I expect, and ask that you work to do whatever you can to get our military
out of Iraq. I expect, and ask that YOU stand up and Speak Out.
Anne Sapp, National Guard Spouse, Billerica, MA

Senator Kerry,

This week members of Military Families Speak Out and Iraq Veterans Against
the War will be attending meetings with a Congressional committee,
Senators, and members  of Congress to discuss the conditions under which
our military serve and the need to bring troops home, care adequately for
them upon their return, and to send no more troops to fight, kill, and die
in a war which we continuously learn is based on lies and ideals that are
contrary to what Ameerica has stood for since its beginning.  Please
listen carefully to what they say.  They represent thousands of us.
I am a member of Military Families Speak Out and a registered voter of
Massachusetts who has voted for you to hold office and now questions the
effort and committment that you fail to exert concerning the war in Iraq,
particularly the use of our military and especially the use of the
National Guard in an overseas invasion and occupation.  In voting for you
I had hoped we would gain a leader.  I had also hoped that you would be
among the first that this nation needs to stand up against the
conscienceless republican rule that has overtaken us and fight for the
ethical values that has made us a great nation whose citizens enjoy the
privileges of true freedom. 

My husband, Andrew Sapp is a member of the Massachusetts Army National
Guard, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and MFSO.   He has always felt
strongly about committment to his country and the need to be willing to
defend and protect our freedoms and privileges.  From the beginning he
could see that something was terribly awry about this administration's
attitude towards Iraq.  He did not support the invasion and does not
support the occupation, but fulfilled his commitment and went.  He was
activated for duty in Iraq and left home in June 2004, deployed in
November 2004, and returned to us in October 2005.  This deployment took
him away from not only his family, but from a political party in which he
was becoming active, and from his job as a high school teacher in the
Concord, MA  community.  I could write volumes on what he and our family
have suffered throughout this, but let me focus on what it has brought us
to.

When we found out that Andy would be sent to Iraq I wanted nothing except
for it to be over so we could begin our lives once again.  Twenty-five
years together has given us a number of opportunities for new starts,  but
nothing before like this.  Shortly after he came home the effects of PTSD
began to emerge and we realized it would be a long, long road to get to a
point where we could truly live again. (Multiply this by the thousands of
soldiers and their families and even more again for the  Iraqi people)
I sometimes wish we could go on as if this never happened, to live our
lives as if there were no war.  But there is, and many others remain in
Iraq and continue to to be sent, either to be traumatized for the first
time or retraumatized again and again and again.   In his work with IVAW
Andy speaks out about his experience and the failed politics behind the
war and that continue this war.  It is emotionally difficult for him.  Yet
I would never want to look at my husband and see that he had forgotten so
much of his Iraq experience that he had lost the passion and commitment to
continue the real fight-to bring our military home, end the war, and
repair the horrific damage that we have suffered under this
administration.  I fear that you have forgotten this.  We need our elected
officials to be a voice, to serve with courage and passion. Thousands of
us have been speaking out.  We have spent hours talking to the media,
giving them information that never gets used.  We need your help in
getting the message of the people out of our homes and off the streets, to
the greater public and the White House.   This administration, its
economic agenda and its war is destroying the nation it has been entrusted
with to serve.

I expect, and ask that you work to do whatever you can to get our military
out of Iraq.  I expect, and ask that YOU stand up and Speak Out.

Sincerely,
Anne Sapp
Billerica, MA
National Guard Spouse