Christopher Garcia

Name: Christopher Garcia
City/State: Newport News, VA
Branch of Service: Navy
Dates of Service: 01/1997 – 12/2005
Last Rank Held: E5
Military Occupation: Maintenance Data Analyst/SAA
Current Occupation: Training Specialist
X: NA
Instagram: criostalmiceal
Facebook: Christopher M Garcia

Christopher outside of the military:

I have been in education for 17 years, primarily adult education. I am a published Author and have been working to help build the Virginia Iraq Veterans Memorial. I am also an Accredited Service Officer with the Veterans Administration and I volunteer weekly assisting Veterans to obtain the services and benefits they have earned.

Christopher on joining the IAVA Cavalry:

We are at a dark point in our nation’s history. I feel it is vital that we stand up and be heard. People grumble but they are trained to accept injustice with apathy as an accepted result. It is vital now more than ever to stand up and be heard and speak the truth to the powers that be. We have sacrificed, those who came before us sacrificed, hundreds of thousands, with their last full measure of devotion to the republic. Those sacrifices are being betrayed, and we cannot stay silent.

How the military experience affected Christopher’s personal growth:

It has changed me profoundly. I saw the end result of Nationalism in the Balkans. My experience during the Iraq War showed me what happens when the Public loses interest and lets the Government do what it wants without check. As a disabled veteran, I learned bitterly that behind the platitudes, we were expendable and that society neither had a place for us, nor wanted us. I learned that we are being left behind, often by the very same people who exhort us that we do not leave a buddy behind. I have seen and felt the alienation this causes. That alienation is dangerous as it makes veterans prone to fall under the sway of radicals who will welcome them. Look at January 6th – 20% of all those convicted were Active Duty or Veterans.

IAVA’s policy priorities that are the most pressing:

Preserving democracy and the Republic is the most pressing issue facing the nation right now. It is what we swore to uphold and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The administration is running roughshod over democratic and constitutional norms. We lose the Republic and we lose everything. I strongly believe in repealing the 2001 & 2002 AUMF as the president should not be able to send Americans into Harm’s way without the consent of the nation – it has been abused, and we owe our service personnel the support of the nation and not tools of Presidential unanswerable whim. I feel very strongly in gender equality and support and restoration of services to Women veterans. I know first-hand their needs are not being met. As a native New Yorker we owe a blood debt to our Afghan Allies who put their lives and their families lives on the line to help us track down those who perpetrated 9/11 is a sacred obligation.

IAVA’s policy priorities with the strongest personal connection for Christopher:

The preservation of Democracy. My family came here as political refugees. they were prominent in the fight to overthrow the British occupation of Ireland and replace it with an independent democratic republic based upon our founding beliefs of equality and justice. My family paid a very heavy price for it. Here my family has fought in the republic’s defense. Of the 11 family members who have served since the Civil war, only 3 were not killed, wounded or disabled in service. What they sacrificed for must not be desecrated. Recent Supreme Court rulings have granted the president near dictatorial powers and the current President has no moral compass, nor respect for democratic or constitutional norms. If unchecked, he can destroy the Republic.