The Pacific Counseling Service (PCS) was a G.I. counseling service organization created by antiwar activists during the Vietnam War. PCS saw itself as trying to make the U.S. Armed Forces "adhere more closely to regulations concerning conscientious objector discharges and G.I. rights."[1] The Armed Forces Journal, on the other hand, said PCS was involved in "antimilitary activities", including "legal help and incitement to dissident GIs."[2] PCS evolved out of a small GI Help office started by a freshly discharged Air Force Sergeant in San Francisco, California in January 1969.[3][1] The idea rapidly caught on among antiwar forces and within a year PCS had offices in Monterey, Oakland, and San Diego in California, plus Tacoma, Washington. By 1971 it had spread around the Pacific with additional offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Okinawa, the Philippines, as well as Tokyo and Iwakuni in Japan. Each location was established near a major U.S. military base. At its peak, PCS was counseling hundreds of disgruntled soldiers a week, helping many with legal advice, conscientious objector discharges and more.[4]: 61 & 78 As the war wound down, ending in 1975, the offices closed with the last office in San Francisco printing its final underground newspaper in 1976.[5]
- ^ a b "Fact Sheet on Pacific Counseling Service". wisconsinhistory.org. Wisconsin Historical Society. 1970. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
- ^ Heinl, Robert D. (1971-06-07). "The Collapse of The Armed Forces". Armed Forces Journal. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
- ^ Miller, Alan (2009-05-28). "Remembering A Very Good Man". Marin Independent Journal.
- ^ Cortright, David (2005). Soldiers In Revolt. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books. ISBN 1931859272.
- ^ "Stars & Strikes". wisconsinhistory.org. Wisconsin Historical Society. 1976. Retrieved 2020-11-30.