October 28, 2008 / Marc Norton / BeyondChron - “Without JROTC, I would not be where I am today: a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army.” So writes Jason, a former JROTC cadet, in a recent Facebook post on the Keep JROTC Alive in San Francisco site. “As a young teenager,” he continues, “the JROTC program helped me develop discipline, leadership skills, and values which I continue to use today. So let’s keep the JROTC program alive!”
The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) was created 90 years ago, at the height of the hysteria of World War I, when President Woodrow Wilson needed troops for the “war to end all wars.” The program was reauthorized in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson, who needed troops for yet another doomed military adventure, this time in the jungles of Vietnam. Today, under the reign of yet another wartime President, JROTC’s operational budget has more than doubled.
JROTC was, is, and always will be, a military recruitment program. The “discipline, leadership skills, and values” that Jason and other JROTC advocates tirelessly praise are, for many, nothing more than a come-on for recruitment.
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April 4, 2008 / Tom Burghardt / Antifascist Calling - The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Pentagon is “expected to shut a controversial intelligence office that has drawn fire from lawmakers and civil liberties groups who charge that it was part of an effort by the Defense Department to expand into domestic spying.”
The Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), created by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld after the September 11 attacks, illegally conducted broad domestic operations that targeted antiwar and other dissident domestic groups.
Mark Mazzetti writes,
The move, government officials say, is part of a broad effort under Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to review, overhaul and, in some cases, dismantle an intelligence architecture built by his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld. …
The Pentagon’s senior intelligence official, James R. Clapper, has recommended to Mr. Gates that the counterintelligence field office be dismantled and that some of its operations be placed under the authority of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the government officials said. (Mark Mazzetti, “Pentagon is expected to close intelligence unit,” The New York Times, April 2, 2008)
Portions of CIFA, notably its Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database, were allegedly dismantled after documents uncovered by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, revealed in 2006 that the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and local police departments had supplied the Pentagon with information that aided intelligence operations against the antiwar movement.
According to a report published in 2006 by The New Standard,
One of the TALON documents was written to “alert commanders and staff” to a counter-recruitment protest the Broward Anti-War Coalition (BAWC) Broward Anti-War Coalition (BAWC) was staging at the Ft. Lauderdale Air and Sea Show. The alert, submitted by the Miami-Dade police department, said, “BAWC plans to counter military recruitment and the ‘pro-war’ message with ‘guerilla theater and other forms of subversive propaganda.'”
Another document revealed the government is tracking some of the anti-recruitment activities of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker peace organization.
A third TALON report detailed counter-recruitment rallies in Georgia, and cited Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, and Iraq Veterans Against the War as participants.
In December 2005, NBC News obtained part of the TALON database that included reports on about 48 anti-war meetings or protests. (Megan Tandy, “Pentagon Treats Counter-Recruitment Activism as Terrorism,” The New Standard, October 16, 2006)
What the Times reporter failed to mention, is that CIFA is probably the most heavily-outsourced unit in the Pentagon’s intelligence arsenal.
According to national security analyst R.J. Hillhouse, “over 30 corporations provide 90% of CIFA’s staff,” drawn from a bevy of security and defense firms.
An early CIFA recipient of Bush crime family largess was none other than Mitchell Wade, the disgraced former CEO of MZM Inc. who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges in 2006 in connection with the sleazy shenanigans of now-imprisoned Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA).
In a cash-and-hookers-for-contracts scandal, Cunningham oversaw a number of questionable appropriations given by CIFA to Wade’s MZM. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Cunningham chaired the terrorism subcommittee that had authority over CIFA’s operations. He acted accordingly, showering his “friends” with dubious “earmarks” slipped into various Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations.
When CIFA’s two top officials, David A. Burt II and his deputy, Joseph Hefferon abruptly resigned in August 2006, Pentagon officials were quick to deny any link to on-going corruption investigations, claiming their departure was “a personal decision that they both made together,” according to The Washington Post.
In January 2008, Tim Shorrock reported that a crony of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Stephen Cambone, who helped oversee CIFA’s creation, joined a firm when he left the Pentagon that recently, was awarded a multi-million dollar contract to manage the dodgy intel outfit. Shorrock writes,
On January 7, QinetiQ (pronounced “kinetic”) North America (QNA), a major British-owned defense and intelligence contractor based in McLean, Virginia, announced that its Mission Solutions Group, formerly Analex Corporation, had just signed a five-year, $30 million contract to provide a range of unspecified “security services” to the Pentagon’s Counter-Intelligence Field Activity office, known as CIFA.
According to Pentagon briefing documents, CIFA’s Directorate of Field Activities “assists in preserving the most critical defense assets, disrupting adversaries and helping control the intelligence domain.” Another CIFA directorate, the Counterintelligence and Law Enforcement Center, “identifies and assesses threats” to military personnel, operations and infrastructure from “insider threats, foreign intelligence services, terrorists, and other clandestine or covert entities,” according to the Pentagon. A third CIFA directorate, Behavioral Sciences, has provided a “team of renowned forensic psychologists [who] are engaged in risk assessments of the Guantanamo Bay detainees.” (Tim Shorrock, “QinetiQ Goes Kinetic: Top Rumsfeld Aide Wins Contracts from Spy Office He Set Up,” CorpWatch, January 15, 2008)
But over and above questionable crony-capitalist Pentagon contracts, is the nature of CIFA’s brief as an outsourced spy agency targeting American citizens exercising their constitutionally-protected right to protest the Bush regime’s illegal “preemptive wars ” waged across Central Asia and the Middle East.
Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, claimed that CIFA’s alleged shut-down has nothing to do with its controversial “mission.” Ryder told the Times that CIFA would be folded into already-existing intelligence offices within the Pentagon and that the move is aimed at “‘creating efficiencies and streamlining’ Pentagon efforts to thwart operations by foreign intelligence services and terror networks.”
But a new batch of documents released on Tuesday to the ACLU, revealed that CIFA was coordinating its activities with the FBI, issuing hundreds of national security letters to banks and credit agencies to obtain financial records in “terrorism and espionage investigations.”
When one considers the sordid–and illegal–activities by various intelligence arms of the Pentagon during the 1960s and 1970s, the latest revelations by the Defense Department can hardly be reassuring. According to Peter Dale Scott,
…in April 2002, Defense Dept. officials implemented a plan for domestic U.S. military operations by creating a new U.S. Northern Command (CINC-NORTHCOM) for the continental United States. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called this “the most sweeping set of changes since the unified command system was set up in 1946.”
The NORTHCOM commander, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced, is responsible for “homeland defense and also serves as head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)…. He will command U.S. forces that operate within the United States in support of civil authorities. The command will provide civil support not only in response to attacks, but for natural disasters.” (Peter Dale Scott, “Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps, Pacific News Service, January 31, 2006)
Pentagon “outsourcing” of intelligence operations to corporations provide yet another layer of “plausible deniability” to the DoD as it wages the administration’s odious “war on terror” against the American people.
As with other shut-downs of controversial Pentagon projects, notably former Admiral John Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness spy operation, CIFA’s successor will undoubtedly burrow ever-deeper within the DoD’s opaque bureaucracy–with plenty of assistance from well-heeled security firms–and little oversight from a supine Congress.
Source: https://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com/search?q=Secretive+Pentagon+Spy+Unit%3A+Closed+or+Outsourced%3F
Additional Documents
- Documents Shed New Light on Pentagon Surveillance of Peace Activists / Florida protests / ACLU / October 12, 2006
- DOD Response tp FOIA Request by ACLU of Georgia / Georgia, California and Texas protests / September 12, 2006
- DOD Response to FOIA Request by ACLU of Washington / AFSC protests in Massachusetts and Ohio / September 12, 2006
- DOD Response to FOIA Request by ACLU of Florida / August 28, 2006
- More information on government surveillance of Americans is online at: www.aclu.org/spyfiles.
Additional Information
The ACLU documents do not provide a comprehensive list of counter-recruitment groups that Homeland Security spied on during the Iraq war. However, the documents do show that the Pentagon gathered information on anti-war protesters using sources from the Department of Homeland Security, local police departments and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces 1.
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Cedar Ridge High's principal says they weren't being disciplined in being sent to a suspension classroom
HILLSBOROUGH - Three high school students were sent to an in-school suspension classroom after refusing to take a military aptitude test at Cedar Ridge High School on Tuesday.
Principal Gary Thornburg said the students were not being disciplined, but rather that the in-school suspension teacher was the staff person available to supervise them. More than 300 juniors spent two hours Tuesday and again Wednesday in the school cafeteria taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.
Thornburg said the test, which the U.S. military calls the ASVAB, is traditionally administered to juniors at his school and is part of a larger career assessment program.
The military provides the tests, proctors and grading without charge. In exchange, the scores are sent to military branch recruiters and the school.
"This happens to be the best career assessment we've found," Thornburg said.
By federal law, the contact information for any junior or senior who doesn't sign an opt-out form is passed along to recruiters by the school district.
Thornburg said since students can keep their information private, he didn't understand why some would not want to take the test. The results are discussed with students in school advisory groups that can help them identify study and career choices, he said.
"I don't have a lot of patience with people who are refusing to take the assessment -- or refusing anything that their entire grade level is participating in," Thornburg said.
Dakota Ling, one of the juniors sent to the suspension classroom, said he didn't think he would benefit from the test. Ling, an honors student, has a better than 4.0 grade point average and plans to become a graphic designer.
"I just really don't want the military to have all the info it can on me," he said.
The N.C. Department of Public Instruction does not encourage schools to give the ASVAB to students who have not expressed an interest in the military, spokeswoman Linda Fuller said.
Students in Durham and Wake counties have to sign up for the test. So do students in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and at the Orange County school system's other high school, Orange.
When it opened in 1996, East Chapel Hill High School tested all sophomores, said Winslow Carter, career development coordinator.
"We had such an outrage from the parents and the community that we didn't do that anymore," Carter said. He said he still thinks the aptitude test is valuable for nonmilitary career guidance.
Now, fewer than 10 students a year take the test at East Chapel Hill High School.
Chapel Hill Army recruiter Sgt. Jason Earl has seen that drop off in many area schools. He said recruiters understand that everyone who takes the test may not be interested in military service and that if a household asks them not to call back, they generally don't.
"We're not out here to harass," Earl said.
I am constantly surprised at the ways in which people are surprised at things.I suppose that anywhere, you go, you can find things which are normal there and abnormal or incomprehensible elsewhere. Coming from Guam, a pretty little American territory/colony in the Western Pacific, I find alot of things which "shock" regular Americans, aren't so strange to me.
Often times, when people remark that Guam is so gof gof suette because we don't have to pay Federal income taxes, my response is a very sincere request that our positions be changed then. That this person I am talking to and whatever state they call home, switch its political status so that it becomes like that of Guam. So yes, by all means, take the no Federal income tax rule, but, you simply can't just take this benefit alone, you also have to accept with it, the overall dinimalas of being a colony. You have to take the lack of a voting Congressional representative, and also regardless of your population, no representation in the Senate whatsoever.
What generally shocks people, however and makes them realize the unsavoriness of becoming like Guam, is the fact that, then your state must give up 30% of its area to the United States military to be transformed into Air Force, Navy and soon to be built Marine Corps bases. Most of these people, who think very simplistically about the fortune of being the colony of Guam, never make it to considering this point, and even if they are patriotic, flag waving Americans, who profess a profound love and respect for the troops, this idea of having 1/3 of their states controlled by the military, tends to shake them to their very core.
It is almost as if, they are forced to see past their rhetoric, their illusions, and confront what they truly feel about something. That while the military defends, protects, it is also a fearsome creature, in many ways what Giles Delueze called the war machine (i makinan gera). In addition to protecting life, the military destroys life, and not just the enemies lives, but the lives of those it protects as well. The military sucks away resources, and rarely in very balanced or well managed ways. For instance, in my department, someone has on the door of their office a cartoon that wishes for the day when public schools will be well funded, and the military will have to hold bake sales. This is the sort of illusion that the military actively engineers in order to protect itself, and to keep its image positive.
In high schools for instance in California, JROTC programs are advertised as bringing in income and money to schools. They are advertised as being important programs for getting kids into college as well. Both of these points however are rarely true. In fact, JROTC programs can end up costing schools far more than they bring in, because of the gap in what the Department of Defense reimburses the school, and what they require the school pay in order to set up the program. Furthermore, in the California state college system, military science courses taken through JROTC do not count towards college. As if to make things worse, the money put up to establish JROTC in schools, tends to get taken away from actual college prepatory programs.In Guam, we have the idea that the United States military is an "environmental steward," or a good and loving caretaker of the environment. While in some ways, we can see this, as certain pet projects such as the eradication of the brown tree snake or the protection of endangered species on Guam become central to the public relations campaigns of the military. We also get this impression of the military as being better at watching out for the environment because of dikike' na kosas, such as the pristine conditions of their lawns, the lack of abandoned cars by the roadsides in their bases, and in an almost ridiculous way, the better paint jobs on their houses.
All of this evidence in favor of the idea that the military is simply mampos kapas gi i umadadahi i tano', i tasi yan i aire, is nonetheless contradicted by the actual poisoning of the earth the military perpetuates in times of war and peace. Agent Orange, Depleted Uranium, Nuclear Fallout, Toxic Waste, Mustard Gas, these are all weapons of mass destruction of chemical warfare which have been brought to Guam and affected the health of its residents, and as some cancer research indicates, has affected our health and environment in catastrophic ways.
I think that when I ask people to imagine what it would be like if 30% of California or Oregon or New York was military bases, it shatters that sort of positive illusion that surrounds the military, and forces these people to think about what the military means in their lives, and to think beyond the platitudes about defense, and also see what other less "patriotic" impacts it can have.
Recently, as I've become involved with the group Project on Youth Alternatives and Non-Military Options or Project YANO, I have found another point which can shock people into rethinking what the military means in daily life.
For instance, when I tell people that in San Diego the JROTC has built and is building firing ranges at San Diego high schools, most people react with almost pure shock. Although these firing ranges aren't using real weapons, but just air powered rifles, the idea that young high school students are being trained to handle weapons, forces people to recognize not just the violent aspects of militarism, but more so the predatory aspects of it, which we see through the recruitment of students at increasingly young ages in order to meet recruitment targets.
In order to build these firing ranges and fund the JROTC programs, money has been taken away from college prep courses such as AVID and Advanced Placement. In addition, in the hopes of giving the impression of enthusiastic student support for JROTC, at Mission Bay and Lincoln High Schools, students were enrolled in JROTC without their or their parents' consent.
For the past few months, The Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft has been conducting public meetings in order to gauge community outrage over the firing range issue, and has ciruclated petitions, held protests and built up a diverse coalition, with the hopes of addressing the following issues:
- Removing the firing ranges from San Diego high schools (since they violate the no weapons ban in schools)
- Stop the violations of California Education Code 51750, which prohibits involuntary enrollment in military science classes.
- The inadequate offering of college prep classes and academic electives that students can take instead of JROTC, and require that parents and students be informed that military sciences classes do not count towards college admissions.
On Feb. 12th, San Diego parents, students and teachers held a protest as the city school board met, hoping to receive a full and fair hearing on this issue, and that their concerns be addressed. I'm pasting below photos from the protest:
The Billions of dollars spent on advertising could be used for scholarships and other youth programs....
Under the supervision of Clinical Professor Penny Venetis, the following students and interns contributed to writing this report: Heidi Alexander, Avi Appel, Erica Askin, Amy Brown, Eric Bueide, Matthew Coleman, Randle DeFalco, Jason Fertakos, Lisa Hansen, Safia Hussain, Michael Isaac, Syrion Jack, Daniel Louis, Devi Shah, Nadia Rollins, and Robert Ulon.
Indeed, under 10 U.S.C.A. § 503, the “Secretary of Defense is required by law to enhance the effectiveness of DOD’s recruitment programs through an aggressive program of advertising and market research targeted at prospective recruits and those who may influence them.”...
The military has conducted extensive research into the psychological and behavioral factors that influence teenagers to enlist in the military....The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) administers the YATS to students annually so that changes in youth “demographic trends, cultural characteristics, attitudes, and educational attainments” can be tracked by the DOD to formulate recruiting strategies....
The military’s marketing campaigns emphasize patriotic themes and tales of adventure that appeal to teenage sensitivities, while downplaying the actual risks of war....
[I]n teens, the judgment, insight and reasoning power of the frontal cortex is not being brought to bear on the task as it is in adults.
The United States Supreme Court has also recognized the psychological vulnerability of children and teenagers in several landmark decisions. In 2005, in discussing why the execution of juveniles is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court cited “[s]cientific and sociological studies documenting the tendency of adolescents to make “impetuous and ill-considered decisions”; their susceptibility to “negative influences and outside pressures": and the "transitory" nature of their character traits....
Recognizing the psychological vulnerability of children, Congress passed laws prohibiting slick marketing campaigns that glamorize risky behaviors such as smoking and drinking. For similar reasons, as the obesity rate among young people has soared, school officials and legislators have targeted the sale of unhealthy foods on school campuses....
While a broad consensus exists that teenagers lack the decision-making capacity of adults, the military deliberately exploits this immaturity by equating the military with video games and other entertainment....
Often the military prominently displays its promotional materials inside or nearby the school cafeteria, where the entire student population can be exposed to the recruiters’ messages....
The Army also plans to use cell phone text messages, helicopter simulators in the back of eighteen wheelers, and visits to NASCAR and rodeo races. “[R]ecruiters will visit schools and malls a few days before an event, offering free tickets and the chance to meet famous drivers or bull riders.”
Military recruiters create a customized “pitch” for each individual student based in part on personal information gathered from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test (ASVAB)....
Military recruiters are instructed to “read yearbooks to ‘mysteriously’ know something about a prospect to spark the student’s curiosity.”...
"[C]hallenge his ego by suggesting that basic training may be too difficult for him and he might not be able to pass it."...
Recruiters view each teenager as a potential sale, rather than an individual who is trying to navigate the difficult years of adolescence. Indeed, the Secretary of Defense’s Director of Recruiting Policy stated that the military concentrates on schools most likely to “maximize returns on the recruiting dollar [because] the advertising and marketing research people tell us to go where the low-hanging fruit is. In other words, we fish where the fish are.”...
[T]he military’s School Recruitment Program Handbook (“SRP Handbook”), instructs them to “penetrate the school market” and achieve “school ownership.”... High schools are referred to as “markets” where recruiters make “sales presentations” to students....
[R]ecruiters are becoming fixtures in the public school system....
Recruiters are told to give out free mugs, calendars and office supplies with the Army logo on them to school employees...
The SRP Handbook refers to educators as “tools” to further implement the military’s goals....
To facilitate this “ownership,” recruiters are instructed to approach youths as early and as often as possible and to seek help from school administrators and popular students, or “centers of influence,” (“COIs”) in the recruiting process....
"If you wait until they’re seniors, it’s probably too late." ...
[T]he SRP Handbook encourages military recruiters to “[g]et involved with local Boy Scout troops,” because “ scoutmasters are typically happy to get any assistance you can offer.” ... the actual age range for the Boy Scouts is ten to eighteen years old. This means that military recruiters not only target younger high school students, but have access to boys as young as ten years of age, without any parental knowledge or permission....
"Some influential students such as the student president or the captain of the football team may not enlist; however, they can and will provide you with referrals who will enlist."...
"Know [their] student influencers. Students such as class officers, newspaper and yearbook editors, and athletes can help build interest in the Army among the student body. Keep them informed."...
"Be indispensable to school administrators, counselors, faculty, and students. Be so helpful and so much a part of the school scene that you are in constant demand ... Cultivate coaches, librarians, administrative staff, and teachers"...
Military recruiters are instructed to “eat lunch in the school cafeteria" ... The Army’s “Calendar of School Activities” urges military recruiters to "wear [their] dress blues" to school events commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday and to participate in activities during Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. There is no mention, however, of similar events such as Columbus Day and Saint Patrick’s Day, which are days of ethnic pride for Irish and Italian-Americans....
[T]he Navy created a Web site, called El Navy, which is designed to better communicate with the Hispanic market,” and “the Army has specifically tailored radio advertisements to reach the African-American market.”...
"Obtain a copy of the HS fall sports and activity calendars [and] arrange to have the schedules copied with the RS [Recruiting Station] address prominently displayed. Post them throughout the RS area, including restaurants, arcades, and anywhere else students congregate"...
"Contact the school’s student government ... to discuss what the Army and you can do to assist them in the upcoming SY ... The football team usually starts practicing in August. Contact the coach and volunteer to assist in leading calisthenics or calling cadence during team runs"...
"Attend athletic events at the HS ... Get involved with the parent-teacher association ... Obtain a tactical vehicle from a local USAR [“US Army Recruiting”] troop program unit and drive it in the parade with your future Soldiers riding along.... Deliver donuts and coffee for the faculty once a month.... Hispanic Heritage Month. Participate in events as available"...
"Offer to be a chaperone or escort for homecoming activities and coronations."...
"Assemble and offer a color guard for the opening home game... Prior to Thanksgiving, many student organizations gather food baskets for needy citizens. Offer your assistance and get involved."...
"Contact college students who are home during the holidays." ...
"Turn up the tempo on contacting your juniors." ...
"[A]rrange for an exhibition basketball game between the faculty and Army recruiters." ...
"Prepare certificates for those faculty and staff members who have aided you in your HS recruiting efforts.... present these certificates at a COI [Center of Influence] event.... Continue to advertise in school newspapers and conduct class presentations."...
"Basketball season starts. Offer assistance to the coach." ...
"[S]end thank you notes to those staff and faculty members who have been helpful ... Secure and present USAR Scholar/Athlete Awards at HS graduation or award ceremonies ... Assist in arranging a color guard for the graduation ceremony ... Coordinate with school officials to determine if they can use your assistance during summer school.” ...
All four branches of the armed forces host all-expense paid workshops for educators....
Allen Kanner, a clinical psychologist and researcher on military recruiting, calls the use of teachers “a very clever marketing technique,” and explains: “Teachers are role models, and if they approve of something, then the students believe the whole school system approves of it.” ...
In 2008, to increase enlistment, the military increased its bonus allowance from $1,000.91 to $2,000.92 to members of the Army, National Guard, Army Reserve, retired service-members, and civilian Army employees who refer potential enlistees to recruiters. Authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, active service members or veterans who convince someone to enlist receives $1,000 when the referred enlistee commences basic training, and another $2,000 when the referred enlistee completes basic training and individual advanced training. Under this program, essentially every service-member acts as a recruiter. The program encourages deceptive recruiting practices. Service members have a financial incentive to glorify the war and to minimize negative experiences.
***
Students who object to military presence in their high schools can be ostracized. For example, at one high school in Southern New Jersey, a student was reprimanded and ostracized for refusing to participate in a recruiter-led gym class that simulated military training. During the gym class, students were told to respond “yes sergeant” to the recruiter’s orders. The penalty for failing to respond was 20 push-ups. One student who refused to participate was removed from gym class for the day and initially given a “0” grade.
The student was later harassed by students and members of the school’s staff. Students called him “un-American” and a “Communist.” One student openly confronted him about the incident, sparking a public argument. A teacher chastised the student for refusing to participate in the military exercise. While doing so, the teacher referenced his grandparents who were holocaust survivors.
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The irony is that DHS students and real Marines actually do share much in common. Both groups are largely poor. Enlisting in the Marines would not provide the average DHS student a way to escape their unpromising life. It will only change the scenery from Southern Texas to Iraq or Afghanistan, and add the risks of snipers, roadside bombs and firefights.
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[A] Department of Defense policy change highlights that rape is pervasive.
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Advantages to Enlisting During College: (1) Higher Sign-On Bonuses, (2) Those with Associates Degrees and college credits also qualify for higher sign-on bonuses, (3) Better Pay, (4) Those with Associates Degrees and college credits qualify for higher pay than enlistees who are only high school graduates, (5) More Elite Jobs....
In addition to receiving the benefits listed directly above, college graduates who enlist may reap additional benefits. The military has student loan repayment programs which can help enlistees repay existing student loans. Additionally, college graduates may be eligible to enlist directly into the officer candidate schools of the various military branches. This puts them on a fast-track to interesting careers with better pay and benefits.
***
E/COI tours are designed to be professionally enriching experiences for key influencers. They are not junkets or rewards for cooperation with recruiters. Tours are resources that must focus on those areas (access, ASVAB testing, and release of directory information) that need special attention. Tours provide E/COIs the opportunity to view Soldiers in a training environment. Many participants become informed supporters who publicize and promote Army opportunities with students, graduates, and other key influencers.
-- Targeting Youth: What Everyone Should Know About Military Recruiting in Public High Schools
Revised: 10/11/2019
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UNCLE SAM WANTS...
Your Child's Name, Phone Number, and Address
The passage of recent "school reform" legislation intended to improve upon the nation's school systems also allows the military access to private student information.
The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George Bush on January 8, 2002, is touted by many as a federal bipartisan success story designed to impact the way children learn in school and how schools and states are held accountable to students, parents and educational communities. It is an elaborate reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 that, among other things, initially offered grants to low income school areas and established the federal lunch and milk programs. In spite of the new act’s overwhelming support by Washington legislators and policy makers, it is starting to come under fire for a well-hidden section entitled Sec. 9528. Armed Forces Recruiter Access to Students and Student Recruiting Information.
Subcategories
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Article Count: 1
Opinion Article Count: 1
The NNOMY Opinion section is a new feature of our articles section. Writing on youth demilitarization issues is quite rare but we have discovered the beginning articles and notes being offered on this subject so we have decided to present them under an opinion category. The articles presented do not necessarily reflect the views of the NNOMY Steering Committee.
Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) Article Count: 1
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Activists Demilitarizing Our Public Schools
The NNOMY CAMPUS page is a resource for activists wishing to understand how to more effectively intervene in our public schools against the increasing influence of Pentagon programs to indoctrinate our youth for war. A series of webinars are being planned on different successful strategies to effect policy changes in school districts that better protect student privacy from military recruiters, to organize access to counter-recruit on campus, and to monitor the activities of military personnel on public school campuses. Topics are listed by series and subject. NNOMY webinar based workshops are a more effective method to instruct how to proceed with curbing the number of youth that make the choice to join into military service, or do so with a more informed picture of what this service will entail. This page will be updated periodically as additional webinars are conducted and new materials are produced to support these trainings. NNOMY will maintain these educational resources with the most up-to-date information and informed opinions as possible in order to keep the practice of national counter'recruitment efforts viable into the future.
| Available Webinars: |
Public Military Charter Schools Article Count: 1
Globalization & Militarization Article Count: 2
Military Presence in Our Schools Article Count: 10
Conservative Religious Influence Article Count: 2
The warning, given to me 25 years ago, came at the moment Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists began speaking about a new political religion that would direct its efforts at taking control of all institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government. Its stated goal was to use the United States to create a global, Christian empire. It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it. But Adams warned us against the blindness caused by intellectual snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to return with swastikas and brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had found a mask for fascism in the pages of the Bible. - Chris Hedges (From his article: The Christian Right and the Rise of American Fascism, 2011)
Revised 04/17/2016
Corporate Influence Article Count: 1
Young Marines Article Count: 1
Art & Cultural Activism Article Count: 1
The Militarization of U.S. Culture Article Count: 23
Though the United States of America shares with other nations in a history of modern state militarism, the past 78 years following its consolidation as a world military power after World War II has seen a shift away from previous democratic characterizations of the state. The last forty years, with the rise of the neo-conservative Reagan and Bush (2) administrations, began the abandonment of moral justifications for democracy building replaced by bellicose proclamations of the need and right to move towards a national project of global security by preemptive military force. Even with the return of eight years of the, so called, Liberal Obama administrations we saw the further erosion of long held human right protections with the suspension of habeas corpus and the increased usage of extra-judicial drone bombing killings of claimed combatants in multiple conflicts worldwide. Now with the Trump and Biden administrations, these programs have increased unbeknownst to the general public as the mainstream media silenced and normalized perpetual wars.
In the process of global military expansion, the US population has been subjected to an internal re-education to accept the role of the U.S. as consolidating its hegemonic rule internationally in the interest of liberal ideals of wealth creation and protectionism.
The average citizen has slowly come to terms with stealthily increasing campaigns of militarization domestically in media offerings; from television, movies, militarized video games, and scripted news networks to reinforce the inevitability of a re-configured society as security state. The effect has begun a transformation of how, as citizens, we understand our roles and viability as workers and families in relation to this security state. This new order has brought with it a shrinking public common and an increasing privatization of publicly held infrastructure; libraries, health clinics, schools and the expectation of diminished social benefits for the poor and middle-class. The national borders are being militarized as are our domestic police forces in the name of Homeland Security but largely in the interest of business. The rate and expansion of research and development for security industries and the government agencies that fund them, now represent the major growth sector of the U.S.economy. Additionally, as the U.S. economy continually shifts from productive capital to financial capital as the engine of growth for wealth creation and development, the corporate culture has seen its fortunes rise politically and its power over the public sector grow relatively unchallenged by a confused citizenry who are watching their social security and jobs diminishing.
.jpg "Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team members, some armed with assault rifles, preparing for an exercise")
How increasing cultural militarization effects our common future will likely manifest in increased public dissatisfaction with political leadership and economic strictures. Social movements within the peace community, like NNOMY, will need to expand their role of addressing the dangers of militarists predating youth for military recruitment in school to giving more visibility to the additional dangers of the role of an influential militarized media, violent entertainment and play offerings effecting our youth in formation and a general increase and influence of the military complex in all aspects of our lives. We are confronted with a demand for a greater awareness of the inter-relationships of militarism in the entire landscape of domestic U.S. society. Where once we could ignore the impacts of U.S. military adventurisms abroad, we are now faced with the transformation of our domestic comfort zone with the impacts of militarism in our day to day lives where we are witnessing militarized police forces in all our cities.
How this warning can be imparted in a meaningful way by a movement seeking to continue with the stated goals of counter-recruitment and public policy activism, and not loose itself in the process, will be the test for those activists, past and future, who take up the call to protect our youth from the cultural violence of militarism.
The "militarization of US culture" category will be an archive of editorials and articles about the increasing dangers we face as a people from those who are invested in the business of war. This page will serve as a resource for the NNOMY community of activists and the movement they represent moving into the future. The arguments presented in this archive will offer important realizations for those who are receptive to NNOMY's message of protecting our youth, and thus our entire society, of the abuses militarism plays upon our hopes for a sustainable and truly democratic society.
NNOMY
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Revised / 11/04/2023 - GDG
Resources Article Count: 48
The Resources section covers the following topics:
Social media Campaign Resources Article Count: 42
NNOMYpeace has organized the following resources for our own staff of activists to promote our campaigns on different social media platforms. Many are formatted for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds.
We also welcome those activists inside our network of groups doing Truth in Recruitment and Counter-recruiting activism to utilize there resources for their own social media channels.
If you are not a group associated to NNOMYpeace, and would like to utilize these resources on your own channels, we encourage your groups to integrate to NNOMY on our National Directory of Youth Demilitarization Groups to help support the national community of youth demilitarization groups to know you and the scope of your activism. You can share your information to list your group by submitting an organizational form at the following LINK.
We have distributed the following graphics by campaign. Click on the categories below to see those that support different campaign themes by NNOMY
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Divest “Your Body” from the War Machine Article Count: 1
The Divest “Your Body” from the War Machine graphics are campaigning resources for social media for the Divest campaign that NNOMY is collaborating with CodePink. NNOMY focuses on asking youth to "Divest of their Bodies" from military service with the war machine. These are strictly to be utilized with counter-recruitment only and not with TIR.
Winning The Peace: A National High School Intervention Article Count: 2
These social media resources are to be utilized with the "Winning the Peace" campaign in cooperation with the palm cards developed by War Resisters League and the support website created for smart phones, "What Everyone Should Know Before Joining the Military / Lo que deberías saber entres de enrolarte en las Fuerzas Armadas (FF.AA.) ," to answer questions for youth about what military service really involves for them.
Know about Groups doing Youth Demilitarization Nationally Article Count: 1
These social media resources focus on groups nationally and regionally that take part in some form of youth demilitarization activism. That can include themes such as Truth in Recruitment or Counter-recruitment activism or participate in outreach to schools as veteral or antiwar speakers. Those using them should be cognizant of the limits that your location and context present before you decide to select the appropriate images and appeals for your use.
Misc. Social Media images Article Count: 1
The Misc. social media image resources category are designed around various appeals encompassing general counter-recruitment messages and antiwar themes. They should be utilized judiciously with attention paid to the moment and situation of which they are applied. Some of these may be themed along specific important dates in the peace calendar of on specific subject relating to militarization especially those themes that effect youth. Those found in this category are not specific to a campaign.
Social media Campaign Resources Article Count: 1
Back to School Against War & Militarism! Get the 2018-19 Back-to-school Kit for Counter-recruiting and School De-militarization Organizing from The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth and find out how you can help keep our youth safer and send a message to school officials and your government... military recruiters should be monitored in local high school and minor-aged youth deserve a balanced narrative on military service! Act Now to activate in your child's public school against Pentagon intrusions into our community youth.
Eliminate Selective Service for Everyone Article Count: 14
The "Eliminate Selective Service for Everyone" campaign category addresses the antiquated Selective Service system and the demand for its elimination. With the issue of women now being qualified for combat duties including fighting, the issue has been brought before the congress and senate of the United States to require women to register, like men, in the years when young adults are typically drafted into the services to fight wars if the draft needs to be re-initiated in the event of a national crisis where there are not sufficient troops to meet the troop requirement.
This campaign, "Eliminate Selective Service for Everyone," asks for the elimination of this demand based on it being a violation of basic and internationally recognized human rights protocols including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Costs of War Article Count: 2
The "Costs of War" campaign category came from the Watson Institute for International Affairs website of Brown University in Providence, RI. This institute has made their research into the economic, social, political, and human costs of U.S. wars their research focus. Their mission statement explains the following:
The Costs of War Project is a team of 50 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2010. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the related violence in Pakistan and Syria. There are many hidden or unacknowledged costs of the United States’ decision to respond to the 9/11 attacks with military force. We aim to foster democratic discussion of these wars by providing the fullest possible account of their human, economic, and political costs, and to foster better informed public policies.
This campaign, "Costs of War," asks for the public to be aware that our post 9/11 foreign policy has an effect on the U.S.'s international relations that are increasingly coming under question domestically and internationally and how those policies align with the stated goals of the U.S. State Department and its allied governments..
Workshops Article Count: 3
NNOMY Peace produces workshops to assist groups in understanding the tactics of military recruiters in the school and the community and create community and strategies for groups envolved in youth demilitarization efforts.
Counter-recruitment Resources Article Count: 1
NNOMYpeace produces printable and viewable resources to support the practice of Truth in Recruitment and Counter-recruitment activism.
Book Reviews Article Count: 5
Project PASS Article Count: 1
NNOMY Network News Article Count: 12
News reports from the groups associated to the NNOMY Network including Social Media.
CR Reports Article Count: 5
Reports from counter-recruitment groups and activists from the field. Includes information about action reports at recruiting centers and career fairs, school tabling, and actions in relation to school boards and state legislatures.
CR in the News Article Count: 8
David Swanson Article Count: 6
David Swanson is the author of the new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush by Dennis Kucinich. In addition to cofounding AfterDowningStreet.org, he is the Washington director of Democrats.com and sits on the boards of a number of progressive organizations in Washington, DC.
Charlottesville Right Now: 11-10-11 David Swanson
David Swanson joins Coy to discuss Occupy Charlottesville, protesting Dick Cheney's visit to the University of Virginia, and his new book. - Listen
Jorge Mariscal Article Count: 2
Jorge Mariscal is the grandson of Mexican immigrants and the son of a U.S. Marine who fought in World War II. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego.
Matt Guynn Article Count: 1
Matt Guynn plays the dual role of program director and coordinator for congregational organizing for On Earth Peace, building peace and nonviolence leadership within the 1000+ congregations of the Church of the Brethren across the United States and Puerto Rico. He previously served a co-coordinator of training for Christian Peacemaker Teams, serving as an unarmed accompanier with political refugees in Chiapas, Mexico, and offering or supporting trainings in the US and Mexico.
Rick Jahnkow Article Count: 8
Rick Jahnkow works for two San Diego-based anti-militarist organizations, the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities and the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft. He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pat Elder Article Count: 13
Pat Elder was a co-founder of the DC Antiwar Network (DAWN) and a member of the Steering Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, (NNOMY). Pat is currently involved in a national campaign with the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom project, Military Poisons, investigating on U.S. military base contamination domestically and internationally. Pat’s work has prominently appeared in NSA documents tracking domestic peace groups.
Documents:
audio Pat Elder - National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth
COMMUNITY ACTION Article Count: 2
Starbase DOD Article Count: 1
National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program Article Count: 1
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Article Count: 1
Network Actions Article Count: 5
EVENTS & CONFERENCES Article Count: 4
NNOMY periodically participates in or organizes events(e.i. conferences, rallies) with other organizations.
CR Activist Reports Article Count: 2
CR Discussion List Article Count: 1
NNOMY in the News Article Count: 6
News articles reposted about NNOMY. Includes news reports about our work with associated groups and conferences.
National CR Database Article Count: 1
GI Resistance Article Count: 1
Conscientious Objection Article Count: 1
NNOMY National Conference Article Count: 11
Materials/Training Article Count: 1
For Educators/Guidance Counselors Article Count: 2
Recruiting on College Campuses Article Count: 1
Model Programs Article Count: 1
Providing Guidance Article Count: 1
School Policies Article Count: 6
EN ESPAÑOL Article Count: 1
JROTC Article Count: 1
JAMRS Article Count: 2
Equal access Article Count: 2
Opt Out/Student lists Article Count: 2
NCLB Article Count: 5
MILITARISM & WAR Article Count: 6
FOR ENLISTED PERSONNEL Article Count: 1
FOR PARENTS Article Count: 1
CONSIDERING ENLISTING? Article Count: 1
RECRUITING IN SPECIFIC COMMUNITIES Article Count: 3
MILITARY RECRUITING TOOLS & METHODS Article Count: 5
SCHOOL BASED COUNTER RECRUITMENT Article Count: 7
Know Your Rights Article Count: 2
Delayed Entry Program/DEP Article Count: 2
GI Bill & Benefits Article Count: 1
Alternatives by State Article Count: 1
NNOMY Article Count: 12
ALTERNATIVES TO THE MILITARY Article Count: 2
Recruiter Abuses Article Count: 2
Truth in Recruiting Article Count: 1
Facts About Recruitment Article Count: 1
Facts & Figures Article Count: 1
COUNTER RECRUITING ESSENTIALS Article Count: 4
The Counter-recruitment Essentials section of the NNOMY web site covers the issues and actions spanning this type of activism. Bridging the difficult chasms between religious, veteran, educator, student, and community based activism is no small task. In this section you will find information on how to engage in CR activism in your school and community with the support of the knowledge of others who have been working to inform youth considering enlisting in the military. You will also find resources for those already in the military that are looking for some guidance on how to actively resist injustices as a soldier or how to choose a path as a conscientious objector.
Steering Committee Article Count: 1
Articles Article Count: 260
John Judge Article Count: 5
John Judge was a co-founder of the Committee for High School Options and Information on Careers, Education and Self-Improvement (CHOICES) in Washington DC, an organization engaged since 1985 in countering military recruitment in DC area high schools and educating young people about their options with regard to the military. Beginning with the war in Viet Nam, Judge was a life-long anti-war activist and tireless supporter of active-duty soldiers and veterans.
"It is our view that military enlistment puts youth, especially African American youth, at special risk, not only for combat duty, injury and fatality, but for military discipline and less than honorable discharge, which can ruin their chances for employment once they get out. There are other options available to them."
In the 1970's the Selective Service System and the paper draft became unworkable, requiring four induction orders to get one report. Boards were under siege by anti-war and anti-draft forces, resistance of many kinds was rampant. The lottery system failed to dampen the dissent, since people who knew they were going to be drafted ahead of time became all the more active. Local draft board members quit in such numbers that even I was approached, as a knowledgeable draft counselor to join the board. I refused on the grounds that I could never vote anyone 1-A or eligible to go since I opposed conscription and the war.
At this point the Pentagon decided to replace the paper draft with a poverty draft, based on economic incentive and coercion. It has been working since then to draw in between 200-400,000 enlisted members annually. Soon after, they began to recruit larger numbers of women to "do the jobs men don't want to". Currently recruitment quotas are falling short, especially in Black communities, and reluctant parents are seen as part of the problem. The hidden problem is retention, since the military would have quadrupled by this time at that rate of enlistment, but the percentage who never finish their first time of enlistment drop out at a staggering rate.
I began bringing veterans of the Vietnam War into high schools in Dayton, Ohio in the late 1960s, and have continued since then to expose young people to the realities of military life, the recruiters' false claims and the risks in combat or out. I did it first through Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, then Dayton Draft & Military Counseling, and since 1985 in DC through C.H.O.I.C.E.S.
The key is to address the broader issues of militarization of the schools and privacy rights for students in community forums and at meetings of the school board and city council. Good counter-recruitment also provides alternatives in the civilian sector to help the poor and people of color, who are the first targets of the poverty draft, to find ways to break into the job market, go to a trade school, join an apprenticeship program, get job skills and placement help, and find money for college without enlisting in the military.
- War Opponents Train For Visits to Area Schools And Recruitment Centers, Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post
- Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools - Scott Harding, Seth Kershner
- C.H.O.I.C.E.S., John Judge
- Interview - John Judge - U.S. Wars & Military Recruitment
- Military and your Schools
- A Celebration of the Life of John Judge May 31, 2014
- In Memory of John Judge - Washington Peace Center
- John Judge- Obituary and request for reflections - Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA)
- The Loss of John Judge Hits Hard - David Swanson
- John Judge, Leading Change: A Transformational, Quiet Servant Leader, David Ratcliffe
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Researching Pop Culture and Militarism - Selene Rivas Article Count: 7
https://nnomy.org/popcultureandmilitarism/
Selene Rivas presents for the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth a series of brief articles exploring how the U.S. citizenry has been normalized to accept a permanent state of militarism through popular culture: Movies, video games and comic books. From Monday, November 20th and continuing through Sunday the 26th of November, 2017, a new segment of this series of short articles will be featured each day. Select from the articles below.
You can find out more about the Week Of Action at War Resisters' International.
Edward Hasbrouck Article Count: 3
Edward Hasbrouck grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He considers myself primarily a political activist. Hasbrouck began his resistance to the violence of illegitimate authority as an elected but nonvoting student representative to the local school board and as an activist for peace, disarmament, and students' rights. His first book was a handbook for high school students on their legal rights co-authored in the summer of 1977, between high school and college, as an intern for the student service bureau of the Massachusetts Department of Education. He majored in political science at the University of Chicago until leaving school to pursue direct involvement in political activism.
Conscription of young people to fight old people's wars is one of the ultimate expressions of ageism, and for me, resistance to an ageist draft was first and foremost a component and continuation of the struggle for youth liberation. The religious and authoritarian justifications for conscription and war are remarkably similar to the religious and authoritarian rationales for violence against children and for slavery. - Edward Hasbrouck
In 1980, after a five-year hiatus, the U.S. government reinstated the requirement that all young men register for military conscription with the Selective Service System. In 1982, Hasbrouck was selected for criminal prosecution by the U.S. Department of "Justice" (specifically, by William Weld and Robert Mueller) as one of the people they considered the most vocal of the several million nonregistrants for the draft. As one of 20 nonregistrants who were prosecuted before the government abandoned the enforcement of draft registration, Hasbrouck was convicted and "served" four and a half months in a Federal Prison Camp in 1983-1984. The high-profile trials of resistance organizers proved counterproductive for the government. These trials served only to call attention to the government's inability to prosecute more than a token number of nonregistrants, and reassured nonregistrants that they were not alone in their resistance and were in no danger of prosecution unless they called attention to themselves.
Articles:
- National Commission on Military Service To Release Interim Report in January, Edward Hasbrouck, Antiwar Blog, November 6, 2018
Resources:
- Resistance Info
- Edward Hasbrouck on Twitter
- Books by Edward Hasbrouck on Amazon
- Podcast (35 min.): "The Future of Draft Registration in the U.S." (Courage to Resist)
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