-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...
Anna Berlinrut, whose son is currently in Afghanistan, was interviewed on Between the Lines radio program. Pat Alviso, Southern California chapter leader, whose son recently returned from Afghanistan, was interviewed on NBC before Obama’s speech presenting his plan for a slow withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pat Alviso and her husband, MFSO Board Member Jeff Merrick, hosted a viewing party at their home in Long Beach attended by members of MFSO, Gold Star Families Speak Out,...
Below you will find some talking points to assist you when speaking to press, legislators, friends, and family about Obama’s new Afghanistan withdrawal plan. A few things to remember… Statistics can change minds, but only stories can change hearts. Commonly held beliefs about the war are often based on emotional reactions, not logic. The most powerful tool you have is your own personal story – the facts are here to back you up. We...
from KPCC in California – click here for full recording of the show Can I earn enough to pay the bills? How can I take care of the kids and work at the same time? Can I keep the household running without my wife? He always fixes the car, but now that he’s gone… He’s so changed. She needs help. We miss him. We miss her. I feel so alone. Military families face so...
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...
Black Hills FOX – Memorial Day weekend played host to a not-so-traditional observance in the Northern Hills. Military members and families from all across the country came together this weekend to be a part of a Sioux holistic healing retreat. It’s well off the beaten path and that’s what makes it the perfect venue for a healing retreat. The 3-day retreat was hosted by members of the Sioux nation and utilized some non-traditional methods...
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...
On April 26th, we marked a tragic milestone: 6,000 U.S. service members have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We mourn for these lost lives, as well as those who’ve taken their own lives as a result of their experiences. We extend our deepest condolences to all Gold Star families, and honor those who have chosen to speak out and channel their grief into ensuring that no other family goes through...