In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

In 1971, a courageous group of veterans exposed the criminal nature of the Vietnam War in an event called Winter Soldier. Once again, we will demand that the voices of veterans are heard.

Once again, we are fighting for the soul of our country. We will demonstrate our patriotism by speaking out with honor and integrity instead of blindly following failed policy. Winter Soldier is a difficult but essential service to our country.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.

The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and present video and photographic evidence. In addition, there will be panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists to give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans' health benefits and support.

When: Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16

For those interested in watching or organizing around the proceedings at Winter Soldier, there will be a number of ways to watch and listen to the event.

* Live television broadcast via satellite tv, accessible through Dish Network as well as public access stations that choose to carry our broadcast - Friday and Saturday only
* Live video stream on the web - Thursday through Sunday
* Live radio broadcast via KPFA in Berkley California and other Pacifica member stations - Friday through Sunday
* Live audio stream via KPFA's website - Friday through Sunday

Please return to the IVAW website for specific details in the coming weeks.

Most aspects of the Continental Army led by Gen. George Washington from 1776-1781 are long gone. Yet at least three remain relevant to the United States military of 2008: It is involved in a protracted war; it is composed of volunteers, not conscripts; and its personnel system features an open-loop, taking in and returning to civil society of more than 85 percent of its membership before age 35.

While members of a "Professional, All-Volunteer Force," very few in the modern American military are lifelong professionals. A majority takes off the military uniform and permanently enters civilian life before age 25. Less than 15 percent of those who start active duty stay the minimum 20 years required for retirement.

Consequently, America's post-service treatment of its young veterans is critical to the health of our volunteer force and the security of our 232-year-old country. The very future of our volunteer force is tied to the interface between prospective soldiers, their parents, and guardians, and the degree of post-military societal support these parents perceive can be expected for their sons or daughters upon departure from the military.

Surveys done for the Defense Department and the U.S. Army Accessions Command in 2007 tell us several important things relating contemporary American society to its citizen-Soldier military Roughly 90 percent of the new, nonprior-service men and women who enlist in our military are between 17 and 24 years of age. Our military must enlist more than 200,000 new recruits a year from this age cohort and any others who can be enticed to consider military service.

Yet fewer than 30 percent of the 4.2 million young Americans who turn 17 this year — and each forecast year through 2015 — will have the requisite set of characteristics for military service: a high school diploma or GED and no pre-existing sole-parent responsibilities, while also satisfying weight, medical and criminal record criteria. More than two-thirds plan to head directly for college, leaving fewer than 400,000 fully qualified young men and women under first-time consideration for military service each year.

These constrained numbers pose a significant wartime recruiting challenge made even more daunting when only 39 percent of parents and guardians report a willingness to support a young loved-one's decision for military service — an all time low.

Controversial efforts by the Army in particular to widen enlistment eligibility criteria over the last couple years haven't solved this recruiting dilemma. Extending the age limit for service entry, more readily accepting those who have a GED instead of a high school diploma, and being more forgiving of petty —as opposed to felony — juvenile criminal records only goes so far. None of these relaxed standards has altered the fundamental fact that parental concerns tell us much about whether our volunteer military will make or break growing manpower requirements.

Parental surveys indicate their most negative impression about military service — outside the understandable fear of death in combat — is that time in the military will not help get their child get a good civilian job. Many parents fear the civilian jobs playing field is not level and see it as skewed against young vets. Here, American businesses and civic organizations have a positive and powerful role to play.

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The United States invaded Iraq under false pretenses without a constitutionally-required declaration of war. Our Founders understood that how we go to war is as important as when we go to war, which is why they vested the power to declare war in the Legislative Branch. The resolution passed in Congress authorizing the president to use force in Iraq said nothing about the U.S. Constitution, but it mentioned the United Nations a dozen times. The United States should never go to war to enforce UN resolutions!

Our continued presence in Iraq is serving as a recruiting tool for al-Qaeda. A recent National Intelligence Estimate found that the U.S. presence in Iraq has had a “rejuvenating” effect on the terrorist group. Proponents of the surge say that we are achieving victory. However, even if the level of our troops being killed has declined, they are still being targeted and the Iraqi government is no closer to stability, meaning that the violence will continue.

While we keep our focus on Iraq indefinitely, bin Laden remains free to plot his next attack, and can continue to portray us as occupiers and recruit more volunteers to his cause. Shortly after 9/11, I voted for the authorization to go into Afghanistan because it told the president to do what he already had the authority to do: go after the ones who directly hit us. I was extremely disappointed that the mission there changed to one of nation-building.

Military experts, including Generals Barry McCaffrey and John Batiste, have sounded the warning that our military is stretched so thin because of Iraq and our other commitments that, as General Batiste put it recently, “our Army and Marine Corps are at a breaking point with little to show for it.” A weakened and over-committed military is a recipe for a national security disaster. Meanwhile, Washington continues to talk about how many other countries it could send troops to.

As if a national debt topping $9 trillion is not bad enough, each day this war is fought, deficit spending increases. To avoid raising taxes and the subsequent anger that would follow come election time, the federal government will continue to borrow money from countries like Saudi Arabia and China, making your children and grandchildren’s futures dependent on the actions of other nations and selling out our national security to the highest bidder.

Make no mistake, as Congress spends more and more, there will be less and less to fund Social Security and Medicare, the programs Washington has made us dependent on, without a massive tax increase. Meanwhile, bin Laden proclaims that our falling dollar is a sign that al-Qaeda’s “bleed-until-bankruptcy plan” is working.

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