For three weeks in February 2008, an effort to outreach to active duty soldiers at Fort Stewart, Georgia was organized by Sandy Kelson former national VFP president and founder of the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter. Kelson is a lawyer.
He and John Grant, a writer/photographer from the Philadelphia Chapter, began their outreach slowly by standing in front of the main base gate passing out free copies of Sir! No Sir!, GI Rights cards, Appeal For Redress forms, and VFP and IVAW brochures to anyone with a base sticker who would accept the material.
It was Monday, the President’s Day holiday, and 150 MPs were just returning to Fort Stewart from Iraq, and Kelson and Grant encountered them driving onto the base. The two VFP members had a number of very positive exchanges with some of these soldiers.
Their approach was simple: When cars were stopped at the light, they introduced themselves as Vietnam or Vietnam-era vets passing out material on GI rights. They had on VFP t-shirts and they had stuck a VFP banner in the ground behind them.
He and John Grant, a writer/photographer from the Philadelphia Chapter, began their outreach slowly by standing in front of the main base gate passing out free copies of Sir! No Sir!, GI Rights cards, Appeal For Redress forms, and VFP and IVAW brochures to anyone with a base sticker who would accept the material.
It was Monday, the President’s Day holiday, and 150 MPs were just returning to Fort Stewart from Iraq, and Kelson and Grant encountered them driving onto the base. The two VFP members had a number of very positive exchanges with some of these soldiers.
Their approach was simple: When cars were stopped at the light, they introduced themselves as Vietnam or Vietnam-era vets passing out material on GI rights. They had on VFP t-shirts and they had stuck a VFP banner in the ground behind them.
Sandy Kelson speaks to a driver at the light while local activist Cathy Browning holds a sign at the Ft. Stewart gate, in background.
Kelson encountered an African American soldier just back from Iraq nursing an injured gas-pedal leg. Grant had a conversation through the window with a just returning soldier with his wife and two kids. When Grant told the man “welcome home,” from the backseat, his 7-year-old daughter screamed in delight. The young man looked sheepish, happy and overwhelmed. He told Grant, “I could tell you a whole lot about Iraq.” Then, the family drove off.
At first, they were both very cautious on how to hand out the material. At one point, Grant changed his rap to emphasize the GI Rights Movement during the Vietnam era in the Sir! No Sir! film. This didn’t seem to present a problem to the soldiers or family members in the cars. Then, Kelson offered a “Bring Them Home Now” bracelet to a soldier in a car with his family and he took it gladly, extending his hand in gratitude.
This gave them both more confidence.
They passed out 500 Sir! No Sir! DVDs and 350 The Ground Truth DVDs, a good proportion of which, they figured, were seen in homes and quarters throughout the base. Then, hopefully they were passed on to friends. Several soldiers or family members came back through the gate and asked for a couple more to share with others.
No MPs from the base gave Kelson and Grant even a drive-by eyeballing that they were aware of. The only exchange was from a friendly and good-humored Hinesville police officer who told Grant to stay out of the road, lest he have to scrape him off the pavement with a shovel.
At first, they were both very cautious on how to hand out the material. At one point, Grant changed his rap to emphasize the GI Rights Movement during the Vietnam era in the Sir! No Sir! film. This didn’t seem to present a problem to the soldiers or family members in the cars. Then, Kelson offered a “Bring Them Home Now” bracelet to a soldier in a car with his family and he took it gladly, extending his hand in gratitude.
This gave them both more confidence.
They passed out 500 Sir! No Sir! DVDs and 350 The Ground Truth DVDs, a good proportion of which, they figured, were seen in homes and quarters throughout the base. Then, hopefully they were passed on to friends. Several soldiers or family members came back through the gate and asked for a couple more to share with others.
No MPs from the base gave Kelson and Grant even a drive-by eyeballing that they were aware of. The only exchange was from a friendly and good-humored Hinesville police officer who told Grant to stay out of the road, lest he have to scrape him off the pavement with a shovel.
In Room 31 of the spartan Budget Motel Of USA in Hinesville, GA, Kelson prepares copies of the DVD The Ground Truth to be passed out the next morning.
During their stint in Hinesville, the two VFP members linked up with local activists Kevin and Monica Benderman and Cathy Browning, all of whom have been helping and providing information. Kevin Benderman declared himself a CO and did 13 months in prison at Fort Lewis in retaliation for his whistle-blowing in the Army. The Bendermans have had a rocky time over the past years. They are pursuing the case in federal court.
Kelson and Grant located a venue at the Shuman Recreation Center in Hinesville and showed the documentary Meeting Resistance that features interviews with the Iraqi insurgency. They made up an ad and put it in the local paper, the Coastal Courier. The turnout was not great, but several soldiers showed up for the film.
The VFP Fort Stewart Troop Engagement Project turned out to be a small, limited operation, which was probably fortuitous, since the two VFP members were told by several local activists that groups from out of town who had arrived in the past in a more aggressive frame of mind full of organizing fervor hadn’t gotten very far. What works best, these activists felt, was a slow, consistent and respectful presence. The ideal would be a permanent presence in the area.
One local activist suggested that an insular place like Fort Stewart/Hinesville was primed and ready for outside intervention like VFP had to offer. The point was to spark conversation about the war respectfully and in a non-threatening manner in a locale and atmosphere where such conversation seldom occurs due to the reluctance of residents to rock the boat in a military town.
Kelson and Grant ran into a number of local people very sympathetic to their views – some of them wives and relatives of soldiers currently in Iraq – who clearly would never speak out publicly against the war. However, they seemed to welcome these two VFP members speaking out. They were quite friendly and did not seemed threatened by the antiwar message. It seemed to have a lot to do with mannerisms and the nature of the approach.
Late one evening Kelson and Grant ate dinner at a Kobe Japanese Steak House in Hinesville, and the two vets found themselves seated with a young African American infantryman who had done one tour in Iraq and had just been assigned to Fort Stewart – presumably to soon deploy for a second tour to Iraq. He had just arrived at Stewart that day. To complete this picture, a Vietnamese man who had fled Saigon at age sixteen flashed knives and cooked the meals on a wide grill.
Unable to find a job, this infantry soldier had just re-enlisted for a $20,000 bonus, which he hoped to save. During conversation over dinner, it became clear the war in Iraq made no sense to this guy. He spoke about “political corruption” being the reason for the war. He echoed others they had spoken with in the area who felt there was, indeed, resistance and rebellion in the ranks in Iraq. This soldier said, in some instances, there had been attacks or “fraggings.” After the meal, he took a bunch of material and left in his new truck.
Temporary headquarters for the VFP Fort Stewart Troop Engagement Project were secured in Room 31 of the Budget Motel Of USA, a run-down, vintage 1950s affair. The room was huge with a kitchen sink and wobbly bar top with stools – all for $25 a night on a weekly basis. Clean towel services and things like that were spotty. In the future, a place like this would make an ideal headquarters -- until better facilities can be arranged.
The future of such efforts is uncertain. Potentially, efforts like this could be a powerful instrument to raise questions about US military occupation policy in Iraq, even the matter of resistance, on and around a huge military base. Planned right with the needed resources it could be quite effective.
In the future, it is hoped VFP leadership will consider some kind of matching subsidy plan to attract members to spend a week or two in Hinesville working the gate and other tasks. Utilizing members with laptops and some experience in graphics and other tasks useful in this kind of work, it would not take a large presence to make a difference.
Anyone interested in this idea, contact the VFP Engagement Campaign.
Kelson and Grant located a venue at the Shuman Recreation Center in Hinesville and showed the documentary Meeting Resistance that features interviews with the Iraqi insurgency. They made up an ad and put it in the local paper, the Coastal Courier. The turnout was not great, but several soldiers showed up for the film.
The VFP Fort Stewart Troop Engagement Project turned out to be a small, limited operation, which was probably fortuitous, since the two VFP members were told by several local activists that groups from out of town who had arrived in the past in a more aggressive frame of mind full of organizing fervor hadn’t gotten very far. What works best, these activists felt, was a slow, consistent and respectful presence. The ideal would be a permanent presence in the area.
One local activist suggested that an insular place like Fort Stewart/Hinesville was primed and ready for outside intervention like VFP had to offer. The point was to spark conversation about the war respectfully and in a non-threatening manner in a locale and atmosphere where such conversation seldom occurs due to the reluctance of residents to rock the boat in a military town.
Kelson and Grant ran into a number of local people very sympathetic to their views – some of them wives and relatives of soldiers currently in Iraq – who clearly would never speak out publicly against the war. However, they seemed to welcome these two VFP members speaking out. They were quite friendly and did not seemed threatened by the antiwar message. It seemed to have a lot to do with mannerisms and the nature of the approach.
Late one evening Kelson and Grant ate dinner at a Kobe Japanese Steak House in Hinesville, and the two vets found themselves seated with a young African American infantryman who had done one tour in Iraq and had just been assigned to Fort Stewart – presumably to soon deploy for a second tour to Iraq. He had just arrived at Stewart that day. To complete this picture, a Vietnamese man who had fled Saigon at age sixteen flashed knives and cooked the meals on a wide grill.
Unable to find a job, this infantry soldier had just re-enlisted for a $20,000 bonus, which he hoped to save. During conversation over dinner, it became clear the war in Iraq made no sense to this guy. He spoke about “political corruption” being the reason for the war. He echoed others they had spoken with in the area who felt there was, indeed, resistance and rebellion in the ranks in Iraq. This soldier said, in some instances, there had been attacks or “fraggings.” After the meal, he took a bunch of material and left in his new truck.
Temporary headquarters for the VFP Fort Stewart Troop Engagement Project were secured in Room 31 of the Budget Motel Of USA, a run-down, vintage 1950s affair. The room was huge with a kitchen sink and wobbly bar top with stools – all for $25 a night on a weekly basis. Clean towel services and things like that were spotty. In the future, a place like this would make an ideal headquarters -- until better facilities can be arranged.
The future of such efforts is uncertain. Potentially, efforts like this could be a powerful instrument to raise questions about US military occupation policy in Iraq, even the matter of resistance, on and around a huge military base. Planned right with the needed resources it could be quite effective.
In the future, it is hoped VFP leadership will consider some kind of matching subsidy plan to attract members to spend a week or two in Hinesville working the gate and other tasks. Utilizing members with laptops and some experience in graphics and other tasks useful in this kind of work, it would not take a large presence to make a difference.
Anyone interested in this idea, contact the VFP Engagement Campaign.