thanks?" He soon learned about the Winter Soldier Investigation and became active in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, later becoming a chapter leader of that organization. He graduated from UF while on trial as one of the "Gainesville Eight". Vietnam war activism Recognized by the FBI as an "extremist and key activist," Camil was on President Nixon's "enemies list." On December 22, 1971, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent a classified memo to the Jacksonville office regarding Camil, referring to him as an "extremely dangerous and unstable individual whose activities must be neutralized at earliest possible time." Other memos about Camil used the same word, neutralize, less ambiguously: "Jacksonville continue to press vigorously to insure (sic) that all necessary action taken to completely neutralize subject without delay." Camil explained, "When you pin the government down, they'll say 'Well, "neutralize" just means to render useless.' But if you talk to guys in the field, they say it means to kill." Camil was shot by federal agents on March 31, 1975, in a drug sting, and nearly died. Winter Soldier Investigation Camil became the Florida Coordinator for the VVAW, and was one of the most outspoken participants of the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation, in which returning personnel recounted the atrocities they had been induced into committing against combatants and non-combatants alike. Camil (also referred to as "Camile" in the transcripts) testified of Medals returned At Senator Hart's garden party during Dewey Canyon III, Camil wore two Purple Heart medals, a Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry with Silver Star, and a Good Conduct medal. He called the medals a farce which he would return on Friday. In the documentary "A Seasoned Veteran", Camil Stated: "The throwing away of the medals, for me, was the cutting of the umbilical cord between me and the government. I was now independent." Taking it to the source In a 1992 interview, Camil revealed for the first time that he had considered shooting "the most hardcore hawks" in Congress as an alternative to returning medals during the Dewey Canyon III demonstration in April 1971. In Camil's words, "I didn't think it was terrible at the time ... I was serious. I felt that I spent two years killing women and children in their own fucking homes. These are the guys that fucking made the policy, and these were the guys that were responsible for it, and these were