"I just want to thank you people for what you're doing."
As the nation begins its annual observance of the Veterans Day holidays, OlyPMR says they stand with the men and women of the military by demanding an immediate halt to the War, and the return of all the troops.
"We want the troops to know we are glad they are home. We also want them to know that we will do everything we can to make sure that they never have to go again," said Mayes.
This message seems to resonate with many soldiers. Activists involved in PMR actions in Olympia or Tacoma report overwhelmingly positive gestures such as "thumbs up" from troops as they drive by in their Strykers and other vehicles. TJ Johnson, Austin Kelley and others vigiling at a busy intersection in Olympia this Thursday report that a Non Commissioned Officer wearing fatigues pulled over, got out of his car, came over, shook their hands and said, "I just want to thank you people for what you're doing." He told them that he had been deployed to Iraq twice before and found it to be a "hopeless situation." He said that he and other soldiers wished that they could speak out against the war, but military regulations prohibited them from publicly opposing the war.
Members of OlyPMR argue that they are struggling for what most US soldiers, and the majority of citizens in the US and Iraq clearly want. It is, they insist, the politicians themselves who must be brought along through direct action, in order that the will of the People be fulfilled.
In video recordings of Strykers moving out of the Port of Olympia Wednesday night soldiers are seen making apparent gestures of support as they pass the protesters:
The wars will end when our soldiers refuse to fight them. Support the troops.
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