Michael Breen served in the Army as a Captain in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is currently a law student.

Mike Breen speaks to the crowd in Scranton, PA, on the Veterans for American Power Tour.

For all of its privations and dangers, military service offers at least one profound compensation: the chance to fight for something deeply important.  Many of us were called to put on the uniform for that very reason. My fellow veterans on the northern ‘Veterans for American Power’ bus tour have heeded that call twice now – once when they volunteered to serve the nation in a time of war, and a second time when they signed up to fight for American energy independence as part of Operation Free.

It felt good to be on that bus, with those outstanding men and women. It felt good to be united with fellow veterans, to be serving a cause higher than ourselves, and to be sharing an important message with people across the country. As we spoke in Pennsylvania’s steel towns and rolled through the wooded hills of New Hampshire, I began to realize just how ready most people were to hear what we had to say. In small towns and state capitols, Americans young and old seemed to intuitively understand that dependence on foreign oil and pollution that threatens our climate both pose a danger to our security and way of life. More importantly, they seemed ready and eager to stand up and do something about it.

In Pittsburg, the leaders of a local union showed us a training program that prepares workers for a renewable energy economy. In New Hampshire, state legislators explained how weatherizing homes in the state could create jobs. In Maine, Bowdoin College was packed with a new generation of student leaders ready to commit to putting America’s energy future back in American hands.

As the bus rolled on, I watched with humility and excitement as my fellow veterans mastered the skills of a new kind of service. Glenn Kunkel, a decorated Marine rifleman, spoke eloquently of wind farms as the victory gardens of a new greatest generation. Robin Eckstein told hushed town meetings of the perils of logistical convoys in Iraq, dodging insurgent attacks to supply petroleum for Army generators. Andrew Campbell brought a crowd of his fellow Mainers to their feet at our last event, with a call to stop funding both sides of the war through foreign oil.

The bus tour may be over, but the mission continues. I’m looking forward to reuniting with my fellow Operation Free veterans, and working together to meet the great challenge of our generation.

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