GI Underground Press
The GI Underground Press was an underground press movement that emerged among the United States military during the Vietnam War. These were newspapers and newsletters produced without official military approval or acceptance; often furtively distributed under the eyes of "the brass". They were overwhelmingly antiwar and most were anti-military, which tended to infuriate the military command and often resulted in swift retaliation and punishment. Mainly written by rank-and-file active duty or recently discharged GIs, AWOLs and deserters, these publications were intended for their peers and spoke the language and aired the complaints of their audience. They became an integral and powerful element of the larger antiwar, radical and revolutionary movements during those years. This is a history largely ignored and even hidden in the retelling of the U.S. military's role in the Vietnam War.
Background
During the Vietnam War an unprecedented flowering of underground newspapers occurred throughout the U.S. and internationally. They became key platforms for antiwar, civil rights, black power and anti-establishment sentiment and politics at a time when the more established press would rarely carry these messages. During the same period, U.S. soldiers turned against the war and the military in increasing numbers and began producing their own underground press. In March 1969 the four U.S. military branches told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee they had counted over 40,000 desertions during the 1967 fiscal year and over 53,000 in 1968. A 1971, then classified, internal report commissioned by the Pentagon reported that 58 percent of the Army enlisted men surveyed "cited the Vietnam War as the major cause of their dissident activities," with 38 percent complaining about "the way the Army treats the individual." Several military specialists were also sounding the alarm and warning about the possible collapse of the U.S. Armed Forces. In 1969 this phenomenon had become so evident it prompted the New York Times to comment, "a startling number of servicemen – some so sophisticated that they cite the Nuremberg trials as their guide – have decided to do their own thinking."Inspired in part by some of the early and more well-known of the civilian underground papers, like the Los Angeles Free Press and the Berkeley Barb, which started in 1964 and 1965 respectively, the GI versions began to emerge shortly thereafter.
Creative and rebellious
The paper's creative and expressive names captured the disgruntled and rebellious GI attitudes of the times. They expressed emotions ranging from the slightly depressed Marine Blues, to the unhappy Fed Up at Fort Lewis, to the miserable A Four-Year Bummer out of Chanute Air Force Base, and even to the nauseated Fort Polk Puke. Then there was the anti-patriotic Star-Spangled Bummer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the downright furious Fragging Action at Fort Dix, where fragging is the deliberate killing of fellow soldiers, usually officers, by other soldiersperhaps the most extreme form of antiwar or anti-military anger. Others expressed existential angst like Why in Okinawa or anxiety with Up-Tight at Fort Bliss, while one out of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard warned about the future with Calm Before The Storm. There were also quite a few funny names like, the Hunley Hemorrhoid on the, Air Fowl at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Stuffed Puffin at the Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland, Kitty Litter on the, Fat Albert's Death Ship Times at the Charleston Naval Base, Offul Times at Offutt Air Force Base, Cockroach at Minot Air Force Base, the Man Can't Win If Ya Grin in Okinawa, and the Chickenshit Weekly at Fort Bliss. Some turned military jargon against itself with names like Eyes Left at Travis Air Force Base, Left Face at Fort McClellan, Counter-Attack! at Fort Carson, All Hands Abandon Ship at the Newport Navy Base, About Face at Bergstrom Air Force Base, and Liberated Barracks in Hawaii. Not to mention Fun Travel Adventure or FTA at Fort Knox, which mocked an Army recruitment slogan and, more importantly for the soldiers, really meant "Fuck the Army".These papers were filled with advice and opinions for the unhappy and questioning GI, cartoons and articles that mocked and criticized the war and the military, made fun of lifers, the brass and pro-war politicians, exposed and condemned racism inside and outside the military, and contained information about where and how to protest, to get legal advice or to socialize with like minded GIs and civilians. Politically, the papers ran the gamut from liberal to revolutionary and from pacifist to turn-the-guns-around anger. There were papers for Black soldiers and sailors, for women in or connected to the military, and there was one known paper for Native American servicemen and women. There was even at least one rightwing unofficial paper. The New York Times described the best of them as "gabby, colorfully gripey, intelligently critical, and entertainingly scurrilous". Most of all, they were intended to connect the short-haired, often isolated GI to the larger worldwide counterculture, rebel movements and ethos of the times. What the military viewed as subversive and disloyal, many unhappy GIs saw as a lifeline. Nothing like this had ever happened before, nor since.
Distribution
Underground publications could be found almost everywhere U.S. troops set foot. The papers were in Quonset huts in Vietnam, onboard aircraft carriers at sea, inside military transport aircraft, and on every major U.S. military installation from Fort Hood, Texas to Kodiak, Alaska to Subic Bay, Philippians to the Campbell Barracks in Germany. There was even one in the Pentagon. Often the same dog-eared paper would be read by dozens of GIs as it passed hand to hand under the noses of the lifers and the brass. They were mailed around the world, including in bundles disguised "to look like 'care packages' from families or church groups back home", which were then passed out in mess halls, mailrooms and barracks. They were distributed at major transportation hubs, like bus and train stations, where GIs passed through, and in antiwar G.I. coffeehouses that spread during the war. In many ways these publications became the lifeblood of the growing GI movementthey allowed isolated unhappy GIs to know they were not alone and to connect with and spread a message they agreed with. Through the papers they could read about antiwar protests and fellow GIs speaking out and feel encouraged or inspired to resist the war and the military. One of the most popular sections of most papers were the letters from fellow GIs. Here GIs could gripe and tell stories to each other. One researcher has compared these GI letters to the online social media of today, and the reverse is also true; what can be found online today, was only available to GIs through their underground press.Frequency
Because of their underground existence, the difficulties surrounding their production and publication, and the typically swift retaliation by the military on the responsible GIs, not to mention ambiguity around the exact definition of a newspaper; the total count of GI underground newspapers and publications during the Vietnam War is a matter of much scholarly debate. Towards the end of 1970, A Four-Year Bummer out of Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois printed a map of the publications they were aware of. It shows 63 papers in the U.S. and Europe. In 1971, the Armed Forces Journal counted "some 144" and in March 1972 the Department of Defense estimated there had been 245 to date. David Cortright, the author of the authoritative book on the GI resistance to the Vietnam War, Soldiers in Revolt, says the total newspaper count is "near three hundred", while others say "over 250". The Mapping America Social Movement Project: Underground GI newspapers 1965-1975 at the University of Washington created by the pioneering and relentless historian of the GI underground press, James Lewes, counts 768 GI periodicals. Lewes spent decades traveling the world tracking down hard copies of every GI publication he could find. His list includes the GI underground publications from non-U.S. militaries. On the highest end, the Wisconsin Historical Society's GI Press Collection, 1964-1977 has digitized 2,437 separate printed items, but it includes numerous individual leaflets and brochures, as well as items created by civilian organizations and individuals.For this article, only underground newsletters and newspapers created during the Vietnam War are included, and only those from the following categories: by and for GIs, by and for AWOLs and deserters, and by and for veterans. And only those from the U.S. military worldwide, not other nations' militaries. Also included are a small number of draft resistance publications, if they did work with GIs. The accompanying table contains over 400 newspapers or newsletters which historians have been able to locate and document, and a few that have been reported by one or more reputable sources, even when there are no known existing copies. For many of the reasons discussed in this article, no small number of these appeared and survived for only one issue. The total number of GI publications, which includes one time pamphlets and leaflets, would climb well into the thousands, but, given their clandestine nature and the difficult circumstance under which they were produced and distributed, it is probably impossible to know for sure.