On Veterans Day, a day meant to honor service, dozens of veterans gathered at City Hall Park with a different mission, protesting what they call the growing militarization of the city.
“We’re heading towards fascism. And to me, we have to be out on the streets,” Navy veteran Bob Peilbach said.
“It just makes no sense to me, the approach that we are taking,” Army veteran Susan O’Neill said.
The demonstration targeted ICE operations, cuts to social programs and what organizers fear could be future deployments of National Guard troops to the city under the Mamdani administration.
“We’re actually saying, ‘Vets say no war in our cities.’ So no ICE, no cuts to vital services while we’re increasing spending for militarized police or endless wars abroad,” organizer Thom Keppen said.
Keppen served in Afghanistan. He says National Guard members could be ordered into city streets. Veterans want leaders to make clear what happens if those orders conflict with their oath.
“We want Kathy Hochul to say, ‘If you defy these illegal and immoral orders, we’ll defend you,” Keppen said.
For others, those concerns echo lessons from their own service decades ago.
“I was against what’s been going on since I got out of the Army because I saw the racism in this country. And now they’re arresting people on the basis of their skin color,” Army veteran Tarak Kauff said.
Veterans Day marks the armistice that ended World War I, a holiday first created as a reminder of peace. These veterans say honoring service also means confronting what they see as threats at home.
“Your oath is to the Constitution. The oath is not to your commanding officers,” Army veteran Michael Handy said.