Common Defense - Georgia

We are proud to endorse Senator Jon Ossoff for re-election to the U.S. Senate in Georgia! During his time in office, Senator Ossoff has consistently and relentlessly fought to deliver for Georgia’s veterans, active service members, and military families.

Military families deserve the truth about who died serving this country.

The Pentagon's public casualty count for the Iran war says 18. Officials tell reporters the real number is at least 22, maybe 23, plus three more contractors.

The omission is more than paperwork; it changes the survivor benefits families depend on, and it hides the true cost of a war Congress never voted to authorize.

Veterans didn't swear an oath to a press release. We swore an oath to the Constitution, and that includes Congress's duty over war and peace.

More U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publicly Officials who spoke with The Post expressed frustration that the additional loss of life in the Middle East is not reflected in the Defense Department’s casualty database.

We took an oath to defend the Constitution against all threats.

When J6ers try to rewrite what happened that day, veterans WILL hold the line on accountability.

Twenty-five years ago this morning, our Executive Director Jose Vasquez was on a New York subway, riding from Long Island City to an archaeology class in Harlem.

He knew something was wrong before he saw anything. Anyone who has spent time in New York knows the unwritten rule of the train, that hundreds of strangers can share a car while giving each other the privacy of silence.

That morning, everyone was talking.

Jose had served nine years in the Army by then and was a reservist with the 344th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Totten. Among the nearly 3,000 people killed were members of his own unit, soldiers who worked as firefighters and EMS personnel in their civilian lives.

He writes about what he saw when he came up at 137th Street: an entire block of New Yorkers turned toward the same horizon. Before the wars. Before the speeches. Before the arguments over patriotism.

Twenty-five years later, remembrance should mean more than recalling where we were.

Where were you that morning?

Common Defense endorses Matt McCoy for Rhode Island House District 31.

Matt spent decades in the Navy. He came home and kept going, first as a Town Councilor, then as one of the more persistent voices for veterans at the State House.

Naveed Shah, U.S. Army veteran and Political Director at Common Defense:

"Matt McCoy served decades in the Navy, and he never stopped serving after he came home. As a Town Councilor and a voice for veterans at the State House, he's shown what it means to keep faith with the people who wore the uniform. Common Defense is proud to back Matt McCoy for House District 31. Rhode Island needs leaders who show up for veterans long after the parade ends."

District 31 voters, this one is yours. Full statement in the comments.

Veterans did not stop being workers when they took off the uniform.

The labor movement won the 40-hour week, the minimum wage, family leave, and health insurance. Every one of those protections shows up in the life of a veteran who came home and went back to work.

Right now, the people who staff the VA are losing the ability to bargain over the conditions they work under. The VA lost 3,000 registered nurses in 2025. A lot of the people caring for veterans are veterans.

Congress can restore collective bargaining by passing the Protect America's Workforce Act.

https://bit.ly/4cnYC5tThere is a provision buried in this year's defense bill that would make US-Israeli weapons co-production permanent law.

Section 219 of the NDAA hardwires weapons co-production, AI coordination, and data integration into permanent US-Israel military cooperation. The oversight language was stripped out. It is written to pass without a debate, inside a bill that has to pass.

Next Wednesday, September 9 at 7pm ET, we are breaking it down. Seth Binder of the American Committee for Middle East Rights and Palestinian-American peace advocate Lydia El-Sayegh, moderated by our National Team Lead Organizer Jermaine Collins. What the provision actually does, how it undermines accountability under US and international law, and what advocates can do right now.

Registration link in the comment below.

Pete Hegseth has a private army of internet trolls, and he put them on the government's books.

Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson spend their days attacking journalists and veterans who question this administration. Over a million followers between them.

All three held government email addresses inside the Pentagon office that sets policy on who serves. All three worked a task force Hegseth built to hunt what he calls toxic ideology in the ranks. All three kept posting like private citizens.

He forced out the reporters. He credentialed a friendlier press corps. Now the loudest voices defending him answer to him.

Washington Post reporting linked in the comments.

"Now, with it being a year, it's hard to feel like that justification holds any water. It feels like the guard is being exploited in a sense."

That's a National Guard member describing Trump's D.C. deployment to NPR. Three members spoke on condition of anonymity, since they're still serving and barred from talking to the press.

All three said the original reason, a "crime emergency" declared despite violent crime sitting at a 30-year low, doesn't hold up anymore.

One walked in with no real plan: "The president is calling out the guard to make D.C. safe. Well, what the f*** does that mean?"

The deployment now costs an estimated $3 million a day, and Trump has extended it through the end of his term. Independent studies found it's had no measurable effect on violent crime.

Read the full NPR interviews; link in the comments.

We took an oath to defend this country. In return, we were promised our service would mean something.

Naveed, our Political Director, served in Iraq. He wrote this week about the USS Abraham Lincoln's crew, 5,000 sailors and Marines who spent 250+ days at sea under conditions we're still learning the full truth about.

While they were out there, Trump said they hadn't been deployed "nearly long enough."

That's how this administration actually sees the people who serve.

Congress has the power to open a real investigation and find out what happened. Right now, nobody's forcing them to.

Read Naveed's full piece; the link is in the comments below.