Veterans For Peace has debuted a nationwide campaign placing billboards near military bases across the United States that carry a stark message to active-duty service members and National Guard troops: “You have the right and responsibility to refuse unlawful orders.”
The new campaign connects to a long history of resistance within the military during the Vietnam War era, when soldiers, veterans, and military personnel increasingly questioned unlawful and immoral actions carried out in their name. Susan Schnall, national President of Veterans for Peace, herself became a prominent anti-war figure after publicly protesting the Vietnam War while serving as a Navy nurse, an act that led to her court-martial in 1969. The current Veterans For Peace effort argues that the obligation to refuse illegal orders is not only a moral question, but a legal one grounded in military law and individual conscience.
The billboard campaign has expanded to cities and military communities across the country, including areas near Fort Drum, Naval Base San Diego, Fort Campbell, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and Norfolk Naval Station. As debates continue over war, military accountability, and the responsibilities of service members, the campaign revives questions that were central to the GI resistance movement during Vietnam — and remain deeply relevant today.