This “billboard” is meant to be the first of a series in the runup to the June 14 “NO KINGS” protests.

The strategy of the series is to widen the gap between Trump-Hegseth (TH) and many troops, and remind them (and others watching) that their oath is to defund the Constitution (not a wannabe monarch). It also will remind them that domestic deployments (sending troops against U. S. Citizens here in the “homeland”) is both illegal AND a very REAL threat under rule by TH. (The troops have been taught this.)

This approach is based on my eleven years as Director of Quaker House in North Carolina, near Fort Bragg/Liberty. There we counseled dissident troops, and organized well over 150 peace protests, large & small, in the midst of one of the biggest military communities.

In our work we learned early on that to get our messages across, it was CRITICAL that our public witness constantly express “support” and respect for the troops, even while rejecting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

We were surrounded by many troops and veterans who had been brainwashed by Fox News etc. to believe we hated and looked down on soldiers (which we did NOT), and were atheist commies, etc. which we also weren’t.

(Sorry, lefties.)

We DID “support” them, in our Quaker ways, as persons of conscience, many of whom had moral questions about the war and military culture. We worked to help them clarify their personal moral convictions (if they asked), privately and for free. We didn’t try to make them Quakers or pacifists.

The efforts to push us and our work into a polarized frame never stopped (and this was years before MAGA appeared). And our “Yes to the Troops/No to the Wars” pushback was just as steadfast.

It paid off. In the first two years of the Iraq invasion, our vigils in downtown Fayetteville often drew catcalls and one-finger salutes. But then, with the war bogged down and casualties kept mounting, morale shifted and we began to get thumbs up, and even an occasional cheer.

As the war’s cost climbed ever higher, our “Yes to the troops” became more credible, as we weren’t locked into a polarized frame.

In 2025, there are many issues facing conscientious servicemembers. Some surfaced at the West Point commencement last month. While the big media didn’t notice, the thousand graduating cadets watched and listened as West Point Superintendent General Steven Gilland subtly but fiercely denounced Trump’s character to his face as utterly beyond the pale of every section of the academy’s strict honor code. The sitting  Commander in Chief would have been booted out of West Point with the first of his multitude of indictments; along with his skeezy Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth (who didn’t even show up).

But these two “leaders” are also the pair who seem determined to loose the military on the American citizenry, in defiance of the law and the oath those thousand cadets took to defend, not a president but the Constitution.

 Hegseth published an entire book about his fixed vision of a real medieval-style crusade to “annihilate” the enemies within (mostly, besides migrants, that would be us).

If that dire push should come to shove, will there be a significant portion of the officer corps and troops who will stand by their oath in the crunch? In real life, coups fail if they don’t keep control of the national military.

Those of us who will be protesting Trump’s vanity parade are more than spectators (or targets): we can evade the ginned-up polarization and appeal to the best in the uniformed ranks. Sure, the military tends to be more conservative than the general population, and extremists are hard at work recruiting there.

But that’s not the end of the story. How we communicate with them could make a difference, maybe a key difference.

Our motto at Quaker House can be adjusted: NO To The COUP.  Remember Your Oath. Defend The Constitution. NO To Domestic Deployments.

I have more sign ideas, and will add some soon.

But if you’re on board, you write the next ones. And pass this on.

pVb/h June 14 will be here quick. Get ready. I’ll catch up.