Iraq Vet Driven by Friend's Death

Iraq Vet Driven by Friend's Death
Daniel W. Reilly


Politico

Jun 25, 2008

June 25, 2008 - On the eve of last month’s Senate vote on Sen. Jim Webb’s GI Bill, Patrick Campbell clicked "send" on one last lobbying e-mail to staffers. Then he broke down and cried.

Campbell, the legislative director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, had started his message by laying out all of the latest developments on Webb’s bill.

In the final paragraphs, the Iraq war veteran shared the news that was foremost in his mind, news that he hadn’t shared with anyone outside his unit.

"Yesterday," he wrote, "one of my buddies from Iraq committed suicide."

It should have been a heady week for Campbell, a week in which the former staffer for Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and other Democrats shared a rally stage with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-­Calif.), saw the Senate vote overwhelmingly in favor of Webb’s bill and graduated from law school at Catholic University.
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10492