Operation FREE In Washington DC

by: Chris LeJeune

Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 12:54:34 PM EDT

This past week, 150 veterans from all over America gathered in Washington DC for the launch of Operation FREE. I was pleased to be able to attend.  We started off with a dinner at the Doubletree Hotel in Crystal City and guest speeches to open the event and explain what we would be doing the next day.  We were honored to hear from Jon Powers and various fellows from the Truman National Security Project. It was a stunning scene to witness 150 veterans from all over America come together for a common cause.  Numerous veterans from VoteVets.org and Veterans Green Jobs were represented.  If you have not taken the time to check these groups, I highly recommend that you do.  VoteVets.org has been a strong force in pushing veterans legislation and they were a driving force behind the new GI Bill.  Veterans Green Jobs has been working with homeless veterans in a tree planting operation and recently received a contract to weatherize buildings in southern Colorado which will employ numerous out of work vets.

The second day of the event kicked off early at 6:15 AM.  This was troublesome to those of us who had stayed at the Skydome lounge late the previous night.  We then proceeded to George Washington University to hear from guest speakers and receive a little communications training.  We were honored to hear from Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn (Ret) and learn about effective communication from some of the best trainers in the industry.

After leaving George Washington University, we then proceeded to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House.  This was my first time ever inside the White House.  We had a briefing from a number of honored speakers including Carol Browner and Senator John Warner. Senator Warner’s speech was amazing, driven, and passionate.  He spoke of returning home from World War II and from Korea.  He spoke of the changing public perception of the military over the last 50 years.  And he spoke of the close ties between climate change and national security.  I have posted the full briefing here for anyone who wishes to see it.  The video is an hour long, so most will not wish to sit through it in its entirety.  I would recommend at least watching Senator Warner’s speech.  It starts at 21:07.

After leaving the EEOB, we proceeded to Hart Senate building to meet with a number of different senators and discuss the upcoming climate change legislation.  I accompanied a group from Veterans Green Jobs as we met with Senator Mark Udall in his office.  It is always a pleasure to meet with senators and representatives.  Senator Udall was humorous, extremely supportive, and right on point.  As I was meeting with him, over a hundred other veterans were meeting with other senators, legislative aids, and policy advisers.  Operation FREE has begun.

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