From left to right: IVAW members Jason Hurd and Aaron Hughes speaking with Pete.
LISTEN TO JASON HURD and AARON HUGHES HERE:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Right now, 20 percent of our fighting force are being deployed on at least one psychotropic medication. These are common medications that are used for things like PTSD and TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury]. I myself am a 100 percent disabled veteran with PTSD. The same medications that I’m currently on, things like Trazedone and things like Prozac, our soldiers are getting sent to Iraq and Afghanistan on these very same drugs, and I’m disabled. So, what does that say…?”
Jason Hurd served as a medic in Iraq and now is with Iraq Veterans Against the War. Thursday, IVAW launches its new campaign, Operation Recovery: Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops.
Aaron Hughes was a truck driver in Iraq for the U.S. military. Speaking at the One Nation rally on Saturday, October 2nd, Hughes said, “Our mission as an organization is to stop the deployment of all troops, but we find this practice… particularly egregious.”
October 7th marks the 9-year anniversary of the Afghanistan war and the launch of Operation Recovery. To commemorate the occasion, beginning at 9:15 AM at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (across from 7123 Georgia Ave, NW), “veterans will hold a ceremony for all those wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be followed by a six-mile march to Capitol Hill. (1:30pm at the Russell Senate Office Building, Constitution Ave, NE, and Delaware Ave, NE) Veterans will testify about their experiences with redeployment and announce the launch of Operation Recovery.”
For more information contact Maggine Martin, IVAW Media Coordinator: 912-596-8484, maggiemartin1@gmail.com
Related Links:
Related Stories: