WASHINGTON - August 1 - As Congress leaves for summer recess, and US troops’ tours of duty are being extended, with thousands more troops ordered in to “retake” Baghdad, Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) will close the first phase of Operation House Call. At a closing press conference, members of Military Families Speak Out with loved ones in the 172nd Stryker Brigade who just had their tours of duty extended in Iraq, Gold Star families including those whose loved ones were recently killed in action, and families with loved ones currently deployed or facing re-deployment will report on the impact of Operation House Call in Washington, D.C. and their visits with over 40 Senators and Representatives. They will unveil plans for the second phase of Operation House Call, as MFSO’s 26 local chapters and over 3,000 military families prepare to meet their Senators and Members of Congress in their home states and demand an answer to the question: “Whose names are you willing to add to the growing list of casualties?”

WHAT:
Press Conference with Military and Gold Star Families Who Have Met with Senators and Members of Congress, and participated in Operation House Call

WHEN:
11:00 A.M. Thursday, August 3, 2006

WHERE:
Across from the Russell Senate Office Building, Corner of Delaware and Constitution, Washington, D.C.

WHO:
Members of Military Families Speak Out from Alaska, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., other states (See list below.)

Following the press conference, members of Military Families Speak Out will meet with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to remind her that each day this war continues, two of our troops and countless Iraqis are being killed, and ask her why she has continued to send our loved ones off to fight and die in a war effort she won’t encourage her own daughter to join.

Operation House Call has been a summer-long campaign highlighting the on-going human toll of the war in Iraq. Opening on June 22nd, the D.C. vigil has included a growing number of combat boots representing US troop deaths, and shoes representing the deaths of Iraqi children, women and men – all who have died since June 15th when Congress voted to “stay the course” in Iraq, and the 2,500th US troop death occurred. On June 22, the display reflected 11 pairs of combat boots and shoes representing the deaths of 141 Iraqis. As of August 1st, the display has grown to include 78 pairs of combat boots and shoes representing the deaths of 1,594 Iraqi children, women and men.

The following members of Military Families Speak Out and others will speak at the press conference:

Jennifer Davis of Anchorage, AK and Elena Kobrinski of Washington, D.C. Ms. Davis’s husband and Ms. Kobrinski’s fiancé are serving in Iraq with the 172nd Stryker Brigade. They were hours away from returning home after a year-long deployment, when they and others in their Brigade were notified that their tour of duty was being extended for four months.

Gilda Carbonaro of Bethesda, Maryland whose son Sgt. Alessandro Carbonaro served with the US Marine Corps' Second Reconnaissance Battalion and, on his second deployment to Iraq, was struck by an IED on May 1, 2006. He was burned over 60% of his body, and died as a result of these wounds on May 10, 2006 in Landstuhl, Germany.

Mimi Evans of Brooklyn, NY, whose son is a Captain in the US Marine Corps. In August, 2005 he left on a first deployment to Iraq; he recently returned from that deployment.

Larry Syverson of Richmond, VA, who has three sons serving in the military; all have served in theatre during the period of the Iraq War.

One of Larry's sons was a patient in the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he was treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression. Since his discharge he has been subject to a stop-loss and was recently deployed back to the Kuwait/Iraq border.

For further information, go to: www.operationhousecall.org and www.mfso.org.

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