00:42 | Video short: The "How are Women Treated in the Military" is a segment of the full video "Before You Enlist 2018" that interviews veteran women who are giving testimony to the sexism and sexual abuse that women soldiers are often subjected to in the military as well as the lack of consequences resulting to those who have committed these violations. 

“Before You Enlist (2018)” is a direct, unfiltered look at what military service really means — told by veterans, military families, and experts who have lived through the promises and the consequences. The film breaks down the glossy recruitment pitch and replaces it with grounded truth: the physical risks, the emotional and psychological toll, the impact on education, the realities of deployment, and the long‑term challenges many service members face when they return home. Through personal testimony and clear, accessible explanations, the video urges young people to make informed decisions about enlistment, not based on slogans or pressure, but on the lived experiences of those who served. It’s designed as a tool for students, parents, and educators to understand the full picture — and to consider peaceful, community‑strengthening alternatives before signing a military contract. 

00:48 | Video short: The "What happens when You Go To War"  is a segment of the full video "Before You Enlist 2018" that interviews veterans who giving personal witness to the violence and destruction to both sides of the conflict including catastrophic injuries and death. 

“Before You Enlist (2018)” is a direct, unfiltered look at what military service really means — told by veterans, military families, and experts who have lived through the promises and the consequences. The film breaks down the glossy recruitment pitch and replaces it with grounded truth: the physical risks, the emotional and psychological toll, the impact on education, the realities of deployment, and the long‑term challenges many service members face when they return home. Through personal testimony and clear, accessible explanations, the video urges young people to make informed decisions about enlistment, not based on slogans or pressure, but on the lived experiences of those who served. It’s designed as a tool for students, parents, and educators to understand the full picture — and to consider peaceful, community‑strengthening alternatives before signing a military contract. 

00:59 | Video short: The "Joining the military for Educational Benefit"  is a segment of the full video "Before You Enlist 2018" that interviews veterans who are contesting the military's claim of educational benefits being functional while you are serving due to time constraints, and of conflicts with deployments. 

“Before You Enlist (2018)” is a direct, unfiltered look at what military service really means — told by veterans, military families, and experts who have lived through the promises and the consequences. The film breaks down the glossy recruitment pitch and replaces it with grounded truth: the physical risks, the emotional and psychological toll, the impact on education, the realities of deployment, and the long‑term challenges many service members face when they return home. Through personal testimony and clear, accessible explanations, the video urges young people to make informed decisions about enlistment, not based on slogans or pressure, but on the lived experiences of those who served. It’s designed as a tool for students, parents, and educators to understand the full picture — and to consider peaceful, community‑strengthening alternatives before signing a military contract. 

00:28 | Video short: The "¡Antes de Alistarte!" is a segment of the full video "¡Antes de Alistarte!" that interviews a veteran soldier from Puerto Rico who describes the racism and racial insults he faced during his training and deployment. Video from 2020 is in Spanish. 

“Before You Enlist (2018)” is a direct, unfiltered look at what military service really means — told by veterans, military families, and experts who have lived through the promises and the consequences. The film breaks down the glossy recruitment pitch and replaces it with grounded truth: the physical risks, the emotional and psychological toll, the impact on education, the realities of deployment, and the long‑term challenges many service members face when they return home. Through personal testimony and clear, accessible explanations, the video urges young people to make informed decisions about enlistment, not based on slogans or pressure, but on the lived experiences of those who served. It’s designed as a tool for students, parents, and educators to understand the full picture — and to consider peaceful, community‑strengthening alternatives before signing a military contract. 

02:40 | Reynaldo Salazar, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, spoke with student journalist Ryan Maejima Gonzalez from Canyon High School in Santa Clarita, California about the first time he experienced PTSD, how he sought help and how a person can help a veteran in their life who may be affected by Post-traumatic stress disorder. 

This video features Reynaldo Salazar, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, speaking candidly about the first time he felt the effects of PTSD after returning home. In conversation with a student journalist, he explains how trauma can surface unexpectedly, how isolating it can feel, and why seeking help is both difficult and necessary. Salazar describes the long journey toward healing — therapy, family support, and learning to recognize his own triggers — while offering practical guidance for anyone trying to support a veteran living with PTSD. His message is clear: listen without judgment, be patient, and understand that PTSD is not weakness but a wound that requires care. The video stands as a compassionate resource for families, friends, and communities who want to show up for veterans in meaningful ways.

07:59 | Abby Martin exposes how U.S. military bases and weapons testing leave behind toxic contamination that harms communities worldwide. Her film reveals the hidden human cost of militarism—from poisoned water to lifelong illness. 

Abby Martin’s investigation exposes how U.S. military bases, weapons testing, and war operations leave behind toxic contamination that devastates communities across the world. She documents poisoned water, carcinogenic waste, and environmental destruction—from Pacific islands to American towns—revealing a pattern of harm that military officials deny, minimize, or bury. The film shows how families, veterans, and entire regions suffer lifelong illness while the institutions responsible evade accountability, turning militarism into a global public‑health crisis. 

“The military won’t tell you this: its bases and weapons leave behind poisoned water, sick families, and damaged futures — including right here at home. Before you sign anything, know the truth about what you’re being asked to be part of.” 

03:09 | Aimee Allison, veteran, conscientious objector and counter-recruiter, was a featured speaker at the national counter-recruitment confernece held at UCAL/Berkeley, October 22, 2005. It was jointly sponsored by the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) and MOOS-Bay (Military Out of Our Schools). Over 650 attended; it was also CAN's annual national conference. 

After leaving the military as a conscientious objector, Allison became one of the most visible national voices challenging Pentagon recruitment practices in public schools. Her organizing, public speaking, and writing helped expose how JROTC, ASVAB testing, and recruiter access disproportionately target working‑class youth and students of color.

Allison co‑authored Army of None, the movement’s foundational manual on resisting military recruitment, blending veteran testimony with practical tools for educators, parents, and activists. Through her work with community groups, peace organizations, and national networks, she helped build a generation of counter‑recruiters equipped to defend student rights and expand non‑military opportunities for young people. 

29:34 | Interview with Amy Hagopian, PhD and Kathy Barker, PhD, about their paper "Should We End Military Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health"?  

In this interview, public‑health scholars Amy Hagopian and Kathy Barker discuss their groundbreaking research on the risks of military recruiting in high schools. Drawing on evidence from child development, psychology, and public‑health ethics, they argue that military recruiters target young people at a vulnerable stage of life—before they fully understand the long‑term consequences of enlistment. Their paper, “Should We End Military Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health?”, makes the case that protecting students means rethinking whether military recruitment belongs in educational spaces at all. 

10:05 | In 2003, the U.S. government spent almost 4 billion dollars recruiting soldiers for our nation's all volunteer military forces. A portion of this budget was allocated to recruit thousands of high school students across the country - a practice which has been facilitated by the No Child Left Behind act.

The federal law requires that schools receiving federal funds grant military recruiters the same access to high schools as college and career counselors have. Critics say that the military should not have a presence on high school campuses in the first place. In this report, the Army granted us complete access as it traveled to a large San Diego high school. You will see recruiters and soldiers talk to students about life in the Army as well as visit the Army's 1.1 million dollar Aviation Van. This high tech truck is equipped with flight simulators, a cockpit of an Apache helicopter and interactive video war games. 

The recruiters we spoke to say they see themselves as counselors -- merely presenting students with opportunities after high school. But critics argue that recruiters do not paint an accurate picture of the military and act more like salesmen. We take an inside look at the relationship between the military and the recruitment of high school students. - PBS

04:54 | The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) supports youth-led organizing, anti-militarism campaigns, and social justice initiatives, which historically include youth-authored action documents like the Youth Manifesto campaigns focused on truth-in-recruiting and community safety. 

The AFSC Youth Manifesto video is a powerful declaration by young people who refuse to let their futures be shaped by militarism. Set against stark statistics about casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, the video shows youth confronting the reality that thousands of Californians have been wounded or killed — and asking why their generation is being funneled into wars built on false promises. The manifesto unfolds as a collective voice: students speak about the deceptive recruitment tactics in their schools, the billions spent targeting poor and marginalized communities, and the way personal data is harvested without consent. 

03:15 | What is the purpose of war photography? Who does it benefit? Can it be a form of activism?  War photography records armed conflict to document history, shape public opinion, expose injustices, and influence political action. It bears witness to human suffering and military actions so that people far from the battlefield can see the reality of war.

Selene Rivas’s Peace Pill segment, War Photography: A Tool for Peace, explores how images from war zones can become instruments of truth‑telling rather than glorification. Speaking as both a scholar and an activist, Rivas reflects on the complicated role of war photography: how it has historically been used to justify conflict, shape national myths, and sanitize violence — but also how it can expose the human cost of militarism with a clarity that words alone cannot achieve. She challenges viewers to consider who benefits from the images we see, who is erased, and how photography can be reclaimed as a form of resistance. 

As part of the Peace Pill series, Rivas’s contribution acts like a dose of clarity: a reminder that seeing war honestly is the first step toward refusing it. 

Pat Elder is a national antiwar organizer, researcher, and writer whose work exposes the militarization of American youth and the environmental costs of U.S. military operations. A longtime contributor to the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY), Elder is known for his investigations into Pentagon programs in public schools—especially JROTC, ASVAB testing, and military recruiter access—and for his clear, accessible guidance to communities seeking to protect students from predatory enlistment pipelines. 

Elder details the staggering human toll behind the recruitment pipeline: high dropout rates among enlistees, widespread injuries, record‑level suicides, and sexual assaults within the ranks. He exposes the enlistment contract itself — a document that allows the military to change a service member’s status, pay, benefits, and obligations without notice — and calls it an outrage inflicted on young people who are pressured to sign before they understand its implications. He then turns to JROTC, describing it as the Pentagon’s most powerful tool in schools: a program that indoctrinates hundreds of thousands of students, teaches a distorted version of U.S. history, and funnels nearly half of its participants into the military. 

Elder closes with a roadmap for action: demanding opt‑out enforcement, restricting recruiter access, shutting down marksmanship programs, challenging JROTC enrollment practices, and ensuring that counter‑recruiters have equal access to students. His message is clear — protecting youth requires confronting militarism wherever it appears, especially in the places where young people should feel safest. 

26:36 | Leaders from the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities present career choices in peacemaking and social change to high school and college students gathered at UC San Diego.  Series: "Growing Activism" [3/2008] [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 14214] 

“Growing Activism: YANO” follows organizers from the Project on Youth and Non‑Military Opportunities as they speak to high school and college students at UC San Diego about building futures rooted in peace, justice, and community change. Instead of the narrow path offered by military recruiters, the presenters introduce young people to real alternatives — careers in social change, public service, and grassroots activism that strengthen communities without participating in war. The video captures a moment of direct engagement, where students are invited to question militarism, explore nonviolent career options, and imagine themselves as agents of transformation. Part of UCTV’s Growing Activism series, the film highlights how youth can claim their power, challenge the pressures of military recruitment, and choose futures aligned with their values.