KOTA Territory News – This Memorial Day weekend, military families across the nation and even Canada come together in the black hills to find the healing they so desperately need. Music from the drums help Arturo Cambron find healing. He and his wife Rossana suffer a daily battle while their son fights a war in Iraq. “All of the pain I feel as a mother whose son has just deployed for the third time...
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -The mother of a Bay Area man who died in Iraq in 2004 was one of the “Gold Star” moms invited to the White House Monday to mark Memorial Day and pay tribute to the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gold Star mothers like Karen Meredith of Mountain View come to Washington each Memorial Day to honor their children who died while serving their country. Meredith came...
The demise of bin Laden does little to undo the countless mistakes we’ve made in his name. By Dante Zappala reposted from The Philadelphia Inquirer Amid the requisite flag-waving, chanting, and nationalistic fervor over the death of Osama bin Laden, I will not be rejoicing myself. There will be no vindication for me as I remember the sacrifice of my brother, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004. If the largely symbolic event of...
March 19, 2011 – Eleven military family members and veterans were arrested for civil trespass today in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where they staged a sit in on the 8th anniversary of the occupation of Iraq. They brought with them the photographs and boots of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. The family members brought a block of cement with them when they sat among the hand and footprints of Hollywood...
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...
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...
Like many Americans I watched the state of the Union. The Presidents said that we were all part of something greater- the American Family. As a Gold Star mother and an advocate for Military Families I hope that we are truly now a full part of the American Family. The initiatives announced the day before to help families look promising. I am worried about the effects of multiple deployments on the education of our...
Last night, President Obama called for support of our troops and their families, yet he painted far too rosy a picture of the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and stopped short of offering any real plans to ensure jobs and mental health services for veterans. Since the supposed end of combat operations in Iraq last summer, 18 U.S. troops and at least 649 Iraqi civilians have been killed. According to many analysts, Obama will...
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...
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....