By Larry Jones (December 2, 2007)
If you”re a youth reading this, you already know the military is after you, and it’s not just through their slick TV commercials. No, you have seen them right within your schools. In some cases they are your teachers in uniform and you, too, are in uniform.
It’s the junior reserve program. Congress has removed the cap on the number of such programs allowed across the nation. Right now, for example, one in ten public high school students in Chicago wears a military uniform and takes classes – including how to shoot a gun properly – from retired veterans. It’s not ROTC after school. It’s all day that they live the life of soldiers (Agence France Presse, Nov. 25, 2007)
Military spokespeople say this is not a recruitment program, but between 30 and 50% of the cadets eventually enlist. Even without these programs, military recruiters have the right to come on campus in most places and access data bases for student contact information unless parents have their kids opt out.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) lobbies against these programs and also provides counseling to young people whose conscience won’t allow them to participate in war. And there are many now who don’t consider themselves religious conscientious objectors, but are opposed to the wars the U.S. is now fighting because they consider them illegal and immoral, just as Lt. Ehrin Watada from Hawaii did. He refused orders to deploy to Iraq and was tried in a court marshal. The final outcome of his case is still pending. World Can’t Wait has supported Watada, as we will for anyone who takes such a courageous stand.
AFSC points out that junior reserve programs on campuses especially target poor communities with promises of a bright future if they will only be willing to be cannon fodder in Iraq or Afghanistan or, possibly in the near future, Iran.
But if the military can’t grab enlistees in these ways, there is always the Army’s Adventure Vans pictured below.
In a November 26 Common Dreams article, Pat Elder, a member of the Coordinating Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, writes:
“A ninth grader in a suburban Washington DC classroom is delighted to be excused from Algebra class to spend a half hour shooting a life-like 9 MM pistol and lobbing explosive ordinance from an M1A2 Abrams tank simulator. At the same time 3,000 miles away in La Habra, California, a 15 year-old girl is released from English class to squeeze off rounds from a very real looking M-16 rifle. The kids thoroughly enjoy the experience, especially the part about getting out of class.
“The two students have experienced the Army’s Adventure Van, a 60-foot, 30-ton 18-wheeler with several interactive exhibits that bring an adrenaline rush and glorify weaponry and combat. The Army’s 19 vans frequent various community events and two thousand schools a year, generating more than 63,000 recruiter leads. In addition to the Adventure Van, the Army has three other 18-wheelers for recruiting purposes. The Aviation Recruiting Van contains an AH 64 Helicopter flight simulator and an interactive air warrior and weapons display.
“The American Soldier Adventure Van has an interactive air/land warrior display and a future warrior display. The Army Marksmanship Trainer has an interactive rifle range”
“Despite protests by parents and civic groups across the country, the Army defends its right to enter high school campuses with their high-tech mobile cinemas. Kelly Rowe, public affairs officer for the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion, compared the Army Adventure Van to efforts by colleges to recruit students. “I don’t think it’s any different from an athlete who gets 10 letters saying, “Come play for us,” Rowe said”.
Some school districts don’t allow military vehicles on campus, but the No Child Left Behind law requires that military recruiters have the same access to campuses as do college and career recruiters. The military has pushed way beyond those regulations.
What we have in America is a war-minded administration which, along with its Pentagon buddies has done all it can to get youth to think seriously about the military as a career and, in any event, to militarize their outlook on the world. This is not only dangerous for youth in an already violent society, but it upholds the most debased values promulgated by a regime that claims it’s on a mission from god.
Students who are seeking ways to avoid participation in the immoral and illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should contact one of the following organizations:
American Friends Service Committee http://www.afsc.org
Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors http://www.objector.org They also advise people who want to get out of the delayed entry program.
And they should contact World Can’t Wait at http://worldcantwait.org on ideas about how to organize against the horrors of the Bush regime and to share ideas they may have about further developing our program.