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Militant Demos Unite G.I.s

By VVAW

May 17th, Armed Forces Day 1975--a "holiday" set up in the 1950's to glorify the role of the US military as a world aggressor--wasn't quite what the Brass was hoping for. At least not at a number of key military installations around the country where militant VVAW/WSO demonstrations were held to build GI struggles against the Brass and against the use of the military in another war. Called under the slogan WE WON'T FIGHT ANOTHER IMPERIALIST WAR, these actions also keyed in on the danger of a war in the Middle East and celebrated the victories of the Indochinese people. Held at Ft Lewis, WA; San Diego, CA; Ft Meade MD; Syracuse, NY; and Homeseatd, FL the demonstrations also raised local demands around specific struggles GIs have been waging against military harassment and living conditions in those areas.

These Armed Forces Day demonstrations are important to all of us. They come at a time when President Ford has used massive military force in the Mayaguez incident, when warlike statements about attacking North Korea are coming out daily, and the possibility of a major war in the Middle East is ever present. Time and time again, Winter Soldier has talked about how a new war is the only way out of the current economic crisis--at least as far as the fat cats running this country are concerned. And just like in Vietnam and Cambodia, these turkeys are planning on making all of us pay the bill. But everyday, more and more working people are rising up and fighting back against the attacks being leveled at us by the rich: against speed-up, layoffs and inflation. We know who's to blame for our problems and we aren't going to take things lying down.

The same is true for those of us in the military. Most of us were forced into the military because there aren't jobs and we've got to eat. But we've learned the lessons of Indochina, as have millions of poor and working people in the US. We know that Vietnam wasn't in the interests of the American people any more than those of the Vietnamese. And we'll be damned if we'll be used as cannon fodder for new wars. As was proven in these Armed Forced Day demonstrations, the potential power and unity that exists in the GI movement is great. Particularly now, as the Brass is going to increasingly try to use GIs to put down the rising tide of labor struggles, we must build a fighting GI movement that will forge strong bonds of unity between GIs and workers and unite against a common enemy. And that's exactly what we saw happening this Armed Forces Day.

In some areas such as at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida, VVAW/WSO members went on base with copies of VVAW/WSO's GI newspaper GI NEWS and rapped with GIs about the economic crisis and the danger of war. In others such as Syracuse, NY, the chapter tried to link up the massive unemployment the US is experiencing with how it's tied in to the possibility of a new war. There, some 30 people marched through the downtown area where a rally was held.

AT Ft. Lewis, WA, one of the major US Army installations in the US, a demonstration was held on May 16th. The Brass is definitely uptight about the work being done at Ft. Lewis by the Tacoma VVAW/WSO chapter. The demonstration on May 16th was the second demonstrations of this sort at Lewis in less than a month. On April 19th, over 60 people demonstrated in front of the main gate around the slogan WE WON'T FIGHT YOUR IMPERIALIST WARS! Seeing the struggle being built with GIs at Ft Lewis, the Brass has responded by trying to intimidate people. The state highway patrol was brought into the action in an attempt to stop VVAW/WSO members from leafleting GIs as they come out of the pot's gates. More recently, the Brass busted 5 VVAW/WSO members, including 2 active-duty GIs, a few days before the May 16th action for allegedly plastering leaflets on traffic signs and telephone poles.

Despite this harassment, the demonstration was a great success. Setting up a rally outside the main gate just as thousands of GIs were getting off work and leaving the post, the demonstrators from Seattle and Tacoma VVAW/WSO chapters and from the Olympia Revolutionary Student Bridge chanted and helped up large banners with the slogans for the action. While this demonstration wasn't large a large one, the response it received from the GIs was terrific. For well over an hour all that could be seen was clenched fists as GIs passed the big banner outside the main gate saying WE WOON'T FIGHT ANY IMPERALIST WARS! As they went by all that could be heard were 20 round burst from a car horns and shouts of "Right On!"

The demonstration held May 17th in San Diego, one of the largest US Naval installations in the US, was similarly a real victory. Organized by the Southern California chapters of VVAW/WSO, some 80 people marched through the large "GI strip" in downtown San Diego to Balboa Park. Along the route of march the demonstrators chanted and leafleted the many GIs watching the march, urging them to join in. The overall response from GIs was really positive. A few joined in with the marchers. In the downtown business area an old women who could easily have been 85 years old rushed up to the march and started shouting: "You guys are right, you guys are right! It is a rich man's war. I've been saying that for 20 years." Also a number of recently discharged GIs joined the march and later joined the San Diego chapter as a result of the action. These new vets joined VVAW/WSO because of the way they'd been screwed around by the Navy--both had relieved disciplinary discharges--and decided that wanted to fight back.

At Balbao Park a rally was held with about 125 people including a good number of active duty GIs. Speakers there hit on the danger of a new war and how it was directly related to the over 10% unemployment in San Diego. They also celebrated the recent victories of the Indochinese people and the acquittal of VVAW/WSO member Gary Lawton on a murder frame-up, noting the importance of continuing the fight against police repression. A local working-class singing group, the Solidarity Band, sang about working people and their struggles against the oppression of the ruling class in this country.

At Ft Meade, MD, a number of East Coast VVAW/WSO chapters joined with Highway 13, the local VVAW/WSO GI organizing project at Ft Meade, for a very spirited action on May 17th. The Brass at Ft Meade had really blown their cool in trying to figure out how to deal with the demonstration. Since Highway 13 has been working at the base for over 3 years, it is well known by the GIs there. The Brass know this and know that there is a hell of a lot of support amongst Mead GIs for the project and its politics--including lower-ranking EM in the very sizeable MP force stationed there. Acting as though they expected a frontal assault on the base headquarters, the Brass put all the MPs on alert, canceled a lot of leaves and restricted some units to their barracks for the day. When the VVAW/WSO demonstrators got to Meade they found large MP units stationed at all the post's gates, dozens of roving patrols on base and a large standby MP unit in full riot gear: all with the mission of "stopping VVAW/WSO."

Sending a part of the demonstrators to set up a picket line at a liquor store near the post's main gate (that sells scab Gallo wine to GIs), the rest of the demonstrators broke down into small teams and hit the base. These teams went to pre-arranged unit barracks on post, talking with the GIs about why the demonstration was being held, about the danger of a new war and why GIs had to fight against being used as cannon fodder to fight it, and about the struggles Meade GIs have with the bullshit conditions and harassment there. A number of these teams were caught and jacked around by the MP's anti-VVAW/WSO patrols but the majority didn't and managed to spend a lot of time rapping with people and distributing copies of Highway 13, the project newspaper. While the Brass had expected some people to try and get into various unit areas they were totally surprised when a number of VVAW/WSO women went into the WAC barracks and spent the good part of the morning talking with WACs. The WACs were quick to lay out what they thought of life in the "new action army" and it wasn't very much. In other unit areas, demonstrators went in and were enthusiastically greeted by the GIs there. Typical was the response of one GI who said, "Oh, we know all about the demo today, and are all for it."

Following this, everybody went back to the picket line outide the main gate where nearly 100 people held a militant rally. A large contingent of Iranian students joined the rally and spoke about the danger of a major war starting in the Middle East. Other speakers pointed out how the Ford Administration had offed 18 U.S. Marines in the Mayaguez incident just to prove it was still looking for a fight, and how other GIs would be similarly used if people let them. During the rally, the MPs had blocked the entrance to the post. But because of the work that had been done by VVAW/WSO the MPs weren't even sure they could trust their own men, and could only station senior NCOs and officers at the gate. While the Brass made it difficult for all but a few GIs to get off base to actually attend the demo, it couldn't stop GIs from feeling that they were just as much a part of the demonstration as the demonstrators out at the gate.

Armed Forces Day 1975 represented a major step forward for the GI movement. It is clear that there is still a long way to go in building a fighting GI movement that can build the struggler against the use of the military in suppression of working people at home and overseas. But, as was shown in the various demonstrations held around the country, a whole lot of GIs understand what's going down and are ready to begin organizing to do something about it.

BUILD THE FIGHTING GI MOVEMENT