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From The National Office

By Barry Romo

Now that VVAW is over thirty (and some of us are circling fifty), it may be time to take stock and adjust our direction.

Action has always been VVAW's strong point. Changing the world has always been more important than contemplating change.

We work with homeless veterans. We cook and feed, and clean floors and pots and pans. We interact with the brothers and sisters on the street because we are one with them. It's not charity - it's good for them and really good for us. Not that we don't bring the issue up on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, but it's more than a slogan. We cook and communicate.

Talking is important, especially when it's passing on the lessons we learned in the field. We're not just talking about war stories, but experiences we've had building coalitions with other organizations to work on peace and justice issues. The political lessons we've learned have value to a new generation that should not have to go through the same mistakes we did. It's also extremely important to pass on the nuts and bolts of putting on a demonstration, doing crowd control or running security. Quite frankly, no other group has that experience.

We encourage you to go on vacation as a political act. Yes, enjoy the beaches, and the music, and the rum, and even the cigars in the tropical sun. You remember Cuba. That's the country we've spent billions on trying to subvert its system, assassinate its leaders, poison its crops and even children's milk, and continue to do so. The government threatens its allies for investing and its citizens for vacationing.

VVAW was the only vets' group that sent members back to Vietnam for over a decade. We did not pay attention to the little warnings in our passports. You can still make a statement, have fun, get a tan and give the finger to that old racist Jesse Helms.

While we're at it, '98 is going to be big on anniversaries. Not because we're into them (although any excuse for a party). They're cheap for the so-called news organizations to put on. The My Lai massacre, Tet, the assassinations of King and Kennedy - need we say more? We have a role and we have something to say.

Mines, mines and more mines. Around the world people are being maimed and killed by mines made by the United States. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are suffering from a war that ended twenty years ago. The suffering goes on. And Clinton, that gutless wonder, can't find the courage to sign onto the landmine ban treaty. It's not that he has to come out against war or the military brass or his pretty guards in their pretty uniforms. He just has to join the world's people, including dead Princess Di, in saying NO. We have to remind him.

Have we forgotten anything? Oh yes - we are still broke, and we still need your financial support and encouragement.