War Veterans Battle for Energy Bill

Robin Eckstein and Matt Victoriano, members of Operation Free, a coalition that advocates for clean, renewable energy.

The offshore drilling accident in the Gulf has many questioning the nation’s current energy policies. Among them are some veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Army Specialist Robin Eckstein deployed to Iraq with the 123rd Main Support Battalion, 1st Armored Division in 2003. While there, she drove a fuel tanker supplying soldiers in combat outposts.

“When I rolled outside the gates of Baghdad International Airport, it was a crapshoot as far as what I was going to encounter that day. You know, sniper fire, ambushes, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices),” Eckstein said. “And I realized it was just illogical how we were doing things.”

Driving a large, slow-moving tanker truck made Eckstein a prime target. The military’s dependency on oil, she said, was a daily logistical nightmare. And it got her thinking about the United State’s oil dependency.

Former Marine Sgt. Matt Victoriano came to the same conclusion. He served two tours in Iraq as a scout sniper team leader.

“I wasn’t spending the majority of my time taking out terrorists or securing the country, I was spending a majority of my time protecting supply routes so that fuel tankers could get to our forward operating bases,” Victoriano said. “And, it dawned on me with our current energy policy with our dependency on oil, we can’t defeat the terrorist, we can’t protect the country.”

He believes the United States’ dependency on oil is the greatest national security threat. So Victoriano joined the group Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security groups that support clean energy reform.

“The military is leading the way,’ Victoriano said. “The Navy has already pledged to get half their energy from alternative energy sources by 2020, which is only 10 years away. They recently flew and F-18 jet fighter off of mustard seed oil with no changes to the engine.”

Eckstein is also a member of Operation Free. She said they are battling against the television commercials produced by the oil and coal industries that put a different spin on the country’s energy situation.

“I tell people, I listen to my chain of command, the CIA, the Pentagon, the DOD (Department of Defense),” Eckstein said. “They’re all moving towards change and reducing their carbon emissions and moving toward clean, renewable energy. And, that’s who I’m going to stand behind.”

Victoriano said right now the lobbyists for “big oil” are winning the fight to keep Congress from passing meaningful energy reform.

“We don’t have a bill that’s passed,” Victoriano said. “Every time you hear of a local resident that’s died in Afghanistan or Iraq, that’s a message that they’re winning.”

Eckstein said if the American public wants to support the troops, they need to follow the military’s example and get Congress to pass a clean energy bill. Both veterans and others with Operation Free are taking their case to the media, the public and Florida’s two U.S. Senators as they tour the state this week.