A University of Maryland graduate and former Hyattsville resident has started an advocacy group for veterans who want to continue serving.
David Smith, who served as a combat medic in Afghanistan with the Navy, was inspired to start Continue to Serve when Black Lives Matter protesters were teargassed in Lafayette Square for a presidential photo-op on June 1.
Upset, Smith went down to the Black Lives Matter Plaza with a friend from College Park who was volunteering as a street medic, bringing along a piece of cardboard on which he’d written “No U.S. Troops on U.S. Soil” on one side and “BLM” on the other.
En route on his way down to the plaza, he jumped on a D.C. subreddit and asked other veterans to join him calling the effort Continue to Serve, a reference to the oath of enlistment that members of the military make to the Constitution.
He first made the post thinking he would get destroyed by others in the military community, but he ended up getting a lot of positive responses from all over the country.
“There are a lot more progressive veterans than we give credit to.”
The group soon had 15 members who were in regular contact, so Smith registered it as a charitable organization and launched a website. It now has 40 members, with another 40 applications over the weekend, and has raised about $1,500 so far. (You can donate online here.)
The son of a Baptist preacher, Smith served 13 years in the Navy, then earned a degree in nursing from the University of Maryland in 2016. He had never participated in protests until last year when he started joining the Black Lives Matter rallies, but he credits his father for giving him a strong moral compass.
“Now it’s just a mission for me to build those bridges within the veteran community,” he said.
After witnessing the storming of the Capitol last week, he said he was “baffled and confused and angry” at the different treatment of the angry mob and the peaceful protesters he’s seen at Black Lives Matter protests.
Over the weekend, Continue to Serve volunteers held a cleanup to remove racist stickers and other trash from the site of the Capitol riots. “What we are trying to do isn’t make America great again, but make it better than it has ever been before,” Smith said.
While they are not formally attending any counterprotests next week, Smith said if some BLM protestors go, they would try to have members go down to support them.
“I’d really like for as many veterans to reach out to us,” he said. “I know there are a lot of veterans that feel they don’t have anyone to talk with, both progressives and moderates.”
