Support Our Troops

Founded in June 2004, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is the nation's first and largest group dedicated to the Troops and Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They "graded" Congress members on their record on veterans affairs.

Barack Obama got a B+.

Fellow veteran John McCain't got a D.

As a candidate for the United States Senate in 2002, Obama warned of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.”

Obama has been a consistent, principled and vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.

• In 2003 and 2004, he spoke out against the war;
• In 2005, he called for a phased withdrawal of our troops;
• In 2006, he called for a timetable to remove our troops, a political solution within Iraq, and aggressive diplomacy with all of Iraq’s neighbors;
• In January 2007, he introduced legislation in the Senate to remove all of our combat troops from Iraq by March 2008.
• In September 2007, he laid out a detailed plan for how he will end the war as president.

Inspired by Obama's record of advocating against the war and supporting veterans in practical ways, Obama Girl joined up with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) to make this video, "I Like A Boy." If features charming lyrics and cute choreography--but the best part is that it includes the real wives and girlfriends of the troops lip-syncing their hearts out!

"I said I need a man defending the USA
Land of the free, home of the brave...
So you got a nice crib: I don't care what you spend
'cause my kind of man goes to sleep in a tent
Not many men can combat insurgency
so come home and be my Sugar-Baghdaddy!

I like a boy who rocks a doggie tag
Holding it down for the US flag!
You know the kind I like to please,
doing us proud when they're overseas!"


"Honey I'm in search for my GI Jane
I need a woman that can work that truck or that chopper
a real life trooper
rucksack or Prada bags
stunners or gas masks
it don't matter whether you're eating from a bowl or off a silver platter...
Peace to my female troops: SALUTE!"

Instead of the love admiration and gratitude our troops deserve, the Bush Administration has thrown them into heinous situations of violence and chaos that they are not supported in facing.

Additionally, many of our troops face their own mortality and mourn the loss of their brothers and sisters in combat with the knowledge that this war was unjust, that it was started for the wrong reasons, and that they must fight for their lives and do the best they can despite the fact that they have been sent on an impossible and immoral mission. Imagine trying to come to terms with that while you lay awake in your tent at night--in between worrying about your next encounter with an IED and what your girlfriend might be doing back at home!

Their bravery and dedication to America has been tested at the highest level because not only are our troops engaged in dangerous combat scenarios in a harsh land far from home, they risk their lives with the knowledge that their equipment, training, and support are insufficient for the operations they are ordered to enact.

"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country
is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards."

-Theodore Roosevelt

The scope of traumatic brain injuries, limb-loss, and post-traumatic stress among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is overwhelming. With increasing calls to bring the troops home and an impending change of administration, there will be an increasing need for various services to support our veterans when they return from abroad. They will need thorough and thoughtful medical treatment, they may need counseling or psychosocial support, and they may need additional education, job training or help finding employment outside the military sector. They will probably need a lot of help adjusting to a life that is so different from the one they led in the deserts of Iraq or the mountains of Afghanistan.

Barack Obama has proposed a set of plans to support the troops who will be returning home, and he has developed a plan to withdraw the US combat troops from Iraq swiftly yet incrementally.
Click here to learn more about Obama's policies on supporting veterans.
Click here for more of Obama's plan to bring our troops home.

Obama Outlines Several Major Problems that Impact Veterans:

Wounded Troops Suffer: The Walter Reed scandal showed that we don't always provide returning service members with the care they deserve.

Veterans Budget Shortfalls: In 2005, a multi-billion dollar VA funding shortfall required Congress to step in and bail out the system.

Benefits Bureaucracy is Broken: There are currently more than 400,000 claims pending with the Veterans Benefits Administration. VA error rates have grown to more than 100,000 cases a year.

There is Shortage of Care for PTSD: Veterans are coming home with record levels of combat stress, but we are not adequately providing for them.

Obama's plan to address these problems is based on a "Sacred Trust" that the American government and people make with our men and women of the armed forces: a commitment to supporting them and expressing useful and appropriate gratitude for the risks that they take for all of our collective benefit. He plans to create a a 21st Century Department of Veterans' Affairs that provides the care and benefits our nation's veterans deserve.

A Sacred Trust

• Allow All Veterans Back into the VA: Reverse the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans, which has denied care to a million veterans.
• Strengthen VA Care: Make the VA a leader of national health care reform; improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, and women's health.
• Combat Homelessness among Our Nation's Veterans: National "zero tolerance" policy for veterans falling into homelessness by expanding proven programs and launching innovative services.
• Fight Veterans Employment Discrimination: Crack down on employers who commit job discrimination against guardsmen and reservists.

Help for Returning Service Members

• Ensure a Seamless Transition: Obama will demand that the military and the VA coordinate to provide a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life.
• Fully Fund VA Medical Care: Fully fund the VA; establish a world-class VA Planning Division to avoid future budget shortfalls.
• Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy: Hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability so that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently. Transform from paper to electronic claims system to reduce errors and improve timeliness.

Improved Mental Health Treatment

• Improve Mental Health Treatment: Improve mental health care at every stage of military service; recruit more health professionals, improve screening, offer more support to families and make PTSD benefits claims fairer.
• Improve Care for Traumatic Brain Injury: Establish standards of care for Traumatic Brain Injury, the signature injury of the Iraq war.
• Expand Vet Centers: Expand and strengthen Vet Centers to provide more counseling for vets and their families.

Let's do right by the men and women who are doing their best in a horrible situation, who are noble and selfless beyond words, and who above all else are someone's child, some mother's son or father's baby girl.

What does it say about us as Americans and about our government that we send our young people overseas to fight and die, but we don't send them with protective equipment or the tools they need to get the job done--or come home alive?

What does it mean that when they do get home, we despise them and spit on them, as if they have done something wrong to us?

How many of America's children must come home in body bags--or return from combat so destroyed by what they have seen that they hardly feel alive --before we stand up and claim our country's children, its noblest citizens, as our own?

How many more will be lost before we fulfill our sacred trust with veterans?