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Vietnam Vets Bring New Meaning to Old Day: Veterans' Day 81

By Bill Davis

Veterans Day, November 11th is a tradition-bound day of red, white and blind patriotism; perhaps a band kicking out those hits of yesteryear, and on the stage or reviewing stand, a cluster of local politicians and the aging representatives of the traditional veterans organizations. The programs, either long and boring or short and boring, are followed by the wreath-laying and color-guard ceremony; there are no startling developments, no controversial statements, and no Vietnam veterans.

In the recent past, at "official" Veterans Day activities, the Vietnam War and Vietnam vets were barely mentioned—if at all. The possible reasons for this are endless: Vietnam vets are unpredictable—they may not follow the program. Perhaps the old-line groups are embarrassed by the lack of Vietnam vets in attendance. Perhaps they're simply embarrassed by the war itself which created a chasm between the class of '45 and the class of '68. Regardless, Vietnam veterans have avoided Veterans Day activities like the plague.

In the last decade, Vietnam vets groups, including VVAW have established a Veterans Day tradition of their own. Beginning with direct confrontations on Vets Day with Vietnam vets demanding to be heard, court actions to fight for inclusion in traditional ceremonies, Vietnam vets groups, in many places, began separate Veterans Day activities either following the traditional ceremonies or even on different days. These Vietnam-vet ceremonies have consistently drawn more Vietnam vets than their counterparts and attracted 'Nam vets who are members of the old-line groups as well as veterans of all eras. Why? Simply because Vietnam vets have offered creative and informative programs on current topics facing Vietnam vets and the public. Those attending have been offered the opportunity to participate in the program and beyond, not like the roll-call membership of the traditional organizations.

Consistently, Vietnam vets have attracted the interest, and often the applause of the public by standing, as veterans of the last U.S. war, flat-out against the next war like Vietnam. Vets have taken a day traditionally used to beat the drums of war and turned it back on those who would send the youth of America off to fight again.

Not only the next war but the remainders of the last war have been a big part of Vietnam vets' Veterans Day. And 1981, the year of Reagan's big crunch on nearly everything vets have fought for over the past 10 years will be no exception.

The years have been difficult for Vietnam veterans. The concessions won form the Nixon-Ford clone administrations and the scraps, bones and peanuts thrown out during the Carter years were hard and bitterly fought campaigns; for the first years they were fought against the backdrop of the continuing war; there were 600,00 of our brothers with "bad paper" discharges, and we had to fight the media image of rampaging "bug-eyed" vets "right here on our streets."

Now the Reagan administration is calling in nearly all the programs, good, bad or of no consequence, like a Detroit auto defect recall, only we won't get the car back to drive. Beyond this, benefits and services effecting veterans of all eras are quickly being slashed to the bone, or gradually phased out of existence.

Until now, 1981 has had its bright spots. The massive backlash among Vietnam vets to the "Sterling service" afforded the returning Iranian hostages while the needs of Vietnam vets went unnoticed, did focus public attention on vets for awhile, but with no substantive results.

The Reagan administration's announced plan to close the Veteran Outreach Centers brought large national protests, united virtually all Vietnam vets groups and brought a retreat from Reagan, Stockman & Co, Inc, who promised a couple more years of life for the Centers, a program which was created 10 years too late and which still earns thinly veiled hostility from V.A. bigwigs.

The major battles are still before us. All veterans have been offered the new disability for post-traumatic stress disorders, but the jury is still out on the ease of recognition and the availability of being accepted for a rating. It's for sure they won't be handing out disability ratings like candy, not given the dismal outlook on disabilities overall which calls for the V.A. to tighten its belt and choke us. Decent V.A. healthcare and benefits must became a major focus of activity by Vietnam vets and vets of all eras.

Chief among health concerns has been the on-going fight for testing, treatment and compensation for Agent Orange victims. Progress has been made only in the area of uniting more veterans and their families in the fight. More vets have died, more widows have come forward, more vets have fallen ill, and more of our children have come into the worlds with birth defects.

Victories have been won in various state legislatures on Congress has ordered "priority" medical treatment for vets with Agent Orange "related" problems. But this is form the V.A. which recognizes only chloracne (a skin rash) as an Agent Orange-related problem, with the burden of proof of Agent Orange exposure ( the when and where) still resting on the veteran.

Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Government Accounting Office reports say that Agent Orange is dangerous—a potential killer ( but we should listen quickly before Reagan disbands both offices and puts Dow in charge of evaluating pesticide safety). Secretary Schweiker of Health and Welfare says that more of us were exposed to Agent Orange than previously reported.

The V.A. maintains there is still no proof; the V.A.'s "Agent Orange Registry Program" is in shambles in many areas. V.A. officials, using notorious right-wing information-gathering sources and chemical company reports, have circulated internal documents claiming that Agent Orange is a "hoax" perpetrated on the American people by the media and Vietnam vets.

The military sits on its collective fat ass and sneers at all of us, still not releasing mounds of vital information on spraying missions and chemical agents. Everyone is doing studies, some announcing that "Agent Orange is A-OK" before the initial stages of the investigations are even completed. Other studies are telling us to hold our breath while they await outcomes some 6,8,10,20 years down the pike. Chemical companies plead innocent, as if they weren't still making their bucks off the crap.

As-yet-still-unconvicted felons, millionaires and right-wing mutants in Congress seek re-introduction of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T for widespread use in the U.S. once again.

THE FIGHT FOR TESTING, TREATMENT, AND COMPENSATION FOR AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS IS A LONG WAYS FROM BEING WON!

Indeed the problems of Vietnam vets are manifold. Unemployment in our ranks has increased. One-third of the U.S. prison population is us. Over half a million brothers still have bad discharges. Our lives are shattered by a staggering divorce rate and more brothers have died by suicide than in the mud, sand and jungles of Vietnam.

The Reagan administration does not listen to us, doesn't care, and probably is quite content for us to die off and be quiet. The billions of dollars from social programs—including vets programs—are being poured into a military budget that will create fewer jobs, blow the tattered remains of the economy to dust, and line up our kids and relatives for another war in some place like El Salvador.

Reagan's policy of "mutter obscenely and wing an expensive nuclear club" to counter a not-less gross Soviet international policy leads him to support pipsqueak dictators like President Duarte of El Salvador who recently kissed ass all over Capitol Hill for more money, weapons and advisors to counter the recent guerilla offensive in El Salvador. Vietnam vets don't need this little tin-horn punk pulling us into the bloodbath he has helped to create there. With no more U.S. aid for him, the people of El Salvador will most likely bring Duarte to an abrupt end.

The bottom line for Vietnam vets, our families, and our supporters as we approach Veterans Day, 1981, is that the situation is not improving but, in fact, deteriorating rapidly. Now is not the time to lay back and look at whatever we've got, but to build a veterans movement to keep what we've won and then secure what we need. Join with VVAW and other groups on Veterans Day, 1981, to take our fight to the American public.

NEVER FORGIVE—NEVER FORGET!

Bill Davis, VVAW National Office