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Since apparently I come off as anti veterans taking part in the revolutionary movement, which I am not, here is a short thread of suggestions for how vets can put their skills and proximity to the empire to good use:
1) Deprogram:
You joined an institution that specializes in invading countries and murdering whole families for resources. Cut the entitlement shit! No one owes you anything. Doesn’t matter what you did or what your job was, you were a trader and your hands are dirty. Period!
You joined an institution that specializes in invading countries and murdering whole families for resources. Cut the entitlement shit! No one owes you anything. Doesn’t matter what you did or what your job was, you were a trader and your hands are dirty. Period!
As a vet, you have to come to revolution, not as an opportunity to redeem yourself or to right the wrongs you have taken part in. That is all in the past and heroic bullshit. In no way are you “owed” sympathy or space in an organization.
Instead, you want to join the revolution because you want to serve the people, you want to liberate the people. This makes the people your commander and chief.
You have to understand this for any decent cadre to even begin taking you seriously.
You have to understand this for any decent cadre to even begin taking you seriously.
2) Counter recruitment:
instead of arguing that comrades should accept you into the revolutionary movement, begin funneling people away from or out of the war machine and into the movement. This is in fact one skill y’all vets certainly have that the rest of us do not.
instead of arguing that comrades should accept you into the revolutionary movement, begin funneling people away from or out of the war machine and into the movement. This is in fact one skill y’all vets certainly have that the rest of us do not.
It is not in our skill set nor is it our obligation to do this sort of work. Our job is to prepare people to do battle with the Pig Empire’s army. To ask the people to also capitulate for the “poor vet” is counter productive.
3) Arms Training:
Most revolutionaries that are worth their salt aren’t going to need basic fire arms training. We have a pretty extensive firearms culture here in the US, and leftists everywhere are putting copper down the range.
Most revolutionaries that are worth their salt aren’t going to need basic fire arms training. We have a pretty extensive firearms culture here in the US, and leftists everywhere are putting copper down the range.
Still, our culture is highly individualistic, so many comrades will have trouble with developing and training squads that work synergistically in war-like conditions
Helping cadre establish squads and developing drills to build team work and get people use to working together under stressful, and life threatening conditions is very important and necessary work. This includes information and training on non-combative roles.
Tactical Development:
This I think is one of the things the US left is least prepared for. Many of us understand the history of successful revolutions, but admittedly here will be very different.
This I think is one of the things the US left is least prepared for. Many of us understand the history of successful revolutions, but admittedly here will be very different.
Communist warfare was often implement against a foreign imperialist power and conducted through rural guerrilla warfare. Here we would be fighting a domestic power likely in the urban centers of development. A very different situation.
Those with bourgeoisie military experience can help graft out the tactics a bourgeoisie military may use, help predict their responses, and develop general strategy per specific environmental conditions.
