Crystal Cravens
Co-Chair
Crystal Cravens is a queer, black, female US Army veteran, and single mother of an autistic child. She served in the Army from 2004-2009 and currently lives in Colorado, where she is a community organizer, activist, and college student. She loves to sing, read, write, and watch classic movies. She has a pug and two cats that she loves dearly. Crystal wants to redirect the funds our country dumps into the military industrial complex (MIC) into education, housing, healthcare, sustainable energy, and the list goes on. The MIC directly impacts and exploits brown and black people and Crystal wants to be an active participant in shifting the narrative the government uses to push pro-war propaganda.
John Motter
John Motter served as an infantryman in the Marine Corps from 2007-2011. He deployed with 1st Battalion 2nd Marines to Iraq in 2008, and to Afghanistan in 2010. He is one of the co-founders of Ground Game LA, a community organization based in Los Angeles, that works with other local grassroots organizations addressing police brutality and militarization, the criminalization of the homeless, tenants rights, immigration justice, climate justice, and other movement work.
Shawna Foster
Co-Chair
Rev. Shawna Foster served as a Nuclear, Biological Chemical Specialist with the Army National Guard. She was never deployed, however, as there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This compelled her to join an organization of veterans dedicated to ending the societal problems that create endless war profiteering. She is now a Unitarian Universalist minister, and has spoken against war to the United Nations, for the Poor People’s Campaign, and on Democracy Now! As a leader on the board and the point person for the strategic planning process, she represents About Face: Veterans Against the War in our shared work with the Poor People’s Campaign.
Siri Margerin
Co-Treasurer
Siri Margerin holds the civilian ally seat on the Board. She has worked extensively with About Face: Veterans Against the War since the beginning. She is the coordinator of the Bay Area GI Rights Network and organizes the Full Picture Coalition to bring veterans and youth into Bay Area schools to talk on issues of militarization and the MIC. She is a mother, animal lover and an artist.
Rachell Tucker
Rachell Tucker was in the U.S. Army from 2002 till 2011. She started off as a Morse Code Operator, and as this MOS discontinued, she reclassed as a Spanish Linguist. She was lucky and never deployed. She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with her awesome partner in crime, who is also a veteran, and two tremendous pups. She believes that all nations have the right to self determination and that we, in the U.S., are vital in stopping the tentacles of imperialism as a means of extracting natural resources and exploiting people for cheaper labor.