What is Veterans For Peace?

Riverside San Bernardino Veterans for Peace (VFP), Jon Castro Chapter 19 was founded in 2005 by a Tom Swann, a disabled marine from Cathedral City, Ca. VFP 19 is comprised of veterans and associate members from San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, and is an active organization whose main mission is that of working together for peace through non-violence.

VFP Chapter 19 is a member of the national organization, Veterans for Peace, founded in 1985. VFP is structured around a national office in Saint Louis, MO and comprised of members across the country organized in chapters or as at-large members.

There is an annual convention each year attended by our members, families and supporters from across the nation. Members receive periodic VFP publications.

The organization includes men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations including from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), World War II, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf and current Iraq wars as well as other conflicts.

Our collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary.

Veterans For Peace is an official Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) represented at the UN.

Whether or not you wish to participate in chapter activities, please consider becoming a Veterans For Peace member. As an organization, we are what our members and supporters make us. You can be part of that effort. Help us put an end to war.

We draw on our personal experiences and perspectives gained as veterans to raise public awareness of the true costs and consequences of militarism and war - and to seek peaceful, effective alternatives.

Some major areas of concern and involvement are:

WAR IN IRAQ:
When our government threatened invasion, we conducted public forums, met with elected representatives and participated in marches to express our opposition. As the war began, we gathered in Washington, DC, with other veterans groups for Operation Dire Distress. Since then, we joined together with Military Families Speak Out and others in the Bring Them Home Now campaign and supported recently returned vets who formed the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Local chapters continue to conduct educational forums, demonstrations and ongoing Iraq memorial displays, such as Arlington West, to remember the growing human cost of the war, to end the occupation and to bring our troops home now!

AND AT HOME:
Members and chapters actively participate in efforts to save VA healthcare and defend of veterans’ rights; to protect our civil liberties threatened by the “Patriot Act” and other repressive legislation; to provide counseling through the GI Rights Hotline to active duty military needing assistance; and providing alternative information to counter military recruiters in the schools.