Over two million Americans have fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They return to a nation in economic crisis and a third of those veterans come home to face serious medical conditions. Many of those veterans now consider themselves the 99 percent, and have joined a second Occupation, Occupy Wall Street. On this edition, a special report on veterans standing in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street movements and an encore presentation about veterans returning home from war and the struggles they endure produced by Aaron Glantz.

Featuring:

Sgt. Shamar Thomas, Marine Veteran, Kurt Biddle, Army Veteran,  Jeff Paterson, Courage To Resist, Jason Matherne, Iraq Veterans Against War, Joshua Shepherd, Navy Veteran, Douglass Connor, Army Veteran, Andrew Berends, The Blood of My Brother filmmaker; Michael Hall, former US Army staff sergeant; Rachel Feldstein, New Directions associate director; Joshua Kors, The Nation magazine correspondent; Zollie Goodman, former Naval petty officer; Barack Obama, United States president; Todd Stenhouse, National Veterans Foundation spokesperson; Terry “T.J.” Boyd, former Marine Corps sergeant; Ron Finch, National Business Group on Health; Catherine Morris, Sierra College veterans’ counselor; Paul Sullivan, Veterans for Common Sense executive director.

For More Information:

 Iraq Veterans Against the War, http://ivaw.org/

National Veterans Foundation , http://www.nvf.org/

National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, http://www.nchv.org/

Swords to Plowshares, http://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/

Veterans for Common Sense, http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/

Veterans for Peace, http://www.veteransforpeace.org/

Occupy Wall Street,  http://occupywallst.org/

Occupy Oakland, http://www.occupyoakland.org/

Articles/Blogs/Videos/Audio:

Sgt. Shamar Thomas defends Occupy Wall Street , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDBSCLXWfYI

The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans  written by Aaron Glantz, http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266049

Veterans more likely to be homeless, study says, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-10-1Ahomelessvets10_ST_N.htm 

Cost of Treating Veterans Will Rise Long Past Wars, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28veterans.html

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not worth the cost, many US veterans say , http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2011/1005/Wars-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan-not-worth-the-cost-many-US-veterans-say

Report: Meeting the Needs of Veterans In Today’s Labor Force, http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/new-data-on-high-unemployment-among-recent-veterans/.

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