For two hours Friday evening, September 26th about 30 people met at Powderhorn Park Community Center in Minneapolis to hear military men and women share their perspectives on the U.S. military presence at various countries around the world.

When I read the description of the meeting in the St. Joan's Sunday Bulletin I expected to hear a panel of veterans or active military people discussing their experiences during a conflict. I particularly expected to hear about the current occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces. The evening was focused on Iraq but it was not the panel presentation that I expected.

To my surprise and delight, it was better then I expected! I did not expect that everyone attending the event would be expected to contribute!

The event was organized by the local chapter of Veterans for Peace. The facilitator was Chante Wolf of Veterans for Peace.

As I entered the room, I noticed all the chairs in the room were in a circle. An unlit candle and a set of matches was in the center. Hmmm. There was a long table against the windows. My first thought was: the room was setup this way earlier. They will take the circle apart, line the chairs in rows facing the table and the panel will sit behind the table. Nope. The circle remained and the long table was commandeered by a gentleman from Mayday Books. He set out a selection of books for purchase from Mayday's collection. It included books by Noam Chomsky and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.

While I waited for the evening to unfold, I conversed with a couple of parishioners from Joan of Arc. There were at least 6 people from Joan of Arc in attendance. I've noticed that Joan of Arc members always proudly identify themselves as such!

Chante Wolf got us started by saying we will go around the circle and please tell us why you are here, if you are a veteran, if you have a particular experience/concern of war to share. If you are holding the talking stick (a small polished part of a deer antler with a hole drilled through it, through the hole was a strip of hide with a feather on each end) it is your turn to share.

Over the next 2 hours we passed the talking stick around the room. I thought, cynically, this will either be really interesting, or really boring. It was really interesting. In fact, the time flew. Before I knew it, Chante was thanking us for coming and saying she was really happy so many showed up and Vets for Peace would try to organize more gatherings like this.

I barely know how to begin to describe it. Everyone in the circle was the same (in that they were generally opposed to war) but everyone's story was so different. Here's a small list of some of the people who were there:

There were a couple of stories that really stood out.

A member of the National Guard who has several family members currently serving in Iraq says her Father is an Engineer who was supposed to retire several months ago. Instead, he is not being allowed to retire. He is supposed to be building/repairing structures destroyed in Iraq. He is not doing any constructing. He is sitting around, bored and not sure why he is really there. The family is not getting any information from official military channels. Their best source of information is the letters home. The letters home are uncensored. The information the families receive from the press or the official military liaisons are uninformative. It's possible the press and the military liaisons are either censored or they are kept uninformed. She read a letter from her Father and from another officer in Iraq.

A veteran of Gulf War I (in the early 90's) has terrifying nightmares, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is pretty sure he has Gulf War Syndrome because he knows he was exposed to sarin but he can't get anyone to acknowledge that maybe he does and he sounds very wary of submitting himself to the military health system to be tested. He is not sure of their motives or if they really care about helping him.

Another veteran of Gulf War I also has terrifying nightmares, relives combat experiences (sounds, green night vision the whole thing) and sees death alongside her during her dreams. Death is a shadowy figure with orange eyes. It was interesting to watch the Vietnam vets while she was telling her story. One of them looked like he was ready to run out of the room. Her story must have resonated with his experiences in Vietnam.

Despite the opposition to war, no one said they did not support the men and women in the military. The real problem is the leadership in Washington.

Towards the end of the evening, Chante lit the candle in the middle of the circle and said: "For those dead and those who will be (and there will be more)"

For more information:

Veterans for Peace-Local Chapter
Chapter 27, Minnesota
Sabathani Community Center
310 E 38th St. #224A
Minneapolis MN 55409
(612) 821-9141
They have just started a website at: www.TwinCitiesVFP.org

Janice LaDuke was baptized at St. Joan of Arc but her parents left St. Joan's in the early 70's and went to a "less radical" Catholic church instead. She's very glad to have found her way back to St. Joan's in 1994!! Janice is a librarian by profession and has been working in the library of a healthcare consulting firm since 1997. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to all kinds of music and working on her home near Como Lake in St. Paul. Janice is also Echo Thoren's assistant every Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. service.
Veterans for Peace-National Office
World Community Center
438 North Skinner
St. Louis MO 63130
Ph: (314) 725-6005
Fax: (314) 725-7103
Email: vfp@igc.org
Website: www.veteransforpeace.org
Nancy Lynch says, "Joy is being a wife, Mom of fourteen, eight with varying disabilities and living at home, Grandma of thirteen, and Great Grandma of three. Serenity is listening and watching the ocean, alone, at our home on Maui. Passion is friends, photography, reading, swimming and children.


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