Soldier launches Operation Truth to air troops' plight [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/orl-asecoptruth15021405feb14,1,6930987,print.story?coll=orl-home-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

In Iraq, 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff led a platoon of Florida National Guard soldiers through a year of some of the most dangerous duty in Baghdad. Several of his soldiers were wounded; one man lost both legs.

Back then, Rieckhoff thought the problems his unit faced -- shortages of water, ammunition, body armor and armored vehicles -- were isolated cases. But when he returned home and talked to other soldiers, he learned they had faced the same problems.

"It's like a light bulb goes off in your head," said Rieckhoff, 30, who lives in New York. "And then you say, a lot of guys in Washington aren't doing their jobs."

That was when Rieckhoff decided to open a second front in the war in Iraq, this one a campaign against what he sees as injustices and mistakes in the war and the military.

In less than a year, Operation Truth, the organization Rieckhoff and three friends founded using $40,000 on their personal credit cards, has become one of the most influential Iraq war activist groups in the country, and Rieckhoff appears frequently on national television to speak out against the war and problems in the military.