White Flag Warriors Tour: Operation Recovery
This tour is traveling to key areas and colleges to present to the public testimonials from local veterans and to introduce them to Operation Recovery; The Right to Heal Campaign. It also encourages and stimulates relationships in the local community visited in order to build a base that can be mobilized for actions surrounding the campaign. The intent of White Flag Warriors is to raise awareness of the rising tide of military trauma that has and will be coming home and the lack of infrastructure to support it or any continued growth of cases in an already overburdened system.
The growing list of participants include:
Ethan McCord, Wichita, KS
Ethan McCord, Wichita, KS His experience in Iraq was known the world over after footage from WikiLeaks was released of his unit attacking civilians on the ground in Baghdad. Ethan can be seen rescuing a wounded child after the Apache opened fire on the vehicle taking them to school. Additionally, Ethan was chaptered out of the military for medical reasons under circumstances that would prevent him or soldiers like him from seeking additional claims based on statements they were coerced into signing.
Will Stewart-Starks, Lawrence, KS Plains regional coordinator for IVAW who served in Iraq in 2004 as an Army medic. Operation Recovery is the first campaign to be taken on by IVAW and is lead by individuals like Will who heads up the campaigns outreach team. The campaign will be announced nationwide by central and arterial actions across the country on October 7th, the anniversary of the Afghanistan invasion.
Chris Hopkins, Manhattan, KS Chris served in the Army infantry during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 and is now a student at Kansas State University. He is helping to develop an operating Kansas chapter of IVAW based just outside Fort Riley. Chris is also a member of the outreach team for Operation Recovery.
7:00PM - Showing of Collateral Murder Ethan's Story
7:20PM - Letter to the Iraq Reading
7:30PM - Operation Recovery
8PM- Q&A