Thousands of veterans that traveled from across the U.S. to Standing Rock, North Dakota over the weekend are celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers decision to halt construction of a key section of the 1,172-mile oil pipeline just south of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
U.S. Air Force veteran Bill Tanner, from Massac County, Illinois, drove 20 hours to march Monday with what the group had hoped would be at least 500 unarmed militia, to serve as peaceful human shields to protect activists from alleged police brutality. Instead, an estimated 5,000 veterans showed up exceeding expectations, according to Tanner.
“I saw the way the protesters were being treated, they were not the aggressors, yes they were gathering and protesting which is our right and yet they were being shot with rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons in freezing weather,” said Tanner.
Tanner served from 1970 to 1974 to represent a ‘free country’ and said people should have the right to protest without physical harm.
“You know I signed up to serve and I didn't sign up for that to happen. You know we have a free country, we should be free and we should not have to put up with that type of activity. That's why I wanted to come to this event,” Tanner said.
The group of veterans gathered at the site call themselves ‘Veterans Stand for Standing Rock,’ and if things go well, Tanner said there is talk that the group could become ‘Veterans Stand,’ to show support for other future controversial issues.
“I would hope that when we see something wrong that we will start speaking up more and saying no we can't do this, we have to have a better way of doing things. We can't continue to beat each other up... That's not the way to do it.” Tanner said, reflecting on the visit.
This was Tanner’s second trip to the camps. When he first visited in October he said there close to 2,000 demonstrators, now he guesses there are more than 12,000. Tanner described the experience as surreal saying every half hour helicopters would circle the camps.
"We participated in a warrior ceremony and the Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe talked about the fact that he had been at a number of the demonstrations... He was there the night when the water hose was used and the young lady was injured, and he said at times it feels like the Indians have been completely forgotten by the rest of the Americans, that they were totally on their own, so I think for them this has got to be a special day,” said Tanner.
Tanner said the Army’s decision is one small victory, but is a long way from being resolved. He said some demonstrators have been ask to stay at the camp if they can, in case other conflicts arise.
