Gary Ghirardi / NNOMY - A not surprising but concerning feature of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act is the doubling of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps in our public schools and the expansion of DoD STEM and of the STARBASE Program into territories that the United States of America controls in the Pacific.

In the case of the JROTC the following is stated in the NDAA Report for 2021:

Expansion of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program (sec. 547) The committee recommends a provision that would amend section 2031(a)(2) of title 10, United States Code, to insert language expanding the purpose of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) to include an introduction to service opportunities in military, national, and public service. The provision would also require the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a plan to establish and support not fewer than 6,000 JROTC units by September 30, 2031.1

As of 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense cites that JROTC programs associated to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, are taught as elective courses at more than 3,000 high schools nationwide.2 How those expanded programs might be purposed is not totally defined other than a recommendation that there be added a focus within JROTC on cyber security education in schools.

English / Edward Hasbrouck / Counterpunch - Un caso de la Corte Suprema que desafía el requisito de que los hombres, pero no las mujeres, se registren en el Sistema de Servicio Selectivo para un posible reclutamiento militar está obligando al Congreso a tomar una decisión que ha estado evitando durante décadas: terminar el registro de reclutamiento o expandirlo a mujeres jóvenes así como a los hombres jóvenes.

La elección no es entre continuar con el registro de reclutas solo para hombres (que probablemente resulte inconstitucional) y expandir el registro a mujeres. La verdadera elección es si ampliar el registro a las mujeres o ponerle fin por completo. Los proyectos de ley para cada una de esas opciones se presentaron en la última sesión del Congreso y es probable que se vuelvan a presentar en los próximos meses como parte de la Ley de Autorización de Defensa Nacional anual.

Esta es una elección sobre el militarismo, no una elección sobre la igualdad de género. Ampliar el registro de reclutamiento a las mujeres generaría una apariencia de igualdad en la guerra (aunque es probable que las mujeres en el ejército aún estén sujetas a acoso y abuso sexual desproporcionado). Poner fin al registro de proyectos traería consigo una verdadera igualdad en la paz y la libertad.

El año pasado, una Comisión Nacional de Servicio Militar, Nacional y Público recomendó ampliar el registro de anteproyectos a las mujeres. Pero la Comisión nunca consideró seriamente la posibilidad de poner fin al registro, a pesar de que no pudo plantear ningún escenario realista que lo justificara.

Español / March 2, 2021 / Edward Hasbrouck / Counterpunch - A Supreme Court case challenging the requirement for men, but not women, to register with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft is forcing Congress to make a choice it has been avoiding for decades: End draft registration, or expand it to young women as well as young men.

The choice is not between continuing male-only draft registration (which is likely to be found unconstitutional) and expanding registration to women. The real choice is whether to expand registration to women or to end it entirely. Bills for each of those options were introduced in the last session of Congress, and are likely to be reintroduced within the next few months as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

This is a choice about militarism, not a choice about gender equality. Expanding draft registration to women would bring about a semblance of equality in war (although women in the military would likely still be subject to disproportionate sexual harassment and abuse). Ending draft registration would bring about real equality in peace and freedom.

Last year a National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service recommended expanding draft registration to women. But the Commission never seriously considered the possibility of ending registration, despite being unable to come up with any realistic scenario to justify it.

English / Edward Hasbrouck / Resisters.info - El 8 de enero de 2021, la Coalición Nacional para Hombres, una organización de derechos de los hombres representada por la Unión Estadounidense de Libertades Civiles , solicitó a la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos que revisara la constitucionalidad, ahora que las mujeres pueden participar en todas las asignaciones de combate militar. - de la ley que obliga a los hombres, pero no a las mujeres, a registrarse en el Sistema de Servicio Selectivo para un posible reclutamiento militar.

Lea a continuación mis preguntas frecuentes sobre lo que esto significa y no significa, y lo que sucede a continuación. (Haga clic aquí para obtener enlaces al expediente de la Corte Suprema, alegatos, comunicados de prensa y comentarios y análisis adicionales).

He estado rastreando este caso de arriba abajo a través de los tribunales inferiores desde 2015, y asistí al argumento oral el año pasado ante el Tribunal de Apelaciones del Quinto Circuito en Nueva Orleans que condujo al fallo que ahora se le pide a la Corte Suprema que revise.

https://nnomy.org/socialmediaoutreach/

In this digital age, we are now firmly in an ongoing and evolving time where social media communications is an essential communication framework for current and succeeding generations in technologically developed countries.

For those groups doing counter-recruitment and youth demilitarization activism, it is an essential tool to communicate with youth inside and outside the school environment. The military has and will invest billions in their outreach to youth on multiple social media platforms as well as making their presence strongly felt in the online gaming channels. These platforms are becoming a powerful resource of both indoctrinating youth into a military ethos that normalizes war and provides all the military services an additional means of expanding their recruitment efforts to reach youth.

Groups that are doing Truth in Recruitment and Counter-recruitment outreach inside of public schools are going to have to implement limited human and financial resources to expand their online presence in order to stay relevant with the times and to increase their opportunities for communication with current generations of youth.

This will be a struggle for activist organizations that cannot hope to match the online footprint of the military recruitment budget and need to consider other opportunities to increase their visibility and messaging. Those opportunities will need to include coordinated campaigning on strategic themes during times of the year when military recruiters are most actively recruiting.

The following section of Social Media Campaign Resources are designed by categories most relevant to counter-recruitment practice and are used by the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth for their own campaigns directed at the groups doing counter-recruitment in the communities regionally and nationally. These resources also include images and video shorts that can be directed at youth by your groups that the military targets for recruitment that are designed to initiate reaction and education to provide an alternative narrative.

Together, in concerted campaigning, we can have a greater visibility and influence some youth considering joining into military service to explore peaceful alternatives for their futures.

Use them on your social media channels in your news feeds and announcements and in your general online outreach.

Social Media Resources by Category or Campaign:

• Considering Enlisting in the Armed Forces
• Eliminate Selective Service for Everyone
• Getting Out of DEP/Future Soldier Program
• Divest “Your Body” from the War Machine
• Know about Groups doing Youth Demilitarization Nationally
• Misc. Social Media images
• Social media Campaign Resources
• Winning The Peace: A National High School Intervention 

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Revised  FC 10/09/2023