Iraq vets speak out.

• Author: Enders, David
• Position: On the Line

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Garett Reppenhagen heard about Iraq Veterans Against the War while he was still serving in Iraq in 2004.

"I joined them when I got out in February 2005. I pretty much just hit the ground running and have been organizing with them ever since," says Reppenhagen, who has been chair of the group's executive board since December.

The group calls for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops, reparations to Iraq, and full benefits--including health care--for returning servicemen and women.

One of the events Reppenhagen has helped plan is Operation First Casualty. Members of IVAW, dressed in camouflage, march through a U.S. city "making arrests" and acting out other combat scenes.

"The purpose is to bring a small part of the truth of the occupation of Iraq home to the American people," says Adam Kokesh, one of the vets who participated in an Operation First Casualty event in Washington, D.C.

Kokesh served in Falluja with the Marines in 2005. After a photo appeared of him participating in an Operation First Casualty event, the military reduced his discharge from honorable to general.

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