I Wonder

Posted by Peace Vet at 5:57 PM

Several years ago a radical vet friend of mine burned a cassette of 60's music I'd given him years before that onto a CD. The artwork on the CD shows a picture of me placing a "Body Bag" on a row of concertina wire at the CNWS in California. I was there with thousands of others to protest the shipment of weapons to Central America. Behind that wire was a row of US Marines whose purpose was to prevent thousands of protesters from getting onto the base or "hijacking" a weapons train.

I'll remember the looks on the faces of those GI's for as long as I live. Dozens of vets were challenging them as to where the weapons they were guarding were going, who they were supporting, and who those weapons would kill and mutilate. We got sneers of hatred from some but many of those GI's winked and and gave gestures of support.

I never got the chance to talk to any of those Marines one on one but I often wonder what they thought when Brian Wilson lost his legs to one of those trains. I know the majority of them have been out of the service for years but I wonder if they remember those days at Concord as I do.

I know I've changed young peoples minds. I've had more than a few folks say that hearing me speak in a classroom or on their campus changed their politics or made them rethink joining the military.

I'd like to think that a few of those Marines, vets now, who see this war/occupation for what it is will be in the streets this weekend. And that they'll be there because one of the vets on the other side of the wire years ago said something that struck a nerve, and that their speaking out today can do the same.

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