North East Winter Soldier Video

I was among the hundreds of people who attended North East Winter Soldier Saturday at MCC and was completely blown away. The event featured members of Iraq Veterans Against the War sharing the experiences they had while serving in the Iraq war, why they joined the military and what they have experienced since coming home. The stories they told were simultaneously haunting and and inspirational. Click on the links below to see videos of the soldier's testimony, I can't recommend them enough.

Bryan Casler	Robynn Murray
Geoff Millard	Christopher Grohs
Tim Braley

Immediately following the soldier's testimony, members of the audience marched out of MCC and to the VA to demand better health care for veterans. Amazingly, the VA is closed on Saturdays and leaves veterans to fend for their, in terms of health care, over the weekend.

Approximately 200 people took part in the loud, energetic march. Young people from SDS, CAN and other groups took the lead, starting some great chants. The march quickly overflowed the sidewalk into the street, taking over a lane of E. Henrietta road, then the entirety of Westfall. Cars stopped were largely supportive of the crowd, with people inside nodding their heads, pumping their fists and honking to the beat of the chants.

After stopping at the VA, the plan was to simply walk back to MCC, but the group didn't settle for that. Instead the chants began again and the march took back to the streets, this time taking up the entire 5 lanes of E. Henrietta road.