Local veterans advocate peace
It wasn’t the blue-black starkness of Antarctica that left the
most indelible impression upon Mateo Rebecchi during his four-year
hitch with the United States Coast Guard.
It was the way people around the world reacted when they
understood he was part of the U.S. military.
Local veterans advocate peace
It wasn’t the blue-black starkness of Antarctica that left the most indelible impression upon Mateo Rebecchi during his four-year hitch with the United States Coast Guard.
It was the way people around the world reacted when they understood he was part of the U.S. military.
“Leading up to the [Iraq] war, I didn’t realize how many people around the world were protesting it,” Rebecchi said last week. “There was a lot of protest internationally – in Japan, a lot of places in Europe too. A lot of people had a magnifying glass on U.S. policy in Iraq. They were very critical of U.S. policy in other countries.”
Rebecchi grew up in Hollister, the son of two local teachers. He graduated from San Benito High in 2001. After attending a community college in San Diego for a while the Coast Guard began looking pretty good.
There were talks with the recruiting officer, of course. But more important was the chance to make a contribution, something his parents, Margaret and Larry Rebecchi, instilled in each of their three children.
“One of the reasons for joining the Coast Guard is that I wanted to serve my country,” Rebecchi said. “I didn’t want to fight in Iraq. I’d hoped to protect our coast instead of working on ships and sending them overseas to fight this war.”
Still he is grateful for the experience.
Rebecchi trained as an electrician’s mate in Virginia before being posted to an icebreaker home ported in Seattle. From there, his travels spanned the globe – Asia, Antarctica and Europe.
“It was good times,” he said. “Traveling around the world was a great experience. It was nice to be away. I met a lot of people and got perspectives of how hard it is to live in other countries.”
Relaxing in the garden of the family home, Rebecchi conveys confidence beyond his 24 years. He is articulate and handsome enough to get a second look from any woman near his age.
In short, he is any recruiter’s worst nightmare.
Rebecchi and two other local veterans spoke to some 50 local residents at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church last Friday. They talked about their experiences and those of their comrades in arms. All are members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.ivaw.org). Jeff Patterson registered as a conscientious objector during his service as a nuclear technician in the first Gulf War. George Sanchez knows his life was saved by a thin layer wrapped around the bottom and sides of his Humvee, flimsy armor that saved his life when his convoy came under attack in Iraq.
Today Rebecchi is a student, attending community college in Seattle. But, like other members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, he’s been on the road as well.
“We went to Washington, D.C., in April,” he said. “There were over 200 vets attending the event. We testified to Congress. Some of the accounts of war crimes and atrocities were kind of blacked out by corporate media.”
But in Seattle, the group promoted its own event and more than 800 people showed up on May 31. “We just wanted the public to have access to our accounts and eyewitness testimonies,” he said.
The group is also active around Fort Lewis, an enormous military reservation near Tacoma, Wash., south of Seattle.
“We’re trying to do different things in the area,” he said. “We encourage active duty military to come out against the war.”
It is Rebecchi’s sense of duty that propelled him into the anti-war movement.
“I’ve always wanted, when I got out, to speak out for vets,” Rebecchi said. “I feel that, as someone who served in the military not actually having gone [to war] myself but who’s seen people who maybe aren’t able to speak out, perhaps because of their medical status, that I have something to say.”
“I hope I can help inspire people in communities, so people can come together and try to bring an end to this war. If we can get enough people, eventually they can’t just turn a blind eye.”
About their Hollister engagement last Friday, Rebecchi said the three veterans share a common dream.
“I hope what we can do is start a movement in Hollister,” he said. “Conservative or not, over 70 percent of the people in this country don’t feel good about this war.”
Hollister already is home to an anti-war movement. Hollister in Black members have been holding a silent weekly vigil on corners around town since 2002.
Mary Zanger has been a regular participant, and she attended the presentation last Friday.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about them,” she said this week. “They were sincere and honest. They’ve found themselves. I don’t even think they had any prepared notes.”
Far from being an isolationist, Rebecchi said his experience in learning how the rest of the world greets U.S. foreign policy spawned a new dream.
“I’d like the U.S. eventually to be seen in a peaceful role … helping other nations be the best they can be.”
It seems like more than a hollow hope. Rebecchi hopes to eventually transfer to a university to study international relations. A career as a diplomat, where he can help facilitate that dream, is the ultimate goal.
