History of Rolling Thunder®
A Few Old Vets Not Going to Shut Up and Not Going Away.
By Linda Bordner
U.S. Veteran Dispatch Staff Writer
March 2001
Each rider comes with a different face and personal reason for attending the run. That's true for every Rolling Thunder member, including Walt Sides, one of the founding fathers of Rolling Thunder.

"I don't do interviews." Pretty much the first words out of Sides' mouth when he was first approached for this interview. His attitude gives proof to the way the retired Marine 1st sergeant regards his experience with the press. Sides learned his wariness of the media first hand, back when the movement first started, when coverage of the group was sketchy at best, and biased at worst.

In the long run, Sides says, staying clear of the press has spared him a lot of grief from being misquoted. "If they've decided what they're going to print before they talk to somebody, why even bother interviewing them?"

Far from being a holiday celebration, for Walt Sides, Rolling Thunder is serious business. "It's not a parade. It's a demonstration," he explains. To him the difference is important.

At heart, he'll always remain the patriot loyal to his country, and declines to speak against any American president. "I'm 61," he notes, "and I don't remember any bad president in my lifetime - no president who's had a bad effect on me or my family. They're just people after all."

Yet he admits he looks forward to improved treatment for veterans under the new Bush presidency. "I think we'll get a lot more for veterans from the new administration." He recalls bristling under other campaign rhetoric that touted the military as just fine the way it is.

"Our armed forces need a good overhaul," Sides adds.

A common misunderstanding of Rolling Thunder is that it speaks only to issues of Vietnam. Sides is quick to point out the many other facets of veterans rights' it champions. The Desert Storm syndrome is only one example of why vets need the voice of Rolling Thunder speaking out for them.

"A lot of changes are needed in the VA, in the government's cover-up of Desert Storm's chemical effects on our men. It was 20 years owning up to the fact that Agent Orange undeniably affected Vietnam veterans. I'm one of them." He sees the same resistance to accountability in withholding help for Desert Storm victims seeking benefits.

It takes a lot to wear down a war-scarred veteran. But if anything can do it, it's beating one's head against the wall of bureaucratic VA red tape year after year. And that's just what happens in case after case of weary vets too tired and sick to fight for their so-called benefits.

For them, the sound of Rolling Thunder is a lot like music to their ears. Rolling Thunder remembers the POWS and MIAs left behind in wars the politicians want badly to forget?

There'll always be those who wish vets like these would just shut up and go away. But as Sides points out, "Fortunately we've got some old hard core vets who're not going to shut up and are not going away."