MFSO Oregon is a chapter of Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of people who have relatives or loved ones in the military and are opposed to the continued occupation of Iraq.
If you would like to help out with a donation, please click here.
MFSO was formed in November of 2002 and has contacts with military families throughout the United States, and in countries around the world. National membership currently includes over 3,000 military families, with new families joining daily.

MFSO Oregon started as it’s own organization in November 2004 as it was evident the war and occupation was continuing with no exit strategy and that Oregon families needed support and a way to speak out against the war in a safe and protected environment.

MFSO Goals:

• Provide support to families of soldiers.
• Speak out against the war and ensure the voices of families are heard.
• Educate the public on the impacts of war on soldiers and families.
• Engage in advocacy in the community and with elected officials for an exit strategy and proper care for troops returning from the occupation in Iraq.

Support group meets Saturday, Sept. 6th at 1:00 - 3:00

Call Linda Marshall for information about the support group at (503) 617-0997 or email Suzi Sutherlin-Martin at jmartin906@aol.com. The regular monthly support group meets the first Saturday of each month at the UCC Frog Pond Church in Wilsonville -
For google map directions to the church, click here.

One mother wrote this about the meetings… 

Yesterday was the meeting of the “Military Families Speak Out” support group I attend once a month. There weren’t very many of us this month — just 5 parents, three with sons in the Army and two with sons in the Marines, sitting around a table in a church fellowship hall. We started out talking about a hearing in our state legislature. The hearing was on a resolution calling for bringing our troops home from Iraq.

Some of us testified about our sons at the hearing. Their stories vary. They patrol streets and disarm bombs in Iraq. Continue reading ‘Monthly Support Group’

Our “Public Service” billboards are going up around Portland!

So far we have three. This one’s at NW Front Street and 17th. While MFSO is able to get billboard space fairly cheaply, it still costs a lot to produce and install them. Please help us get out our important message! click here to donate

Hello, my name is Adele Kubein, I am a member of the advisory board of
Military Families Speak Out and the mother of a permanently disabled
Iraq veteran.

I have been invited here tonight to speak about the cost of the Iraq
war. Who pays this price? The simple answer is all of us, but some
more than others. I can rattle off monthly figures for the financial
cost of war (over three billion), and the numbers of American soldiers
killed (almost 4100), as well as the estimated number of dead Iraqi
civilians, (somewhere between 100,000 and 600,000). But when one
focuses on the particular, the cost becomes horrifying. As a mother I
cannot escape the particular and neither can the other members of
MFSO, nor the people of Iraq. Numbers cannot chill the soul the same
way my soul was chilled when I sat in a darkened hotel room and
listened to my daughter recount what it was like to clean her friend?s
brains and body parts out of a humvee. Continue reading ‘MFSO Mother Shares Her Experience’

The Register-Guard recently ran an op-ed from Katie Dyer, the wife of an Oregon National Guardsman deployed to Iraq. (Click here to read the original op-ed.) She talked about how difficult and lonely it was for her to be separated from her husband. I understand her feelings, because I am the mother of a deployed son on his second deployment to Iraq. His deployment this time is for 15 months. I think about him constantly, and wonder about the danger that he is in. I also was appalled by the story that Katie told about the anti-war protesters in Ashland, one of whom said to her: “You’ll join us when your husband dies.” Fortunately, the majority of Americans who oppose the war do not behave in this way. Continue reading ‘How Can You Support the Troops but Hate the War?’

July 12 — Grand Ronde
August 28 — Portland

The Eyes Wide Open boot display presented by the American Friends Service Committee is touring the state. This is a very moving memorial honoring American soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war. At each location there will be speeches and reading of the names of the fallen from Oregon. For details, click here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 17, 2008
CONTACT: ADELE KUBEIN (541-757-0323)

MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT – OREGON
Five Years and Counting
“Does Anyone Else But Military Families Care?”

Corvallis, OR – For members of MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT, March 19th marks an especially tragic event. It has been five full years since the United States began its illegal, immoral, and unjust invasion of Iraq. Nearly 4000 troops and perhaps over a million Iraqi children, women, and men have died in this war already. Continuing it for another year will mean the deaths of at least 350 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

MFSO-OR Spokesperson Adele Kubein said, “We are five years into a war that should never have happened, and we cannot wait until January 2009 to begin to see a change in this horrific situation.”

“Four thousand of the best young men and women this country has to offer have died as a result of this catastrophic blunder. So many tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed that we stopped counting. The only solution offered by our leaders to this carnage is more misery and bloodshed. When are we going to wake up and demand a change in course?” said MFSO member Steve Weiss, father whose Marine son has recently returned from Iraq. Continue reading ‘Press Release: Five Years and Counting’

Since the war in Iraq began, I’ve written many columns in support of people serving in the military. They are patriots. They make tremendous sacrifices in service to our country.

Most often, my stories have come from the parents of soldiers. I’ve quoted parents who strongly support the war in Iraq. I’ve interviewed more parents whose children have served, been injured or been killed — and most of those parents are against the war. But they never wanted to say so in the newspaper.

Suzi Sutherland-Martin is the first person who has contacted me and been willing to say, in print, that her son is serving in Iraq and she is opposed to the war. Suzi’s son is an officer in the Marines. She loves him very much; she worries about him constantly. She writes him letters and sends e-mails. She telephones and ships packages.

And every Saturday she heads for the Portland airport, sits at a table in front of a sign that says “Bring the Troops Home” and tries to talk to people about the war.

After months of this work, Suzi has come to a sad conclusion: Continue reading ‘Military Mother Opposes Iraq War’

Join Military Families at this Weekly Vigil in Beaverton

Fifth and Hall St.

Military families have been attending this, Oregon’s largest sustained vigil, for over two-and-a-half years. We welcome your support each Wednesday from 6:30-7:30.