Last weekend for Veterans Day 2017, Vets for American Ideals launched our multimedia storytelling campaign #WhatIFoughtFor. The project uses portrait photography and video to tell seven powerful stories of family, friendship, brotherhood, and camaraderie between U.S. veterans and refugees.

Around this campaign, VFAI leaders published nine op-eds around the country, from San Francisco, CA, to Charlotte, NC, to Des Moines, IA, to Memphis, TN, to Norfolk, VA, to Boston, MA, to Denver, CO, to Washington, DC, to Houston, TX.

VFAI leaders also published a series of blogs: Atsuko Sakurai wrote about what it means to be a team player in society. Lance Sellon reminded us all of the ideals that make this country great. Tanika Roy – the artist behind #WhatIFoughtFor – penned a piece that recognized immigrants and refugees for their contributions to our military and our society. Don’t miss our intrepid Chicago leader Arti Walker-Peddakotla’s Veterans Day tribute to her “new platoon” of fellow veterans and allies carving out inclusive spaces for veterans.

And lastly, check out some incredible photos from our Atlanta chapter, led by Chris Purdy: they celebrated Veterans Day by leading a service project at a local veterans’ cemetery alongside community partners including refugees, immigrants, students, and teachers. 

In refugee news, the International Rescue Committee projects that only 15,000 refugees will arrive in the United States this year based on current trends, which is only one third of the record-low Fiscal Year 2018 goal announced by the Trump Administration. In addition, onerous new vetting procedures will contribute to further bureaucratic red tape for the world’s most vulnerable. 

Concerned that the Trump Administration will fail to meet its annual refugee admissions ceiling for FY18, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) launched a weekly accountability system that will update the number of refugees who arrive each week in an online tracker.  Check out the most recent installment here.

When U.S. Army vet Allen Vaught was ambushed in Iraq, his translator traveled 60 miles to ensure he was okay. Under the administration's refugee ban, his translator is stuck in limbo. Vaught has now signed on as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeking a nationwide block against Trump’s order.  Vaught says the executive order "is inconsistent with the American values I fought for."

Refugee of the Week: Did you know the father of video games was a refugee who fled Nazi Germany? And that he was also an Army veteran? After the war, like millions of veterans, Ralph Baer went to school on the GI Bill to study television engineering. When asked how he managed to develop the “brown box,” a single console containing the first video gaming system, he says it was “a piece of Jewish chutzpah. I just did it.”