8/22/2008 9:02:48 AM Vets for Freedom at Democratic National Convention

WASHINGTON, DC – Vets for Freedom (VFF) announced earlier this month that eight Iraq war veterans who are members of the organization would return to Iraq to assess conditions on the ground and analyze policy options for future U.S. military involvement. Having returned last week, the VFF Chairman Pete Hegseth and Vice Chairman David Bellavia will be at the Democratic National Convention informing delegates, key lawmakers and the American people about what they saw and the importance of commitment to completion of the mission in Iraq.

Both Hegseth and Bellavia will have media credentials for the Convention, and will be available for media requests to provide their informed, ‘boots on the ground” understanding of the mission in Iraq and the best future course for the United States.

Both bios are below:

Pete Hegseth: Captain Pete Hegseth was commissioned into the U.S. Army upon graduation from Princeton University in 2003. A year later, Capt. Hegseth served in Guantanamo Bay for a year on a security mission with his National Guard unit and, upon his return from Cuba, volunteered to join the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division for their deployment to Iraq from 2005-2006. Capt. Hegseth served as an infantry Platoon Leader in Baghdad during the nationwide elections in October and December 2005, and as a Civil-Military Operations officer in Samarra for seven months, a time period which included the bombing of the Golden Mosque. Capt. Hegseth earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge and Bronze Star Medal for his time in Iraq and continues to serve as an infantry officer in the Fighting 69th Infantry Battalion, New York Army National Guard. Capt. Hegseth serves as the Chairman of Vets for Freedom, an organization dedicated to mobilizing veterans to explain American strategy in Iraq. He also plans to start a masters program at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in the fall of 2008.

David Bellavia: is author of the much acclaimed war memoir House to House: An Epic Memoir of War, about door-to-door close combat in Iraq, Bellavia is a former army staff sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division (Task Force 2-2) for six years. He is the recipient of the both Silver and Bronze Stars for valor, and the Conspicuous Service Cross, New York State's highest award for combat valor. He has also been nominated for both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor for his actions in a fierce urban hand-to-hand fight in the battle of Fallujah, in November 2004. Originally from Buffalo, NY, Bellavia currently resides in western New York with his wife and two sons. There he has founded a local Veteran's Coordination Center that focuses on the early treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and other veteran's-related issues and outreach programs. Bellavia is also a co-founder of the non-partisan, non-profit Vets for Freedom organization.

Both Vets for Freedom Chairman Pete Hegseth and Vice Chairman David Bellavia will be credentialed for the Democratic Convention and available for interviews within the Pepsi Center. For interviews, please contact those listed above. For more on Vets for Freedom visit www.vetsforfreedom.org