New era for coffeehouses rooted in anti-war tradition - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

New era for coffeehouses rooted in anti-war tradition

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Seth Manzel is not your typical peacenik.

An Iraq veteran with an ash-black crucifix tattoo on his forearm, he wears his hair short, as if he were still an infantry squad leader. At home, he has a safe full of guns. At work, he’s the strong-arm night guard for a rough-and-tumble motel.

But by day, he helps run a coffee shop just outside Fort Lewis, where war fighters mingle with anti-war activists over hot brew and heated discussion.

“I’m not against violence or war in general. I’m certainly not a pacifist,” Manzel said. “Soldiers go into the military with an idea that we’re the good guys — we have the moral high ground and [are] a force for good in the world.”

But his first firefight was a turning point for him. “It occurred to me that if the tables had been turned and someone had invaded us, that I’d be the one throwing pipe bombs and picking off people from the roof of my house with a hunting rifle. That’s what any good American would do.”

Manzel soldiered on but with increasing remorse.

“I feel like I’ve definitely done some things that are pretty horrific and that I’ve got a debt to the world to work off,” he said.

Coffeehouse strong

Part of his penance, Manzel said, is paid by serving free coffee to GIs and helping those who might have second thoughts about their role in the military.

Dubbed Coffee Strong, Manzel’s java joint is one of a handful of military-friendly — but decidedly anti-war — outposts that have popped up over the past few years, with varying degrees of success. In many respects, they are the spiritual — if less radical — heirs of the coffeehouses that were common near military bases in the tumultuous Vietnam era.

Among the new breed:

• Under the Hood Café: Cynthia Thomas, an 18-year Army wife, launched this café just outside Fort Hood, Texas, about a year ago, when her husband was sent on his third deployment.

It’s “a place for soldiers to gather, relax and speak freely about the wars and the military,” according to the café’s Web site. “Support services for soldiers include referrals for counseling, legal advice and information on GI rights.”

• Norfolk OffBase: “Our model, rather than a full-bore coffeehouse, is more of a resource and organizing center,” director and former soldier Tom Palumbo said. Located in a converted warehouse in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area, OffBase offers referrals to a volunteer network of legal, mental health, housing and financial assistance.

• A Different Drummer Café: This café, considered the first modern GI coffeehouse to set up shop, opened outside Fort Drum, N.Y., in November 2006. Although it shut down about a year ago, its Web site, run by Vietnam veterans, remains an active voice in the Fort Drum community.

Peace-loving tradition

Percolating up as part of the late 1960s peace movement, a slew of coffeehouses served up brew and small pamphlets outside military bases during most of the Vietnam War.

Only one from that era remains on active duty: the Quaker House outside Fort Bragg, N.C., which opened on a quiet residential street in 1969. Its motto now: “40 years of front-line peace witness — and just getting started.”

“It’s been quite a ride,” said Chris McCallum, author of “Yes to the Troops — No to the War,” which chronicles the Quaker House story. “Jane Fonda came and went. So did ’60s radicalism. The house was spied on and firebombed. But since Sept. 11, it’s been more active than ever.”

The modern variety of GI coffeehouse is not nearly as strident as those of bygone days.

Norfolk OffBase is often misunderstood, Palumbo said.

“We’re not all the crazed radicals some would paint us as,” he said. “You don’t have to be disagreeable to disagree.”

You also don’t have to be a pacifist to oppose fighting, he said, offering a quote from Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who is buried in Norfolk: “The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”

“There are a lot of veterans here who are suffering those wounds without much support,” Palumbo said.

He says that 40 percent of the homeless in the Hampton Roads area are veterans. This summer OffBase will begin offering transitional housing for veterans as well as a full coffee shop with expanded support services.

Slow brew

Coffee Strong sits along railroad tracks, sandwiched between fast-food shops just outside Fort Lewis’ main gate. On a recent Friday afternoon, a trickle of troops came and went.

With most of the post deployed, business has been slow. Coffee Strong makes a little money selling coffee to civilians — service members and vets drink free — and otherwise operates on donations.

“At first we kept the place very neutral in terms of our views on the war,” said Manzel, who left the Army after returning from Iraq with a Stryker Brigade in 2006.

“But we found as we put more things like that up,” — he indicated the “Support War Resistors” banner covering one wall — “we had more soldiers coming in.”

A linguist from a National Guard military intelligence battalion walks in and orders a latte. She comes here during every weekend drill, she said.

“At first I thought they were against the military. It was really kind of weird. Now it’s the only place I come when I’m here,” she said. “They seem supportive and want to make sure you’re not being taken advantage of. That’s a good thing.”

Manzel calls it “encouraging soldiers to advocate for themselves.” He says the coffee shop isn’t doing anything subversive.

“GI rights counseling is what we concentrate on the most,” he said. “We’ll help people stay in the Army, if that’s what they want to do. We have had AWOL [soldiers] come to us and helped them get back into the Army. ... And we’ve helped people get out of the Army.”

Fort Lewis officials say they have no problem with Coffee Strong.

“It’s just another business in the community outside the gate,” post spokesman Joe Kubistek said.

“Officially, they say we’re not blacklisted,” Manzel said.

The Army tried to ban a GI coffeehouse outside Fort Lewis in the 1960s, and the military lost the lawsuit that followed.

Enough mistrust

In walks a tall soldier with a combat patch on his left shoulder and deep scars carved into the side of his skull.

Former Marine Cpl. Andrew VanDenBergh, Coffee Strong’s only paid employee, greets the soldier by name as he pours him a cup of joe.

The soldier, Pfc. Robert Ritter, says he visits the coffee shop as often as he can.

“It’s a nice place,” Ritter said. “I don’t try to get involved in politics. To me, politics and lies go hand in hand. I already have enough mistrust.”

Ritter said he recently was busted down a rank for not getting to his medical appointments on time, but he’s still getting paid as an E-4.

“Save the money,” VanDenBergh warns. “Finance will come looking for it eventually.”

Ritter nods in agreement.

He said he’s never heard anything negative from his command about Coffee Strong.

“I’ve actually been able to help some people with some of the little pamphlets they have here about knowing your rights,” he said. “When I first came [into] the Army, I didn’t want to think about having to fight back … with my leaders. You don’t think like that. You just trust.”