This morning in downtown Chicago, Vietnam Veterans Against the War held their annual Veteran’s Day rally, drawing a crowd of about fifty Vets, along with their family members and supporters. They have gathered on Veteran’s Day for over thirty years now to honor vets by standing up for their rights, denouncing their being sent into unjust wars and calling for the US to put it’s money where it’s mouth is and “support our troops.” However, this year differed from those that came before it in one very significant aspect: taking the podium was a newcomer, representing a generation of Veterans just recently finding their voice and their place in the anti-war movement. This year‘s rally included a veteran back from Iraq, expressing strong opposition to the occupation.

Wisconsin resident Private Leah Byron was the first to take the podium. She enlisted in the army three years ago, attracted to the career and educational opportunities as well as the dignity of service. She went into Iraq with one of the first convoys almost two years ago and has been home since last December. She spoke of her fears of depleted uranium exposure and the terminal illnesses it can cause, of recent drastic cuts in Veteran’s benefits, and of the growing opposition to the occupation within the military. “If you don’t get active, you are doing a disservice to our troops,” she said. Joining the anti-war movement was a natural choice for Leah, who sought conscientious objector status during the buildup to the war, already questioning the rationale for the invasion. After spending one year in Iraq, she is convinced.

For others, like Chicago native Marine Sargeant Rob Sarra, who addressed a crowd at University of Illinois Chicago the night before, crossing over to the anti-war movement was one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make. “I’m no pacifist,“ Rob explains. Rob joined the Marine Corps in 1995, wanting to be a hero. He was sent into Baghdad with the very first ground forces and while there, did not question his orders, although he struggled with seeing civilian casualties and the amount of bloodshed taking place and questioned whether it was all worth it. However, after he came home and watched the administration fumble their eroding case for war, it became clear to him that it wasn’t. “I’ll be honest with you,” he explained, “the main reason we are there is because Halliburton needs a security force.” After much soul searching, he began to speak out. “It’s very hard,“ he explains, “being a marine, being a soldier, being a combat veteran, having buddies over there, having guys still engaged.. and saying ‘hey, this is wrong.’ Nobody wants to come home from a war and realize that it was the wrong war, that what you did was for nothing.”

Previously, public opposition to "Operation Enduring Freedom" from within the military was limited to a handful of retired generals and senior officers, questioning mainly the Pentagon’s optimistic projections. But now, almost two years after the first troops rolled into Iraq, rank-and-file soldiers and their families are increasingly speaking out against the Operation, and as the occupation drags on, their numbers are growing.

One of those active family members is Stacey Paeth of Military Families Speak Out, who also addressed Thursday’s crowd. Stacey told the story of her son, Justin, who just returned from the war and did not attend the rally. As a mother, she was deeply concerned for Justin when he was forced to continue fighting after receiving an injury that put him in a leg cast. She did all she could - notifying the media, speaking at rallies, denouncing his being forced to participate given his condition, but rather than excuse him from active duty, his stay was extended. “The conditions are horrible,” Paeth reported.

Of concern is the drastic amount of soldier’s committing suicide in Iraq, a problem that has seen a 40 percent increase over the past year. Two of Justin’s colleagues committed suicide while he was there. Many experts say that the problem highlights both the dissonance many soldiers feel over participating in the war as well as a lack of comprehensive medical attention afforded combat soldiers.

Pvt. Byron also reported an abnormal rise in cases of sexual abuse taking place within the military, perpetuated against women in combat areas, with no repercussions. She says that soldiers are arbitrarily assigned to act as ‘Equal Opportunity‘ point persons, regardless of their experience or personal views, and are to field all complaints of race- or sex-based discrimination and abuse. “They might even be someone who condones that behavior,” she says, “and so ultimately there is no one to report it to. It is another one of those things that is being swept under the carpet.” She feels that a lot of the measures in place to hold the military accountable to its personnel are side-stepped during times of war due to budget constraints and altered priorities.

The lack of care and attention our soldiers are receiving, according to Pvt. Byron, is additionally evidenced by the lack of training they are receiving to safely deal with depleted uranium, which some veterans groups see as the main cause of Gulf War Syndrome, a host of ailments that afflicted thousands of vets from the first Gulf War. Equipment such as docimeters, which Byron claims the military is required to furnish for every soldier in order to alert them to dangerous levels of radiation, are not being issued. Byron suspects that this lack of information is a deliberate attempt to conceal the extent of uranium contamination in Iraq from rank-and-file soldiers.

The care afforded veterans afflicted by Gulf War Syndrome, as well as older Veterans, is also severly lacking, according to veteran’s groups, and Bill Davis, National Coordinator of VVAW, charges that since the war began, the Bush administration has been “trying to cut imminent danger pay, closing VA hospitals, requesting cuts in military housing and medical facility funding for active duty military [and] keeping sick and wounded soldiers waiting for months to see doctors.” With over 18,000 homeless vets in the Chicago metropolitan area alone (according to a report by Catholic Charities), the recent cuts are something that our vets cannot afford.

Leah and Rob, like many of the vets who came before them, enrolled in the military with the idea that they would be fighting for democracy, freedom and dignity. They came to find that these are not ideals that they were sent to secure for foreign countries or even defended for their own, but rather they are ideals they are fighting for today, through speaking about their experiences, through fighting to bring their friends home and through struggling to obtain the benefits, and the respect, they so deserve. They have found the meaning that they were lacking on the front lines among the ranks of the anti-war movement, filled with people eager to hear their stories and join their cause. They are increasingly playing a vital role in delegitimatizing US presence in Iraq and illustrating the hypocrisy of the current administration, which claims that supporting the occupation is a means of supporting our troops, meanwhile cutting vital services and benefits aiming to do just that. The banner that hung over this years Veteran’s Day rally read, “Honor the Warrior, Not the War.”

Rob is currently serving as the Midwest Regional Contact for Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group that made it’s public debut outside of the Democratic National Convention last July, where he said that the Vietnam Vets present greeted them with open arms and “treated us like little brothers.” More and more returning vets are being drawn to the organization and Rob reports that they are receiving regular email messages from soldiers on active duty, eager to get connected upon their return