{"id":55113,"date":"2025-09-16T05:50:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=55113"},"modified":"2025-09-16T05:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:56:18","slug":"all-hands-on-deck-letter-from-veterans-boat-on-gaza-flotilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/16\/all-hands-on-deck-letter-from-veterans-boat-on-gaza-flotilla\/","title":{"rendered":"All Hands on Deck!: Letter from Veterans’ Boat on Gaza Flotilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine of us veterans arrived in Barcelona on August 27th<\/strong>. We were mostly strangers meeting for the first time, with a couple of exceptions.\u00a0 We began to bond immediately \u2013 which was fairly easy considering our common bonds of being veterans sailing for peace.<\/p>\n

Two Marine veterans had served together with HMX-1, presidential helicopter. There are two combat veterans. And then there\u2019s me. That\u2019s all that\u2019s left as of today, as four veterans have had to leave the boat for a variety of reasons, including the inherent delays associated with the historical size of the flotilla.<\/p>\n

In Barcelona, our days were full of training protocols; preparing travel documentation and our \u201cSOS videos\u201d for our anticipated illegal kidnapping.\u00a0 We also had time for bonding and we took advantage of the luxury of eating out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The send-off from 10,000 beautiful people in Barcelona\u00a0<\/strong>was such a heart-filling experience, it\u2019s difficult to limit to words. Only to be outdone at Carthage by the compassionate people of Tunisia \u2013 a crowd of 20,000 from all over the country. And now in Bizerte, Tunisia, hundreds still remain on shore, allowing their support to be felt by just a glance.<\/p>\n

We need all hands on deck. This is not a drill. Humanity is literally at stake, in Gaza\/Palestine and at home, in the states. As veterans, we\u2019ve put our lives on the line for the Empire, it\u2019s past time we do the same for humanity and ourselves.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have added a journalist from Mexico and one from Finland<\/strong>. We had also temporarily added another sailor to our crew, but his expertise was needed on another boat. He literally just left – change is constant, that\u2019s for certain. We just got another participant from the Finnish delegation, so we are back at 12.\u00a0So we\u2019re set with our final manifest, we\u2019re told.<\/p>\n

Our medic – who is an ex-pat living in Norway, was a combat medic in Ukraine and a musician\/artist and former orthodox priest.<\/p>\n

Boat life is never dull<\/strong>\u00a0and there\u2019s seemingly always necessary chores to be done. From cooking to cleaning to sail\/boat repairs to man overboard drills, drone and interdiction drills and multiple meetings a day. Being in port and on still waters makes boat life easier. But added chores like refilling our food, water and fuel supplies try to offset that advantage.<\/p>\n

For our first leg of the voyage, the seas were pretty rough; almost everyone was sea sick with exception of the captain. Three of us got IV\u2019s in Carthage. I was treated in a Tunisian hospital and was told the government would foot the bill.<\/p>\n

We are leaving port today [Sunday, Sept. 14] at least the sailboats are.<\/strong>\u00a0A Zionist-owned yacht bribed port officials yesterday and took the fuel we intended to use for our fleet.<\/p>\n

There are variations on how long it will take to get to Gaza \u2013 from 10-14 days. So likely the 24th-28th.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to add that this isn\u2019t about us, but about our innocent human siblings being slaughtered in Gaza.<\/strong> And that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re pleading for \u2013 ALL EYES ON GAZA as the Axis of Evil is expediting their ethnic cleansing that has been intensified these last two years on the tail end of 77 years of apartheid, occupation and murder. As veterans we know that the war machine runs on the deaths of innocent indigenous people all for the glory of the almighty dollar which is the only God the war pigs serve.<\/p>\n

We need all hands on deck. This is not a drill. Humanity is literally at stake, in Gaza\/Palestine and at home, in the states. As veterans, we\u2019ve put our lives on the line for the Empire, it\u2019s past time we do the same for humanity and ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we want? Justice. When do we want it?\u00a0 Now! And if we don\u2019t get it.\u00a0 SHUT IT DOWN.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s not just a chant. It\u2019s a creed. We shut the war machine down now, or we perish.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s much more to relay and convey. I\u2019ll be posting more content routinely to social media for this last leg and hopefully the seas will cooperate [check out\u00a0veteransforpeace<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>on Instagram].<\/p>\n

All my best,<\/p>\n

Phil Tottenham
\n9\/15\/2025<\/p>\n

P.S.: All the boats from Tunisia and Barcelona have met up and are setting sail for Gaza.\u00a0 We will be meeting up with the fleets from Italy and Greece on our way.\u00a0 We should be somewhere around 40 boats.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Phillip Tottenham,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a047, is a Marine Corps veteran and Texan now living in Toledo, Ohio. He was a leader of the 40-day\u00a0<\/em>Veterans and Allies Fast for Gaza\u00a0and is a member of the activist group\u00a0<\/em>Veterans For Peace<\/a>.\u00a0Phil reports regularly from the 46-foot sailboat, Ohwayla, whose passengers are primarily U.S. veterans. The boat is part of the\u00a0<\/em>Global Sumud Flotilla<\/em><\/a>, described on its website as the\u00a0largest civilian maritime mission organized to break Israel’s siege on Gaza. (\u201cSumud\u201d is Arabic for determination and perseverance).<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The humanitarian Gaza flotilla, made up of dozens of boats and scores of people from 44 countries,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0started in Barcelona on Aug. 31. It will be joined by boats from Sicily and Greece as it proceeds to Gaza, where it is expected to arrive between Sept. 24-28. Veterans For Peace joins many people around the globe who are calling on the United Nations and all individual nations to ensure the safe passage of the humanitarian aid flotilla and to finally put an end to Israel\u2019s genocidal bombing (with U.S. bombs) and the deliberate starvation of the people of Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine of us veterans arrived in Barcelona on August 27th. We were mostly strangers meeting for the first time, with a couple of exceptions.\u00a0 We began to bond immediately \u2013 which was fairly easy considering our common bonds of being veterans sailing for peace. Two Marine veterans had served together with HMX-1, presidential helicopter. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":675,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1365],"class_list":["post-55113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/675"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55113"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55117,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55113\/revisions\/55117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55113"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=55113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}