Walter Reed Vigil: Middle of the 7100 Block of Georgia Ave, Every Friday 7-9 PM. We are now in our fifth year! Care for the Wounded! Full benefits for all veterans! Bring All The Troops Home NOW! War Economy No--Peace Economy Yes! We are a mixture of people from many groups or no group at all; we have firm support from the local labor community and from union activists all over the country. We have the endorsement and support of US Labor Against War, the support of members of Code Pink, Gray Panthers, ISO, UFPJ and ANSWER, Veterans for Peace, and leaders in the community such as Reverend Graylon Hagler of the Plymouth UCC. Anti-torture activists have stood with us, students from schools around the country; we have had sisters and brothers from Japan, Finland, Germany, France, and England come to stand with us. Soldiers and workers from inside Walter Reed have stood with us as well as veterans of other wars and a veteran of the current war in Iraq. No politicians have yet made the four mile trek from the Capitol building to stand for the women and men they sent to do their fighting. We honor our sisters and brothers who have had to fight these wars by calling for their real needs to be met as well as ending the wars and occupations and bringing all our troops home. "Bring the troops home" is the most fervently supported slogan by the recovering soldiers inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Walter Reed Army Medical Center is now over 100 years old, is as large as the Vatican, and houses over 5000 wounded and recovering soldiers. The doctors and staff work hard for the wounded but they are understaffed and over worked. Surgeons have been known to hide themselves away to find the privacy to weep for the shattered bodies they have had to heal. The nursing staff and other workers at WR are dedicated, caring, and among the most opposed to the current war. Walter Reed Army Medical Center is less than five miles from the halls of Congress and rarely receives a visit from the people who permitted this war and continue to fund it unless it is for a photo op. Congress has passed bills cutting medical benefits for the wounded--including for brain trauma injuries, the most prevelant of the war, and PTSD--soldiers have to prove it was not a pre-existing condition. In fact, studies show that over 90 per cent of troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from PTSD--and in 2008 over 140 active duty soldiers committed suicide.