For some families of soldiers in the 172nd Stryker Brigade, the July 27 announcement of the extension of their tour in Iraq was just too much. Some of them are joining the ranks of the anti-war group Military Families Speak Out. “We’ve had a whole group of people who have joined since the announcement,” said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of the group. She was working to get an exact count at press time, and said e-mails are still coming in to the organization.
“They are having meetings at families’ homes,” she said. “Many family members hold their breath until their loved one gets home,” and then speak out, she said. “But something like this puts them over the edge.
“There has never before been a group of military families breaking the code of silence like this,” she said. “It speaks to the horrific nature of the invasion and now occupation of Iraq.”
Lessin and her husband, Charley Richardson of Boston, founded the organization with another military family in November, 2002, to speak out against military action in Iraq. Their Marine son served in Iraq in 2003.
The organization now has grown to more than 3,000 military family members. Most are parents or spouses or fiancées of troops, she said, but there are also siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and children.
“I got one e-mail from a young man whose 59-year-old mother was being deployed,” she said.
Since June 22, some members of the group have staged “Operation House Call” near the U.S. Capitol, making statements to congressmen, staff members, and others as they pass by. The number varies daily, but more than 50 family members have participated at some point, coming from the Washington, D.C., area as well as other locations around the country. By the time they finish Aug. 3 when Congress is expected to go into summer recess, the number may reach 100.
A number of service members, including some Marines and a West Point graduate, have thanked them for their efforts, Lessin said.
Group members have also visited a number of congressmen and senators. “As we go in to offices, we often take two pairs of boots and put them on the table to show an average of two troops are being killed for each day that Congress fails to act,” she said.
They will continue to speak out until their goals are met, Lessin said. Those goals “are to end the occupation and bring the troops home; to take care of them when they get here.
“And never again send our loved ones to a reckless misadventure putting them in harm’s way in a war based on lies,” she said.
Group members have been maintaining their vigil near the Cannon House office building when Congress is in session.
The group is worried about the care of troops who return, especially their mental health. “The biggest single issue among families lucky enough to welcome their troops home is PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder],” she said.
But there’s a broader concern, too, Lessin added. “There’s a real sense among families this war is destroying the military,” she said, noting that “many service members who wanted to make the military a career” and were devoted to their service, have chosen to leave the military.