congress – very few are asking questions – but everyone needs to care about what is happening in Afghanistan. Lobbyists continually pressure Congress to keep war going, war is a lucrative business According to a Pew Research Center Poll last summer, 59% of Americans want an Immediate Withdrawal from Afghanistan If we want the...
How often in our lives have we heard the phrase ‘sick and tired’ either from the mouth of our mothers or from our own mouths for our children? I remember a comedy routine by Bill Cosby when he was referencing his childhood and his mother was scolding him with the beginning of the phrase ‘sick’ and he finished the ‘and tired’ and said he doesn’t remember anything after that. It is a phrase uttered...
On December 19, the day chosen by the Obama administration as the official end of the Iraq War, Brian Arredondo took his own life. His older brother, Alex, who “always wanted to be a Marine” was killed during his second combat tour, in Najaf, Iraq, on August 25, 2004, the day of his father’s 44th birthday. Alex and Brian’s parents, Carlos and Melida Arredondo, have been longtime active members of Gold Star Families Speak Out....