We've Been Here Before!!

Different War, Same Struggle

Veterans from both Vietnam and Iraq are organizing and speaking out against the war in increasing numbers.

David Enders
March 08 , 2006

NEW YORK — When 23-year-old Joseph Wood came back from Iraq after serving in Fallujah with the 82nd Airborne Division in June 2004, he just wanted to forget about the war.

"I came out of the Army not wanting to have anything more to do with it," Wood said. He enrolled in design school, hoping for a "regular life."

"It wasn't until recently that I began feeling really out of place. It seems no one has any idea what's going on over there in Iraq. Everybody is so tuned into their own lives. "

So a couple weeks ago, Wood, who appears in the documentary Occupation Dreamland, joined Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). He said he did so after attending a reading by conscientious objector Camilo Mejia, who served prison time for refusing to go to Iraq.

"I remember being over there, and it's really nice to know someone's over here trying to bring you home," Wood said.

He's also one of the vets planning to walk from Baton Rouge to New Orleans between March 7 and 14 to mark the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

"We're going down there basically to connect the two biggest problems we think the United States is facing right now," says Staff Sgt. Jose Vasquez, a member of the military since 1992. Vasquez, now a member of the New York National Guard, was set to be deployed to Iraq before applying for conscientious objector status in January 2005.

"I had been researching—kind of seriously looking into it since August of 2004. I had just returned from Army leadership training school. One of the lessons was on the ethics of warfare. They had us read a website about the My Lai massacre. And after that we were supposed to discuss how to maintain ethics in warfare. I kind of just raised my hand and I said, 'The real problem is war itself.' I got a bunch of blank stares from 39 other sergeants. I realized then that I wasn't thinking about things the same way as everyone else," Vasquez says.

"My father was a Vietnam vet and he was really messed up when he came back. I really cared about what he thought about it. I called him up after the [2004 presidential] election and told him I'm basically fed up, and he said 'I fought in a war we shouldn't have fought, and I don't want you to go through the same thing.'"

Tim Goodrich, deployed in Saudi Arabia with the Air Force in 2002), co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War in the summer of 2004. It now numbers more than 200 members, some of whom are still in active duty or serving overseas.

"There are many more [dissenters] than that in the military. A lot of them are really supportive of IVAW, but there's a culture of fear within the military. They'll say, 'That's risking my job. Come look me up when I get out.'"

Goodrich expects more action against the war this summer.

"The majority of the American people want the troops to start coming home or to be pulled out immediately," Goodrich says. "If everyone was taking action, our public officials would have to act. It's time for something to start changing. I'm in support of non-violent civil disobedience that, if need be, shuts down the system. There are people dying as we speak. How many more deaths does it have to take? How many more people have to die?"

Ward Reilly, part of the First Infantry Division from 1971 to 1974 and today a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), lives in Baton Rouge.

"We feel a strong bond between ourselves and Iraq veterans," Reilly said. "They are coming home by the thousands, and according to [Veteran's Affairs], 103,000 of them have turned to the VA for help, be it mental or physical. That is the truth about the number of casualties. Thirty percent have come for help because of [post-traumatic stress disorder]. That is a staggering number, and the long term cost is incalculable."

Reilly joined VVAW while still on active duty in the 70s, but after the Vietnam War ended, his activism continued.

Listing off the accomplishments of his organization, Reilly noted: "Agent Orange recognition, Veterans' Rights, and PTSD awareness after the war ended in 1975.That work was done by the core of VVAW leadership. More recently, my friend Bob Smith, who did three combat tours as a Green Beret in Vietnam and is also part of VVAW, and I testified in front of Louisiana House and Senate committees to spearhead a Depleted Uranium Testing Bill for our returning troops. That bill, Act 69, became law in 2005, making Louisiana the first state in the union to mandate DU testing for our troops."

"After September 11, the membership in VVAW and Veterans for Peace skyrocketed," Reilly said. "Mainly because we all foresaw the imminent war-orgy on the horizon, and we—again—knew that it was time to act."

"Down here in south Louisiana, we organized 15 street demonstrations against the war before it even started. We did teach-ins at Louisiana State University, we conducted educational forums, and we started a writing campaign in hopes of preventing the invasion of the Middle East, an invasion that we knew would be the disaster that it has become."

David Enders is a frequent contributor to MotherJones.com and author of Baghdad Bulletin: Dispatches on the American Occupation.


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