Welcome to React to Contact, a show devoted to the discussion of militarism and how it affects our communities. My name is Rushelle Frazier, I am recording from Under the Hood, a GI coffeehouse and resource center just outside the gates of Ft. Hood, the largest military installation in the US. 

Today's episode focuses on Under the Hood. We're going to talk to veteran organizers, active-duty soldiers and community members who are living the history down here in Killeen, Texas. We've got interviews with Lori Hurlebaus, director of Under the Hood, Aaron Hughes and Maggie Martin of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Kathy Gilberd of the Military Law Task Force, and two active duty members of the UTH community. 

Before I play the interviews, I'd like to give a quick primer on Under the Hood. This coffeeshop and resource center is here due to some serious organizing during the Vietnam era. 

The Oleo Strut opened July 4, 1968 in Killeen Texas as one of the first GI coffeeshops. An oleo strut is a shock absorber, which is a metaphor for what the organizers saw the place being for the soldiers at Ft. Hood.

By 1970, there were some 20 coffeehouses to be found in the vicinity of Army, Air Force, Marine and Navy bases across the country. Their most important role was giving soldiers who had come to understand how wrong the Vietnam war was, and the knowledge they were not alone. 
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The Oleo Strut stayed open in till the war ended in 1972.

Under the Hood opened its doors in March 2009 as a safe space for active duty soldiers, military family, and community members to organize dissenting voices against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the past three years, Under the Hood has provided GI rights consuling, Mental Health resources, and has supported a number of conscientious objectors. Under the hood is also a place where any member of the community can participate in healing arts projects, potluck dinners, documentary screenings, and open-door discussion about the dominant narrative of the US involvement in the Middle East.  

Since 2011, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Civilian-Soldier Alliance have used UTH as a foreword operating base for the Operation Recovery campaign to heal traumatized troops. The Active-duty and veteran-led campaign does regular outreach in Ft. Hood and Killeen to help inform soldiers of their right to medical care and the tools to fight for it in spite the stigma that surrounds seeking treatment. A stigma that has fostered many cases of undiagnosed or mishandled Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury and Military Sexual Trauma.

The problems don't begin and end here  According to the Department of Defense, 2012 saw 66 confirmed suicides across the country, with another 50 still under investigation. 
Nationwide, every day a soldier commits suicide. This means that more US soldiers have committed suicide than died in combat. 
Right now, the Operation Recovery campaign is working on an appeal for redress to take to congress seeking better enforcement of the military's own laws regarding healthcare.
