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G.I.s Fight Back!

By VVAW

WAC FIGHTS ARMY RACISM

(Landstuhl, West Germany) Babette Peyton, like other black women, joined the US Army seeking an education. What followed is yet another example of military recruitment promises turned into a nightmare.

Babette's problems with the Army began on July 26, 1973 when she was assigned to the Child Pyschiatric Clinic for on-the-job training as a social worker specialist. But, after two weeks at the clinic, she was asked to fill in as a receptionist. Fifteen months later she was still a receptionist. When asking her supervisors why she was not being trained as a social worker, she got evasive answers and a contradictory performance evaluation. On the one hand the job performance as superb; on the other hand the part that is recorded on the computer would have rated her below average as compared to other E-4s.

After September 4, 1974 when she filed an official complaint on her contradictory performance evaluation, the harassment began. She was threatened with Article 15 for her hair which she had been wearing in cornrows since she enlisted, and was harassed for wearing civilian clothes when not on duty. The reaction of the brass to her beginning to fight back against their discrimination was to crack down on her individual rights and self expression.

Because of the harassment, Babette went to the Equal Opportunity Office, a sham Army "civil rights" set-up, to see if they could help her. During one of the meetings, on October 1, 1974, arranged by Equal Opportunity Office to resolve the situation, she was called a chronic schizophrenic by her supervisor, who took advantage of his position as an expert psychiatrist.

Three weeks later, she was ordered to a psychiatric evaluation in Landstuhl hospital by the commander in charge who had previously assured her he would rectify the situation. When she asked for an investigation to be carried out, she was told repeatedly that she had to go to the psychiatric evaluation first, even though it was based on her supervisor's mere allegation. Since she had worked in the child psychiatry clinic for 15 months and visited the hospital, she was familiar with the methods used there. Babette stated, "I know that if you're not crazy when you go there, you're crazy when you get out." It is a well known fact, too, that in black and poor communities, mental institutions are used as a threat and a means to control people. Being fully aware of the sexist and racist nature of the US military and having tried all legal means possible, she took the only course of action she saw as possible -- she went AWOL.

With the firm conviction she was right in her struggle against sexism and racism in the military, and with the support of GIs and civilians in the area, Babette decided to fight the Army on its own ground. Supporting Babette, Fight Back, the local GI organization, helped build support for her trial by mobilizing GIs and civilians to show the military that people were willing to fight back against military repression. Given the people's determination to fight, the Army dropped the phoney charges of "insubordination" against Babette Peyton.

6 ARRESTED AT FT. MEADE, GIs SUPPORT BERLIN RESISTERS

(Ft. Meade) Six members of VVAW/WSO, including one GI were arrested in front of the Ft. Meade PX on Jan. 11th while distributing copies of a GI news paper, HIGHWAY 13; they were arrested for circulating petitions addressed to the House and Senate Armed Forces Committees, calling for the conviction of the Berlin haircut resisters to be overturned. Of the six arrested, all members of the Highway 13 GI organizing project, 5 had their charges dropped. The other person, Dan Herzog, an active-duty GI, received an immediate discharge -- honorable.

The petition is being distributed in support of Bob Nuchow, A GI formerly stationed in Germany (now in the Ft. Riley, Kansas stockade) who, along with a large number of GIs in Berlin, waged a struggle with the military over the issue of haircuts.

Over a period of months, the Berlin GIs came to see their struggle to included many other issued besides just haircuts -- issued such as working and living conditions, democratic rights, and racism. Following a petition campaign which enlisted the support of over half the GIs in Berlin, as well as a large group of Dutch GIs. 17 GIs of the Berlin brigade, C Battery, 94th Artillery at Ft. McNair, went on strike to attain their demands. They realized that all other avenues of protest were futile and they needed to take direct action to push their demands.

Of their several demands, the struggle against racism had been taken up as a result of the Brass' threat to prosecute and transfer a Black GI who refused to shave his beard. They realized the Brass was trying to divide them along racial lines by transferring the Black GI. The Berlin brothers realized that the Brass' actions required them to stick together if their struggle was to be successful.

As a result of the long struggle and strike, the GIs in Berlin learned a lot about how to stick together and confront the Brass with unified action. All but tow of the strikers were given quick discharges but the Brass felt compelled to make examples of the strikers so they court-martialed two GIs, one of whom was Bob Nuchow. He was sentenced to five months at hard labor, $1125 fine and a bust to E-1.

The group at Ft. Meade is building support for Bob Nuchow and for the whole haircut resisters' struggle. The Brass was afraid to have people talk about that struggle and support it since it his at the heart of military oppression. The Brass doesn't want people to learn from that struggle either -- the same conditions exist everywhere in the military and the most successful way that GIs can fight back is by building the king of militancy and unity that was shown by the GIs in Berlin. The GIs and civilians at Ft. Meade are not going to be intimidated by the Brass and the distribution of the petitions will continue while the people fight the Berlin brother's arrests.