Operation Free » Robin Eckstein

At What Fuel Price Will the American People Wake Up?

Robin Eckstein — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:27:21 +0000

I had to go to the gas station today and once again was not surprised to see that fuel prices had risen again. You would expect to hear about rising gas prices in the news or people around the water cooling complaining given it’s no secret that we are funding both sides of the wars. Sadly, people are becoming so accustomed to the fluctuating gas prices that hardly a mention is made of them going up again. But we can’t afford to be indifferent.

Our inaction on growing clean American energy isn’t just costing us at the pump. It’s putting our security as a nation at risk. We already send a billion dollars a day overseas, largely to countries who don’t like us, With the Energy Information Administration’s latest gasoline price forecast estimates that regular-grade motor gasoline’s retail prices will average $3.17 a gallon this year, 39 cents per gallon higher than last year, I just wonder at what price will the American people wake up and realize that we need to make changes to the way we do things. Dependence on fossil fuels is unsustainable.

During this economic crunch when everyone is trying to stretch every dollar, we need to still remember the future because even if we can afford that gallon this week will be able to afford it next week. I still hold on to hope that Americans will look beyond what is in their wallets today and realize that tomorrow is just around the corner and a clean renewable energy future is the only way to go.

On the road again…

Robin Eckstein — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:19:46 +0000

So the Operation Free team is on the road again, visiting several cities including my home town of Appleton, Wisconsin. There’s no giant blue bus this time around, but veterans are still heading across the country to continue to educate people about the connection between our energy policy, climate change, and national security. Even though Congress has decided to play party politics and not pass comprehensive clean energy reform this year doesn’t mean that we stop fighting. As veterans we know that the job isn’t done till the mission has been completed. So until we can get a comprehensive bill before the Senate, we will continue to make sure that special interests aren’t able to push us back by taking the power away from the EPA to regulate carbon, and continue to champion for higher fuel efficiency standards. We will not allow our national security to be undermined by special interests and party politics. So make sure to watch out for Operation Free to be coming to your neighborhood and help support veterans for a clean energy future!

Robin Eckstein joined the military in 1999 and served in the Army for 7 years. She was serving with the 123rd Main Support Battalion of the First Armored Division when they deployed to Iraq in 2003. Eckstein drove supply convoys in Baghdad and the surrounding area.

White House Energy Event featuring Operation Free

Robin Eckstein — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:12:41 +0000

This past Tuesday, July 27^th, a great group of veterans descended on Washington D.C. to attend another fantastic Operation Free Event. Two groups of the veterans, including myself, went to lobby Senators Pryor and Lincoln from Arkansas. Unfortunately we only met with Senator Pryor’s staff but we actually met Senator Lincoln. The Senator and staff said they were supportive of our efforts to push for comprehensive clean energy reform but I can’t help but think some of it was just talk. It can be very frustrating when lobbying because it seems time and time again that partisan games get in the way of securing our energy future. Especially when our military is leading the way to a clean energy future and Congress can’t seem to follow their lead.

That afternoon we all made our way to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for the White House Clean Energy Forum. Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, started it off and was followed by the distinguished Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. The forum consisted of two panels that were stocked with the best and brightest in the clean energy and national security arena. I was extremely honored to represent Operation Free on the second panel. I couldn’t help but wonder how I ever got so lucky as to be not only in attendance at this forum but to be a speaker. The forum went well and was good to see how the administration and military are continuing to move toward a clean energy future with or without Congress. Although this can seem disconcerting, it has happened over and over in history that the military leads the way and eventually the rest of the United States follows. It is just frustrating that the knowledge that we are funding both sides of the war isn’t enough to create change now.

So as the trip to D.C ended my thoughts go to how glad I was to see all the other great veterans and friends that I know will be leading us into a bright future. I think I can speak for all the veterans of Operation Free when I say that being involved with Operation Free has given us all great opportunities, given us another way to serve our country, and has created lifelong friendships. How can we not think positive of the future when you remember all of that.

Rolling Through Indiana

Robin Eckstein — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:34:47 +0000

We started out this day a little earlier so that we could make it to WJOB Radio AM 1230. They have a program run by veterans called “Veterans Views”, presented by the American Legion Hammond Victory Post # 168. Dan Winters and I were really excited to be on one of the only veteran’s radio shows in the country. The interview went very well and even though we had a “climate change doubter” phone in, we came out on top. It is hard to dispute that climate change is real when the Pentagon and the Department of Defense are taking it seriously and they aren’t known for being tree huggers. We also had the film crew from “Priceless” with us during the interview. You always look so much more important when you have a film crew following you.
Next we moved on to the Gary Indiana Public Library where we hosted a round table discussion with Dan Winter, Matt Victoriano, Larry Delashmit, and myself as the veteran speakers. There were about 15 people in the audience. It was a very good discussion and we got a lot of really engaging questions from the audience. Everyone was very happy that we were out spreading this really important message. I always feel good about an event when the audience is so engaged and asking questions. We also had two newspapers reporting the story. This trip to Gary, Indiana was very productive!