An interview with a Vietnam draft resister Chris Faiers.

1) At the time did you clearly understand the Vietnam conflict? How did the
media portray the issue?

I feel I had a fairly clear understanding of the issues. I'm 54 years old now, & I'm
remembering back almost 35 years, from when I was 19 to 21, but I'll try my best
to be as accurate & nonrevisionist as possible with my answers :)

At first there was little media coverage, but as the war escalated in '67 & peaked
in '68-'69, the coverage increased dramatically. The main source of info to me was
newsmagazines like "Newsweek" & "Time". My memories are that these mags
gave a fairly objective overview of the war.

2) What was your reaction to the draft and the possibility of being drafted?
Where were you? How did you view your future?

I was living in Miami, Florida. I was attending community college for 2½ years,
& then a semester at The University of Miami.

Much of the time I was scared shitless. I don't remember thinking much more than
a week or so ahead. The prospect of becoming forcibly involved in the murder &
mayhem precluded long range planning :)

3) How did you avoid being drafted?

In June of 1969 I received 3 draft notices in a week, & it was time to decide. Until
then I had managed to appeal numerous draft notices for several years thru my
student deferment. My situation is somewhat unique (as was everyone else's, I
guess) in that I'm a Canadian national by birth. I was still eligible for the draft as a
"resident alien".

When I received the 3 draft notices in a week, & the draft board (in Atlanta,
Georgia, where I had lived just prior to moving to Miami) took away my student
deferment, my parents suggested I go to live in England with my cousin.

4) Was there an incident or factor that cemented your objection to the war?

The image that stays in my mind to this day is that of the Buddhist monks who
were committing suicide by setting themselves on fire to protest their country's
invasion. In a corner of my mind there is always a saffron-robed monk making the
strongest protest statement possible - his self immolation. That a human being
could believe so strongly in his cause, and choose to take his own life as the
ultimate form of passive resistance, was a deciding factor.

5) Did your feelings (or the feelings of those around you) change as the
Vietnam War progressed?

I lived on Key Biscayne, an idyllic suburban island community about five miles
off the coast of Miami. So far as I know, I was the first KB objector to the war. At
about the age of 19 I actively campaigned for Eugene McCarthy for president, & I
don't believe he received one vote in the Key Biscayne riding.

I remember attending a peace demonstration on Flagler Street (Miami's main

drag) across from the downtown library (1968?). There were about 10 or 15 of us
at this first demo, and all of us were teens or early 20s at the oldest. Miami was, &
is, an exceptionally reactionary city, & the anti-war movement, like many other
cultural events of the time, was slow in arriving & being accepted in Miami.

6) What was your stance on war before you were threatened with being
drafted?

When I graduated from high school in 1966, I was a naive 17-year-old. No

awareness that I can recall of the war in Vietnam, except for a terrible song played
on top 40 radio, "The Ballad of the Green Berets". I registered with the draft
board in Atlanta a month after graduation on my 18th birthday, & then we moved
to Miami. Quite soon after we moved I remember having to apply for my student
deferment, & that's when I became aware of the war.

7) Did you feel unpatriotic for not supporting the war? How did the war
affect your view of the U.S. Government?

I was a Canadian by birth, altho I had lived in the US from second grade, age 7.
At first I had somewhat bought into all the usual American patriotism (pledging
allegiance every day for 11 years has some effect on you).How did the war affect
your view of the U.S. Government? When I realized what was going on I was
appalled.

8) What first made you consider leaving the United States?

The more I studied the war thu books and the media, contacted anti-war groups
like The Friends Service Committee & read "underground" newspapers like "The
Village Voice" in the college library, the more I knew I was not going to fight this
war, whatever the cost.

9) Were you involved in any war protests or protest groups?

Yes, I was one of the first anti-war protesters in Miami (see library demo above).
I also started publishing my own version of an underground newspaper, a
mimeographed couple of pages creatively called "Papers". I distributed "Papers"
at my community college, & perhaps more importantly, at local high schools. I
was also one of the leaders at community college who formed an anti-war activist
group called the Student Action Committee (a play on that other acronmym, the
strategic air command).

10) Do you believe that your life would have been different had the draft not
happened?

Of course :)

Who knows what would have happened ... e.g.) career choices - I remember
thinking on one evening walk that I would become a teacher after I graduated
from college/university... job opportunities...

If you skim thru my memoir, "Eel Pie Dharma", you'll get an overview of how
disenfranchised my life became. I went from living the life of a middle-class
college kid to a longhaired hippie living in an abandoned hotel. Not many career
choices there - I became a cemetery worker & gravedigger for a year, a hotel
worker for 6 months, etc. Even on my return to Canada, I was so destabilized &
confused & generally such a hippie outcast that regular employment was not a
serious option for many years. Last summer I read Jack Todd's "The Taste of
Metal: a Deserter's Story" & it was interesting that he experienced many of the
same problems I did regarding employment (& lack thereof).

11) Do you regret any of the choices you made during the Vietnam War
period?

No. It's the first or second thing in my life I'm most proud of! I learned most
people are sheep - that they don't think for themselves, and that when the chips
are down, you really can't depend on many people in life, including your own
family :(

That we each have to make choices, regardless of what everyone else is doing. It
gave me an understanding of how the German people supported Hitler during
WW2, altho finally enough of the american public awoke sufficiently to protest &
stop the war.

12) Is there anything you would like to change/clarify about how the Vietnam
War is viewed/interpreted today?

The US is rapidly becoming the "New Rome", the centre of empire, and as the
rulers of the world, they are the current arbiters of much world opinion. I believe
that many US leaders from that time should be tried in the World Court for war
crimes.

Also I find the Vietnam War Memorial a "brilliant" case of rewriting history.
Soldiers who many consider war criminals, now have their own memorial.
Bizarre.

13) Was there a particular author you admired that supported your anti-war
views? If so, how did that person influence/guide your thoughts?

Oh, my aging memory : ) I remember reading Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and also
several other important, academically accepted books at the time which were
strongly opposed to the war. I also met (very briefly) Dr. Spock, the child
psychologist, who was against the war. & I heard Muhammed Ali speak in a
forum at The University of Miami. In the same series of forums I heard Dr. Fritz
Perls, the gestalt guru.

Perhaps the author who most influenced me was Henry David Thoreau, in his
essay, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience".

Also the Black Panther movement was speaking out against 'black people killing
yellow people for the white people'.

Perhaps the most important anti-war messages were the songs on the radio. First
the "underground" stations played stuff, but pretty quickly it all became
mainstream. & THE BEATLES! John Lennon. George Harrison. Bob Dylan -
"Masters of War", "Blowin' in the Wind", Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Arlo
Guthrie, son of folk singer icon Woody. HENDRIX! Every pop radio station was
playing music that was either consciously or indirectly promoting the peace
movement.

Source: http://www.eelpie.org/cricket/vietnam.htm