Earlier this semester, a few guys got together to form a university recognized organization now known as the GW Veterans.  This year we have been featured in several articles, the most recent is immediately below (Veterans Day) and our previous event Ask a Veteran's Forum was featured on MTV, CNN, and the Pentagon Channel.  I share with you these articles to keep you posted on our progr

The War in Iraq cost the United States $845 billion in March, and the price tag keeps rising. It is concievable that we will be one trillion dollars in debt by the end of the Bush administration by simulatenously fighting two wars, and it's not hurting just taxpayers, but soldiers and their families.

The In Their Boots series Calvin mentioned last week continues tonight with a live webcast at 7pm EST.

Tonight at 7pm EST, Brave New Foundation is launching In Their Boots, a weekly 30 minute live webcast that will profile the challenges American service members and
their families face once they return home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is an innovative and provactive way to chronicle the experiences of returning vets, even after they have arrived back from service.

John Edwards wrote a letter to the New York Times recently to bring up a number that doesn't get brought up nearly often enough: the complete tally of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq.

The L.A. Times just published an op-ed piece by Democratic Representative Jane Harman, which, among other things revealed that "women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq."

As if fearing for your life in an unjust war isn't bad enough, female soldiers in Iraq must also fear the very real threat of violence from their fellow soldiers. Makes you wonder -- for women serving in the military, who is the real enemy?

And it's not getting any better.

The City of Berkeley made news today through passing a city measure requesting the Marine Corps recruiters leave their office. The statement said that, "if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders".

The statement also said that "military recruiters are salespeople known to lie to and seduce minors and young adults into contracting themselves into military service with false promises regarding jobs, job training, education and other benefits."

Two recent reports reminds us that not all of the war-related deaths are happening overseas.

The Washington Post reports that the number of soldier suicides is at an all-time high since the Army started keeping records in 1980. In 2006, 121 soldiers took their own lives - nearly 20% more than in 2006 -- and the number of attempted suicides or self-inflected injuries increased sixfold (from 250 in 2002 to 2,100 in 2007).

The Army, Navy and Air Force are backpedaling after news came out (ahem) that they were advertising job openings on GLEE.com, a gay social networking site.

Missing from the job descriptions: A rundown of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bars lesbian, gay and bisexual people from serving in the military if they're open about their sexual orientation.

Read more below.

Insert powerful quote here. "Gays are pedophiles who engage in a self-destructive and immoral life-style." - Anonymous Armed Forces General.

Sarcastic Author Response. Okay great, thank you worthy source, Mr. Anonymous!

Background. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", a law compromised by Clinton in 1993 after much right-wing "protest", is the one and only law in the United States that pointedly mandates firing someone because of his or her sexual orientation. A law that the very essence of which basically says, "We don't want to know... so we'll turn our backs, but if we find out that you're out, then you're out".

Point. To uphold such a policy, one that considers ignorance as bliss (i.e., "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"), and chooses rather to ignore the "issue" as if it weren't the 800 lb. elephant in the room, is to inherently acknowledge that this "issue" that you don't really want to know (or ask) about, must actually be bad and wrong, immoral or guilt-ridden. Is that what our military is really saying here about homosexuality? Yes, yes it is.