Seven years ago I was one of the anxious Americans standing by a television set watching the first few hours of the War in Iraq unfold. Unlike many of my friends at home, I was surrounded by soldiers; we were watching while we prepared to deploy to this same war. In less than two short months I was patrolling those same streets we watched news networks stream around the world.

My experiences on the streets of Baghdad changed me in countless ways, and seven years later I have learned that it changed many of my fellow veterans as well. We learned first hand about the causes, conduct and consequences of war and came home only to struggle to make sense of it all. As the political debate rocked previous anniversaries, many of us began to find our voices. We stood up to fight to ensure that our fellow troops had the body armor they needed, that wounded warriors were getting taken care of, and that military families received the credit they deserved for their sacrifice.

One issue, more than any other, is bringing together Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and that is the belief that we must stop funding both sides of the wars we are fighting!

We learned that the Improvised Explosive Devices and mortars we faced on the battlefield are being funded by the ONE BILLION DOLLARS we send overseas each day to pay for our addiction to oil. Earlier this year the Truman National Security Project released a report, Oil Addiction – Fueling Our Enemies outlining this fact.

Hundreds of veterans around the country have joined Operation Free, a coalition of national security and veteran organizations, to stand up and fight to secure America with clean energy.

Watch the video.

We believe that one of the best ways to ensure that we will never again be celebrating the seventh anniversary of an ongoing war in the Middle East is to break this addiction through clean energy. This year we want to ask Americans around the country to stand up with us to ensure that our troops never again have to face bullets funded here at home.

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Help us spread the word so that the sacrifice so many of us made will, at the very least, push our nation’s leaders to secure America with clean energy and, in the words of US Marine General James Mattis, “Unleash us from the tether of fuel.”

ENLIST TODAY!!

Driving through farm country on our way to Monroe for our last event in Michigan, a man on a tractor saluted the bus.

The Ides of March find Operation Free in Northern Michigan.  We started the day in the Cherry Capital of the World, Traverse City, with visits to the local offices of Senators Stabenow and Levin.  Senator Levin’s staff member, Gabriel Schneider was particularly well informed about Michigan energy issues.  He understood our message about the connection between national security, climate change, and energy policy. 
After lunch and we stopped at the Cherry Republic where we found everything from spicy cherry barbeque sauce to almond-cherry butter.  At Northwestern Michigan College we talked with several students and local community leaders.  They understood the national security threats incurred by funding terrorists via $1 billion per day in oil imports from places like Saudi Arabia and wanted to become more involved with Operation Free.
Our final event of the day was held at the Armory in Cheboygan with a local audience including many veterans.  A representative for Governor Granholm came to hear us, and also talked about steps Michigan has taken to develop clean, renewable energy production.  We finished the day in Mackinaw City with a view of the bridge.  So the Ides of March ended without violence on the Senate floor, but more voters looking for climate change legislation from Congress.

On Sunday we had a roundtable at the Iron Workers Union hall in Battle Creek, Michigan.  The forum was very productive and we received some great questions from the audience. The audience was very interactive, having many suggestions and questions.

The national security message was well understood by all as was the benefits of national energy reform legislation to the jobs sector.

In all, I believe Michigan residents are ready for and will overwhelmingly support renewable energy reform based on our conversations thus far. On to Traverse City!

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!