Today I'd like to rerun one of my columns that appeared in Crosswinds Weekly (Albuquerque, NM) 4 years ago. I have the highest regard for Veterans of Peace members and met many of them in Santa Fe, when I was standing on the corner of Cerrillos and St. Francis Dr. protesting the war each Friday. Sadly, much of the article still seems timely. Though, thankfully, the guard has changed, and with new leadership brings fresh hope. Hey Obama, Support our troops—bring them home now.
Letter from Santa Fe – Veterans for Peace
By Heidi Utz
As every third car on the road sports a neatly looped amber ribbon, I wonder what “Support Our Troops” really means. Is it sending a soldier a box of cookies so that he can be reminded of cozy American civilian life? Is it FedExing her a bulletproof vest because the government can’t cough up enough spare change to keep our kids marginally safe out there? Or is it fighting to ensure that our newly coronated king doesn’t again cut combat pay—or VA benefits—for those who have endured trials most of us can only imagine?
Recently I spoke with members of the Santa Fe chapter of Veterans for Peace (VFP), a national nonprofit founded by former troops who now advocate for peace and justice. The group was founded in the mid-’80s, as a response to US-sponsored violence in Central America. In July 2002, Santa Fe’s Zia Chapter became the second VFP group in NM. Its 130 members have since organized teach-ins, vigils, speakers, panels, and film screenings, which inform us that war isn’t quite as pretty as Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor. Not all members are pacifists or former military, but each believes that war should never be our country’s first line of defense—or offense.
Member Daniel Craig, an addictions counselor and Doctor of Oriental Medicine, served as a field artillery officer in the 2nd Armored Division during the Gulf War. After he finished his tour in 1991, he came home and started a family, only to lose his first son a year later. After doing some research, Craig discovered that the boy’s death was directly attributable to the chemicals he was exposed to during the war. Other Gulf War vets’ babies have been born deformed, retarded, or lacking vital organs.
Seven years ago, former military nurse Joan Duffy discovered she’d developed breast cancer. After going into remission, she was diagnosed this year with advanced-stage ovarian cancer. Doctors have told her that both were the direct results of Agent Orange exposure during her year in Vietnam. Recently, Duffy’s grandson was born with a life-threatening intestinal blockage that VA research also linked to his grandmother’s exposure.
Like thousands of others veterans, neither has received any compensation from the government. After becoming grossly disillusioned while serving their country, both Craig and Duffy have spent years educating themselves about the indelicacies of American politics and speaking out for peace. Craig, a Springer, NM, native, rails against how meagerly the government has supported its vets. Duffy has been more bruised by the censure of her fellow Americans. Three weeks after she came home from Vietnam, “being treated like a pariah” led her to buy a ticket to London, where she lived as an expatriate for five years.
Some in Congress find it acceptable to send thousands of teenagers into combat to fight for oil, vast personal fortunes, and a Bush family feud. But examination of who those hawks are reveals a long list of Republicans who apparently don’t look good in khaki BDUs. Might it not be wiser to take our counsel about war from people who have actually seen a trench or two? Those who understand the realities firsthand are generally loathe to send 18-year-olds running toward them. Duffy, who’s been teaching students about the front lines since 1987, notes, “People who have experienced war have a responsibility to share what we know, to spare others suffering. … You can’t begin to appreciate war if you haven’t met someone who’s been in it, seen those eyes with the 1,000-yard stare.”
To that end, she and chapter president Ken Mayers have initiated Full Disclosure Recruiting, a program they hope to institute in Santa Fe schools by spring. Because military recruiters are notorious for their aggressive sales tactics, VFP plans to refute every pitch with actual facts, to reveal to potential enlistees what the recruiters won’t. Duffy says she left her protected, deeply patriotic, Irish-Catholic home to enlist in 1967 because of a fast-talking recruiter who promised her a master’s degree and a trip to Europe. “Most kids never get an education when they get out. They’re lied to about it,” she states. Craig concurs, noting that he had to fight long and hard to reap the touted GI Bill benefits.
Despite Bush’s swaggering claims, all VFP members I interviewed agreed that the Iraq war was never about wrapping up democracy in polka-dot paper and gifting our less-fortunate friends. Says Craig, “If it was really about freedom and democracy [not oil], we’d be invading countries left and right. Yes, Saddam was a monster, but what about the leaders of regimes we continue to back? They’re monsters, too.”
Mayers, a Vietnam vet who spent 20 years in the military, emphasizes that despite the debacle that is Iraq, VFP tries to honor the warrior, not the war. “It’s not the soldiers’ faults that they were given a mission based on a lie,” he says. Both he and Duffy liken the uncomfortable position current soldiers occupy to their own experiences in Vietnam. Mayers underscores America’s responsibility to examine its own behavior before blaming others. “The most powerful way to address terrorism is to understand the terrorists’ grievances. [By not doing so,] we’re creating terrorists faster than we can eliminate them. The potential pool is now 1½ billion. We feed that pool through arrogant foreign policies. We need to re-evaluate, open our eyes to how the rest of the world views what we’re doing, and behave more responsibly.”
To honor the Iraq and Afghanistan war dead, the chapter recently began to create and display hundreds of papier-mâché skulls, one for each fallen soldier. When the project is complete, skulls bearing the soldiers’ names will be stuffed with a prayer and placed on racks stretching 70 to 80 feet long and 16 feet high. Mayers notes that the local community has been greatly supportive of such efforts, filling to capacity many of their events. VFP receives little more flack than the occasional middle finger at their weekly Friday protests, he says.
Taking action and sharing the horrors they’ve endured during combat have proven healing for many VFP members. “I was pissed off for a long time about the military. I thought, ‘screw peace,’ Craig states. “Being a VFP member has taken the energy of my anger, disappointment, and outright hatred of the government, and channeled it into something constructive.”
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Postscript: On November 17, 2006, Joan Duffy died of cancer at the age of 60. She was buried 4 days later at Santa Fe's National Cemetery. According to the Santa Fe VFP website, “Joan served in the U.S. Air Force as a nurse at Cam Rahn Bay in 1968-1969 and continued to serve her country and community as an advocate for peace. She was a member of the 'Full Disclosure' team which went into local schools to talk to students about the realities of military service that recruiters cannot and will not discuss with prospective recruits. One of her last efforts was returning to Vietnam as a delegate to the first International Conference on Agent Orange in Hanoi. Joan worked tirelessly to bring attention to the suffering caused by Agent Orange, both local, nationally, and internationally. We miss her greatly here in Santa Fe.”
On July 17, 2006, the Santa Fe Chapter of Veterans for Peace named itself the “Joan Duffy Chapter” in her honor.
For more information about Joan's life and work, see http://www.12tfw.org/duffy.pdf.
For more information about Joan's life and work, see http://www.12tfw.org/duffy.pdf.
