CAVWV |
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Coalition of Allied
Afghan & Vietnam War Veterans |
Fellowship - Service - Action - Determination
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Urgent Appeal
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About Us
CAVWV - The Coalition of Allied Vietnam War Veterans is an international organization of United States Military, Central Intelligence Agency Veterans including Foriegn National Veterans from South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Canada, Australia and other countries dedicated in serving the veterans of the Communist War of Aggression in Southeast Asia (The Vietnam War). In August 2021 the Afghanistan interpreters, translators and those who supported the Coalition Forces during Operation Enduring Freedom joined the organization.
Afghanistan Interpreters
After the announcement by President Biden in April of 2021 that the United States would evacuate Afghanistan a decorated former Interpreter who had served with the United States and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan contacted Scott Walker the CAVWV's Founder and Special Projects Director. The interpreter asked for his help in evacuating his family who also served with the United States and Coalition Forces in various capacities during the nearly twenty years of Operation Enduring Freedom. They were now at risk of death or retribution if identified by the Taliban. The interpreter had been evacuated some ten years earlier as he had been hunted by the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Since all CAVWV veterans had direct involvement in the last evacuation nearly forty five years earlier at the end of the Vietnam War they knew the surcomstances these families faced and they were definitely at risk if identified. Asian culture demands that to defeat an enemy his entire family must be eliminated, 'to cut a tree you must cut it's roots'. This is what happened to our allies in South Vietnam, Laos and in the 'Killing Fields' of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge and Communists following the Vietnam war. Mr. Walker consulted with Tom Briggs the organizations president and told him of the situation. The interpreters plea had opened old wounds and reminded them of the desperatoin they witnessed decades earlier. "We knew what his family was facing in Afghanistan" Walker recounted. "We wondered if we could be effective and how we could assit". After a few phone calls and several cursery briefings on Afghanistan they agreed to do what they could. Immediately after it was decided and told to the interpreter, to Mr. Walker's amazement he began answering phone calls from desperate former Afghan American interpreters who served with the United States in various capacities. His phone number had been posted on an Afghan American Facebook page. Over the following three days he answered over six hundred calls of which four hundred were unique inquiries. "You must understand that the CAVWV is a small support organization made entirely of foreign national veterans of the Vietnam War and proportionally few US Veterans" Walker recounted. They were simply incapable in assisting all who were seeking help. Unable to deal with such a volume of calls Mr. Walker contacted a Special Forces Veteran who was with No One Left Behind. NOLB agreed to assist and he began forwarding all the inquiries to NOLB and they in turn forwarded the inquires to one of the Humanitarian Organizations best suited to arrange evacuations. Two years later while many of he organizations have disappeared the CAVWV continue to assist Afghans and Mr. Walker continues to get desperate phone calls from Afghanistan and elswhere.
Fellowship - Service - Action & Determination
Our motto Fellowship, Service, Action & Determination, expresses our intent best. We serve veterans in what capacity we can with what resources we can muster. We take positive and determined action in what chosen task we are given. We provide needed fellowship with our coalition members by working on common issues together. And we continue to build and support our communities through true coalition building.
Mission Statement - To provide fellowship, education, preservation of Vietnam War history and social services including easing the effects and consequences of mental stress, battle fatigue, post traumatic stress disorder and genocide syndrome to our veterans, their families and others.