http://mfso.org/ Military Families Speak Out advocates ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by bringing U.S. troops home now, and caring for veterans once they get here. http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1346 <div class="text blurb">President Obama: End, Don't Escalate, the War in Afghanistan</div> Tue, 24 Nov 2009 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1346 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1219 <div class="text blurb">Reflections on freedom, patriotism, and war by Mélida Arredondo, an MFSO and GSFSO member whose son was killed in Iraq and whose nephew is serving in Afghanistan.</div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1219 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1218 <div class="text blurb">A moving reflection on the trauma of Iraqi refugees and U.S. veterans by Beth Lerman, an MFSO chapter leader from Dayton, Ohio.</div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1218 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1202 <div class="text blurb">Military Families Speak Out Nevada April Medlin handed a letter directly to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas on May 24, that read in part: "We are more than five years into a war that you yourself have said should never have begun . . .Senator Reid you have chosen to 'wheel and deal' with the lives of our loved ones for political gain. Will you be able to look us in the face as our loved ones die between now and next spring? Will you be able to hold your head high and tell us it was for a just cause? Please do not step over the flag draped caskets of our loved ones to 'win' a political game."</div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1202 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1152 <div class="text blurb">For me, supporting the troops means utilizing the very rights that they swore to uphold when they took their oath to join the military. It means using my voice to question my government, its methods, and its actions. Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism;" the responsibility to maintain the checks and balances in your elected government are not only a guaranteed rights, it is our patriotic duty. What kind of support are you really giving them if you stand silently by and watch policies enacted that only bring them death and injury? </div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1152 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1089 <div class="text blurb">I suppose I could write to you about what it is like to spend daily life with the proud star of our small-town high school football team who can no longer walk without aid; I could write to you about what it is like to get the phone call that confirms one of your nightmares has come true and the panic that ensues; or maybe I could tell you about the frustration of knowing that a person you love dearly is fighting for his life on the battlefield of a war justified by dishonesty and irresponsibility. </div> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1089 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1028 <div class="text blurb">I was sitting across from my son the Saturday night before Father’s Day. We drank a few beers together and talked about the last 4 years. Our last Father’s Day together was in 2002. Since then my 23 year old son Ryan had been in either Iraq or Germany. During that time he had spent over 24 months in combat. </div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1028 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1009 <div class="text blurb">My son did one 11-month tour in Iraq with the 18th Airborne Corps and is scheduled for a 15-month tour starting this September with the 4th Brigade, 3rd Inf. Division. I understand it's not easy bringing this pointless war to an end, but these compromises I see being discussed are truly insane.</div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1009 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1001 <div class="text blurb">My son is in the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, at Ft. Stewart, GA, in training for his second deployment to Iraq no later than July. He did his first tour of 11 months with the 18th Airborne Corps out of Ft. Bragg. My son joined the Army to serve his country, not to be part of a moronic effort to save the ruined legacy of this blind fool in the White House. </div> Wed, 02 May 2007 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=1001 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=998 <div class="text blurb">Today a woman called me. She saw our chapter's web site, and reached me as the contact person. She left a simple message on my answering machine, telling me that her son was headed to his third deployment. I spoke to her a little while ago, and it was hard to hold the tears back until I was done. She could not hold hers back. She told me about her son.</div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=998 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=990 <div class="text blurb">My husband has been in the military for four years. He joined for reasons probably very similar to the rest of the people he serves with. We were young, newly married, with a baby on the way. Every time he thought he was going to get a decent job, it ended up being a dead end.</div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=990 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=960 <div class="text blurb">This past weekend I, along with a few veterans and others who support the soldiers but not the quagmire their commander in chief has gotten them into, stood with signs and banners not far from the gates of MacDill Air Force Base. My banner displayed a peace sign with a yellow ribbon on it, and said, "Bring our troops home now" and "Military Families Speak Out," which is an organization of more than 3,000 families nationwide who totally support their loved ones, but don't support the war/occupation.</div> Tue, 03 Apr 2007 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=960 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=877 <div class="text blurb">Yesterday, Saturday morning, we heard the news that a chopper went down northeast of Baghdad and all 14 on board were killed. Our lives came to a stand still while fear took over. Our son flies to outposts in NE Iraq, and we feared for his life.</div> Sun, 21 Jan 2007 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=877 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=875 <div class="text blurb">My son called tonight from Georgia, where he has been stationed since returning from Iraq in February. He was in Iraq for a year and will have been in the Army four years this summer. </div> http://mfso.org/article.php?id=875 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=856 <div class="text blurb">It is New Year's Day, 2007. I have been out of the Army for four years, and my husband has been in for fourteen. This year, our daughter will turn four, I will be twenty-six, and he will be thirty-two. My, how time flies. I sat here in our little flat in an old part of Army Housing at our post, and as the ball dropped in Times Square on our TV screen, my heart dropped with it, even though I was undeniably grateful that my husband was sitting right beside me and not deployed like he was this time last year, and will be this time next year. The reason my heart dropped with the ball is because this year will bring yet another deployment to this unjust and illegal war</div> Tue, 02 Jan 2007 http://mfso.org/article.php?id=856