Robin Eckstein knows about U.S. dependence on foreign oil in more ways than one. She served as a truck driver with the Army's 1st Armored Division in Iraq, ferrying fuel and water for her fellow soldiers. She left the service in 2007, but she since has found another way to serve, as a member of Operation Free.
Operation Free is a coalition of military veterans and national security groups dedicated to American energy independence. They want a sustainable national energy policy that weans the United States from dependence on oil from nations that don't share our values and interests, mitigates damages of climate change and provides "green jobs" for young vets after service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I don't see it as a left issue or a right issue," Eckstein said. "I see it as an American issue."
Eckstein and several of her Operation Free colleagues brought their message to Alaska this week.
Primary reliance on a single source of energy -- oil -- forces the United States into the brutal position of paying for both sides of the war on terror.
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