Green Veterans Speak Out

By Gail Dixon
(Publication pending)

Veterans Day, for many Americans, means parades, speeches, flags, and the usual
political theatrical displays of patriotism. Those who have never experienced
war itself can never truly understand the effect on the lives of those who have
endured the horrors of warfare.

Since the advent of industrialized warfare in World War I, working people have
too often served as cannon fodder in wars for the profits of the ruling class.
The dawning understanding of this dynamic has birthed anti-war protests and
resistance movements like Occupy Wall Street, which continues to draw veterans
and others outraged at the current wars and their cost in lives and a damaged
national economy.

"The late singer and composer Phil Ochs wrote 'It's always the old to lead us to
the wars, it's always the young to die,'" said Mike Spector, chair of the Green
Party of New Jersey.  "The young men and women returning from the conflicts are
finding themselves in trouble, mentally and physically.  As wars become
enshrined in the nation's foreign policy, the more they will be forgotten,
tear-drenched home-comings and memorial flag-waving ceremonies to the contrary.
 The Green Party has always been the party of peace in this country, the true
alternative to the parties of ceaseless war.  Our goal is to ensure that
Veterans Day will eventually be replaced by World Peace Day."

We in the Green Party have always believed what Gil Scott Heron said: "Peace is
not just the absence of war, but the active pursuit of justice."  With this
thought in mind, we offer the perspectives of Green veterans on war.

• TE Smith, Washington, DC, member of the DC Statehood Green Party:  I am a
Black Vietnam vet. Lke hundreds of other young Black males in Washington, DC in
the 1960s, I really had no real idea what was going on.  There was very little
to no conversation or explanation in the Black community about the war, the
draft, or much else of real importance.

We all heard about the Civil Rights Movement and the marches "down south," but
they were not really explained to us teenagers. While I was in Nam I became more
knowledgeable of the Black Power movement and the Civil Rights Movement. After
returning to the states I became a student of Black consciousness, which
includes all of Black thinking.  This led me to more reading and more awareness
of different peoples' struggles in the world, like those of the native peoples
on this continent, the Palestinians, and others. The one thing I read about that
caused me to see the African American struggle on an international scale was
Malcom X's speech and analysis at the-non aligned conference in 1956 in Bandung,
Indonesia. The next reading that helped shape my present position was Noam
Chomsky's book "Manufacturing Consent," which he co-wrote with Edward Herrman.

As a Black veteran of the second largest imperial war in this century, I always
noticed that none of the physical, social, and psychological analysis and
history about Viet Nam spoke to the Black experience, nor was there local
recognition upon return. I, like most others, took this for granted -- it was
typical of the anti- Black sentiment pervasive in this society. Now, some 35
years later, I am not concerned about those aspects as a veteran.

My concern now is that there be no more combat veterans. I don't think there has
been any evidence that this country is in any physical danger from any other
country commensurate with the level of armament and military manpower we have
amassed. Young people should not be indoctrinated into the war mentality.
Veterans Day should be dedicated to understanding why we were killing and being
killed for the world resources that capitalism demands -- by any means, fair or
foul. My fondest dream is that in the future humans will be "veterans" of an
effort to build a just world where all humans can develop and flourish to their
maximum.

• Richard P. Fuller, Coordinator of the Green Party of Monmouth County, NJ,
with seven years of Naval service, Final Rank: Lt. (j.g.), Communications
Officer on USS THOR (ARC-4): I am a Korean War era veteran for peace. At the
University of Rhode Island, all males were required to serve two years in Army
ROTC classes and drills. Simultaneously, I joined the Naval Reserve as a
freshman, went to boot camp, and later to Reserve Officer Candidate school and
graduated college as an Ensign. My active duty service on the cable-laying ship,
the USS THOR (ARC-4), lasted for three years so I had a total of seven years of
paid naval service. I received an honorable discharge in 1959.

Before the Iraq War began I had already become a veteran for peace. My decision
was determined mainly by the Green Party's Key Value of Nonviolence and by the
lives and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi. In high school I
had read about the courageous nonviolent path that Gandhi took in a book
entitled "Fighter without a Sword." After Rutgers University showed the film
"Sir! No Sir," I met with some Iraq Veterans Against War and purchased their
fundraiser comic-style book "Addicted to War" by Joel Andress, which I highly
recommend.

Several years ago I joined a weekly anti-war demonstration at the gates of the
recently closed military base at Fort Monmouth in Eatontown, NJ. My favorite
protest sign reads STOP WAR & OCCUPATION. Over the years my fellow protesters
and I have supported the troops with signs that carry messages like HEALTH CARE
NOT WARFARE, MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT OCCUPATION, SUPPORT THE TROOPS---BRING THEM
HOME NOW! and many more. Dressed in my Green Party gear and a button-bedecked
cap, I have marched for peace in at least six venues in New Jersey, as well as
in New York City and Washington, DC.

I believe that all vets should be eligible for the GI-type educational benefits
that I and others received in the past. Veterans and their families should be
provided with hospitals, rehabilitation services, psychological counseling,
detoxification programs, and with lots more government support. I'm proud to be
a Green vet for peace.


Gail Dixon is a former elected member of the Board of Education of the District
of Columbia and leader in the DC Statehood Party (now the DC Statehood Green
Party). She currently resides in Trenton, NJ, and is a member of the Green Party
of New Jersey.