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Vietnam Veterans: Struggles In Our Future

By VVAW

VVAW sees no lessening in the need for an organization of Vietnam vets, friends, and supporters and families to continue to fight for what Vietnam vets and our families need. And we see an increasing need for Vietnam veterans to have a voice which will bring our experience to bear on the expanding militarism of the U.S. government—we still refuse to see our children used as we were.

Agent Orange will continue to be an issue until the V.A. finally lives up to its obligation and provide what's needed. Under the Reagan Administration where all sorts of social program are being slashed, one of the few programs of value to Vietnam vets—the Veterans Outreach Program—is in danger of being gutted and discarded. VVAW is mobilizing support for returning the Vets Centers to the vets for the use of vets and to meet the needs of vets, not some Washington political expediency.

There is no indication that the intentions of the U.S. government and the corporate powers that stand behind that government are anymore peaceful than they had been in the past though there may be more skillful lies in this administration. Whether Central America, the Middle East, South Korea, or almost anywhere else around the world, the U.S. government is ready to "defend" what it considers its "vital interest." As we learned in Vietnam, these "vital interests" are not in the interests of the people who must do the fighting and dying.