(From Left) Jimmy Massey and Suzan Sanal
Picture by Maggie Astor (copyright)
After months of work raising money, finding speakers, preparing the logistics and doing outreach, the Marching Home Conference began. It was immediately apparent that this event was different from any other event Rutgers Against the War (RAW) had ever organized. Shortly before the event, RAW was notified that Amy Goodman had developed bells palsy. Yet even without her, the initial speaker, Iraq War veteran and former military recruiter Jimmy Massey, drew over 125 people as well as the press.
Though the event was largely attended and publicized in various press outlets, the Friday presentation was only the precursor for the conference. Throughout the conference, community activist, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, Campus Antiwar Network members (UPenn, Cornell, NYU, Columbia, CCNY, and The College of New Jersey) as well as SDS students from Delaware converged on New Brunswick.
On Saturday morning a plenary convened a ceremony to remember Dave Cline. In front of a display of pictures, a helmet and an m16, two members of Veterans for Peace spoke about their involvement with Dave. They stressed his participation in forming Vietnam Veterans Against the War and brought up the fact that Charlie Sheen’s character in Platoon was based on Dave. The inspirational message of veterans who brought an end to a war resonated with the crowd and brought a segue into the panel.
Titled “A discussion of the Iraq War Inside the Military”, the panel included Iraq War Veterans Liam Madden and Logan Laituri, as well as Retired Colonel Ann Wright. It was moderated by Iraq War veteran Patrick Resta. They talked about the horror that they witnessed in Iraq, the hardship of veterans speaking out, and the difficulty of adjusting to life back in the United States.
(from Left)Liam Madden, Patrick Resta,
Logan Laituri, Ann Wright
Picture by Keith Krebs (copyright)
At 11:30, the workshops commenced:
THE HUMANITARIAN COSTS IN IRAQ with Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, Iraqi-American doctor who testified before Congress on conditions inside Iraq.
Dahlia Wasfi - Picture by Keith Krebs (copyright)
NAVIGATING THE VA: HOW TO GET WHAT YOU DESERVE. with Bill Perry, Vietnam War Combat Veteran, Delaware Valley Veterans for America.
COMING HOME: TRANSITION AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER with Iraq War Veteran Patrick Resta, nationally certified vet services officer from After the War, Inc.
EFFECTS OF DEPLETED URANIUM EXPOSURE with Dr. Thomas Fasy, a pathologist at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and an expert on depleted uranium.
MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND YOUTH with Oskar Castro, American Friends Service Committee Coordinator of Militarism and Youth and Sue Niederer, Gold Star Families Speak Out and mother of US Army 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, a 2002 graduated from Rutgers with a degree in criminal justice, who was killed In Iraq in 2004.
(From Left) Oskar Castro and Sue Niederer - Picture by Maggie Astor (copyright)
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE WAR with Larry Hamm from People's Organization for Progress in Newark.
GI RESISTANCE IN VIETNAM with Richard Moser, author of The New Winter Soldiers: GI and Veteran Dissent during the Vietnam Era and, Greg Payton, Vietnam veteran and international peace and comunity activist.
(from left) Greg Payton and Rich Moser
Picture by Keith Krebs (Copyright)
CONSCIENCIOUS OBJECTION with Logan Laituri, Iraq War veteran, conscientious objector, and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War
WOMEN IN THE MILITARY with U.S. Army Colonel Janis Karpinski, the former head of Abu Ghraib Prison and retired US Army Reserve Colonel Ann Wright. (Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5100449571583041948&q=janis+karpinski+marching+home&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0)
HIGH SCHOOLS AND MILITARY RECRUITMENT with Maggie Astor, Counter-recruitment Coordinator of New Jersey Peace Action.
RACE AND THE MILITARY with Margaret Stevens, Army veteran and representative of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
COLLEGE CAMPUSES AND MILITARY RECRUITMENT with Ian Chinich and Justino Rodriguez of Campus Antiwar Network. 
OUTREACH TO SOLDIERS with Tod Ensign, director of Citizen Soldier, Liam Madden, co-founder of Appeal for Redress, and Ellen Whitt, Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War.
Liam Madden
Picture by Keith Krebs (copyright)
WAR TAX RESISTANCE with Bryan Nelson, war tax resister, Ed Hedeman, author of War Tax Resistance, and Ruth Benn, National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.
PROTEST AND STUDENT RIGHTS with Steven Latimer, attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union
MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT with Kay Jones and Anna Berlinrut of Military Families Speak Out
The NJ chapter of Veterans for Peace held their state-wide meeting while the rest of the participants adjourned to dinner.
Once the participants had returned from dinner networking, they were treated to a political concert comprising Remo Concious, Evan Greer, and Son of Nun. The concert brought out many additional Rutgers students who had not participated in the conference and who were called to action by the artists. Many of the new concert goers threw up their fists in solidarity and student power while singing along to “Hey FEMA, FUCK YOU!” and “Free Free Palestine!” The party that followed drew many non-activist students into political discussions and networking. Several New Brunswick veterans spoke about forming a chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
On Sunday, over 70 Vets, Students, and Community members gathered in the Graduate Students Lounge to strategize on a way forward. The session was led by a veteran and a member of Rutgers Against the War/ Campus Antiwar Network. It produced strategies for helping the GI antiwar/resistance movement as well as strategies for building the student antiwar movement. Civil disobedience was also talked about at some length with much agreement over the potential of its future use.
IVAW bus parked at Rutgers - Picture taken by Elena Callahan
"Marching Home" was the first time that a weekend long conference had been dedicated by student and community members purely to the growth of the veterans movement. Conference organizers remain confident that this movement will grow larger and eventually put an end to the wars being fought as well as the culture of war.
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