Member Story | MFSO Oral History & Archive Project

What malaria meds may be doing to our troops

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...

Military Families reflect on the end of the Iraq War

The nightmare continues… From Pat Alviso and Jeff Merrick, Long Beach Ca. Parents of Marine who has been deployed 4 times As a loving family, along with our son, who is a career Marine, we watched in horror when we invaded Afghanistan and the drumbeat for war lead into the senseless invasion and occupation of Iraq. Military families have paid dearly- over 4,000 of our loved ones are gone forever. Hundreds of thousands of...

Gold Star Families reflect on the end of the Iraq War

In Our Breath and On the Wind From Celeste Zappala, Mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker, KIA 4/26/04 Baghdad I heard the news of the war ending late on Friday. It seemed an odd time to release such serious news, and made my family and I think that this news was being treated just as the war has been treated for years, it is inconsequential to the American public, a bad after thought not even worth a...

Weird Math: 1 Percent versus 1 Percent

MFSO Member Paula Rogovin reflects on Occupy Wall St. On Saturday, October 8, 2011, members of Military Families Speak Out stood alongside members of Veterans For Peace and thousands of other people at Occupy Wall Street. We were so happy to see so many people from so many walks of life. Here was a place where the messages like the ones we carried: Support our troops, bring them home NOW! were part of the outcry...

Art by MFSO Members: Reflecting on 10 Years of War

On this page you will find examples of art made by members of Military Families Speak Out, reflecting on their experiences over the last decade of war. “I’ve Come to Take My Boy Home” a play by Dave Lambert, MFSO Indiana – click here to download This is a short anti-war play, with two characters, Vivian and Jerry. Vivian is middle-aged, with a son in the military. She has been an activist for several...

My Son Leaves for Afghanistan July 25, 2011

-DAY #1: Text Message, Sunday, June 19, 2011 @ 9:50 am- Mom: Did you make it to your new base okay? Call when you can. Love you. Son: Everything is good Mom: Keep me posted! Let me know when and how we can communicate. Son: Okay I will -1:59 pm- Son: Hey the 3-71 Cav 3rd Brigade 10th Mountain left in Feb or March. Some guys are leaving late next month. It’s 50/50 if...

MFSO Mother: ‘What Are They Dying For?’

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...

The Questions They Couldn’t Answer

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...

MFSO Member Carole Whelan Protests Senator in Maine who Supported Iraq War

from WGME local news in Maine… CAUGHT ON TAPE: Protester at Senator Collins’ induction into Maine Women’s Hall of Fame Peace activists protested Senator Susan Collins’ induction into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame Saturday in Augusta. Shortly after Senator Collins was awarded the honor at the University of Maine campus, a woman stood up in the audience and began speaking, reading a written statement, and saying Senator Collins should refuse the award for her role in helping...

IVAW Connects the Dots in Madison, WI

From MFSO Member Steve Wagener & Uppity Wisconsin The Iraq Veteran’s Against the War (IVAW) hosted a rally last Saturday, March 19 on the 8th anniversary of the Iraq War. Todd E. Dennis, former nuclear machinist mate on an attack submarine and current Madison Chapter President for the IVAW was one of several responsible for organizing the event. The rally began at the library mall on the campus of UW-Madison. Songs and speeches were...

Member Blog: Mary Hladky

State of the Union & True Costs of War Yes I believe in America’s ability to “do big things” to move our country forward. I also believe we can face the hard facts about Afghanistan. We spend $2 billion every week in Afghanistan for a war that 63% of Americans do not support. The war does not make us safer, in fact, our military intervention is creating many more enemies. Afghanistan is a landlocked,...