CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Largest Gathering of Service Members for Anti-War Protest Since Vietnam

Image by Center on Conscience and War.

On July 4, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, more than 500 veterans and military families gathered in the birthplace of the nation to reject what they called the Trump administration’s fascist vision for the country’s future (including domestic troop deployments and endless war). The coalition—About Face, 50501 Vets, Veterans For Peace, Common Defense, Military Families Speak Out, Fayetteville Resistance Coalition, and CCW—marched under the banner Freedom Over Fascism.

Among them in the streets of Philadelphia were at least a dozen currently-serving members of the U.S. military, part of the “Service Members’ Anti-War Contingent” organized by the Center on Conscience and War. Several others signed up to attend, but were not granted adequate leave to travel from their units.

Most of them are in the process of filing as conscientious objectors. They marched behind banners reading “Service Members Say No To War” and “Conscience Takes Courage.”

Consisting of officers and enlisted from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines, they constituted the largest gathering of currently-serving military personnel for an anti-war protest since the Vietnam War.

In the Mirror of History

During Vietnam, many thousands of service members became active participants in the anti-war struggle. What started as a tiny handful of dissenters in 1966, by summer of 1971 had grown to what the Pentagon estimated as half of all enlisted soldiers defecting to the anti-war movement. 

This historic rebellion compelled the US government to abandon the draft and avoid using it again. But the draft was not the sole reason service members refused to kill.

Throughout the so-called War On Terror thousands of service members, who had willingly volunteered for the military, filed as........

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