I served for 15 months in Iraq as a Captain in the Army's 1st Armored Division, and like so many of my fellow Iraq and Afghanistan veterans I returned on a new mission. This mission was, and continues to be, to help raise awareness and educate the American people not...

Months ago, when veterans got into the fight over Clean Energy, we did so because of the firm link between Middle East oil profits and terrorism. Late last month Richard Holbrooke even stated that the Taliban is being funded by Persian Oil. In short, we're unintentionally funding both sides...

I testified to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works with retired Senator John Warner and retired Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn on the national security implications of climate change.

We were well received by many on the committee who believe that we must address the growing threat...

This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Apollo 12's Astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth man to ever walk on the moon, discussed his experience and what it was like to look back at Earth in a way that only three humans had done before. Bean talked about landing on...

In late August 2003, the threads of hope that held together the War in Iraq were beginning to shred on a daily basis. The relationship my soldiers and I shared with the Iraqi civilians began to crumble and it was only a few short months before one of our close...

Around this date six years ago I was packing up my apartment in Giessen, Germany as my unit, the 1st Armored Division, "Old Ironsides", prepared for our deployment to Iraq. My fellow lieutenants and I watched with great anxiety as our comrades in the 3rd Infantry Division and others were...

Originally posted at The Moderate Voice

When President Obama announced his decision to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, he did so with an interesting caveat. He explicitly stated that we cannot solve the problems of Afghanistan by military means alone. He's right, and he deserves credit...

In January of 2007, I stood up with many of my fellow Iraq veterans and Votevets.org to call on Bush to "Stop the Escalation." Many of us felt that the Bush administration lacked an overall strategy to provide the necessary tools needed to bring the fragile stability...

In today's Politico, two retired military leaders make a tremendous argument for real investment in programs of positive youth development. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Hugh Shelton, and former Secretary of the Navy John Dalton, should be applauded for drawing attention to the growing...

Baghdad, Iraq.
June, 2003

Lt. Eddie Quan and I worked our way through a crowd of thousands of local Iraqi citizens who had shown up to vote in the first real election this town had seen in decades. Eddie and I pushed our chain of command to allow...

Since the early days of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers have been returning home and finding themselves engaged in politics for the first time in their lives. Many of us have taken the lead of those who have come before, from Gulf War I, Vietnam, or Korea. As...

For more than a year, I have had the opportunity to meet thousands of Western New Yorkers who represent the best of our community as I have campaigned for the 26th Congressional district. This campaign has been invigorating, encouraging, at times ugly, but always worthwhile. It has always been a...

My platoon patrolled the streets of Baghdad in the summer of 2003 and met with many in the Iraqi community who were excited with the idea that we were bringing them America. Today, at the end of summer 2008, the Iraqi government is laying the groundwork for our soldiers to...

It was mid-July four years ago that the men and women of the Gunner Battalion packed up our gear in Kuwait to redeploy to our families. We just finished a nearly 15 month combat tour that took us from patrolling the garbage strewn streets of Baghdad to torn up neighborhoods...

Today, confirmation hearings will be held to name General David Petraeus the head of U.S. Central Command (CentCom) in the Middle East and Central Asia. General Petraeus is currently the U.S. Commander in Iraq and the architect of the strategy which dramatically increased the number of U.S. troops in Iraq...

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Bush's speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where he stood beneath the now infamous Mission Accomplished banner and announced, "my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

Half...

ABC News and the U.S. Military released footage discovered in a recent raid. The disturbing video depicted young boys being trained in the guerilla tactics of al-Qaida in Iraq. These masked, armed children conducted training exercises, executed checkpoints, and even raided a home. I was interviewed for background on...

The way wars are fought has evolved greatly over the last 50 years, but in that time our Veterans Administration has changed very little. Thanks to courageous medics, improved armor, and groundbreaking battlefield medical treatment, a much greater percentage of our soldiers are surviving than ever before. Our current system...

This is by my cousin, John Baldwin, who's competing in the Ironman triathlon to raise money for War Kids Relief.

When I heard my cousin Jon's stories about Iraq's war kids, I wanted to do something to help give the kids an opportunity to escape the cycle of violence. Like...

While serving in Iraq, I witnessed firsthand the devastation that war brings to a country. In 2003, I visited St. Hannah's Orphanage when a nun took me aside and requested that I and my fellow soldiers not return to the orphanage which we had supported in previous months. The insurgents...