I'll never forget my Independence Day at war. On July 4, 2003, I was in Baghdad, preparing to return home with my infantry platoon after six months fighting Saddam's Army and an insurgency that was just beginning to exact its toll on coalition forces. On that day, however, my expectations...

John Hodgman was right. It’s the revenge of the nerds in America right now. These past few years we’ve seen self-proclaimed, highly-influential nerds using the power of online technology to play a huge role in driving public policy, political campaigns and organizing grassroots engagement. In the 2008 presidential campaign...

This week, we’ve seen Jon and Kate inch closer to divorce, the president stand trial in the court of public opinion for fly-homicide, and another Washington elite publicize infidelity via press release.  

Somewhere in-between these trivial water-cooler discussions, reality sunk in. IAVA’s Deputy...

Veterans have heard time and again about their fellow troops falling ill after serving near burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Dennis Gogel was stationed in Balad twice between 2004 and 2006. He said he was in housing just a few hundred yards from the [burn] pit and would often...

In March 2004, Sgt. Mike Krause returned home from two back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. With his Army contract set to expire in less than a year, Krause could begin to plan his future, starting with earning his college degree. But after just three months at home with their...

Your weekend newspaper—assuming your town still has one—will be stuffed with pages of glossy advertisements for holiday sales.  Your local TV news will do a story on the folks waiting in line in the dark for your local mall to open its doors.  All weekend, people will be firing up...

Newsflash: Stephen Colbert is going to war. 

That’s no joke.  Comedy’s most serious satirist dropped yet another hint Tuesday night that he’s heading “somewhere in the Persian Gulf” soon to take The Colbert Report to the troops. In the name of operational...

Last November, on Veterans Day, I told you about IAVA’s groundbreaking national public service advertisement campaign to help veterans coming home from war reintegrate into their communities. You’ve probably seen the TV ad on ESPN, CNN, or MTV. (One good thing about this economy is that the ads are getting...

Five years ago this week, Pat Tillman was travelling with his unit through the dangerous mountain passes of eastern Afghanistan.  The football star from Arizona State had put his NFL career on hold to join his brother and enlist in the elite Army Rangers.  Already a veteran of one tour...

"[At Walter Reed,] life beyond the hospital bed is a frustrating mountain of paperwork. The typical soldier is required to file 22 documents with eight different commands -- most of them off-post -- to enter and exit the medical processing world, according to government investigators. Sixteen different information systems are...

On April 25, 2007, a young soldier was on a routine mission outside a remote village in Afghanistan.  Suddenly, the rear Humvee in the convoy rolled over an Improvised Explosive Device and burst into flames. Mortars and machine gun fire ricocheting off the vehicles signaled the start of an ambush. ...

In 2004, when I got home after spending a year patrolling the streets of Baghdad, you know what the top news story was? It wasn't the growing threat of roadside bombs, or the burgeoning problems at Walter Reed. It was Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction."

On the 6th...

Etched into the entrance of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a phrase from President Abraham Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan." With these words, President Lincoln pledged America's solemn obligation to care for...

A few weeks ago, the White House unveiled its budget with the fanfare and media blitz fit for a coronation. While the big proposals on climate change and health care took center stage in the dog-and-pony show, the budget also included an outline of funding for every veterans' hospital...

President Obama traveled to Camp Lejeune today to announce the eventual drawdown of combat troops in Iraq. There's sure to be a lot of discussion about the details of the timeline, and a lot of politics getting in the way of any coherent military analysis.

But whether it is...

Earlier this week, I told you about an amazing group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that were coming to Capitol Hill for a historic trip to Congress, to advocate on behalf of their fellow vets. Today, I want to tell you just one of their extraordinary stories.

Last month, suicide took the lives of more American soldiers than Al Qaeda and the Iraqi insurgency combined.

According to preliminary numbers, as many as 24 soldiers killed themselves in January. That's almost five times as many suicides as the same month last year. News of this shocking spike...

"After a mortar sent Andrew Spurlock hurtling off a roof in Iraq, ending his Army career in 2006, the seasoned infantryman set aside bitterness over his back injury and began to chart his life in storybook fashion: a new house, a job as a police officer and more children.

I barely recall what I ate for breakfast yesterday let alone what I was doing four years ago. But ask Staff Sergeant Todd Bowers where he was and what he was doing on October 17, 2004 at 11:34am, and he'll start rattling off the details.

Bowers was on a...

Last night, everyone had a blast at The Huffington Post Ball. But today, all eyes are focused on our nation's Capitol. I'm pleased to report that IAVA members are well-represented at the historic Inauguration of President Obama.

But after all the ceremonies, the parades and the parties end, the real...