In the past few years, due to the constantly expanding nature of U.S. military actions, IVAW has transitioned from focusing on the individual wars to a more strategic approach to the work. We focus on the root cause that underlines both the occupations by U.S. military abroad and the violence perpetrated in our communities by police right here at home: militarism.

IVAW’s mission is to build a service member and veteran led movement that ends militarism by transforming ourselves, military culture, and American society.

To that end, IVAW invites you to join with us in a campaign to:

Drop The MIC (Military Industrial Complex)

Drop the MIC is focused on interrupting the relationships between profit, institutional violence and politicians. 

I’ve tried, pretty successfully, to live a life without too much fear. Growing up I didn’t follow the rules of stranger danger. I talked to everyone I met, picked up hitchhikers, went out to unfamiliar places alone, and I’m convinced it has enriched my life. I’ve been lucky; I’ve never had anything bad happen, at least not from someone I was supposed to be afraid of. After all my biggest source of trauma has come in the form of surprise attack from someone I was in a relationship with¾not a stranger lurking behind a bush.

My outgoing and trusting nature even translated to the war zone, where I was regularly reprimanded for trying to make friends with the Iraqis instead of treating them as a threat to our safety. When we were at the market or on our camp “guarding” local Iraqi workers my curiosity and desire for connection always outweighed my sense of fear and danger.