The GI Underground Press was an underground press movement that emerged among the United States military during the Vietnam War. These were newspapers and newsletters produced without official military approval or acceptance; often furtively distributed under the eyes of "the brass".[1] They were overwhelmingly antiwar and most were anti-military, which tended to infuriate the military command and often resulted in swift retaliation and punishment. Mainly written by rank-and-file active duty or recently discharged GIs, AWOLs and deserters, these publications were intended for their peers and spoke the language and aired the complaints of their audience. They became an integral and powerful element of the larger antiwar, radical and revolutionary movements during those years.[2]: 54–8wa [3] This is a history largely ignored and even hidden in the retelling of the U.S. military's role in the Vietnam War.[4]
During the Vietnam War an unprecedented flowering of underground newspapers occurred throughout the U.S. and internationally. They became key platforms for antiwar, civil rights, black power and anti-establishment sentiment and politics at a time when the more established press would rarely carry these messages. During the same period, U.S. soldiers turned against the war and the military in increasing numbers and began producing their own underground press. In March 1969 the four U.S. military branches told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee they had counted over 40,000 desertions during the 1967 fiscal year and over 53,000 in 1968.[5] A 1971, then classified, internal report commissioned by the Pentagon reported that 58 percent of the Army enlisted men surveyed "cited the Vietnam War as the major cause of their dissident activities," with 38 percent complaining about "the way the Army treats the individual."[6] Several military specialist were also sounding the alarm and warning about the possible collapse of the U.S. Armed Forces.[7][8] In 1969 this phenomenon had become so evident it prompted the New York Times to comment, "a startling number of servicemen – some so sophisticated that they cite the Nuremberg trials as their guide – have decided to do their own thinking."[9]
Inspired in part by some of the early and more well-known of the civilian underground papers, like the Los Angeles Free Press and the Berkeley Barb, which started in 1964 and 1965 respectively, the GI versions began to emerge shortly thereafter.[3]
The paper's creative and expressive names captured the disgruntled and rebellious GI attitudes of the times. They expressed emotions ranging from the slightly depressed Marine Blues, to the unhappy Fed Up at Fort Lewis, to the miserable A Four-Year Bummer out of Chanute Air Force Base, and even to the nauseated Fort Polk Puke. Then there was the anti-patriotic Star-Spangled Bummer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the downright furious Fragging Action at Fort Dix, where fragging is the deliberate killing of fellow soldiers, usually officers, by other soldiers—perhaps the most extreme form of antiwar or anti-military anger. Others expressed existential angst like Why in Okinawa or anxiety with Up-Tight at Fort Bliss, while one out of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard warned about the future with Calm Before The Storm. There were also quite a few funny names like, the Hunley Hemorrhoid on the USS Hunley, Air Fowl at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Stuffed Puffin at the Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland, Kitty Litter on the USS Kitty Hawk, Fat Albert's Death Ship Times at the Charleston Naval Base, Offul Times at Offutt Air Force Base, Cockroach at Minot Air Force Base, the Man Can't Win If Ya Grin in Okinawa, and the Chickenshit Weekly at Fort Bliss. Some turned military jargon against itself with names like Eyes Left at Travis Air Force Base, Left Face at Fort McClellan, Counter-Attack! at Fort Carson, All Hands Abandon Ship at the Newport Navy Base, About Face at Bergstrom Air Force Base, and Liberated Barracks in Hawaii. Not to mention Fun Travel Adventure or FTA at Fort Knox, which mocked an Army recruitment slogan and, more importantly for the soldiers, really meant "Fuck the Army".[10]
These papers were filled with advice and opinions for the unhappy and questioning GI, cartoons and articles that mocked and criticized the war and the military, made fun of lifers, the brass and pro-war politicians, exposed and condemned racism (and even sexism!) inside and outside the military, and contained information about where and how to protest, to get legal advice or to socialize with like minded GIs and civilians.[3] Politically, the papers ran the gamut from liberal to revolutionary and from pacifist to turn-the-guns-around anger.[11] There were papers for Black soldiers and sailors, for women in or connected to the military, and there was one known paper for Native American servicemen and women. There was even at least one rightwing unofficial paper. The New York Times described the best of them as "gabby, colorfully gripey, intelligently critical, and entertainingly scurrilous". Most of all, they were intended to connect the short-haired, often isolated GI to the larger worldwide counterculture, rebel movements and ethos of the times. What the military viewed as subversive and disloyal, many unhappy GIs saw as a lifeline. Nothing like this had ever happened before, nor since.[2]: 55 [9]
Underground publications could be found almost everywhere U.S. troops set foot. The papers were in Quonset huts in Vietnam, onboard aircraft carriers at sea, inside military transport aircraft, and on every major U.S. military installation from Fort Hood, Texas to Kodiak, Alaska to Subic Bay, Philippians to the Campbell Barracks in Germany. There was even one in the Pentagon.[12][13]: 39 Often the same dog-eared paper would be read by dozens of GIs as it passed hand to hand under the noses of the lifers and the brass. They were mailed around the world, including in bundles disguised "to look like 'care packages' from families or church groups back home", which were then passed out in mess halls, mailrooms and barracks. They were distributed at major transportation hubs, like bus and train stations, where GIs passed through, and in antiwar G.I. coffeehouses that spread during the war. In many ways these publications became the lifeblood of the growing GI movement—they allowed isolated unhappy GIs to know they were not alone and to connect with and spread a message they agreed with. Through the papers they could read about antiwar protests and fellow GIs speaking out and feel encouraged or inspired to resist the war and the military. One of the most popular sections of most papers were the letters from fellow GIs. Here GIs could gripe and tell stories to each other. One researcher has compared these GI letters to the online social media of today, and the reverse is also true; what can be found online today, was only available to GIs through their underground press.[12]: 27 [3]
Because of their underground existence, the difficulties surrounding their production and publication, and the typically swift retaliation by the military on the responsible GIs, not to mention ambiguity around the exact definition of a newspaper; the total count of GI underground newspapers and publications during the Vietnam War is a matter of much scholarly debate. Towards the end of 1970, A Four-Year Bummer out of Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois printed a map of the publications they were aware of (see image). It shows 63 papers in the U.S. and Europe. In 1971, the Armed Forces Journal counted "some 144" and in March 1972 the Department of Defense estimated there had been 245 to date.[7] David Cortright, the author of the authoritative book on the GI resistance to the Vietnam War, Soldiers in Revolt, says the total newspaper count is "near three hundred", while others say "over 250".[2]: 55 [13]: 39 The Mapping America Social Movement Project: Underground GI newspapers (antimilitarist) 1965-1975 at the University of Washington created by the pioneering and relentless historian of the GI underground press, James Lewes, counts 768 GI periodicals. Lewes spent decades traveling the world tracking down hard copies of every GI publication he could find. His list includes the GI underground publications from non-U.S. militaries (which are not included in this article).[14] On the highest end, the Wisconsin Historical Society's GI Press Collection, 1964-1977 (a major source for this article) has digitized 2,437 separate printed items (many contributed by Lewes), but it includes numerous individual leaflets and brochures, as well as items created by civilian organizations and individuals.[10]
For this article, only underground newsletters and newspapers created during the Vietnam War are included, and only those from the following categories: by and for GIs (including reserve and national guard), by and for AWOLs and deserters, and by and for veterans. And only those from the U.S. military worldwide, not other nations' militaries. Also included are a small number of draft resistance publications, if they did work with GIs. The accompanying table contains over 400 newspapers or newsletters which historians have been able to locate and document, and a few that have been reported by one or more reputable sources (like US Senate and House investigations), even when there are no known existing copies. For many of the reasons discussed in this article, no small number of these appeared and survived for only one issue. The total number of GI publications, which includes one time pamphlets and leaflets, would climb well into the thousands, but, given their clandestine nature and the difficult circumstance under which they were produced and distributed, it is probably impossible to know for sure.[3][10]
Military units are known for their strict discipline and intolerance for noncompliance. In the U.S. military, stepping out of line, or going against the tide was discouraged and often punished, sometimes severely. During the Vietnam War, the military brass did not look favorably upon soldiers, sailors or airmen who were questioning or resisting the war or military regulations and orders, even more so if it was done publicly. As soon as an antiwar or anti-military newspaper or leaflet would appear on a base or ship the commanders would make every effort to seek out and discipline the GIs responsible. This often meant that those writing and producing them found themselves discharged, transferred, court-martialed or even thrown in prison.[15]
In June 1968, SP5 Charles K. Williams stationed at Fort Bragg got together with a few other guys in his company and, at their own expense and time, printed a small paper called Strike Back. The paper raised typical GI gripes about spit shining boots, polishing brass, forced buzz cut haircuts, etc. It was extremely mild by later GI underground press standards and even announced that it had "no intention of making derogatory remarks about the United States government." The Army's overheated reaction, however, was very typical. The command immediately began a campaign of harassment of the whole company, including increased inspections, mandatory shaving of mustaches, and forced saluting of Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), not a normal part of U.S. military protocol. The Military Police (MPs) then called in the FBI to start systematically interrogating suspected company soldiers. When an innocent Private First Class (PFC) was singled out as the probable culprit and threatened with a delayed discharge from the Army, Williams stepped forward and confessed. The result? As Williams described it in the August 1968 issue of Vietnam GI, "They still believe the PFC is responsible". Williams offered advice to other would-be underground press editors—be "discreet" and "maintain anonymity".[16][17]
PFC Dennis Davis, a member of the Progressive Labor Party and the first editor of the Last Harass, had a spotless career and yet was given "an undesirable discharge 16 days before he would have completed his two-year hitch with an honorable record." His only crime, editing a newspaper which the Army believed fomented "unrest and disloyalty" among the troops. They were so worried about him they rushed him "out of the army in 12 hours, with his first sergeant personally escorting him around the post to clear his records." Along with his discharge papers, he was given a notice of his eviction from the post as a civilian and escorted out the gate.[9][18]
One of the more public showdowns between a rebellious GI and the military over freedom of the press started immediately after the publication of the first issue of OM: The Servicemen's Newsletter on April 1, 1969. Seaman Roger Priest, who worked in the Pentagon, found himself transferred within two hours to a "broom job" at the Washington Navy Yard. But that was just the beginning. There was a year-long legal battle between Priest and the U.S. Navy, during which he faced up to 39 years in prison. The military was particularly angry because Priest had called Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird "a prostitute and a pimp for the military industrial complex". More, he had insulted the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee who responded by calling OM a "gross abuse of the constitutional right of free speech" and demanded the Pentagon investigate. The Pentagon assigned 25 military intelligence agents to follow Priest at all times. And then, with the help of the FBI, the telephone company and the Post Office, they tapped his phone, intercepted his mail; and got the Washington DC Sanitation Department to collect his garbage. The problem for the military, however, was that Priest had done all his OM work on his own time with his own money. He had also put his name on every issue, so there was no question who was responsible. Priest became a cause célèbre among antiwar and free speech advocates who created a Roger Priest Defense Committee complete with STP—Save the Priest bumper stickers. In the end, he received a bad conduct discharge.[19][20][21]: 55
The Army's treatment of the Fatigue Press's first editor, Private Bruce "Gypsy" Peterson, was far less lenient. The Fort Hood MPs, with the cooperation of the local Killeen, Texas authorities, devised a plan once they figured out Peterson was involved. In August 1968 he began finding small bags of marijuana in his locker. He immediately threw away each bag, suspecting he was being set up. With this tactic failing, the city police began arresting Peterson for marijuana possession. With the third arrest, they claimed to have found a microscopic amount mixed in with his pocket lint.[22]: 33 The amount found was so tiny it was completely destroyed during testing, but nevertheless, he was convicted in military court and sentenced to eight years at hard Labor in Leavenworth federal penitentiary. Two years later he was released on appeal[9][2]: 57
The New York Times Magazine reported in May 1969 that "A number of soldiers have been punished for circulating underground newspapers, and there have been many search and-seize raids on lockers to discover hidden caches of the papers."[9] A 2015 investigation into the GI movement and the military's response at Fort Bragg provided examples of intensive military agent activity. On "the night of January 28, 1970, four military intelligence agents from the 111th Military Intelligence Group at Bragg conducted surveillance outside the home while two others infiltrated the GIs United meeting inside. The agents copied license plate numbers of parked cars and traced them to G.I.s inside. The agents surreptitiously followed several members of the group into the downtown area as they distributed the February issue of Bragg Briefs."[13]: 201
Virtually every GI publication faced the same difficulties, which often forced a rapid turn-over of contributors. And most papers faced the same dilemma, they either had to cease publication or turn to civilians for help. Not infrequently the civilian help turned out to be the very same GIs, now veterans discharged from the military. Civilian/veteran support was central to the longevity of several of the longest running papers and important to most. As a result, some publications lasted just an issue or two, while those that continued longer, a few even for years, did so with different waves of contributors. Production values also varied widely; some were "barely readable mimeographed sheets" while others developed into regular multi-page newspapers.[2]: 55
There were a few papers that at various times attempted to get the military's permission to distribute on base. Usually this was done as a political stunt, as for example asking permission to distribute the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, with the expectation that military officials would look foolish in the press and on the local news if permission was denied. At Fort Bragg, for example, before they started their underground newspaper Bragg Briefs, GIs United Against the War in Vietnam (GIs United) sought permission from the base commander to distribute copies of the Bill of Rights and the Army's Oath of Enlistment on post. The group simultaneously notified the national press of their request, putting the Fort's command in a difficult position. The Commanding General eventually granted permission, but only for the one person, Private Joe Miles, who signed the request to distribute, for one hour on two afternoons at three specific intersections. This was "the first time an Army post commander had officially sanctioned distribution of literature by a G.I. antiwar group". It was a very brief window of military democracy, however, as the military police arrested Miles as he distributed the approved material. He was held overnight on "unspecified charges", which were quickly dropped, and then sent to a remote Alaskan Army post above the Arctic Circle. To the Army's dismay, within a few months Miles had created another chapter of GIs United and another newspaper called Anchorage Troop at Fort Richardson.[13]: 153–155 In another example, the Fort Lewis commanding General refused completely to grant permission to the publishers of Fed Up to distribute copies of the Bill of Rights, so they instead tried to pass out the Declaration of Independence, resulting in the arrest of six GIs and ten civilians.[23]
GIs United also sued the Army in an attempt to get permission to distribute Bragg Briefs on the post and even to use the Fort's enlisted clubs for meetings. Eighteen soldiers joined the case U.S. District Court in October 1969 where Specialist Fifth Class, Hal Noyes, a GI United member, claimed that the paper was merely a vehicle to "counteract Army propaganda." The Federal District judge, however, ruled that the Army could "reasonably conclude that the distribution of said publications presented a clear danger to the military loyalty, discipline, and morale of the military personnel." One scholar commented about the ruling that while neither "the federal judge nor the Bragg leadership could...stop the publication of the newspaper; they just ensured that it remained an underground newspaper." The soldiers were not at all surprised and noted, "[t]he Army's case sounded very much like the arguments used to deny civil rights to blacks, prevent labor union organizing, deny women the right to vote, and to disenfranchise the un‐propertied classes of America in the days just prior to the Revolutionary War."[13]: 162–3 [24]
But there was one underground newspaper at Fort Knox called In Formation that sincerely and genuinely asked for permission and followed all the way through. It seems to be the only underground GI publication which applied for and received official Army permission to distribute on base. No known copies exist, but we know it was real due to a tongue in cheek November 27, 1971 op-ed published in The New York Times and written by former Army enlisted man Dave Noland, one of the co-editors of the paper. Noland humorously related the eight-month battle waged with the Army before receiving limited permission to distribute the paper "in an isolated corner of the post for a few hours". The battle involved learning the regs, avoiding violent or revolutionary rhetoric, requesting official permission, appealing to a Senator, contacting the Civil Liberties Union, alerting the press, and still waiting eight-months. They were allowed to set up a few newspaper stands but then were prohibited from being anywhere near or drawing anyone's attention to them. One paper staffer was arrested by the Military Police for "talking to passersby several hundred feet from one of the stands." The "good news" was that the second issue of In Formation was approved in "only" a month. Only two issues seem to have been published, and for good reason – what was the point; there was, after all, an ongoing underground newspaper on the base called FTA, which with no little irony really meant Fuck The Army (as described above).[25]
There was one other short-lived case of a GI underground paper getting permission to conduct antiwar activity on a military base. The staff of the well named Where Are We? out of Fort Huachuca in Arizona requested and received permission to gather signatures on an antiwar petition on the base. They even set up tables in front of the main base exchange, or retail store, where in one day, July 31, 1971, they gathered 540 signatures, including "143 Vietnam veterans and twenty-three officers." That was the end of that—the base command never let them do it again.[2]: 86
Acutely aware of their questionable and combative relationship with the military, most papers stated right on their masthead, "This paper is your personal property. It cannot be legally taken from you (see example from Black Unity to the right)." Often, they cited Department of Defense directive 1325.6, paragraph C.5.a.(2), "mere possession of unauthorized printed material may not be prohibited".[26]: 29 [27] However, as time went on some papers offered more seasoned advice: The Movement for a Democratic Military warned in their paper Up Against the Bulkhead, "you can still be put on report or cited with an Article 134 if the Brass feels like citing you. So don't kid yourselves. Although you may have many rights on paper, you have none in practice."[28]
The first antiwar publications of GIs, not yet newspapers, were simple posters or leaflets or reprints of speeches given at rallies. One of the earliest was a speech given by Green Beret Master Sergeant Donald Duncan in Berkeley, California on November 20, 1965. He slyly mocked his own credentials: "I am not here today speaking as an expert on Vietnam. I have only been in Vietnam for 18 months, unlike the real experts like Mr. McNamara, who have spent at least 3 or 4 days in that sad country." And he called the prowar arguments a lie. "I went to Vietnam to fight for a Democratic way of life. 18 months later I came home knowing that the fight for democracy is not being waged in Vietnam. THE ONLY FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY IS BEING FOUGHT HERE AT HOME. IT IS BEING FOUGHT HERE TODAY!" His speech was reprinted and spread far and wide by a group calling itself the Ad Hoc Committee of Veterans for Peace in Vietnam. Duncan, who had been discharged from the military prior to his public speech, was beyond the disciplinary reach of the Army.[29]
Lt. Henry Howe who was stationed at the Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas was not so lucky. He marched in an antiwar protest in El Paso on November 6, 1965. Wearing his civilian clothes, he had written his opinion of the war on a large piece of cardboard which he carried in the demonstration. The military did not take kindly to his sign, "END JOHNSON’S FACIST AGRESSION IN VIETNAM". Ignoring the misspellings, they charged him with "using contemptuous words against the President, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and public use of language disloyal to the United States." Howe told the New York Times "...I have never refused an Army order. I would go to Vietnam if ordered to do so. On the other hand, I believe I have a right to express my opinions as a citizen."[30] He was court martialed and sentenced to two years at hard labor in Leavenworth military prison, although under growing public pressure, the Army released him after only 3 months imprisonment.[13]: 36 Howe's protest is the earliest known instance of a GI publicly writing and demonstrating against the Vietnam War. The newsletters produced by the Freedom Now for Lt. Howe Committee were one of the first GI related underground publications.[31]
On June 30, 1966, three U.S. Army soldiers, the Fort Hood Three, refused orders to Vietnam and gave public statements to the press in New York City. Their statements, which were reproduced in leaflets and pamphlets and used extensively by the broader antiwar movement, said in part:
We represent in our backgrounds a cross section of the Army and of America. James Johnson is a Negro, David Samas is of Lithuanian and Italian parents, Dennis Mora is a Puerto Rican. We speak as American soldiers. We have been in the army long enough to know that we are not the only G.I.s who feel as we do. Large numbers of men in the service either do not understand this war or are against it.... We know that Negroes and Puerto Ricans are being drafted and end up in the worst of the fighting all out of proportion to their numbers in the population; and we have first hand knowledge that these are the ones who have been deprived of decent education and jobs at home.... We have made our decision. We will not be a part of this unjust, immoral, and illegal war. We want no part of a war of extermination. We oppose the criminal waste of American lives and resources. We refuse to go to Vietnam!!!!!!![32]
They too were sent to military prison.[33]
In early to mid-1966, probably just before the Fort Hood Three were refusing their orders, the first true GI paper appeared when The Gargoyle was clandestinely created by a couple of Marines at the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Lance Corporal John Morgan and Private Steve Ryan printed at least two issues on a crude hectograph machine. They called it an anti-U.S. war policy newsletter and ran it off in their barracks on a table with a large Marine Corps emblem on it. Their first issue was dedicated "to jesus christ and other subversives." A third issue was printed jointly in June 1966 with Kauri, which is the only known existing copy. Kauri was a poetry newsletter published in New York City and dedicated, among other things, to young men who were refusing the draft or who, already in service, were not taking part in U.S. aggression against other peoples, especially in Vietnam.[34][35]
A few months later, the first RITA Notes newsletters by Friends of Resistance (or Resisters) Inside the Army (FRITA) started appearing in Europe. RITA was a "loose association" of active-duty soldiers, many of whom had deserted from the Army or, as some of them liked to say, "self retired", while FRITA was an even looser association of their supporters. Published at various times in Paris, Heidelberg and finally in Australia by Max Watts, born Thomas Schwaetzer, who "organized support for American deserters". The initial issue must have shocked the US Army command because it contained a letter written on November 21, 1966, and signed by fourteen soldiers in a combat infantry platoon (from Company A, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry) stationed near Tuy Hoa in Vietnam thanking a Michigan politician for placing an antiwar initiative on the ballot. The soldiers included their name, rank and hometown. "...we are the ones who go out and risk our lives", they wrote; We are all "in favor of you and the 14,124 citizens of Dearborn who voted for us thank you." Punctuating their point, just four months later their platoon lost ten men during a battle, including two of the men who signed the letter, Privates First Class George J. Bojarski from Detroit, MI and Charles P. Brown from South Amboy, NJ. RITA Notes was the first of many publications produced by deserters, AWOL's (Absent Without Leave) and their supporters that appeared in Europe and Canada where the soldiers who had resisted and abandoned their posts could more freely gather and publish without fear of arrest and courts martial. It continued off and on for over 800 issues, ending in 2009.[2]: 55, 93&156 [36][37][38]
The Bond, whose first issue came out on June 23, 1967, was started in Berkeley, California by a recent Stanford graduate and conscientious objector named Bill Callison. It was an antiwar newspaper intended for soldiers and its title was meant to invoke the bond between antiwar civilians and GIs.[21] It soon had soldiers and civilians on its staff.[11][13]: 56 When Callison was arrested for draft resistance he turned the paper and its 1,000-name mailing list over to an Army Private named Andy Stapp. Stapp, stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, was already in trouble with the Army having faced two highly publicized courts martial for disobeying orders and flouting military discipline. He had become a socialist and student antiwar activist at Pennsylvania State University and decided to accept induction into the Army in order to organize within the military. Numerous commentators have wondered what the Army was thinking when they let him join: "...while still in college, Stapp had joined others in burning his draft card on campus; the students set their cards ablaze in a Nazi helmet."[13]: 50 Drafted in May 1966, by late 1967 he was working with other GIs to organize the American Servicemen's Union (ASU), the first attempt to create a labor union within the U.S. military.[39] He felt a newspaper would be the perfect vehicle to spread antiwar sentiment and pro-ASU information. Together with Fayette Richardson, a World War II paratrooper, and Bill Smith, a Vietnam veteran, both located in New York City, they released the first fully GI produced issue of The Bond on January 28, 1968. The Bond began the practice of GIs signing their contributions with name, rank and serial number, following the classic response for POWs under interrogation. The front page of the January 28 issue ran statements from seven black GIs at Fort Sam Houston, which included the following:
On Christmas leave a train of G.I.'s stopped in Texas. Some black troops went into a restaurant to eat but were made to sit in the 'Black Section' or to take the food outside and eat. One brother sat at the 'white' counter for forty-five minutes to an hour and wasn't served. He was wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army, but he was still black.[40]
According to Stapp, by 1970 the paper had 75,000 readers and was receiving dozens of GI letters a week. The Bond was one of the longest-lived GI newspapers and continued publishing until October 1974.[41]
At almost the same time as the transformation of The Bond into a full-fledged GI newspaper, the first issue of Vietnam GI was published in January 1968. It was started by Jeff Sharlet an Army veteran who while in Vietnam as a Vietnamese language translator learned about the war from the Vietnamese side. He returned home and joined the peace movement at Indiana University. He thought from personal experience that GIs would appreciate an antiwar newspaper written by their peers, and together with some other antiwar activists in Chicago, put out the first issue with over 15,000 copies. They were distributed to soldiers by draft-resistance groups in major cities around the US and the paper was soon receiving hundreds of letters from GIs. One letter commented, "What impresses most of the guys is that Vietnam GI is written to us".[3] Within a few issues the paper claimed to have a mailing list of "some three thousand servicemen in Vietnam."[2]: 55 In August 1968, Sharlet told a reporter they were distributing 30,000 copies of the paper, including mailing them "under wraps" to Vietnam. He said they were condemned by the military but "secretly passed from GI to GI."[42] Vietnam GI published for over two and a half years with its last issue coming out in August 1970.[10]
Right on the heels of The Bond and Vietnam GI, came ACT: The RITA's Newsletter. It called itself a newsletter, but could easily qualify as a newspaper because it was two-to-four-pages and distributed to active-duty U.S. soldiers stationed throughout Western Europe. Published by the Paris branch of RITA, the first issue came out sometime between January and March 1968.[21]: 193 ACT was filled with articles and letters from soldiers, many like in The Bond, signed by name and serial number, as if to quell any doubts about their legitimacy. A common sentiment was expressed in the first issue by Army Private Cornell Hiselman who wrote "I deserted the Army because of the unjust actions committed in Vietnam." He went on to explain why he thought the unjust war was related to the unjust treatment of Black people in the U.S: "You see, they have been fighting for over four hundred years and still haven't got anything but second rate citizenship. Maybe you don't see the connection. Well, what color are the Vietnamese? Yellow. And what color are the Negroes? Black. Maybe these are simple questions, but it gives you an answer. That answer is that our government is racist—Inside and outside the States." ACT put out at least seven issues, the last in 1971. According to one of its editors, it was very successful with a press run of 10,000 and a "mailing list of about ten thousand."[43][44]
As GIs stepped forward in opposition to the war, many of them became exposed to the debates and radical political ideas of the 60s and 70s. Further, many GIs had been exposed to experiences in the war and around the world that deepened their understanding of the reality and features of the U.S. global empire. As often happens, when one aspect of previously accepted thinking is questioned, other ideas and behaviors get reexamined. Many GIs began to challenge what they described as the racism and sexism they had seen in the war, in the military's treatment of people in foreign lands and at home. One Naval officer wrote in The New York Times about his 1967 experiences in Olongapo City adjacent to the giant U.S. Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines. "It was one of the most celebrated R&R destinations for military personnel in Vietnam, a so called fantasyland for adults." What he described was a town of brothels and honky-tonks, "a nightmare of degradation, all in service to and fostered by the American military. You could throw coins into the sewage-filled river and see kids and desperate Filipino adults dive into the fetid water." "No thank you," he wrote.[45]
Many GIs experienced similar awakenings. One scholar noted about the Vietnam era soldiers at Fort Bragg, "the soldiers in Fayetteville expanded the focus of their movement beyond the single issue of Vietnam to a multifaceted approach that condemned the structural problems, such as racism, sexism, and capitalism that led to global wars in the first place." He continued, "In November of 1971, the antiwar soldiers at Fort Bragg took an unprecedented step.... GIs United, along with the local VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) chapter, a group of black soldiers, and a contingency of Women's Army Corps soldiers, banded together to form the GI Union." The groups' new demands "reflected this unprecedented collectivity; the group demanded the end of sexist oppression of women and gay people in the military community, the right of black, Hispanic, and other minorities to determine their own lives free from the oppression of racist whites, the end of troops’ involvement in workers’ strikes, and even improved medical and dental care for soldiers and their families."[13]: 224, 282–3 A soldier from the 28th Civil Affairs Company at Bragg spoke for GI's United at their May 1971 Counter Armed Forces Day rally. He said: "We believe that the first priority is to end the war in Indochina. But we know now that when the war ends, our job does not. The war has grown out of the political and economic institutions of this country. And unless we change these institutions, there will be another Vietnam and another Vietnam after that."[46]
Similar transformations and awakenings went on among many of the rebelling soldiers and sailors of that era, as can be seen in the press they produced.[3]
Between 1968 and 1969, GI resistance grew from local protests and publications, mainly concentrated in major cities like San Francisco, Chicago and New York into a recognizable movement. One unprecedented measure of this was that GIs "were simply walking away from a war they no longer believed in." In March 1969, the US military provided data to a Senate Armed Service subcommittee revealing that soldiers were deserting, on average, "every ten minutes" and going A.W.O.L "every three minutes."[5] By mid-year the mainstream press was covering GI resistance stories, but more importantly to GIs, at least 35 underground GI newspapers were being published, and more were being created every month.[2]: 62 Disgruntled soldiers could now get news they trusted from fellow GIs.[13]: 134–5
From 1968 through 1972 the GI press almost literally exploded. During those years, there was hardly a military base within the U.S. or overseas which did not produce at least one underground publication, and some had many. There were even two known papers published by GIs in the combat zone in Vietnam, The Boomerang Barb near Saigon in 1968 and GI Says near the DMZ in 1969. Fort Lewis, which became the army's central training ground for Vietnam combat, complete with a 15,000-acre mock Vietnam village, set the record with 10 different underground GI publications, three as joint productions with GIs from McChord Air Force Base, which also had two just for the airmen and women at their base.[47] The San Francisco Bay Area, a hotbed of antiwar and counterculture activity anyway, which contained several key Army, Naval and Air Forces bases, had an astonishing 31 different GI and veterans publications. Deserter and exile publications were mushrooming as well. The Yankee Refugee!, for US military deserters and draft resisters in Canada, began appearing in late 1968, as did several versions of AMEX put out by Union of American Exiles and other American expatriates in Canada. The Paper Grenade, the newsletter of the American Deserters Committee, seems to have started in 1969, and there were eight different underground publication by deserters and exiles in Sweden. Many of the papers also grew in sophistication and production quality, from mimeographed sheets to regular newspapers.[13]: 87&134 [10]
There were, of course, those that came and went quickly, like the two in Vietnam, as well as Strikeback at Fort Bragg and Pawn's Pawn at Fort Leonard Wood, both of which started and ended in 1968. But there were a number of papers that ran for several years and published many issues.
Early in the Vietnam War, Fort Knox in Kentucky became one of the largest induction centers in the U.S. for new Army draftees.[48] Like several of the key Army training facilities, it had replica Vietnam villages on post.[49] Wherever Vietnam bound soldiers, or those returning from the war, were stationed, GI antiwar activity appeared. At Fort Knox one of the main manifestation of this was FTA: Fun, Travel and Adventure, which, as described above, every GI knew meant Fuck the Army. It published from June 1968 to April 1973 with at least 33 issues. The first issue, published on June 23, 1968, was eight mimeographed pages and written by five soldiers at Fort Knox. They made it very clear this was not going to be another pro-Army paper about "inspirational lifer shit." "We're going to say what most of us say when talking to each other, but we're going to put it in print." They promised "to concern ourselves with the ordinary EM, the non-lifer, the guy who doesn't suck up all the garbage that the Army puts out." (EMs were enlisted men)[50] As if to prove FTA correct, the very next issue reported on a Private John Lewis who had been busted by the Military Police for reading the first issue. He was confined to base for a week while the Army figured out he had broken no regulations and had a civilian attorney representing him, at which point the charges were dropped and he was released. A 1969 newsletter, put out by the FTA staff reported that "after six months the paper was an established fact of life" at the base. They said 2,500 papers were printed each issue, distributed by "some 50 distributors on base".[51]
Fort Hood, already on the antiwar map with the 1966 public refusal to go to war of the Fort Hood Three, was the site of one of the first and longest lasting regular newspapers, the Fatigue Press. Located in Killeen, Texas, it was no accident that Fort Hood became an early center of antiwar GI activity, as it was a major training ground and return destination for soldiers heading to and from the war. Over 100,000 soldiers were trained for combat at the Fort Hood, whose version of a Vietnam village contained huts, a prison compound and hidden tunnel entrances. At the height of the war, over 40,000 soldiers were on base with 65% of them just returned from Vietnam.[52] The Fatigue Press put out 43 known issues between 1968 and July 1972. The paper along with the local antiwar coffeehouse, The Oleo Strut, became "one of the most consistently successful organizations of the GI movement," even ending up on the CBS national news in 1971.[2]: 83
The paper's founder and first editor was Private First Class Bruce "Gypsy" Peterson. With the help of the Strut's staff, he mimeographed hundreds of papers and smuggled them onto the base. One of the paper's first major stories was the arrest and trial of forty-three Black soldiers who were among over 100 soldiers from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division who had assembled on the evening of August 23, 1968 to discuss Army racism and their opposition to the use of troops at the pending Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The base had begun training soldiers to be used against civilian demonstrators at the convention and the strong consensus at the meeting was, as the Fatigue Press put it, the "moral conviction that they could not kill fellow Americans in Chicago." The paper supported and widely publicized their cause, and helped with their legal defense. The publicity over the arrest and trial, along with widespread support for the resisters, led the Army to issue only light jail sentences during their courts martial.[53]
After the entrapment and arrest of Peterson (described above in the section on Difficult Circumstances), issue No. 10 of Fatigue Press was put out in his honor. In an article called simply "Gypsy" the editors argued that the newspaper was "the real reason for Gypsy's bust and the stories in it are what the Army had against the Gypsy."
Listen to the stories of other people and keep Gypsy in mind. Listen to the ideas of other people and keep Gypsy in mind. Listen to the responses of other people and keep Gypsy in mind. He fought for a place where people could tell their stories and he fought for a place where people could express their ideas and he fought for a place where people could respond freely and openly to the hearts and minds of others. Read this paper and keep Gypsy in mind. But mostly remember that Gypsy is still in the slam and that the army put him there.[54]
The paper, continued to publish and fight for Gypsy, who two years later was released on appeal.[2]: 57 [22]
In May 1972 the paper launched a petition campaign demanding an immediate end to the war which was signed by over twelve hundred GIs.[55][2]: 90
Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina was a key U.S. Army base during the Vietnam War. As early as 1966 it was sending division‐sized detachments to Southeast Asia and by 1968 it housed 57,840 soldiers, making it the largest military installation in the country. In addition, it had troops both coming from and going to the war. Soldiers in basic training getting ready to go to Indochina mixed with returning combat troops waiting for discharge, many of whom were unhappy with what they had seen or done and not afraid to talk about it. As a result, while Fort Bragg was not one of the earlier sites for GI dissent and disobedience, it became "one of the most active centers of the GI movement" and produced one of the longest lasting newspapers, Bragg Briefs.[56]: 93 It also has the record for the number of underground newspapers produced at any one base in one year – there were four "published in the spring and summer of 1969". They were Strikeback, Sick Slip, The Fort Bragg Free Press and Bragg Briefs.[57] The first three were "no more than several mimeographed sheets of paper", but Bragg Briefs started in July 1969, remained in circulation until 1975 and had "on‐post circulation of over 7,000".[13]: 144–159
The two most active antiwar groups on the base, GIs United and the Concerned Officers Movement (COM), were both cited in the Army's fiscal year 1971 official history as causing the "most troublesome display of dissension and indiscipline." COM raised money and ran ads in both The Fayetteville Observer and The Washington Post to "demand the withdrawal of all American military personnel and advisors" by the end of the year. The local ad was signed by twenty‐nine commissioned officers from Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force, while the full-page ad in the Washington Post was signed by over 130 from all over the country. One scholar noted that "Never before, in one place...had so many officers come out against the war, much less in such a public forum."[13]: 243&246
Bragg Briefs was created by soldiers who were a part of the Fort Bragg's chapter of GIs United. The group became nationally recognized and their paper was one of the reasons. The first issue, put out on July 4, 1969, was a crude mimeographed eight-pager containing content that proved embarrassing for the Army. For one, the issue was dedicated to the "great American soldier and patriot Private Joseph D. Miles" who had just been transferred to Fort Richardson, Alaska above the Arctic Circle, "the U.S. Army's equivalent of Siberia.".[2]: 60 Miles was a Black GI who had become a celebrity among rebellious GIs for starting the first GIs United group at nearby Fort Jackson in early 1969. He was a member of the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) who had been drafted and sent to Fort Jackson where he found soldiers "bitching and moaning" about the war, the Army and discrimination. He started playing Malcolm X tapes in the barracks and soon "began gathering a large crowd of black and Puerto Rican soldiers around his bunk". These gatherings spurred talk of organization and soon GIs United was launched as well as an underground newspaper called The Short Times. The Army attempted to disrupt the group by shipping Miles to Fort Bragg where he very quickly started another chapter of GIs United and was soon arrested for distributing copies of the Bill of Rights and the Army's Oath of Enlistment (as discussed above).[58][13]: 130&154
By issue number two, Briefs was a regular printed newspaper. The fifth issue, published in December 1969, proudly declared on its masthead "GIs: Caution! Reading this Paper May be Hazardous to Your Discipline, Morale & Loyalty."[59] On May 16, 1970, GIs United and a local coalition of civilian and student antiwar organizations held the largest Armed Farces rally in the U.S. with four thousand people, including a thousand GIs, crowding into a Fayetteville park. Bragg Briefs played a central role in bringing soldiers to the event where they listened to Jane Fonda, Chicago Seven defendant Rennie Davis and folk singer Barbara Dane.[13]: 202
One of the most well-known and longest lasting GI papers was Up Against the Bulkhead put out by the Movement for a Democratic Military at the Alameda Naval Air Station and the Treasure Island Naval Station in the San Francisco area. They published from mid-1970 to mid-1975, putting out eighteen issues, each eight to twenty pages long. The masthead on their second issue was quite prescient, proclaiming "GI's Can Stop The War"—by June the next year the Armed Forces Journal was warning about the "Collapse of the Armed Forces". By late 1971 the paper could be found everywhere GIs congregated in the San Francisco Bay Area and sailors knew where to go when they wanted counterculture help and friendship. It played an important role in supporting the Stop Our Ship (SOS) movement, particularly by aiding the dissident sailors of the USS Coral Sea. As two Bulkhead staffers reported years later, "In 1971 a handful of sailors from the USS Coral Sea" showed up at our office "ready for action". The sailors "were a colorful lot, veritable hippies in uniform...more than eager not only to investigate ways to oppose the war, but also ways to sample the offerings of countercultural hedonism." With Bulkhead support the sailors went on to start the first SOS petition.[60][61]
One of their most powerful covers is reproduced here. It's a photograph of a Marine whose legs were blown off in Vietnam indicating his vulgar sentiment in front of an "Ask a Marine" recruiting poster. Another memorable cover was their June 1971 "Clip This: Save Your Life" message in both English and Vietnamese: "I am against the war and will not fight the Vietnamese people," which was clearly intended to be carried into combat as a possible life preserver.[62]
Fort Jackson GIs produced one of the earlier papers called The Short Times. The base was one of the U.S. Army's largest training posts and site of two of the earlier GI actions against the war. One was the 1967 trial of Captain Howard Levy, an army doctor, charged with "refusing to teach medicine to Green Berets and for 'conduct unbecoming an officer' in criticizing the Vietnam War". And the second was a February 1968 on-base pray-in against the war when 35 soldiers gathered in uniform in front of the main base chapel to express "grave concern" about the war. The Fort was also the site of the first antiwar GI Coffeehouse the UFO started in January 1968. Then, in late 1968 the Black soldier name Joe Miles (discussed above) led the formation of the GIs United group and they began publishing Short Times. Short Times lasted for over 22 issues from about November 1968 to April 1972. Started out mimeographed, but by November 1969 was a regular printed newspaper.[63][64]
Gigline was called the "Voice of the Fort Bliss GI" It appeared for at least 30 issues from Aug 1969 to late 1972. The second issue announced the formation of a group of soldiers at the fort called GI's for Peace (GIFP). The organization held its first meeting on August 17 with over 600 people attending. A Steering Committee was formed which described the group as a "coalition of Fort Bliss soldiers who are concerned about social injustice, the Vietnam War and the militarization of American society." The Steering Committee spokesman and "national editor" of Gigline, Paul Nevins, got transferred to Germany by the fourth issue. He wrote, "Soldiers are in an extremely vulnerable position, but the consequences of our actions have an effect on the public opinion far out of proportion to our numbers. Although our bodies are the instruments of destruction, our minds can serve as an affirmation of life, and as a vehicle to express mankind's deepest yearning for more peaceful, more united world. Be Brave. Stand up and speak out... FAREWELL, PAUL GOOD LUCK – GIFP." In a 1972 flyer the paper noted, "August marks the second anniversary of GIs for Peace. For over two years an organization of active duty GIs has existed on post and has engaged in many activities. As we move into the third year, we want to tell more of you what we are doing and urge you to join us. First of all, we are all active duty GIs from Bliss.... At present we have about 30 active members.... Beyond that, as many as 1,000 Ft. Bliss soldiers have attended a rally sponsored by GIs for Peace." "Our main regular activity is publishing our newspaper, the Gigline, which appears monthly with a circulation of approximately 3,000."[65]
The Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan was the major Marine staging area for Marine Aircraft Groups rotating in and out of Vietnam. As a result, it also became the "main center of political activity among troops in Asia". Semper Fi was the major GI newspaper at the base and the organization behind it was considered "one of the most consistently successful GI organizations in Asia." It ran from January 1970 to August 1978, with 178 known issues, more than any other active-duty GI produced paper. It was started by Corporals Lonnie Renner and George Bacon, who with several other Marines created a local chapter of the American Servicemen's Union (ASU). They were helped by local members of Beheiren, the Citizen's League for Peace in Vietnam, a Japanese anti-Vietnam War organization. On April 12, 1970, Semper Fi and Beheiren organized a joint peace gathering at the traditional Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival. The gathering of approximately fifty Marines and many antiwar Japanese took place under a "large banner bearing a peace symbol and the word 'peace' in English and Japanese." Predictably the local Marine commanders interrogated three Marines they suspected of being members of ASU and, even though nothing illegal had happened, issued punitive transfers and one administrative discharge. As usually happened in these cases, the heavy-handed military response only increased the ranks of rebellious Marines. As two suspected Marine ASU member were being loaded onto a waiting aircraft at the air terminal "they received a rousing send off from some 20 or so sympathetic brothers". Japanese press reports at that time "estimated that the Semper Fi organization had 350 active supporters at the base."[2]: 104–5 [67]
Another influential paper was Last Harass out of Fort Gordon in Georgia. The New York Times Magazine called it "probably the best" of the GI underground papers or "at least the most notorious".[9] One of the earlier papers, it was started in late 1968 by Private Dennis L. Davis, a member of the Progressive Labor Party. It ran for at least thirteen issues over three years, one over 40 pages in length. It had a very seat-of-the-pants appearance, but its content set it apart from its peers, with long articles analyzing the war or discussing radical politics and racism, poems, book reviews and letters from GIs. Especially popular were its political cartoons, which were often reproduced in other GI papers. There was the very unhappy "Screwed GI", a discombobulated looking soldier with a screw through his body that many a GI could easily identify with (see above). And the mock ad for an Xmas gift showing a screaming Army Drill Sergeant with a wind-up key in the back of his head. It had numerous "don't miss" features like, "Just Wind it Up and it Will Harass you for Three Years", "Guaranteed to Kill!", and "Guaranteed to be Dumber Than You!", along with the warning "Do not talk back to it – it will court-martial you!" (see Political Cartoons & Posters below).[10]
One of the earlier papers was produced right in Vietnam itself in the 191st Assault Helicopter Company, "14 miles, as the Huey flies, due east of Saigon". Perhaps honoring one of the first and most influential of the civilian underground papers, the Berkeley Barb, it was called The Boomerang Barb. For years the only recorded acknowledgment of its existence was an October 25, 1968 article in its namesake Barb announcing "Vietnam has it own BARB!" The original Barb explained they had received "the anonymous paper by mail". In the intervening years the two GI editors, Mike Jackson and Mike Morrison have been revealed in the 191st Assault Helicopter Company Guestbook, which is now archived on the web. So far, only one issue has seen the light of day and a reproduction can be found in the 191st Guestbook.[68] In the issue received by the Berkeley Barb, the two Mikes say they are protesting "the most immoral, evil idea ever conceived, that one man must be forced to fight and die for what another man believes." They continue, "They call us Vietnics and speak of our anti-war protesting as though it were some kind of filthy, subversive plot against everything good and holy." But they make it clear they will continue to publish "whenever we can get away with it." In the surviving issue they say their philosophy "can be summed up as one of freedom. We hold that freedom is man's birthright and his most prized possession." They go on to advocate for the legalization of marijuana, the abolition of laws restricting "who you can have sex with and in what position", the freedom of Black people, and the abolition of the draft. The Guestbook says four issues were produced in all.[69][70]
Perhaps the most surprising underground GI publication of all was produced by an Army SP4 named Ken Anderberg at Camp Evans, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ), in Vietnam. He published a newsletter in 1969 called GI Says which was sub-titled "Subterranean News". In a 2021 documentary trailer titled GI Says and released by filmmaker Jason Rosette[71] on YouTube, Anderberg says he produced two issues, although only the second, Volume II, has survived. They were published after the controversial battle that took place from May 13 to May 20, 1969, which came to be called the Battle of Hamburger Hill. The American-dubbed Hamburger Hill was actually a ridge of the mountain Dong Ap Bia in central Vietnam. Over 600 Vietnamese lost their lives in the battle while U.S. losses totaled 72 killed and 372 wounded, and yet the Hill was abandoned by the Army just over two weeks later with a new commanding general saying, "That hill had no military value whatsoever."[72]: 22 As Anderberg describes it, soldiers in the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry (3/187), already disgruntled about the war, were furious about being sent into the battle and losing many friends, seemingly for nothing. And he heard a rumor they had offered a $10,000 reward for a hit on their commanding officer who had ordered and led the attack, Lt. Col. Honeycutt. Anderberg decided to produce a small newspaper to tell this story, along with other news of interest to GIs. The result was two issues of GI Says, each of which highlighted the $10,000 reward with a graphic. Honeycutt's military handle was "Blackjack" so the paper depicted him as a Jack of Spades and the King of 3/187 (see image). Honeycutt managed to survive the war, but this incident highlights the fact that fraggings, the deliberate killing or attempted killing by a soldier of a fellow soldier, usually a superior officer or non-commissioned officer (NCO), were not at all uncommon during the war.[7][3]: 117 [73][74]: 38 [75]
One of the more unlikely places where the GI clandestine press could be found was onboard U.S. Navy ships. Most of these were printed ashore, often with the assistance of sympathetic civilians or recently discharged sailors, and then smuggled onboard and distributed to the ship's sailors at favorite shoreside gathering places.[76] But at least one paper was printed and distributed on board a ship at sea.[77]
In March 1972, Liberation News Service printed an interview with David Smith and Jeff Dinsmore, two sailors on shore leave from the USS Coral Sea aircraft carrier. It was conducted in Olongapo in the Philippines, the city adjacent to Subic Bay Naval Base, by Elaine Elinson. The Coral Sea has just returned from 37 straight days of bombing off the coast of Vietnam. Smith had been on board the aircraft carrier for three years and three tours in Vietnam. He described how at first he and the other sailors on the ship were gung-ho pro-war, but by the third tour there was tremendous antiwar feeling and "not one wanted to go". They banded together and started the Stop Our Ship (SOS) movement on board. One quarter of the ship signed an antiwar petition before they left the U.S. and at sea they started putting out a newspaper called We Are Everywhere. Smith described how their commanders tried "to keep everything from us—they never let us know how many missions the ship flies, how many villages have been wiped out. So we started putting out a paper called We Are Everywhere, with statistics about how much ordnance we carry, how many people have been killed. We print it right on the ship and spread it all around. We've had three issues so far, and they can't figure out who's doing it." Dinsmore talked about the things they could not ignore, "They assemble the bombs right near where we eat. I see them putting them together—the 500 pounders—and at Christmas they wrote on them 'Merry Fucking Christmas, Charlie'. We bombed right through on Christmas Day, 15 miles from Danang; that really pissed off a lot of guys."[77][78]
Freedom of the Press was published in Yokosuka, Japan by and for sailors of the USS Midway aircraft carrier and the Yokosuka U.S. Naval Base. It was the longest lasting of all ship's papers, with 21 issues between early 1973 and August 1974. It was associated with Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization (VVAW) and published by GIs and civilians at the New Peoples Center.
Kitty Litter was published by USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier sailors, ex-sailors and their friends in San Diego, CA from November 1971 to August 1972. There were seven known issues. It was associated with Concerned Military and the Harbor Project, groups of sailors, civilians and ex-sailors waging antiwar campaigns directed at aircraft carriers. The paper covered the results of a large antiwar campaign directed at the USS Constellation aircraft carrier and the Connie 9, nine Constellation sailors who jumped ship when it sailed to Vietnam in October 1971. Then it played a central role in the efforts to stop the Kitty Hawk during its preparations for departure to Indochina, including the creation of the sticker shown here, many of which ended up plastered on the ship. It also was able to tell the inside story when seven members of its crew publicly refused to sail and took refuge in local churches.[79][2]: 113 [80]
In November 1971, before We Are Everywhere was published on board the USS Coral Sea and while the carrier was still in San Francisco, a mock version of the official USS Coral Sea Plan of the Day was distributed on the ship and created quite a stir. Called the USS Coral Sea POD, it showed all officers on duty all day while all the enlisted had free time. The Command Duty Officers were "LCDR Ass" and "CDR Hole". The officer in charge of the Afterbrow was "Captain Kangaroo". Only one issue seems to have been produced.[81]
Much of the U.S. based Naval military activity took place in San Diego, California, so it's not surprising that several papers were located there. Duck Power was produced in San Diego by sailors stationed at North Island Naval Air Station who called themselves GI's Against Fascism. The Center for Servicemen's Rights helped sailors from the USS Duluth put out the USS Duluth Free Press. There were more than three issues with the last one dated Mar-Apr 1974.[82] That same year the Center helped the sailors from the USS Chicago put out a paper called the Pig Boat Blues. It was published for two issues, but no known copies exist.[83] Another San Diego paper was the Scraggie Aggie Review by the sailors aboard the USS Agerholm which came out in 1974. It was created by Seaman Recruit David Medina and about six other of the ship's sailors to protest unsafe conditions on the ship.[84] Also in San Diego, the sarcastically titled This is Life? was published by Concerned Military for Sailors on the USS Gridley a navy destroyer. Only one issue seems to have been printed in 1972.[85]
In San Francisco sailors from the USS Hunley put out the humorously named Hunley Hemorrhoid for at least three issues in 1972. And the same year, sailors from the USS Enterprise nuclear aircraft carrier, learning from the sailors on Coral Sea, put out a knock-off of the ship's official paper, the Enterprise Ledger called the SOS Enterprise Ledger. It looked exactly like the real paper except that it was filled with information about the bombing of the dikes and other Vietnam War news. As with the Coral Sea, only one issue of the mock paper seems to have been produced.[86]
The sailors on the USS Longbeach, which coincidentally was docked at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, must not have cared for their ship too much as their paper was called the Longbitch. Its existence was reported in Camp News and Rita Notes in March 1972 but no known copies exist.[87][88]
During the Vietnam war, in addition to the movements against the war itself, there were movements and rebellions among numerous other groups which also found expression within the military. Given the relatively conservative social structures within military ranks when compared with the larger society, it's no surprise that the movements in the U.S. as a whole were reflected, even at times intensified, inside the military. While many of the GI publications during this era spoke to issues other than the war, including about racism and sexism, there were also at least thirteen publications specifically by and for Black GIs, four by and for women GIs, and even one by and for Native American GIs.[2]: AppxB
From the day in 1967 that Muhammad Ali took a stand against the Vietnam War and linked it to the treatment of Black and brown people in the U.S., resistance and questioning of the war among Black Americans became more pronounced, and perhaps no more acutely that among Black GIs. Several historians have observed, in "Vietnam black soldiers were among the most outspoken and effective critics of the war."[89]: 20 [2]: 39 Black GIs also responded "to rising demands in the late 1960s for Black Power." And their "motivation to protest was often driven more by racism than by the war itself."[26]: 33 This was certainly true for Robert Mahoney, a Black sailor and a founder of Duck Power, one of the earliest underground papers in the Navy. He and his fellow Black sailors experienced selective discrimination as personal posters of respected African Americans of the time, like Huey Newton and Malcolm X, were confiscated and destroyed, while white sailors’ posters of anti-establishment people like Bob Dylan or of nude women remained untouched. When confronted, a Chief Petty Officer who had destroyed some posters said "Yeah, I did it, because it was commie literature." In addition, when a senior officer was told of racial incidents involving white sailors calling other whites "n___ lovers" for hanging out with Black sailors, the officer demanded to know why the white sailor would want to hang out with the Black sailors. All of this convinced Mahoney and other enlisted men of the need to fight back and to educate their fellow sailors. In Duck Power, which was produced by both Black and white sailors, they did also condemn the war, but that was not the first motivator for the paper.[90][91][92] Overall among Black GIs, a combination of resistance to both the war and racism within the military and in the larger society led to conflicts with the military. And the military's reaction was often hostile as evidenced by then Chief of Staff of the United States Army General William Westmoreland's 1971 response to a newspaper picture of two Black soldiers in Germany giving the Black Power salute to an officer—he wrote to the Army's Commanding General in Europe, "This is terrible. What kind of Army are you running these days?"[89]: 37
The longest running GI paper by Black GIs was A'bout Face, which was published in the Heidelberg/Mannheim area of West Germany, the location of numerous U.S. military installations, including the Patton, Coleman, Mannheim and Turley Army Barracks, some of which were ex-Nazi barracks with swastikas still visible. It was put out by UBS, which stood for either or both the United Brothers and Sisters or, more often, the Unsatisfied Black Soldiers. There were at least thirteen issues, although the first known issue dated June 13, 1970 says "Another GI paper published by UBS", so they were likely more. That issue made its sympathies clear at the top of the first page, "STOP THE GOD DAM WAR!". And, "We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.", which was demand number six of the Black Panther Party, apparently a powerful influence on the group. Historian David Cortright has argued that the "most militant and effective political organizing in Germany occurred among black soldiers." As evidence of this, during the spring of 1970 A'bout Face issued a "Call for Justice" inviting U.S. soldiers from all over Germany to come to the University of Heidelberg on July 4 for a meeting to discuss their grievances. The paper even called it a "trial" and charged Uncle Sam with "genocide, mass-murder of millions of people, political murder, economic murder, social murder, and mental murder."[93] The "Call" must have struck a nerve among U.S. soldiers, especially Black soldiers, as almost a thousand active-duty GIs showed up, most of them Black. This was apparently the largest gathering ever for the GI movement in Europe. The proclamation released at the end of the meeting contained ten demands which were far reaching and testified to the depth of Black political consciousness of the times. They ranged from an immediate end to the war, to the withdrawal of "all U.S. interests from African countries", and included several demands related to justice for non-white GIs within the military, improved access to education, hiring more Blacks in civilian jobs connected to the Army, and "equal and adequate housing" for Black GIs. A'bout Face continued publishing for over a year and the last issue came out in August 1971.[18][94][2]: 94–5 [95][96]
There was a second version of A'bout Face which started publishing in Heidelberg the month after the last issue of the first version. It was produced by the Black Disciple Party and lasted for four issues from September to December 1971. They seemed to have had some differences with the Unsatisfied Black Soldiers and called for more action. As they put it, "We now study ways and means to destroy or bring this military system to a screeching halt."[97]
Another example of the influence of Black soldiers in West Germany was The Voice of the Lumpen, which was put out by supporters of the Black Panther Party Solidarity Committee. Between sometime in 1970 to April 1972, thirteen issues were produced. They declared they were speaking to all U.S. GIs in Europe, but the content was overwhelming tilted toward the struggles of Black soldiers and Black people. From issue number seven on they said they were a part of the Revolutionary People's Communication Network. They put out a Lumpen Manifesto between the fifth and six issues that declared "our goal is to destroy the evils of U.S. capitalism, imperialism and racism", which they said had been used to "oppress the peoples of the world". They pledged themselves "to move against the evil and corrupt gentry by any means necessary and sufficient."[98]
There were two more Black GI produced papers in West Germany. A group calling itself the Black Soldiers Alliance (BSA) put out a paper called Exposure specifically for the Patch U.S. Army Barracks in Stuttgart, West Germany. It came out for two issues in 1971 with the second one coming out in May. It called itself "a Black GI publication" and said since Black soldiers have never been listened to in the Army, through "Exposure we will voice your opinions and feelings; expose the white racist for what he is."[99] A paper called The Black Tribunal for Awareness and Progress came out for one issue in November 1971 in West Germany. It was directed to all "Black Brothers stationed overseas" and dedicated "to the plight of the now Black man in a racist, capitalist scheme of this White immoral society."[100]
In Japan, Demand For Freedom came out for at least 5 issues between Oct 1970 and sometime in 1971. It was printed by and for Black GIs at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. The first issue declared, "All power to the Third World. Power to all oppressed people." In a section called "Why this Newspaper", they explained, "We don't belong in this military now, we have nothing to defend over here. All of you who go around and kiss this pig's ass are just the ones that ar holding back our liberation from this racist, capitalist society."[101]
The Tidewater Africans newsletter was published by a group, which also called itself the Tidewater Africans, in Norfolk, Virginia for at least 2 issues in 1973. Norfolk was the location of numerous key East Coast Naval installations, including the Norfolk Naval Station & Naval Air Station. The newsletter was called "The Voice of Black GI's" and the group said they had, "organized to fight for the rights of Black GI's and all Black people." They made it clear they were not opposed to struggle of white enlisted people, and said the efforts were inter-related, but, they explained that "true unity" was not possible until "white enlisted people deal (away) with their racial prejudice against Blacks".[102] The group also produced a pamphlet called Who We Are: And Why We Have Organized, which explained they had started in the wake of a racial fight at the Norfolk Naval Amphibious Base. As they described it, white and Black sailors "were probably equally responsible for the actual outbreaks of violence. However, when charges were brought against those persons involved in the fights, only Black were charged". They concluded that "the military is HIGHLY RACIST and ANTI-BLACK" and that they needed to "GET ORGANIZED" to deal with it—hence, the Tidewater Africans.[103]
In 1974 another publication by Black sailors in the Norfolk area called Rise Up And Fight Back! may have also appeared, although no known copies exist. The group behind it called itself the Black Military Resistance League and said it was formerly the Tidewater Africans. The only known mention of this publication was in the August 1974 issue of VVAW/WSO GI News, which said the group was "an organization of black active-duty enlisted men and women, veterans and other civilian supporters".[104]
Between 1970 and 1972, six other publication by and for Black GIs were produced at various U.S. military installations. Black Unity came out for two issues in 1971 at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Oceanside, California. Along with the Black Panther Party they called for "all Black people to be exempt from Military Service" and they declared they would "not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are victimized by the white racist government of America."[105] Do It Loud came out for one issue at Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina in February 1970. It was produced by a group called The Black Brigade which said it was established "to represent the Black man within the military in directing demands for measures to be expeditiously taken against racism".[106] There were two publications by the Movement for a Democratic Military and the Black Servicemen's Caucus out of the Long Beach Naval Station and Naval Shipyard in Long Beach, California. Out Now! was published for six issues between, probably between 1971 and 1972, and then Now Hear This! which said it had formerly been Out Now! came out, but only for one issue. Then there was the Black Voice which may or may not have really existed out of Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama. No known copies exist. It was referenced in Congressional Hearings in 1972 and Haines.[107][12]
While many of the GI publications were directed toward the women in the military as well as the men and had women contributors and supporters, there were also at least four papers mainly by and for women. None of them lasted for very long, but their existence speaks to the depth and breath of the rebelliousness within the military ranks and among military dependents. GI movement historian David Cortright notes that just as in the larger society, "women in the military are excluded from positions of authority and are disproportionately assigned to low-skill, service occupations." He also observes that, "[m]achismo, the attitude of assertive male superiority, is an essential element of military culture and plays a key role in conditioning hostility and insensitivity among servicemen." he connects this with the "pervasiveness of prostitution near major bases" which is ubiquitous and promoted by the U.S. military, especially overseas, and reinforces a negative view of women and "helps to maintain the illusion of male superiority."[2]: 169–70
Women Hold Up Half The Sky was produced by women at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan. It came out in 1974 for three issues. It was created by women in and out of the military and for military women and dependents. The cover of the first issue contained a list of the kinds of platitudes and insults women hear all the time, like "a women's place is in the home," "with her looks she doesn't need brains," "women are so emotional," "frigid bitch," etc. It went on to say, they were "fighting against the ways we are oppressed using the ways we are strong."[108]
Also out of Japan was Women's Voices in Okinawa which came out for two issues in 1974. It was by and for women on Okinawa, both servicewomen and civilians. It was supported by the Women's House, "a place where women can get together and talk about children, our husbands, health care and our lives." The first issue focused on health care and had articles about going to the gynocologist, excerpts from the well known Our Bodies, Ourselves by the Boston Women's Health Collective, birth control, and more.[109]
Women's Voice at the Norfolk Naval Station and Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia came out for one issue in April 1975. It was created by the women of the Defense Committee in the Norfolk area, which had been formed to defend a Navy sailor, Jeff Allison, who they felt had been unjustly blamed for a fire on board the USS Forrestal. The explained that, "women of all races...have special hassles, and as women associated with the military; either by being in the military, married to someone in the military, or living in military towns, these hassles are intensified."[110]
Whack! came out of Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama. There are no known copies but at least one issue seems to have been published in April 1971. It was a Women's Army Corps (WAC) newsletter, by WACs and civilian women organizing at Fort McClellan. It does seem likely it existed as an announcement of the first issue and an article from that issue were published in the G.I. News & Discussion Bulletin and it was cited in Beyond Combat: Women and Gender in the Vietnam War Era.[111][112]
Yah-Hoh was the only known paper by and for Native American servicemen and women. The paper's name Yah-Hoh means "Lets Get It Together", and the group creating it called themselves Hew-Kecaw-Na-Yo (To Resist). It was created by GIs at Fort Lewis Army Base and their logo was the letters FTA (Fuck The Army) with an arrow through it. The cover page of the first, and it seems the only, issue stated:
This newspaper is published by Hew-Kecaw-Na-Yo, an organization of American Indian servicemen and women that are preventing the psychological conditioning of Indian minds. It was formed for the purpose of helping a struggling people to retain their identity even in the white supremists most powerful organization, the U.S. armed forces. Hew-Kecaw-Na-Yo is dedicated to Indian unity; united we stand, divided we fall.
The issue included articles from several Native American soldiers describing their experiences in the Army and explaining why they were resisting. Myron Gibbs wrote, "the white intruder has transformed a beautiful, primitive land into a great machine for war, taking my people into his services, taxing my people under his laws".[113]
While some GI underground papers and organizations, along with the others in the radical movements of the times, were among the early voices speaking to the dangers posed to the environment and the planet by war and nuclear weapons, there was one GI publication and organization that stood out for its farsightedness on this issue. The Concerned Servicemen's Movement (CSM) in Kodiak, Alaska, which published the FID newsletter for much of 1971, played a minor but noteworthy role in the founding of the influential environmental group Greenpeace. CSM counted both U.S. Navy and Coast Guard personnel among its members and had a number of sympathizers on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Confidence. Ironically, on September 30, 1971, the Confidence was ordered to intercept and board a boat which turned out to be the original Greenpeace on its way to protest a powerful U.S. nuclear underground test on the island of Amchitka. Recognizing the significance of the environmental boat's voyage, eighteen Confidence crewmen penned and then smuggled aboard a letter of support for the Greenpeace crew and voyage. Its message was clear, "Good luck. We are behind you one hundred percent." Shouts of "The U.S. Coast Guard is on our side" were heard on the protest vessel. This sympathetic action helped influence the members of the Greenpeace crew to found the organization we know today.[114][115][116] FID was started by Lt(jg) Norman Bleier who had been active in the Concerned Officers Movement in San Diego until he was told by his commanding officer that he was "being transferred to Kodiak to freeze until your enlistment is up."[117] In addition to the environment, FID covered the war; officer/enlisted relationships; GI, worker and civil rights; and the relationship of service personnel to the civilian community.[118]
There are only four known papers put out by GIs who were imprisoned in military brigs or confined in some way for discipline. It each case it seems the prisoners or confinees would write their articles and smuggle them to supporters on the outside. Especially for the brig prisoners, it must have required a fair amount of courage and subterfuge to write anti-military material and then risk passing it somehow to supporters. Getting caught before hand-off would likely have resulted in serious repercussions and harassment.[3][15]
Unity Now was printed by mimeograph or copy machine and only three issues seem to have come out. It was produced in October and November 1970 by GIs detained in the Special Processing Detachment (SPD) at Fort Ord. The SPD was reserved for "troublemakers" and AWOLs, either waiting for trials or just released from the stockade. Issue number 3 said, "This paper was born within the fence of SPD as a weapon against militaristic oppression and is dedicated to the Fort Ord 40,000 in their struggle for freedom!" It went on to say its purpose was to "advise the people of their rights in the army and to keep on top of the really beautiful and growing revolutionary movement going on within the Military today."[119]
SPD news, another paper out of a Special Processing Detachment, this one at Fort Dix, lasted for at least 16 issues from May 1969 to August 1970. The writers described SPD as "a half-way house between the stockade and the rest of the army." Apparently it was located "in the boondocks" and put there "purposefully to isolate SPDers". The paper celebrated the fact that even though the brass thought "they would be able to fuck over us more way out here. This has proven untrue. We are now fucking over them"; presumably by publishing the paper. The paper was supported by the American Servicemen's Union.[120]
These two papers were both short-lived, which is understandable because they were produced by soldiers in full military prisons. Confinee Says, "the voice of the Camp Pendleton brig rat" came out of Camp Pendleton and Stars-N-Bars was produced in the brig at the Marine Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan. The Stars-N-Bars said it was written by the "Forgotten Few", while the Confinee Says masthead read, "Out of the depth of the darkest holes of Calcutta Comes the Voice of the Camp Pendleton Brig Rat." Both of them came out in 1970.[121][122]
As noted earlier, very few of the GI publications discussed here could have survived, especially for very long, without the support and help of civilians, both individually and through antiwar and radical political organizations.
The anti-Vietnam War United States Servicemen's Fund (USSF) promoted free speech within the U.S. military, funded and supported independent GI newspapers and coffeehouses, and worked to defend the legal rights of GIs. It was founded in 1969, just after the first GI underground publications began to appear. In a 1971 publication it reported it was financially supporting seventy-six organizing projects, including coffeehouses and newspapers. For example, the "majority of funds" for Bragg Briefs came from USSF. It's important to note here that GI coffeehouses were often critical to the existence and survival of local underground newspapers. The coffeehouse was often the office where the GI paper would be put together. It served as a "financial linchpin" for a number of the larger and longer lasting newspapers and it received "contributions from major players and organizations in the civilian antiwar movement." USSF was also the principle initial financial supporter of the notorious traveling antiwar FTA Show starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.[13]: 160 [56]: 91–92 [123]
The Pacific Counseling Service (PCS) was founded in 1969 to provide legal and counseling help to GIs opposed to the Vietnam War. By the end of the war it had counseled and supported many thousands of disgruntled and antiwar GIs, many of whom found ways out of the military or to avoid combat.[56]: 90–91 It also helped GIs at ten or more U.S. military bases, most of them in Japan, to create and distribute underground newspapers. Publications PCS helped with include Hansen Free Press, Okinawa Strikes, Stars & Strikes, Yokosuka David, AMPO, Come-Unity Press, Counter-Military, Fall In At Ease, Freedom Rings! and Getting Late! (see table below GI Underground Press During the Vietnam War).[56]: 90–91
The National Lawyers Guild is a progressive public interest organization of lawyers and legal experts that was founded in 1937. They helped support at least two GI underground publications in Japan and produced at least two themselves specifically for rebellious GIs. Anti*Brass was created by the Military Law Project of the National Lawyers Guild, to "serve the needs of the military man, regular/reserve/ROTC, who has or may have a legal problem with the military". It was promoted as the "Information Center for Military Legal Problems." One piece of advice it offered to GIs was to highlight a comment from a speech by a military judge to a group of JAG lawyers: "The most important duty of a military lawyer is to make the accused THINK he's getting a fair trial."[124] They also published Tricky Dix Law and Orders for soldiers at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. It was seen as "a place for GIs to get legal assistance", and highlighted the "Strangest Case of the Month" in the first issue. As they told it, a Guild attorney prevailed on a Military Judge at Fort Huachuca in Arizona to finally dismiss, after 51 pretrial motions, the charges against a Private Adam Wall for disrespect to an officer. Wall was so pleased with the outcome, and still so upset at the military, that he responded by making "a decidedly obscene gesture at the entire tribunal." Wall was immediately rearrested on the same charge, "but has remained undaunted".[125]
Launched in June 1969, the GI Press Service newsletter was designed to be a central source of information and coordination for the GI movement. It was created by the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (SMC), which was one of the earliest organizations to recognize the significance of the budding GI movement, and edited by ex Army Specialist 4 Allen Myers who had previously founded the Ultimate Weapon underground newspaper at Fort Dix in New Jersey. SMC was allied with the Young Socialist Alliance, the youth wing of the Socialist Workers Party (see below for more the SWP's role in the GI underground press). The GI Press Service lasted for a little over two years and played an important role during the early years of the GI press by supplying centralized information and press ready copy for the emerging newspapers and newsletters at military installations. They offered their material for a nominal fee ($1.00 per year) to all GI papers, to "be used with or without acknowledgment of the GI Press Service."[2]: 61 [126]: 482 [127]
The Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, antiwar underground press news service which sent out news bulletins, photographs, political cartoons and graphics to subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. The GI underground press often carried LNS material, which could be inserted "as is" or slightly modified into their publications, often adding a "touch of professionalism". The "Chain of Command" LNS graphic (shown here), must have struck a nerve among editors of the GI press as it appeared in a number of publications. It depicts the upper ranks of the military hierarchy—non-commissioned officers (NCOs), junior officers, and commanding officers—each kissing the ass of the rank above until they reach the top where the commanding officer is kissing a dollar bill held by an Uncle Sam-like hand. This particular version was carried in a 1972 issue of FTA at Fort Knox.
Another favorite, which also appeared in quite a few GI publications, was the "Don't Let This Happen..." political cartoon by LNS from December 1969 that you will find below in the section on Political Cartoons & Posters. This one shows six stages in the life a young man being drafted or recruited into the military. He starts out looking happy and carefree, moves into the military where he slowly becomes, at first unhappy, then angry and finally as a viscous fanged pig or hog. These cartoons were a favorite part of the GI press for many. Another significant LNS contribution to the GI press was a 1969 image by one of their photographers, David Fenton, who captured a sign hanging over the entrance to the Fort Dix stockade—"OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW IS FREEDOM". As Fenton described it years later this "Mussolini-like slogan" went viral all over the world. It received "so much attention that an embarrassed U.S. Army felt compelled" to take it down.[128][129][130][3]: 107–109 [131]
In the June 24, 1968 issue of New Left Notes, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) issued a resolution in support of GI organizing and in favor of initiating and supporting "activities directed toward creating a radical political consciousness among the members of the Armed Forces". Over the next few years numerous SDSers and ex-SDSers became involved in the GI movement and the GI press in various ways. The most influential of these contributions was probably Camp News created by the Chicago Area Military Project, an organization of ex-SDSers. CAMP started in early 1970 as a counseling service for resisting active-duty and AWOL soldiers and evolved into a clearing house for GI antiwar and resistance news, providing material for many GI newspapers. Cortright has called it one of "the most influential support groups of the GI movement". By 1971 it had replaced GI Press Service "as a world-wide GI-movement newsletter." Until the latter half of 1973 it "served as the most authoritative information source available on servicemen's dissent."[132][2]: 79 [133]
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and its youth group the Young Socialist Alliance YSA became involved very early in the GI resistance movement and with the GI press. Fred Halsted, the leader of the SWP during the Vietnam War, claims in his book "Out Now! - A Participant's Account of the American Movement Against the Vietnam War", that the YSA "was the only major radical youth group to consistently advocate work among GIs." It is true that most of the antiwar and radical forces in the early years of the war, prior to around 1968, focused mainly on broad antiwar work and draft resistance, whereas the YSA did have members entering the military. Halstead explained the YSA was opposed to the draft, but "YSAers did not advocate or engage in draft refusal...because they didn't think it was the most effective thing to do. To them it seemed that, in a choice between spending two years or so in jail or an indefinite time in exile as opposed to spending two years in the army talking to fellow GIs against the war, the army was politically the more effective choice." He went on to say that it was left up to the individual YSA member, but "with few exceptions YSAers who were drafted chose to enter the military." In the early days of the war, a drafted YSAer would show up for induction with an armload of antiwar literature and a number of antiwar supporters. The Army would draft them anyway, but as time went on began to rue that decision and started refusing to induct YSAers. This change of heart on the Army's part was, of course, because some of the early GIs public resisters were YSAers. For example, Joe Miles, a Black activist from Washington, DC, was a member of the YSA before he got drafted in 1968. He went into the Army as an organizer against the war and racism, where as described above, he started playing Malcolm X tapes in the barracks and ended up causing no end of trouble for the Army. He helped create chapters of GIs United at three different bases, Fort Jackson, Fort Bragg and Fort Richardson, and at each base he helped create the underground newspapers The Short Times, Bragg Briefs and Anchorage Troop. YSA members had a hand in a number of other GI publications, including G.I. Voice (the one out of New York City area), The GI Organizer, New Salute, The Oppressed, The Pawn, Open Ranks, Aboveground, The Retaliation, Star Spangled Bummer and The Twin Cities Protester.[126]: 173, 453–5
The Progressive Labor Party's (PLP) role in the GI movement and press started very early but a bit accidentally. Their approach had been to fight against induction into the military, but the 1966 drafting of PLP member Dennis Davis turned that around. Davis showed up at the induction center armed with leaflets, announced he was a communist, railed against the "imperialist war in Vietnam", and proceeded to disrupt his medical physical. To his complete surprise, "the sons of bitches still took me!" He reported back to his organization and asked, "What do you think I ought to do now?" Apparently, prior to that point, no one from PLP had been accepted by the military, but his induction started a seven-year PLP organizing effort inside the Army.[18] As discussed above, Davis was the first editor of Last Harass, one of the more influential of the GI papers. Other paper with PLP support or influence included Fragging Action, EM-16, Open Sights, FighT bAck (in West Germany) and GI's Fight Back. They also covered the GI movement fairly frequently in their regular party press, Challenge and Challenge Bulletin. In West Germany, PLP was involved in a major showdown between GIs and the Army over a 1973 U.S. Army in Europe order authorizing strip searches, body cavity searches, unannounced 24-hour inspections, and the use of dogs in no-knock room searches, as well as the banning of anti-establishment or drug-related songs and posters; all in a crack down on suspected drug use. These policies backfired leading to a "resurgence of GI resistance" and legal battle against the Army led by a GI support group and the Lawyers Military Defense Committee which resulted in a judges order that most of the program be terminated.[2]: 144 Even with the victory, however, much of the staff of FighT bAck, including several PLPers, were shipped to other areas.[18]
One of the main campaigns PLP promoted during their work in the GI movement was the defense of Billy Dean Smith. Smith was an Army Private E-2 charged with tossing a grenade into an officers quarters at Bien Hoa Army Airfield on 15 March 1971, killing two officers in the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As the facts of the case emerged, however, it seemed someone else had thrown the grenade and the only evidence against Smith was a grenade pin which it turned out had come from a different type of grenade. Smith's defenders charged the Army with prosecuting him because he had been organizing within the Army "against his racist CO and the Army's being in Nam." Numerous antiwar, GI and veterans groups came to Smith's defense and he was, in fact, acquitted at a court martial in November 1972. PLP wrote in a 1975 summary of their GI work, "In every post throughout the world where we had cadre, leaflets, petitions and demonstrations appeared. In every united front from the GI Alliance in D.C., to the Ft. Devens United Front, to the FighT bAck organization in Germany, to the Ft. Hood United Front, and many others, PLP raised the fight for Smith's life as a life and death matter for all of us."[18][134]: 89–93, 51–57 [135]
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