Michael Hoffman

I served with the USMC as part of the initial invasion of Iraq in spring of 2003 and was also one of the first home, receiving my honorable discharge in July of 2003. I can home angry and confused. Everyone thanked me for serving but I hated myself for participating in a war I did not believe in. Luckily, when I was hitting a real low some local religious leaders I had met introduced me to Veterans for Peace in Philadelphia. Through VFP I was introduced to Vietnam Veterans Against the War and learned that I was not the first veteran to come home with these feelings. Over the next year I met other recent veterans who shared my feelings and in August of 2004 we announced the formation of Iraq Veterans Against the War.