Scott Camil: A Winter Soldier Carries On | Web2Carz.

Great Article about our VFP coordinator, Scott Camil.  The article gives a good comprehensive history of Scot’s career as a Marine and a peace activist. It also illustrates Scott’s strength as a community organizer by combining an ability to bring many different people together with honest critical thinking about the problems we face.

The article quotes a Marine corps Fitness Report: Scott is praised for “his organizational skills, his fierce motivation, and his keen ability to instruct enlisted men and officers alike”.  These are skills those of us who work with Scott today are well aware of. In fact the article points out that
the military reviewers “couldn’t possibly have known that the 21-year-old sergeant would apply the same skills which made him a good marine to a tireless life of activism.”

The article turns around a reunion of Scot’s unit in Vietnam. Scott sums up their coming together in a very touching and hopeful way:

“What are amazing (about the people at the reunion) are the varying backgrounds, where we are politically, what we believe in and what we stand for is so different. But when we’re together, we’re fucking Marines first, Americans first, and the other bullshit doesn’t matter and that’s how our country should be.”

POWERFUL! This 52 Second Clip Will Produce A Lump In Your Throat – Democratic Underground.

Many of our soldiers serving Afghanistan today were Elementary school students when the War started.  What will our present day 8 and 9 year old children be doing in 10 more years?

Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu,known as the conscience of South Africa< Adolpho Perez Esquivel, a champion of nonviolent solutions in South America and Mairead Maguire who worked to end conflict in Northern Ireland all salute the efforts of Bradley Manning and Wiki leaks to inform citizens about violence that their governments try to hide from them and protest the inhumane treatment of Manning in military custody.

As people who have worked for decades against the increased militarization of societies and for international cooperation to end war, we are deeply dismayed by the treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning.
We have dedicated our lives to working for peace because we have seen the many faces of armed conflict and violence, and we understand that no matter the cause of war, civilians always bear the brunt of the cost. With today’s advanced military technology and the continued ability of business and political elites to filter what information is made public, there exists a great barrier to many citizens being fully aware of the realities and consequences of conflicts in which their country is engaged.

via Nobel Laureates Salute Bradley Manning | The Nation.

This reflects a Vietnam service memory that will always haunt me. We were visiting the Medi-vac. A young soldier was celebrating his 21st birthday. I, a 23 year old member of the air-force serving in Vietnam, watched the scene as the lights were dimmed and the nurse urged the young patient to blow out the candles. He hesitated as the candle light reflected off his bandaged face which had been erased by a land mine. That was Vietnam; Meet his present day counterpart from Iraq. I applaud his courageous and generous spirit. How much longer will this continue?

Cpl. Aaron Mankin (as seen on Maddow) at Iraq & Afghanistan Vet fundraiser – Democratic Underground.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten months into 2012, the number of suspected suicides by active-duty soldiers has surpassed last year’s total, even as the Pentagon struggles to stem the persistent problem.

According to the Army says there were 20 possible suicides in October, bringing the total for the year to 166 — one more than the total for 2011. The 20 suspected soldier suicides in October is also a spike, compared to 15 in September.

U.S. Army officials have been worried about the pace of suicides this year and were concerned the numbers would surge higher than last year despite efforts to increase programs and outreach. In late September, the Army ordered a service-wide "stand down" requiring soldiers to put aside their usual duties and spend time discussing suicide prevention, including how to identify signs of trouble with their comrades.

via Army suicides for 2012 surpass last year's numbers – Yahoo! News.

Rachel Maddow reports on How the VA hospital and the District VA offices in New York have been damaged and how Veterans have pitched in to help with the recovery efforts.   Inspirational! More information and links here on the Maddow blog and Happy Veterans Day or as it was in the Past Armistice Day celebrating Peace.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

2012 Solstice flyer-1

Memorial Mile is a recent event hosted by Chapter 14. The mile stretches down 8th Avenue in Gainesville and is a Memorial Day experience you don’t want to miss. the reality of War becomes a little more apparent as you pass row after row of the over 6000 tombstones that memorialize the US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition the 2011 Memorial shown here included a quilt display that remembered both American soldiers and civilians whose deaths vastly outnumber those of our military. Vets for peace honors and remembers these deaths along with our own, all victims of the same war

The photos are from 2011 because of the rain. I don’t have very many photos from 2012 when along with many families and citizens, our memorial was visited by a Tropical Storm. Anyone with photos please contact the webmaster at vfpgainesville@gmail.com. In order to fully experience this display you need to participate. VFP Gainesville will be looking for volunteers next Spring to do it all over again. We keep hoping we won’t have to put this up again but every year there are more deaths and every year more families visit the Memorial looking for thier own special tombstone and leaving the mementos you see in the slide show.