On Friday, January 27, IAVA Founder and Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and discussed the upcoming "Welcome Home Our Heroes" parade in St. Louis. The first of its kind in the nation, the parade was held on Saturday, January 28 and celebrated America's newest generation of veterans. IAVA local leader Angela Peacock was on hand, organizing a local cohort of IAVA vets.
Help give every Iraq and Afghanistan vet the welcome home they deserve. Join IAVA in calling for a national event to honor the 2.4 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Add your name to our petition.
On January 25, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino was featured in a Bloomberg Businessweek article, "B-Schools Recruit More Veterans." The article discussed why so many new vets are using their GI Bill money to get business degress.
Tarantino spoke positively about the unique lessons vets can bring to the table. Vets “understand the concept of mission and what it means to be flexible in order to reach a goal,” he said. “Many times, their survival depended on that.”
IAVA Legislative Associate Ramsey Sulayman, a Major in the Marine Corps, wrote in The New York Times "At War" blog about a video that depicted four Marines urinating on the bodies of dead militants in Afghanistan.
"Marines don’t get a pass on doing the right thing because they are in combat," he wrote. "We do the right thing because it is the right thing regardless of what those around us would allow."
On Saturday, January 21, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino appeared on C-Span and spoke for 45 minutes about the unemployment crisis facing new veterans. With 13.1 percent unemployment in December, new vets face an economic hurdle when they return home.
On January 14, former Marine Captain and IAVA Senior Membership Associate Timothy Kudo appeared on CBS "This Morning" and spoke about a Youtube video that showed four Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban fighters.
"Every Marine was absolutely shocked by what happened," Kudo said. "Nobody would have expected something like this, not just from a unit, but any Marine in general. These actions are completely outside the norm..."
On Thursday, January 12, IAVA Senior Membership Associate Timothy Kudo was featured on CNN's The Situation Room. A former Marine Captain, Kudo reacted to a video showing four Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban fighters.
"[T]hey have to be held accountable for their actions as individuals," Kudo said.
On January 12, IAVA Senior Membership Associate Timothy Kudo spoke on NPR about a recent Youtube video that showed four Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban fighters.
A former Marine Captain who served in the very same region of northern Helmand province, Kudo spoke with the host about the incident and its repercussions. Other Marines were given the opportunity to call in and give their own opinions.
On January 12, former Marine and IAVA Senior Membership Associate Timothy Kudo appeared on CNN Newsroom. Kudo spoke with host Brook Baldwin about a video depicting a group of Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban.
IAVA issued a statement condemning the actions of the four Marines in the video. "For 10 years, our troops have served honorably in unimaginably tough conditions-and they continue to do so in Afghanistan and around the world. This incident does not reflect the service, leadership and honor of our new generation of veterans."
Unemployment levels continue to rise for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. In December, the unemployment rate for new veterans topped 13.1 percent as the national rate declined to 8.5 percent.
On January 9, Tom Tarantino appeared on FOX News and spoke about the challenges new vets face as they transition home to high levels of unemployment.
