The Underground GI Press
As I read through the chapters of People’s Movements, People’s Press by Bob Ostertag, the section that peaked my interest was the selection about Jeff Sharlet and his paper called Vietnam GI.
Sharlet served two tours in Vietnam where he learned Vietnamese and worked in army intelligence. Upon returning to the U.S. he enrolled in College and joined the Students for a Democratic Society where he soon became the chair. It didn’t take long for Sharlet to be- come disenchanted with the group due to their "shallowness and snotty attitude." Rather than staying at a place where he didn’t "fit in," he returned to school for just one day, long enough to collect his scholarship check. Sharlet then used that check to launch his new venture.
Sharlet served two tours in Vietnam where he learned Vietnamese and worked in army intelligence. Upon returning to the U.S. he enrolled in College and joined the Students for a Democratic Society where he soon became the chair. It didn’t take long for Sharlet to be- come disenchanted with the group due to their "shallowness and snotty attitude." Rather than staying at a place where he didn’t "fit in," he returned to school for just one day, long enough to collect his scholarship check. Sharlet then used that check to launch his new venture.
The Vietnam GI immediately set itself above the rest of the underground newspapers. Instead of printing a newspaper for the populace in the U.S., Sharlet’s newspaper was printed for the GI’s still fighting in Vietnam. As I read through the different snippets of the newspaper that were included in the book, I found myself listening to an actual soldier talking about the war. Gone were the normal slogans you would expect to hear "Make love, not war" "Drop Acid, Not Bombs." The Vietnam GI printed honest insights from people that were in the middle of the conflict. Sharlet, having gone through the same experiences knew how they felt and it showed in his editor comments. (Which you can check out on page 129)
Jeff Sharlet passed away on June 16, 1969 and the Vietnam GI published the last issue in 1970. It makes you wonder, if Sharlet hadn’t passed away would the Iraqi GI be in print today.
Side note: I did a search to see if I could find an old issue of the Vietnam GI to see what the whole newspaper looked like. The only thing I could find was some microfiche copies on the Oregon State University site. I was disappointed to say the least. But I did find some information about the movie "Sir, No Sir" which is about the underground GI movement in this era.
Jeff Sharlet passed away on June 16, 1969 and the Vietnam GI published the last issue in 1970. It makes you wonder, if Sharlet hadn’t passed away would the Iraqi GI be in print today.
Side note: I did a search to see if I could find an old issue of the Vietnam GI to see what the whole newspaper looked like. The only thing I could find was some microfiche copies on the Oregon State University site. I was disappointed to say the least. But I did find some information about the movie "Sir, No Sir" which is about the underground GI movement in this era.
Above photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sharlet_and_Vietnam_GI
3 comments:
Good summary of the GI press section.
I would add more analysis next time. State your opinions on the issues in the text, not just the text itself. Nice to see you added personal research into it. I'll considering do this myself next time.
Also, the correct word is piqued not peaked.
I appreciate your summary of the text, as well as the additional research regarding the Vietnam GI press and the movie 'Sir, No Sir'.
I agree with Pat, I would love to hear more of your opinions regarding the GI Press as well as your thoughts on the influence/power of Journalism within the Movement.
After reading your post I feel we came away with a similar appreciation for Ostertag's involvement of people within the press. I now feel a passion for movements I had previously only looked at as an influence for 'Movements today'.
I like that you included a picture with your post, it sparked my interest and placed a face to the story. The post now mirrors that of a Journal article, which may I say, is very effective.
This is my scan of the June 1968 issue of Vietnam GI:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?0ffwf3dzh3u
You'll need a program like CDisplayEx or Gonvisor, free and readily available to view the file which just a collection of .jpegs.
Thanks for your blog, it gave me a starting point for finding out a bit about the paper.
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