The word “veteran” is a fancy way of saying, “Once a soldier, always a soldier.” Such is the case with a select group of veterans today whose previous deployment and military service overseas put them in contact with important connections in Israel, Palestine and Egypt. Even as we honor our veterans this year on November 11, there are some who continue to serve our country by putting their lives on the line. So, today I would like to highlight these veterans and tell you about the work they are doing to save the lives of Americans in the Middle East.
Today there are two active crews of veterans which are working to get Americans out of Israel and the Gaza Strip. These veterans work for two separate organizations, the “Special Operations Association of America” and another organization called “Save our Allies.” Together these two veteran organizations have sent roughly two dozen people, all former military personnel, into Egypt, Israel and Palestine and charged them with the task of aiding relief efforts and evacuating American citizens out of the war-torn areas.
Each veteran volunteer was specially chosen for the assignment based upon his or her previous military experience working with Egyptians, Israelis and Palestinians. The primary task of these experienced veterans is to shepherd American citizens trapped in the war zones by helping them get on planes to Cyprus which have been chartered by the U.S. State Department; however, their work goes much deeper and gets a lot more complicated than this.
