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GIs ContinueBy VVAWSailors Fight Back (Yokosuka, Japan) The USS MIDWAY left Yokosuka, Japan, on June 14th headed for the "Japan Operations Area." It left behind 60-100 of its crew of 4200. These sailors refused to go with the ship in protest against the conditions enlisted people face aboard the carrier and because the ship is homeported in Japan. (Homeport is a term which refers to the city or port which a ship returns to after its finishes going on a maneuver. The MIDWAY is the first US ship to be homeported outside the US.) Most of the sailors went into hiding immediately and scattered all over the Tokyo/Yokosuka area. The walkout was a spontaneous action which included black, white and brown sailors who were fed up with the MIDWAY. By July 4th, about 35 sailors had returned; at least 20 were still out. The courts-martial began on July 5th for several of the men and they were sentenced up to three months at hard labor after entering pre-trial guilty pleas. In the past, sailors who missed the ship would go to Captain's Mast - a semi-legal procedure resulting in up to 30 days in the ship's brig. But Captain Schulte, hoping to discourage such a protest from occurring again, has decided to send the other men to Special Courts Martial where they will face up to 6 months in the brig and a Bad Conduct Discharge. The VVAW/WSO chapter in Yokosuka has formed a defense committee to support these brothers, and with the help of lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Office in Yokosuka, they have talked with 22 of the AWOL sailors. Ten of them (nine black and one white) have requested the lawyers to defend them at their courts-martial. In addition, on June 30th, the VVAW/WSO chapter and the Yokosuka Citizens Group (an anti-imperialist group of young people) sponsored a concert at which active duty GIs from other bases and many Japanese groups expressed solidarity with the MIDWAY crew. Three hundred GIs attended. HOMEPORTING The USS MIDWAY is the first and only carrier to be homeported outside the United States, and is scheduled for a 3-year stay. It arrived in Yokosuka on October 5, 1973, opposed by daily demonstrations of up to 30,000 Japanese citizens. Most of the crew didn't volunteer, but were sent there from Navy schools as their first duty stations, and they are well aware that the Japanese don't want the MIDWAY in Japan. The reason for homeporting of the MIDWAY in Japan goes back to the beginning of this century when the US began to expand its business operations in Asia and the western Pacific. Today that drive for profits in the Pacific is stronger than ever. Hundreds of US multinational corporations are trying to gain control of raw materials sources and cheap labor in the area. They are also trying to hold onto what they already have. By developing the Nixon Doctrine and the policy of homeporting, our government is doing everything it can to help these multinational corporations. The Nixon Doctrine was developed explicitly to maintain US imperialism abroad. Under this Doctrine, US ground troops overseas will be gradually withdrawn, while the Navy and Air Force become the main branches of the military for policing the world. The Navy will probably be the most important branch during the years to come because it is a strong, sophisticated, mobile force. Using giant carriers like the MIDWAY, homeporting is a powerful political tool. Five thousand people floating into your harbor tells you the US is interested as hell in the area. Another aspect of the Nixon Doctrine is the use of regional allies such as Japan to protect both Japanese and US corporate interests in places like South Korea, The Philippines, Indochina and Indonesia. With US bases all over Japan and the US controlling the sea lanes, Japan will remain a reliable, but competitive, ally. It's no accident that the first US aircraft carrier to be homeported in the Pacific is in Japan. Homeporting is expansion in the name of readiness. It is a commitment which can go almost unnoticed by the American people and Congress. But it is not going unnoticed by the Japanese people or the GIs stationed on the MIDWAY. Through continued united action by the American and Japanese people and the continued support of the militant struggle of GIs on the MIDWAY, homeporting can be defeated. CONTACT: VVAW/WSO, New Peoples Center, PO Box 26, Yokosuka, Japan. MIDWAY SAILORS SPEAK OUT (The following statements were made by five different MIDWAY sailors about conditions on the MIDWAY.) MIDWAY Sailors' Demands
Jobs- I had a recommendation that I was supposed to get into photography. They told me that they had made a mistake-they jived me really - because when I was in boot camp, they sent me to a seaman's school and I was supposed to go to an airman's school. Still again I was supposed to get what I wanted because I signed a contract for photography - the contract that I was supposed to come over here for 2 years. I am in 3rd division which is boatswain's mate. This is one of the hardest jobs on the ship. When I went to be interviewed for the job that I was going to be getting, all they did was look at my records and say boatswain's mate. And when I asked the man how come I couldn't get photography, he said they didn't have room. About 2 seconds later another black man came right behind me and they told him he could get into photography. But when he went to the officer in charge he was told he couldn't get in. Boatswain's mate is the division where they paint the ship and they handle the unreps (underway replenishment). This is real dangerous, like my job in the unreps is holding a phone line and you hold this line so the other ship can hear you talking. They don't give you any gloves. Working conditions- I work in #1 Engine room. In port it's OK. You work 8 hours a day and you get your liberty until 7:30. But when you're out to sea, you work 16 hours a day and you sleep about 6 or 7. Working conditions are unreal. The heat down there is from 90 to 120 degrees. Really we don't even have to be down there, because all we do is just clean up. We do the same thing day after day. Living conditions- The compartments are filthy-dirt on the walls and things. When you got to sleep at night, you wake up in the morning and you get a napkin or something to clean your nose and you see black, in your nose. It's really bad, the ship is ragged. The Captain- The morale on the ship is .001. It's the way that the captain - I would like to use the word "dictates". The captain is supposed to be responsible for the morale of the ship, and he's not doin' his job. That's all there is to it. If you interview the people on there, you'll find that about 95% of them feel the same way. I think the problem lies in the way he feels about enlisted men. I really don't think he cares too much about us. I don't think he cares whether we pull into ports. He certainly doesn't care about our morale, because he hasn't done anything to help it. In my opinion, I don't think he even thinks we exist, except as tools, like for chess players as pawns. He promised a lot of liberty ports, good working conditions and living conditions. We don't even know when the sun comes out anymore. The Brig- I was put up against the wall with my face toward the wall. And this Marine - "jarhead" I call them now, I don't like them too much - rammed my face against the wall. It chipped my tooth, bloody nose, lips cut. They're just having fun with you down there. A lot of people are getting' hurt down there. If you want to go to sick bay or something, they won't let you go to sickbay. The medic comes down there and asks, "Anything wrong with the prisoners?" You have to say no. If you don't, they harass you more. The second day, they put tow 45-pound cans of wax in my arms and told me to stand there. I stood for about an hour and a half, and finally I passed out. They got me up and started hitting me and throwing me against lockers. Usually they'd come in and start screaming at me to get up off the ground. I was weak from not eating, and I would not respond. So they'd just pick me up and put a pillow over my face and beat me through the pillow so there were no bruises. The main thing that they usually did was take a pillow case and put it around my neck and squeeze my Adams apple to the point of unconsciousness. They had to use artificial respiration once to wake me up. They make you play stupid games, like the first thing they do when you come down is they give you a working party and take you in the back room and you lie on the floor. You got to stay there and the Marines jump on you. Then they play games, like they turn off the lights and you are supposed to hit the floor, so they just keep turning off the lights. And you keep jumping up and down hitting the floor, bumping your head against the lockers and dumb stuff like that. There's not one black Marine there. You have to sign a paper before you get out sailing if you were mistreated. Most prisoners write that they haven't been maltreated or they do not get out, or they get out with big bruises.
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