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For Vietnam Veterans Week: Veterans, Stand Up And Be Counted

By VVAW

The President has proclaimed May 28th to June 3rd as Vietnam Veterans Week. Betting odds favor the probability that the occasion will be a bust--a bust in terms of meeting any of the real needs or concerns of veterans.

Only a couple of weeks before the event, a low-level of publicity is being directed to the government, primarily toward traditional veterans organizations and toward state and local governments. The content of the publicity includes standard pap about "honoring" Vietnam vets. Standard boring crap flows through the teeth of V.A. administrators who have suddenly arrived at the conclusion that Vietnam vets may have some "minor problems" that "should" get some attention--maybe.

Carter's proclamation, filled with religious fervor, sets the tone:

"The decade now drawing to a close began in the midst of a war that was the longest and most expensive in our history, and most costly in human lives and suffering. Because it was a divisive and painful period for all Americans, we are tempted to want to put the Vietnam war out of our minds. But it is important that we remember--honestly, realistically, with humility.

"It is important, too, that we remember those who answered their Nation's call in that war with the full measure of their valor and loyalty, that we pay full tribute at last to all Americans who served in our Armed Forces in Southeast Asia. Their courage and sacrifices in that tragic conflict were made doubly difficult by the Nation's lack of agreement as to what constituted the highest duty. Instead of glory, they were too often met with our embarrassment or ignored when they returned.

"The honor of those who died there is not tarnished by our uncertainty at the moment of their sacrifice. To them we offer our respect and gratitude. To the loved ones they left behind, we offer our concern and understanding and our help to build new lives. To those who still bear the wounds, both physical and psychic, from all our wars we acknowledge our continuing responsibility.

"Of all the millions of Americans who served in Southeast Asia, the majority have successfully rejoined the mainstream American life.

"To them, and to all who served or suffered in that war, we give our solemn pledge to pursue all honorable means to establish a just and lasting peace in the world, that no future generation need suffer in this way again." (From "A Proclamation," titled "Vietnam Veterans Week, 1979," signed by the President on March 20th, 1979)

Isn't that just lovely? A warm glow should fill the hearts and minds of all Vietnam vets--that is, until they look for something concrete or real in the proclamation. Is there a job? is there even a crumb for the over 600,000 vets with bad discharges? Is there even a suggestion that maybe the war was unjust and we didn't belong in Vietnam in the first place? With this proclamation and 35 cents or 40 cents (depending on where you go) you may be able to get a cup of coffee!

We see Carter talking about our "peace-loving nation" while the history of our involvement in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world points directly to the truth that the U.S. rulers have and will send military forces anywhere in the world in order to insure their profits and economic interests. While their money piles up, the vets who survive their bloody wars are tossed a few crumbs.

While Carter burbles about "peace," Senator Percy, another spokesman for the wealthy, says that we shouldn't let what happened in Vietnam deter us from another such war. So much for the lessons of Vietnam!

But the most outrageous of the statements in the presidential proclamation tells us that vets have joined the "mainstream" of American life. What Carter must mean by "mainstream" is high unemployment and underemployment, bogus employment schemes, an inadequate GI Bill, decaying V.A. services, and the threat of being poisoned for life as a result of Agent Orange spraying in Indochina.

The proclamation holds little hope of Vietnam Veterans Week being any more that another public relations gimmick, a little icing on a hollow shell of a cake, the kind of lip-service we've seen given to Vietnam vets many times in the part (such as Carter's decision that there should be a monument to Vietnam vets in Arlington National Cemetary which he proclaimed back on Veterans Day, 1978).

But in several cities, VVAW is working to insert some reality into the week of May 28th to June 3rd. Working with a number of veterans' groups and in a series of coalitions, VVAW is pushing four long-standing demands for the week:

• JOBS--As high as 13% of Vietnam-era vets are unemployed, despite government statistics which now decide that, after 48 months, vets are no longer classified as "Vietnam-era veterans."
• GI BILL--Still over 200% less in terms of buying power that the World War II Bill, the GI Bill is limited to 10 years after service. While a high percentage of Vietnam vets have used the Bill, a majority have used far less that the maximum 48 months because the payments on the Bill aren't enough to survive.
• HEALTHCARE--With the V.A. services continuing to decay--for all vets, not just for Vietnam and Vietnam-era vets--Carter is now trying to cut the V.A. health care budget.
• AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS--We have to have an adequate program of testing and treatment for the as yet unknown number of vets affected by Agent Orange poisoning, and compensation for vets and their families. V.A. refusals to deal with this crucial problem of Vietnam vets has already gone on far too long!

At a meeting of the Michigan Association of Concerned Veterans, that organization, the National Associations of Concerned Vets, and Citizen Soldier all agreed with these demands. In cities where VVAW is working in coalition with other vets' groups these basic positions have met widespread approval--they reflect many of the real concerns of veterans, far more than do proclamations, parades, expressions of "deep concern," or monuments in Arlington.

Fourteen years after World War I, 25,000 vets and their families descended on Washington, D.C. in the Bonus March; the Hoover administration had to drive them out with tanks. No politician or corporate executive wants to see that happen again. Instead they want vets on their side, helping to build their version of "national pride" so they can recruit our kids to fight their next war. Vietnam Vets Week and talk about how vets are in the "mainstream of American Life" are part of the bait to catch us with their line.

Lots of vets aren't about to get hooked. We say "Put up or shut up!" We remember Vietnam Veterans Day called by Nixon in 1975; the protest from vets, including VVAW, was so strong that the "Day" was never held again. We remember "Jobs Fairs" where the best they could offer was re-enlisting in the military--and vets destroyed them. Millions of us have the gut feeling that the Vietnam War was none of our business--we were used in a war that was the business of big business which wanted to insure their profits in Indochina and make a little on the side in ammo and supply sales.

We were used once and then thrown away. And we haven't forgotten the experience of Vietnam, particularly when confronted with a movie like "The Deerhunter" or slapped in the face with proclamations about Vietnam-era Veterans Week. VVAW wants to see Vietnam Veterans Week made real, but we know we can't count on the government to do it--vets will have to do that for ourselves.

VVAW is using that week and its surrounding publicity to get out some of the real problems facing vets, and not only Vietnam-era vets. We've got some solutions: FULL EMPLOYMENT! TESTING AND TREATMENT FOR AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS! EXTEND AND EXPAND THE GI BILL! DECENT HEALTHCARE FOR ALL VETS! Join with us. For more information on Vets Week Activities call:

Bay Area VVAW:

Chicago VVAW: (312) 651-1583

Milwaukee VVAW (414) 963-0398

New York VVAW: (212) 768-6070

Twin Cities VVAW:

VVAW National Office: (312) 651-1583