Download PDF of this full issue: v3n7.pdf (9.7 MB)

VVAW-WSO And GIs In The Struggle

By VVAW

Since its inception as an organization, VVAW/WSO (then VVAW) has had as a major focus the GI movement. Countless GI's fighting in the jungles of Indochina related to this group, not because they had been organized, but because they WERE Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Whether they had ever heard of the group in the United States was irrelevant.

It was from these beginnings that VVAW/WSO became involved in the GI movement. VVAW/WSO grew wherever there were military people. From 1970 through the present, it has spread from one base to another. There are three points which are directly related to this. One is why this happened, what is happening at present, and importantly, what will be happening in the future.

VVAW/WSO has long recognized who the majority of enlisted people in the military are--namely the sons and daughters of working class, poor and third world people. By taking the position that these people are essential to the struggle against imperialism, VVAW/WSO has been able to build close alliances and working relationships with GI projects, military counseling centers, and most importantly, with active duty GI's all over the world. VVAW/WSO is, without question, integrally involved with the GI movement.

NOSCAM (an acronym for National Office for Servicepeoples Counseling and Materials) was created by the National Steering Committee of VVAW/WSO at its Milwaukee meeting in July of 1972. As outlined by the steering committee (made up of representatives from VVAW/WSO regions all over the country), NOSCAM's job was and is, to help VVAW/WSO build a strong, viable and ongoing GI movement.

Through its Dayton, Ohio office, NOSCAM has sought to provide both literature and legal counseling through the mail for active duty GIs. With on-going correspondence an integral part of its work, NOSCAM has helped to build concrete relationships with both individual GI's and with organizing projects in the U.S. and overseas. In March of this year, Gary Staiger, a staff member, traveled to Japan to meet with the four active duty chapters there. Plans to visit toher projects coordinated for VVAW/WSO by NOSCAM are also being made.

Historically, the U.S. military has been used against poor, working and third world people. Helping to build a strong, unified GI movement that can resist these abuses is, and will continue to be, a major goal of VVAW/WSO. As people all over the world, both within the military and without, unite in the struggle against imperialism, we will have victory!

The following are excerpts from letters which VVAW/WSO and its NOSCAM office have received from active-duty GIs around the world.

From Germany: "Why do they want to take us away from our families, and treat us like animals, also American GIs NCOs treat the Americans as if they are dirt, and if the army has so much money why do we live in what they call barracks, looks like a stable, we are not horses?. The officers don't want to help us, but want us to help them, and we refuse until we get attention, because the Army needs us, we don't need it."

From Homestead AFB: "Wow! I just got your packet and flipped out! I really liked several of the pamphlets, especially Capitalism plus Dope equals Genocide and Stop the Railroad (fighting Article 15s). We need more of this information."

From a brother on the USS JF Kennedy: "If I only had a passport I would definitely be on my way home today. I just don't feel that any of this shit is worth it."

From another brother on the same ship: "What I am really writing to you about is some legal advice on how I can get a decent and honorable discharge before I go crazy or AWOL because I am deathly afraid of prison. And this ship is a form of prison. Please send literature and anything else possible to allow other people on the ship to find out about your organization. There are as many as 5,000 men on this ship so we need all the stuff you can send. We are getting desperate. The people need your organization.

From Ft. Leavenworth Military Prison: "I was just reading a copy of Winter Soldier and I really dig it. If it is at all possible I would like to receive the paper. I knew we were getting the shaft, but I am just now realizing how bad."