For more than a decade, two declared wars have raged in Iraq and Afghanistan with no end in sight. Thousands of service members return home suffering from trauma. These servicemen and women face redeployment despite diagnoses of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Military Sexual Trauma (MST).
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and their civilian allies have embarked on a campaign that has a simple message: the right to heal. IVAW's Operation Recovery advocates that service members who experience PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat stress have the right to exit the traumatic situation and receive immediate support and compensation. IVAW organizers talk to soldiers about their right to receive care and advice from medical professionals, advice that should trump a commander's orders.
In Killeen, the GI coffeehouse Under the Hood, is the forward operating base for Operation Recovery.... Read More
