Well, I got to the District about 11:10 am and met Matthew Hogan outside B. Dalton's at Union Station. We talked for about 45 minutes or so and I headed out into the fray with plans to meet up with him again in Jim Henley's group. I was looking forward to seeing Henley's sign – "Peace Now, Socialism Never". Considering all the socialist workers, etc. signs floating around I needed a little visual libertarianism. The first stop for me, however, was to make my way to the stage to meet up with a producer from Free Speech TV. It went well, about a minute and a half. I was paired up with David Cline of Veterans Against The Iraq War and Veterans for Peace for the interview. The producer was looking for the perspectives of a Vietnam vet and and Iraq vet. I would have liked to get into more political issues concerning the war, but the interview was fairly short and the reporter didn't venture that direction.
David Cline served in Vietnam in 1967 as a rifleman with the 25th Infantry Division. He was awarded three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, CIB, along with other medals and is disabled from the wounds he received. He has been involved in numerous veterans, peace, labor, and community issues for much of his adult life. Currently he is the president of Veterans For Peace and a national coordinator of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He is a former officer of Transport Workers Union Local 1400 and president of the Jersey City Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee.
Cline was a pretty interesting guy and I enjoyed getting to know him a little. After talking with David, I ended up marching with the Veterans for Peace contingent which walked just short of the Navy Yard, settling on a grassy area a few blocks away. David was leading cadence through a bullhorn for most of the march. As Max mentioned, in his account of the day, the Veterans for Peace contingent was really working the chickenhawk angle. My favorite sign was a giant blowup photo of Cheney smirking with a caption something to the effect of: "Never Served." (Matthew Hogan had a sign that said "Draft Richard Perle", which drew a few reactions and questions while we were hanging out like Jay and Silent Bob in front of the B. Dalton's.) There were a lot of Vietnam vets in the contingent, some Korean and I'm sure at least one WWWII vet present, the founders of Military Families Speak Out and at least a few Gulf War One vets, myself included. I heard that Eric Gustafson of Veterans for Common Sense was around somewhere, but I didn't run into him.
After all is said and done, I'm glad I showed up. Getting to hang with some fellow vets for an afternoon is something I don't get to do very often. Although I did want to meet up with the libertarian contingent as well, alas, I can't be two places at once. There's always next time though.
Max Sawicky's account of the protest is available here and Jim Henley's account is available here.
Update – Media Coverage:
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This entry also posted at Stand Down.