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Even as local groups ramp up for Saturday's peace rally marking the Iraq war's fifth anniversary, they're thinking about life after the war.
"What happens to us then?" asked John Schreck, administrator of Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice. "We haven't really thought much about that, but that's what we're looking at now. We're going to have to analyze our stand."
LCPJ has flourished since materializing in 2003 as a loosely woven association of groups opposed to the war. This year it will gain nonprofit, nontaxable status as a 501(c)(3) organization. It also just took up new digs in Building Character, an architectural salvage company at 342 N. Queen St. And a database is being developed to help keep the group's efforts consistent through leadership changes.
"There's a lot going on, but at the same time, there's this question looming: What are we going to do next?" Schreck said recently.
One of the best things that has resulted from the war locally might be the emergence of groups like LCPJ and the year-old Lancaster Students for a Democratic Society, both of which organized to create visible, vocal opposition to the war.
Feeling optimistic that two of the three front-running presidential candidates have promised to bring U.S. troops home, local peace groups are setting their sights on new, more local challenges to attain peace and justice for all.
"One area we'd like to get more into is anti-violence," Schreck said. "I'd like to see us push ourselves to work with minority groups to focus on local violence because war and violence go hand in hand.
"Americans are pretty violent. We're raised into a violent culture. If we really want to stop the wars of the future, we have to start today."For their part, SDS members don't see the end of the war as the end of the battle. According to published reports, when troops finally return to the United States, they statistically will suffer higher rates of suicide and homelessness, and they'll need health care, including mental health services.
"The war might be over for us, but it won't be over for those families that are suffering," said SDS member Josh Graupera, a Lancaster Catholic High School senior. "Veterans don't have lifetime support anymore. So if a veteran is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after being discharged and they don't have coverage to help, what are they going to do?
"It's something we have to work on together. It's not something people can just brush off and think other people will take care of it."
SDS member Amber Nitchman said even without a war, she hopes the Lancaster chapter continues its efforts to promote "informed recruitment," a movement aimed at filling in details they say are left out by military recruiters as they try to persuade young people to sign up for military service, including the possibility of being called upon to kill — or being killed — in the line of duty.
But she said she worries about the troops, too.
"I hope (SDS) plays an active role in getting them the health care they deserve and the support they need," the McCaskey High senior said.
Schreck said this year's rally was designed specifically to put more focus on soldiers and veterans, particularly those who oppose the war.
Hence guest speaker Bill Kohler. When he addresses the crowd of more than 1,000 expected at Binns Park on Saturday, it will be as someone home from war but heading back to war.
(407) (163) (153) (117) (105) (77) (65) (62) (58) (31) (27) (16) (8) (8) (5) (5) (4) (3)"He's an Iraq vet from York," Schreck said of Kohler. "He just got called up again, and he has to go back.
"He definitely has post-traumatic stress. He has all kinds of stories, and he's messed up. He's going to speak about the experience of being an American soldier in Iraq, and part of that will be the message that these are our soldiers and we're not taking very good care of them back here."
Becca Rast, a McCaskey High School senior, was part of a local effort to raise funds for Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group founded in 2004 to give voice to veterans and active members of the military who oppose the war but are pressured to remain silent.
The effort netted $5,000 in two months, and Rast was invited to take part in IVAW's Winter Soldier, a four-day event that gets under way today in Washington, D.C., during which 300 soldiers will tell stories about their war experiences.
"We felt IVAW is one of the most important forces against the war in Iraq," said Rast, who is an SDS member. "If they're against the war, that's the most clear message that they're going to be a force in ending the war."
Rast also sees this as a first step in supporting veterans after the war ends.
"Lancaster has been really exceptional raising $5,000 for this organization," she said.
E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com
