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Ford Plan Shafts Vets!

By VVAW

Much of the ballyhoo of the Ford administration around the earned re-entry program centers on the draft and military resisters. Included in the Ford plan is a provision for veterans who have received less-than-honorable discharges as a result of being charged with Absent Without Leave, (AWOL). The Pentagon says that there are 40,000 veterans who fit into this category and can apply for the Ford clemency.

The government contends that these 40,000 bad discharges for AWOLs is the total given out during the Vietnam-era; the dates for this era begin August 4, 1964 to March 28, 1973. The government also implies that these veterans are the only ones who resisted the military in opposition to the Indochina war.

Of the 588,000 punitive discharges given by the military only 40,000 are included in the Ford plan! Veterans who actively opposed the war or the racism and repression of the military and who received bad discharges other than being charged with AWOL are not included.

If veterans surrender themselves to the program, they would have to do alternative service for periods up to two years. The length of time of alternative service is conditional on four factors, as stated in Department of Army directive issued from Ft. Benjamin Harrison: length of satisfactory service completed prior to AWOL, length of service in Southeast Asia is hostile fire zones, awards and decorations received, and wounds incurred in combat. This case-by-case review allows the military to pick and choose who gets less service. It is based on awarding clemency on how well you performed for the military. If a veteran went AWOL while stationed in the states for three months of harassment, he or she would be assured of the full two years. In fact, most veterans have been given the two years service.

Upon completion of alternative service the veteran could have his or her discharge changed from undesirable to a clemency discharge. This would even more punitive. According to Fords proclamation, "Such clemency discharge shall not bestow entitlement to benefits administered by the Veterans Administration." Accepting a clemency discharge would effectively cut the veteran off from even the most meager of benefits listed in the GI Bill. In addition, when a veteran went for a job, (if he or she could find one), the employer would know immediately that the vet received a clemency discharge for only one reason?going AWOL from the military, and you can be assured that the vet will not get the job.

It is not the interests of any vet to accept Ford's clemency. The program is a sham and VVAW/WSO urges all veterans to boycott the plan and join the ranks of the thousands of Americans who are fighting for a universal and unconditional amnesty for all war resisters, a single-type discharge and decent benefits for all veterans including the 588,000 veterans with less-than-honorable discharges given during the Vietnam-era.