Scott Olsen is a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq. His experiences have led him to the conclusion that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq do not serve the interest of the people of the United States, the Iraqis or Afghans. After he was discharged from the Corp, he began to work to bring his brothers and sisters home from the wars. On October 25, 2011, while participating in Occupy Oakland, Scott suffered a skull fracture caused by a projectile that witnesses believed was a tear gas or smoke canister fired by the police. He has recently been released from the hospital and has difficulty speaking.
(See color photo and read article) Occupy Oakland protesters carry Scott Olsen away after he was hit in the head on Tuesday night. Photograph: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images
Scott made it through a war abroad to be injured in a war at home. Standing up for the 99%, Scott has done his best service to our country in the streets of Oakland.
I have never met Scott, but I have met veterans like him who want accountability and change that moves our nation away from embracing warfare toward ending it.
Scott is a member of Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Michael T. McPhearson, a native of Fayetteville North Carolina was a field artillery officer in the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert Shield /Desert Storm, also known as Gulf War I. Michael joined the Army Reserve 1981 as an enlisted soldier at the age of 17 and attended basic training the summer between his junior and senior high school years. He is a ROTC graduate of Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. His military career includes 6 years of reserve service and 5 years active duty service. He separated from active duty in 1992 as a Captain.
Now living in Newark, New Jersey, Michael is currently the Co-convener of United for Peace and Justice and former Executive Director of Veterans For Peace.
His volunteer social and economic justice activist work includes membership in Veterans For Peace, the Newark based People's Organization for Progress, Military Families Speak Out, former coordinating committee member for the Bring Them Home Now campaign against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Secretary of the Saint Louis Branch of the NAACP. Michael is the publisher of the McPhearsonreport.com.
Michael's son joined the Army in January 2004 and served one tour in Iraq. He separated from the military in 2007.
In December of 2003 Michael returned to Iraq as part of a peace delegation to examine the state of the occupation firsthand. He has also traveled widely within the United States and to Istanbul Turkey and Bologna Italy as a speaker on the U.S. peace movement and world peace.
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