The audience applauds as our final panel, what one member termed "IVAW's A-Team", walks on stage. Kelly Dougherty, Phil Aliff, Jeff Engelhart, Garret Reppenhagen, Ronn Cantu, and Camilo Mejia are going to discuss the future of GI Resistance.

Phil Aliff is on the IVAW board of directors. He was a 10th Mountain Division soldier from 2004 until 2008. With passion in his voice and a slight pounding of his fist, Phil sends a message to his fellow active duty members: WE are the ones who can end war. There is a new social movement going on in the United States and we have to make sure that all GIs feel welcome and a part of it. It starts with the civilians, as a broad grassroots base needs to be in place for many GIs to take the next step and join the fight. Phil challenges the anti-war movement to be open to all avenues of organization to get this mission accomplished. When I was in basic training, we had to chant something along the lines of "Individuals fail; unity is key!" That is still true as we continue to serve our country, and Phil has effectively told us why.

Jeff Engelhart was a member of the 1st Infantry Division and served in Baquba, Iraq. He has been a member of the GI resistance for several years now and remembers how lonely it was in those early days of the Iraq-era GI resistance. Jeff read whatever he could to research why we were in Iraq and why the US's foreign policy is what it is. This is very common; many of my comrades in my unit and I read books along these lines while we sat in Baghdad. Jeff created the blog "Fight to Survive" while he was in Iraq, where he wrote honestly about what he experienced and what he thought was wrong. He was told to cease and desist, but did not. When he returned home, he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War and has found it to be the best therapy he could find. That is the case with so many of us IVAW members.

GI Outreach is the most important thing IVAW can do, and Jeff understands that. The US military is made up of grown men and women who are not fooling themselves any longer with fantasies of the worth of the mission in Iraq.

Garret Reppenhagen served with Jeff in Iraq and co-authored the blog "Fight to Survive". Garret points out that through their entire GI resistance process, they stayed within the boundaries of UCMJ and were granted honorable discharges. Garret was the first active-duty member of IVAW and has been an important spokesman for the organization since the day he joined. Thanks to the mentorship of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, IVAW was able to put together Winter Soldier much sooner in our occupation than VVAW did. VVAW learned so much during their resistance, and they have passed that knowledge on to us; we so much appreciate our big brothers and sisters in VVAW. Because there is no draft, public outrage is at a minimum. Seventy-five percent of the veterans of this war are still in the military; they are career soldiers. That is what makes anti-war organizing difficult in the military. Yes, they oppose the war, but they also want to remain in the military.

The family atmosphere of the military, the safe environment of a military base to raise children, the school benefits, the health care, and the bonuses all make GIs reluctant to risk their position in the military to do the right thing. In order to build the membership of IVAW and the GI resistance, we are going to have to start picking up the tab for some of these lost benefits. We are not "recruiting" veterans; we are not recruiters. We will, however, ask all those veterans who feel the same way we do about the occupations to join our ranks and help their fellow soldiers through resistance. The member application is now online; please join up and read about how you can resist without risking your service record.

Ronn Cantu is an active-duty soldier at Fort Hood and the president of our Fort Hood Chapter. Ronn was discharged just after 9/11 and re-joined the army during the run-up to the Iraq war. Twice, Ronn thought he had missed his "chance" for glory through combat in Iraq, but he eventually got his chance . . . twice. The frustration and anger that Ronn felt in Iraq about being a part of an occupation is so familiar to me and many sitting next to me right now. The more and more frustrated Ronn became, the more resentful he became of the Iraqi people.

Just before his second deployment, Ronn joined IVAW and started writing on the website. The media soon noticed and he was contacted by a reporter with Democracy Now! news. While in his commander's office answering questions about his military blog, the reporter called his cell phone over and over. His commander gave him a direct order not to speak to the media, but Ronn had to talk to someone. Soon, he was speaking live from Baghdad. After the interview, he was summoned to his commander's office and felt regretful that an American was being censored. His commander then told him she was rescinding her order for him not to speak to the media because it was his right . . . and it is every soldier's right out there, including you, blog reader. IVAW doesn't just mean someone has an application at the national office; there are Iraq Veterans who are Against the War in every platoon on every base in the world. Today is Ronn's thirtieth birthday, and he wouldn't want to spend it anywhere else. He just hopes that the young soldiers in Baghdad will also see their thirtieth birthdays.

Camilo Mejia is an Iraq War veteran, GI resister, and Chairman of the Board of IVAW. Camilo asked for all Vietnam veterans, VVAW members, and original Winter Soldier attendees to stand as IVAW gave them a rousing ovation. It is because of the strength of these men and women that we stand here today as Iraq Veterans Against the War. We are the new Winter Soldiers. George Orwell wrote, "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes an act of rebellion." We are truthspeakers and rebels. IVAW members have been interrogated by the FBI, incarcerated for being conscientious objectors, incarcerated for standing up against military rape, and labeled troublemakers by the leadership of the military and this country. Because we have dared to follow our conscience and embrace humanity, we have been called too many names to list here. We refuse to be silenced by the government and corporate media(where are you CNN? I thought you were the liberal network who hated America.)

We have heard heartbreaking testimony this weekend, but we have also heard and seen these things firsthand in Iraq and Afghanistan. Until we eradicate homophobia, sexism, and racism in the military, we will not be fully united as a military and as a nation. IVAW will not rest until we reach the three goals of our three points of unity: withdrawal of American troops from Iraq; reparations for the Iraqi people; and full benefits for the veterans when they return home.