News Links
Photos
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Active-duty troops petition to end withdrawal plans
By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes
European edition
Friday, March 2, 2007
WASHINGTON — A campaign by active-duty troops asking Congress to drop plans for a withdrawal from Iraq has collected more than 1,200 signatures in its first few weeks.
The “Appeal for Courage” — which reads as a response to the anti-war “Appeal for Redress” presented to Congress last month — has been circulating both at bases in Iraq and online though military blog sites.
Organizer Lt. Jason Nichols, a 33-year-old naval projects officer who has been in Baghdad since mid-January, said the goal is to keep lawmakers focused on letting the military finish its mission in Iraq, and not prematurely declare failure.
“The primary military lesson of Vietnam was that you could win a war on the battlefield, but lose it at home,” he said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. “We feel that although there are still tough days ahead, we are going to win the war in Iraq as long as we are allowed to stay until our job is done.”
The appeal, available at www.appealforcourage.org, calls for Congress “to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat.” It calls the war in Iraq a necessary and just cause, and asks lawmakers to actively oppose “media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home.”
Nichols, who joined with Vietnam veteran Larry Vandergrif and Vets for Victory on the campaign, said not enough media attention has been paid to troops who support the fight in Iraq.
“The vast majority of fellow military members I communicate with feel we can win this war and that calls for withdrawal are premature,” he said.
Last year a group of active-duty troops collected more than 1,000 signatures calling for an end to operations in Iraq, saying that military operations “will not work.” The group said more than 60 percent of those who signed had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Nichols said so far around half of his signers have served downrange. Two-thirds are enlisted, and about one-quarter are E-5s and E-6s.
“I think a lot of servicemembers are greatly frustrated by how negatively they see their efforts portrayed and are relieved to have a means to communicate their support for completing the mission successfully,” he said.
Organizers of both appeals said that participating troops are protected from reprisals by commanders Defense Department regulations, which allow troops to submit any grievance directly to Congress.
Stars and Stripes
European edition
Friday, March 2, 2007
WASHINGTON — A campaign by active-duty troops asking Congress to drop plans for a withdrawal from Iraq has collected more than 1,200 signatures in its first few weeks.
The “Appeal for Courage” — which reads as a response to the anti-war “Appeal for Redress” presented to Congress last month — has been circulating both at bases in Iraq and online though military blog sites.
Organizer Lt. Jason Nichols, a 33-year-old naval projects officer who has been in Baghdad since mid-January, said the goal is to keep lawmakers focused on letting the military finish its mission in Iraq, and not prematurely declare failure.
“The primary military lesson of Vietnam was that you could win a war on the battlefield, but lose it at home,” he said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. “We feel that although there are still tough days ahead, we are going to win the war in Iraq as long as we are allowed to stay until our job is done.”
The appeal, available at www.appealforcourage.org, calls for Congress “to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat.” It calls the war in Iraq a necessary and just cause, and asks lawmakers to actively oppose “media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home.”
Nichols, who joined with Vietnam veteran Larry Vandergrif and Vets for Victory on the campaign, said not enough media attention has been paid to troops who support the fight in Iraq.
“The vast majority of fellow military members I communicate with feel we can win this war and that calls for withdrawal are premature,” he said.
Last year a group of active-duty troops collected more than 1,000 signatures calling for an end to operations in Iraq, saying that military operations “will not work.” The group said more than 60 percent of those who signed had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Nichols said so far around half of his signers have served downrange. Two-thirds are enlisted, and about one-quarter are E-5s and E-6s.
“I think a lot of servicemembers are greatly frustrated by how negatively they see their efforts portrayed and are relieved to have a means to communicate their support for completing the mission successfully,” he said.
Organizers of both appeals said that participating troops are protected from reprisals by commanders Defense Department regulations, which allow troops to submit any grievance directly to Congress.
© 2006 Stars and Stripes. All Rights Reserved.
Labels: Appeal for Courage, Baghdad, Congress, Iraq, LT Jason Nichols USN, Stars and Stripes, withdrawal
Saturday, March 31, 2007
An "Appeal for Courage"
Today, I exchanged emails with Kit Jarrell, a very sharp young lady that is one of two webmasters that are supporting the "Gathering of Eagles" - http://www.gatheringofeagles.org/. She is a college student, cramming for a major exam, and still has time to support our troops. Where do they find these youngsters? I had visited her website, and noticed that she has a "Blog Talk Radio" and the site had a teaser that mentioned interviewing an Army Wife about the Iraq war. I thought that it might be interesting, so I asked her to give me the URL and here it is:
http://blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=15364
I listened to the 1 hour talk show, and was absolutely amazed by her and her guests. One of them, LT Jason Nichols, USN, who is stationed in Iraq, and has organized an "Appeal for Courage" wherein active duty personnel have been signing a petition thinly veiled as an "Appeal For Redress" which is an authorized means of communicating concerns of active duty personnel to congress. Here is a link to the Appeal for Courage website:
http://appealforcourage.org/
Here is the appeal as it appears on the website:
ALL ACTIVE DUTY PERSONNEL ARE ENCOURAGED TO SIGN THE PETITION AVAILABLE ON THE APPEALFORCOURAGE.ORG WEBSITE.
~G
http://blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=15364
I listened to the 1 hour talk show, and was absolutely amazed by her and her guests. One of them, LT Jason Nichols, USN, who is stationed in Iraq, and has organized an "Appeal for Courage" wherein active duty personnel have been signing a petition thinly veiled as an "Appeal For Redress" which is an authorized means of communicating concerns of active duty personnel to congress. Here is a link to the Appeal for Courage website:
http://appealforcourage.org/
Here is the appeal as it appears on the website:
It is a sad state of affairs when our servicemen and service women are placed in a position where they feel that they must resort to petitioning congress. God, do I love the young men and young women that are patriots.As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.
ALL ACTIVE DUTY PERSONNEL ARE ENCOURAGED TO SIGN THE PETITION AVAILABLE ON THE APPEALFORCOURAGE.ORG WEBSITE.
~G
Labels: Appeal for Courage, Appeal For Redress, Blog Talk Radio, Congress, Kit Jarrell, LT Jason Nichols USN, Petition
![[USAFNS.com atom.xml link]](http://www.usafns.com/weblog/images/atomfeed.gif "Click to view Gunner's Blog Atom feed - atom.xml"){kind=small}
![[USAFNS.com rss.xml link]](http://www.usafns.com/images/rss.gif "Click to view Gunner's Blog RSS feed - rss.xml"){kind=small}