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Why Vietnam Veterans Against the War?

By VVAW

WHAT IS NEEDED FOR VETS

VVAW has now been around well over 13 years. We started as an organization of veterans protesting the war we had fought in, and grew to become a veterans' organization concerned with a decent life at home and fighting against intervention abroad. We have never based ourselves on backing political candidates, or finding jobs in the bureaucracy for ourselves but in organizing vets to have a voice of their own. But, given the general situation of vets today with all the problems vets face, the question has to be asked: "Why VVAW?" "Why not an Agent Orange coalition, or an anti-draft coalition—or even the American Legion or VFW?"

The question around the more "traditional" vets groups such as the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars is fairly easy. Just on a personal level most Vietnam vets know and remember our reception in these groups when we returned from 'Nam. They were most interested in our dues, but not at all interested in our views. More than a few Vietnam vets got into bar fights with the cooks and bottle washers from the class of '42 who wanted to tell us that we didn't know what a "real war" was like, and how they "won" their war! Beside that, for many of us, reminiscing about killing "gooks" or saluting a post commander or parroting the "Pledge of Allegiance" was not our idea of a fun weekend. But with all of this the political problems lay at the base of Vietnam vets' problems with the traditional vets organizations. Most Vietnam vets could not take the racism, the reactionary attitudes and the willingness of 50 old farts to fight to the last drop of our friend's blood. Simply put, we wanted our friends home and the war over; we knew from our own experiences in the paddies and jungles that the war was wrong, a rich man's war and a poor man's fight! We found no glory in Mai Lai nor justification in the Saigon government. Older vets groups might find lost youth and macho memories in Vietnam but we thought about the dead and dying.

This situation has not changed today. The American Legion or VFW will applaud our "noble experiment" in Vietnam and our future noble experiments in El Salvador, the Middle East or in Africa. We must suffer the effects of the experiment in the form of Agent Orange poisoning, delayed stress syndrome and more. Our job is not to applaud war but to oppose it.

But opposing wars of aggression is not enough. A simply "political" vets group that speaks at anti-war rallies or carries a banner in a march cannot fit the bill either. Veterans are victims of the very wars they fought in. They are put through mind-bending experiences, used as guinea pigs in experiments such as atomic tests, poisoned as with Agent Orange, crippled, and then thrown away. As veterans we have to speak to the issue of war to stop our children and younger brothers and sisters from becoming victims. But we must also organize veterans to fight for social justice—to win what we deserve in the forms of disability, re-education, jobs and the other benefits we were promised.

We have learned in our struggles for decent benefits for vets that politicians and bureaucrats are long on promises and short on action. That necessitates organizing, educating and demonstrating as well as negotiating.

Today there are dozens of vets organizations, many of which are devoted to a single issue concerning a single grievance. VVAW is one of the few organizations which takes up both the question of future wars and also fights around a better life here. It's also the only group that has seen tens of thousands of Vietnam vets join in the past, and which is still looked to for leadership by thousands upon thousands of veterans. This give VVAW a unique opportunity to help to build a develop a strong, national veterans organization to challenge the policies of neglect at home and adventurism aboard.

In the early 1970's VVAW played a role in giving a real boost to the anti-war movement. In the 1980's we can play the rule of uniting other local vets groups and bring our experience and talents to continue to develop the present anti-militarism—and avoid making some of the mistakes of the past.