LOCAL MILITARY VETERANS WORKING for peace have started a local chapter of a national veterans’ organization, to work with other peace groups and begin their own initiatives. The new Central Virginia Veterans for Peace (VFP) is open to men and women veterans of U.S. military service who share the goals of the national VFP. Their mission statement calls on members to help increase public awareness of the costs of war, to restrain our government from improper intervention in other nations, to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons, to achieve justice for war victims and veterans, and to abolish war as a routine instrument of
national policy.

As a democratic organization, VFP includes mem-
bers with differing points of view, political interpre-
tations, and issue interests. Most members are not
pacifists, but all agree in general with the principles
of the national organization. Members are free to
participate in (and to decline to participate in) any
given peace project or event.

Partnerships with other peace groups
Central Virginia Veterans for Peace invites invita-
tions from other local peace organizations to attend
or cosponsor events, and is in the planning stages of
its own events. It will partici-
pate in this year’s Dogwood
Parade, as individual mem-
bers have before. VFP thinks
it is important that people
realize that not all veterans
support the war or support
militarism.

Know a peace-minded vet-
eran?
Please tell any veterans you
know about our organization.
Membership is simple, and the
organization is low maintenance.
Most current members served in
WWII, Viet Nam, or interwar periods. Younger vet-
erans are especially welcome. Non-veterans can join
as associates.

Contributions
Friends and supporters can make tax-deductable
contributions through the Virginia Organizing Proj-
ect.

Contacting VFP
Email is best sent to Stephen Sossaman (sossa-
man@hotmail.com [1]). While much of the local chap-
ter’s work will be done by email, they meet the
first Wednesday of each month at the downtown
Charlottesville Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.
The national organization’s website is www.veteransforpeace.org [2]