Paul (P.J.) Rieckhoff is an American writer, social entrepreneur, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He is the president of Righteous Media Inc and the host of the Independent Americans podcast. Prior to that, he was the founder, CEO and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a non-partisan non-profit founded in 2004. He served as an Army first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq from 2003 through 2004. Rieckhoff was released from the Army National Guard in 2007. He is also the Karl Lowenstein Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in the Political Science Department at Amherst College, where he designed and taught a class on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, titled Understanding 9/11.