Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans For Peace
Vermont Chapter 57
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace!
Vermont Chapter 57
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace!
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Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans For Peace
Vermont Chapter 57 Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. Wage Peace! |
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Veterans for Peace Chapter 57 Activities |
The following article appeared in the Burlington Free Press Vermont section below the fold on March 3, 2008.
 Vermont veterans group promotes peace By Sara Buscher Free Press Staff Writer March 3, 2008 Around the table in the back room of the Peace and Justice Center, the Will Miller Green Mountain Veterans for Peace chapter meets monthly. Those at this month's meeting were mostly men, with the exception of three wives belonging to the group. Most were older than 50; one man was half that age. Since 1990, the group has organized with a sense of responsibility to serve the cause of world peace, by raising awareness about the effects of war on all involved, through nonviolent means. The members produce a monthly televised forum for topics relating to their cause, host rallies and lectures, and march in parades during the summer months. Dave Ransom, a retired minister and veteran of the Korean War, said he founded the chapter in his frustration over the country's first involvement with Iraq under the administration of President George H.W. Bush. "I saw someone walking down the street with a 'Veterans for Peace' shirt," he said, unbuttoning several layers of clothing to reveal his own. Club President Bert Thompson showed a matching shirt beneath his green flannel. Following the passing of a tin of homemade cookies and several slices of pizza, the group reviewed the minutes of past meetings before Thompson suggested they discuss their most recent television broadcast. Ransom mentioned the ways the war will affect the health care system as injured and mentally traumatized soldiers return home. Dave Ross voiced his opinion that the war is being conducted without major concern for civilian casualties, and listed the ways the state could have used money spent on the war locally, for infrastructure improvements and health care. As the meeting adjourned, Ransom took the youngest of the group -- 26-year old Matt Howard -- aside. He thanked Howard for taking a position on the Iraq War. "We try, but our voice is still small," Ransom told him. Howard served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a truck driver in Iraq in 2003. As president of the local chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Howard is promoting "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan," which will take place March 13-16 at the National Labor College outside of Washington, D.C. The event will feature veterans from across the country sharing eyewitness accounts of what's happening in Iraq on a daily basis; viewers can watch the testimony via satellite or streaming video. The "Winter Soldier" project has its roots in a similar gathering 30 years ago of veterans of Vietnam, the war Dave Ross fought before returning to join the anti-war coalition, which preceded Veterans for Peace: Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Ross speaks with bitter humor when he describes Howard's group as the illegitimate child of Veterans for Peace. "We should have prevented him from being here." Howard says this war is markedly different from those his fellow veterans surrounding the table have fought. "We have footage. We have digital cameras and cell phones," he said. "The public doesn't know what dead Iraqis look like, what little children look like when they have their brains blown away by 50-caliber machine guns -- what a mosque looks like when we use it for target practice." Howard argues that soldiers are put in situations that lead to atrocity -- including the brutalization and subjugation of the Iraqi people -- as a matter of policy. He says the operation in Iraq is not the same as war: "Wars can be won; occupations cannot." Asked whether this project might in some way mitigate the loss of the lives of soldiers sacrificing themselves for their country, Howard answers without hesitation. "My friend Shane was not a hero -- and his life was lost in vain; and anything to the contrary, he would directly refute, if he were here today." Contact Sara Buscher at 651-4811 or sbuscher@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com |
 For the "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" viewing schedule and preview film, visit http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/howtowatch |
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