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Citrus State Vets Force VA To Pay

By VVAW

In its stepped-up effort to pinch pennies, the VA cut off GI Bill payments to 2400 vets at Citrus State College in Azuza, California. The "official" reason was that the VA wanted to audit the records of the vets to investigate possible "cheating" of the VA.

The vets' response was immediate. Three hundred vets held a meeting. Leaflets were passed out, rallies were held and some of the bets went to the VA to confront the director. They bypassed his flunkies and sat on his desk until he answered some questions. As a result of these actions, the VA released checks for about half of the vets.

The next step in the fight was in the courtroom where the judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring the VA to resume payments to all the vets. This means that the vets will be receiving an average of $300 in payments. A suit is being brought against the VA to prevent cutoffs of payments without individual hearings, and at this point what will happen to the payments in the future is uncertain.

It might be that we'll get some satisfaction from what comes out of court, but we can't count on it. Dealing with the courts and the law is tricky, and most often the trick is played on us. The courts, like the VA, are part of the rich man's system that put us in a bind in the first place. When workers go on strike for better wages and working conditions the courts are right there to hand out an injunction limiting the strike, limiting our power to fight back. An individual fighting a company or government in court has about as much chance as he would rowing a boat from here to Vietnam. It's possible to make it, but his life will be half over by the time he gets there. We'll take victories like the temporary restraining order in this case, but we can't rely on the court system or the federal government. They serve the ruling class, not us.

So who do we rely on? Ourselves, that's who! What happened at Citrus State is a prime example. When the vets got together the VA started to let loose with the checks. What happened at Citrus State is only an indication of what's to come. The VA can save millions of dollars by forcing many of us out of school and sending our checks late, and that's what they plan to do. They've started this propaganda campaign about vets cheating the VA by missing classes, signing up for the wrong courses, and on and on. Who are they kidding? In the first place, is the GI Bill for us to get an education or to make another reveille formation? In the second place, just who the hell is cheating who? Some con artist in the VA hierarchy must have thought that one up while he watching "Switch" on TV some Tuesday night (or maybe "The Sting").

At Citrus State the VA is just testing the waters, trying to see how we'll react, or trying to see how far they can go. Citrus State--or something like it--will happen again. The Los Angeles Chapter of VVAW is supporting the struggle of the Citrus State vets and taking out the word about their fight to other campuses in the area. VVAW chapters are ready to carry on this struggle around the country. The vet and his benefits are under attack and we're going to fight back, like other working people are fighting government cutbacks in the things we need. It's vital that our fight be organized because alone we get lost in the shuffle. It's also vital that we organize now. There's an economic crisis and we know that government is cutting back; the cuts they make aren't going to be made in oil depletion allowances or subsidies to failing banks. Let's learn from Citrus State.