Why should we listen more closely to military veterans who are peace activists? What have they seen, especially in combat, that we need to respect?
The Peace Builder Fellowship will meet this Wednesday following the noon meeting. We will be joined by Benjamin Schroder, PhD -- Director, Adult and Veteran Services, Colorado State University, a U.S. Army and Iraq War Veteran and the author of the powerful book, Fight to Live, Live to Fight: Veteran Activism After War (Albany, NY: State University of New York , 2019)
“As the Iraq man lay in front of me cold and lifeless, the veil of ignorance was removed from my eyes. The actions of my deeds swarmed through my head like a beehive disturbed on a hot summer day. Was the man a father? Was he fighting to free his country? Was he fighting so that he could put food on the table for his family? I would never know. It was there on that hot, hectic, and deadly day that I resolved the conflict that kept me up at night: that we should not be n Iraq. As I lay on my bunk after the heated battle, I discovered my passion to seek social justice for all, to fight for those too weak to fight for themselves, to give voice to those without a voice, and to show those with power and privilege how their actions affect those they don’t see” (1).