Library - Reading Room
Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
Brass Grant Right To Distribute GI Paper
On July 1, I submitted to the post commander of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, a disposition form requesting distribution rights on post for an underground paper I was connected with, the Huachuca Hard Times. In order to cover myself because I had admitted responsibility for the paper, I denied any connection with previous is- sues of it. (Somehow those previous issues had appeared overnight all over post. ) In the event that the post commander denied my request, I also stated that my association with the paper was with those issues approved for distribution only.
The post commander, General Litz, when confronted with this request and the DA's “Guidance on Dissent,”(see last two issues of the GI Press Service -ed.) was forced to capitulate. However, when he gave me permission to distribute on post, he stated I was to stand in my company parking lot, and could give issues of my paper only to those who specifically asked for it. This was to take place on July 12.
On July 11, I was separated from the service one day before my normal ETS. I received tremendous assistance from my first sergeant and others to enable me to leave post as soon as possible. But my associate in the production of the paper has promised to resubmit for distribution rights under his name. We are confident that the Huachuca Hard Times will soon be distributed legally on post; my associate doesn't ETS for 8 months.
Receiving permission to distribute legally on post is an important precedent in the fight for GI rights. If followed elsewhere, this means GI papers will be able to reach a much larger section of the GI population. The GI reader will become much more aware of what his role in an imperialistic society is. And what he can do to achieve peace in our world. After all, who has a better right to demand peace. than those supposedly fighting for it?
GI Press Service, vol. 1, no. 4