vets/antiwar

adin (marco@falcon.cc.ukans.edu)
Fri, 12 Sep 1997 15:23:53 -0400

i have followed this thread for awhile. i had not planned to add to it
because of a host of personal reasons. i will break my silence but
once.

first, i must establish a context for you through my bona fides so
that you may understand why i choose to post. i was very active as a
college student during the 1965-1967 period. my anti-war activities
resulted in a federal grand jury indictment, a suicide attempt by my
father after ceaseless harassment by the f.b.i., and finally, a
punitive assertion by general hershey that i be re-classified 1-a for
obstruction of the draft and immediate subjection to induction. this
decision was overturned by the u.s. supreme court when i was in the
central highlands of vietnam, serving as an an infantryman in a rifle
platoon of the 4th infantry division in 1969. that's right,
vietnam. in 1965 i was 18. as an anti-war student i turned in my draft
card and and denied my 2-s student deferment to the federal marshalls
in foley square, nyc, october 1967. my intention and those few with me
was both to oppose the war and point out its class bias and
unconscious attempt at eugenics against those who were not married,
not in college, not privileged in one form or another. it was clear to
me that the only outcome of this war would be catastrophe. as a
result, the fbi went nuts on my family and almost caused the death of
my father. (he subsequently died a young man shortly after my return
from vn). the deal they offerred me was take my card back and they
would drop the indictment. i couldn't kill my father. i took my card
back, charges were dropped and hershey then did his evil deed. i was
right back in the 'world of hurt' from which i thought i had just
extricated myself.

so i enlisted for intelligence. i was being too closely watched to get
to canada and wasn't going to let some shit heads put me in jail. it
wasn't until after i finished domestic counter-intelligence school at
ft. holabird, maryland, that the army figured out who i was. shortly
thereafter i found myself in vn, much to my dismay. i worked hard to
save those vietnamese i could and worked hard at trying to keep myself
and fellow platoon members alive. i also tried to kill the nva who
were trying to kill me. when i was wounded around thanksgiving 1969, i
lead a food strike at the pleiku evac hospital and demanded that the
food be distributed to the vietnamese civilians who lived on our
garbage. i even planned a coup d'etat with our platoon to turn our
company area into a 'truce zone' for both american, south vietnamese
and nva troops who would choose peace over war. that didn't work. and
so after many wounds and awards, i returned.

i returned to a world i never imagined. the anti-war movement folks
rejected me out of hand. i fought in vn. the only place where i could
continue to fight against the war was the vvaw. i tired quickly of the
billboard use of vvaw's efforts by antwar (black ants vs. the reds)
non-vets whose cry i remember sadly was always "veterans to the front"
(of the demonstration). the only redeeming part of that scene was
that i met john lennon, a sweet guy. so i went it alone with the vvaw
and was arrested, jailed and beat up numerous times. the last time for
assaulting a police officer in front of the u.n.

so what? i do not believe the anti-war movement was anymore than a
public relations "issue" for the two administrations. i see no
evidence that it helped end the war. the death of 58,000 kids did
that. after all was said and done i came to respect the innate
goodness of my fellow soldiers who tried to do their best under
conditions most people can't begin to imagine. i respected officers
who sometimes gave their own lives to protect those they led. there
was very little courage amongst my fellow anti-war protestors in the
u.s. it is so easy to march in a parade, it's even easy to suffer the
words which may sting. for the most part antiwar folks in the
u.s. failed to rise to the level of self-sacrifice they needed to
match their rhetoric. the antiwar movement never rose to the level of
sacrifice, committment or courage of those who suffered so the war
might end.

"and at each slow dusk" draw down your blinds...

marc b. adin