Taken from Practical Advice on Organizing by David Cline (Reviewer):
A Citizen's Guide to Grassroots Campaigns By Jan Barry Rutgers University Press
Jan Barry is one of the unsung heroes of the Vietnam war era. Born in Ithaca, New York during World War II, his childhood ambition was to attend West Point. He joined the Army in 1962 and volunteered for Vietnam where he was a radio/navigation operator for planes supplying Special Forces units. After his return, he received an appointment to West Point, the first cadet there who had already served in Vietnam.
But he came home from Vietnam disillusioned with the escalating U.S. military involvement there. While in country, he got what he called "an education in colonial military policy." He witnessed Buddhist demonstrations in Nha Trang and the U.S.-supported Saigon regime's response of "tanks and machine guns and barbed wire all over the country." He concluded that he was "being had."
He soon dropped out of West Point and got out of the Army.... Read More
