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Charlie Anderson was born June 7, 1977, to working class parents in Toledo, Ohio. He spent most of his early childhood in Rossford, a Toledo Suburb known for manufacturing auto glass. He moved to Lafayette, Indiana at the age of fifteen when his mother was accepted to graduate school at Purdue University. Charlie’s mother was instrumental in teaching him the importance of education. During his childhood, she worked her way through a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts to a doctorate in English. Charlie always knew he wanted to attend college. However, he was only an average student at Jefferson High School. At graduation, he had few college prospects and no concrete jobs skills. He enlisted in the Navy in the fall of his senior year because he believed that he would learn a trade and earn money for education while serving his country.

Unlike many who join the armed forces, Charlie always believed that he would likely serve in a war and was proud to place his life on the line as a “guardian of freedom.” Charlie spent six weeks before going to basic training visiting all of his friends and family along the east coast because he believed that he would likely be killed during his tour of duty.

Charlie left for basic training in July of 1996 and was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Center where he was trained a Hospital Corpsman, an enlisted medical specialist. In the early spring 1997 Charlie was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Where, after a brief tour of duty as a medical administrator at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, he received specialty training in combat medicine at nearby Camp Johnson. The training was rigorous, but it instilled Charlie with a fascination of Emergency medicine that he had throughout the remainder of his naval career. Charlie spent the next three years stationed in Maryland and was transferred to a Marine Corps Unit in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

After the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Charlie’s battalion was assigned to provide security should any eastern American city fall victim to another attack. The battalion spent more than two months on “air alert,” training and waiting for another attack. Though the attack never came, Charlie is proud to have had the experience and believes that the mission his unit performed during that time of national crisis is the type of mission he volunteered for when he joined the navy. Charlie was transferred to the division’s 2^nd Tank Battalion in June 2002.

Second Tank Battalion deployed to Kuwait in February 2003 and was one of the first units to “cross the line” into Iraq at the start of the war. Charlie experienced the archaic supply system that resulted in many America troops lacking basic supplies such as body armor, rations, water, and even ammunition. Charlie was shocked that such conditions were possible in a military that receives more than half of the nation’s tax revenue. Moreover, Charlie was appalled by the wholesale destruction and sanction induced poverty that he witnessed among the Iraqi people.
Charlie’s experiences in Iraq helped him realize that war is not merely politics by other means and that the actions of governments in foreign lands have far reaching consequences. The vast majority of Iraqis affected by the war were not Ba’ath Party officials or soldiers. Rather they were civilians who were powerless to affect the conditions around them. These innocent civilians were often treated as though they were the enemy by the American military who did not largely understand the culture. This reality formed Charlie’s belief that violence and arrogance are poor foreign policy and that military solutions often compound, not solve problems.

Like 30% of Iraq War veterans he returned to the United States with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After months of treatment with little improvement, he was medically retired in March 2005 after nearly nine years of active military service.

Within days of his retirement, Charlie began advocating for an immediate end to the wholesale slaughter in Iraq. He has appeared on college campuses and at public forums all over the United States including: Virginia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Maryland, Montana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Ohio, Indiana and Washington State. He has twice testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Out of Iraq Caucus regarding responsible foreign policy toward Iraq and the need for comprehensive care for America’s Veterans.

Charlie has been an outspoken member of Iraq Veterans Against the War since October 2004. He is featured in the documentaries Army of None, Soldiers speak out, and the major motion picture The Ground Truth. His writing has been featured on the independent media websites Common Dreams, Truth Out, and The Huffington Post.

Charlie lives in Hampton, Virginia where he attends Thomas Nelson Community College. He will graduate in December 2006 with a certificate in professional writing. His daughter, Abagael, is his primary motivation for working toward peace and social justice.