Articles

Featured

A New Generation of Kids Learns to Live Like Soldiers

  español

NOTE: As a corrupt landlord repurposed as a president prepares to abolish a government that dared to use its resources to alleviate its poverty, it is a good moment to look back at a story from 2017 at the system of militarism that so dominates U.S. America's culture and how it indoctrinates youth to the cause of liberal hegemony.

Bailey, 11, awaits an outfit inspection during a weekly Young Marines meeting in Hanover, Pennsylvania.The Young Marines is a not-for-profit organization focusing on youth development in categories such as citizenship, patriotism, and drug-free lifestyles.  Photograph by Sarah Blesener, Alexia Foundation, CatchlightDecember 1, 2017 / Alexa Keefe / Photographs: Sarah Blesener / National Geographic - Over the past year, photographer Sarah Blesener has been visiting patriotic youth groups around the country, from teens being trained as border guards in Texas, ROTC chapters in New York, a patriotic church camp in Utah, and a young woman in Nebraska preparing to head to the military once she graduates from high school. Her aim has been to explore how different combinations of religion, love of country, and military-style training come together in the teaching of “new Americanism,” which Blesener defines as a renewed embrace of the centuries-old theme of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny.

One group that Blesener followed was the Hanover, Pennsylvania chapter of the Young Marines, a nonprofit group which has 300 clubs around the country. Participation is open to boys and girls ages 8 and up as an after school program. The recruits take part in a military-style boot camp, fitness drills, and weekend encampments, as well as engaging in recreational activities like dances and visiting theme parks and historic sites.

Featured

House and Senate agree to make draft registration "automatic"

  español -

December 9, 2025 / Edward Hasbrouck /  Edward Hasbrouck's Blog - An amendment to the Military Selective Service Act to direct the Selective Service System (SSS) to try to register all potential draftees in the USA automatically has been included in the version of this year’s military authorization bill agreed to by a House-Senate conference committee and likely to be enacted into law within the next few weeks.

This doesn’t mean that a draft is being activated right away, or that any or all of those “automatically” registered will be sent induction orders — although preparing to do so is the sole purpose of registration with or by the SSS. This will, however, be the largest change in Selective Service law since 1980. More importantly, it will move the USA closer to activation of a draft, or at least to being able to claim to be ready to activate a draft “on demand” of Congress and the President, than at any time in the half century since draft registration was suspended and draft boards were deactivated in 1975.

The provision of the NDAA for automatic draft registration will take effect one year after the bill is signed into law. The clock will start running soon. We’ll only have a year to get the Military Selective Service Act repealed if we are to avert this new threat of both stepped-up preparations for a military draft and sweeping abuse of young Americans’ personal information.

Featured

Why has counter-recruitment activism diminished?

  español

November 24, 2025 / NNOMY - Counter-recruitment activism has diminished primarily due to a decline in public and progressive support, which has led to reduced funding and participation. The movement has historically ebbed and flowed in response to active wartime periods, and the current era of "perpetual war-fighting" has desensitized the public to aggressive military recruitment tactics, weakening the urgency for counter-recruitment efforts.

Despite the U.S. being engaged in two controversial wars for 15 years, support for counter-recruitment has waned, even among progressive circles. This decline is exacerbated by the fact that many military recruitment promises have become more credible over time, reducing the perceived need for intervention. As a result, full-time counter-recruitment work is now largely conducted on a volunteer basis, with organizations struggling to maintain operations and secure resources.

NNOMY is Funded by

© 2026 NNOMYpeace. Designed By JoomShaper

 

Gonate time or money to demilitarize our public schools

FAIR USE NOTICE

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues connected with militarism and resistance. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Contact NNOMY

NNOMY

The National Network Opposing

the Militarization of youth
San Diego Peace Campus

3850 Westgate Place
San Diego, California 92105 U.S.A.
admin@nnomy.org  +1 619 798-8335
Tuesdays & Thursdays 12 Noon till 5pm PST
NNOMY Volunteer and Internship Inquiries