Workshop - Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment

Workshop Presented: August 5, 2020

Online - VFP 2020 Convention / https://vfp2020.attendease.com

The Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment workshop was produced for the 2020 Veterans for Peace National Convention and examined efforts to demilitarize public schools and end the flow of new warriors by modernizing counter-recruitment efforts to oppose military tactics to use digital and online gaming platforms to reach kids. This document is available as a public resource.

The Pentagon, in this COVID moment, cannot send military recruiters to schools so they are deploying military ESports Teams to engage young people in online competitive gaming and using it as a platform for military recruiting, and it is growing.

Find out what is going on and how activists are pushing back in this workshop for the VFP 2020 Convention called, Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment.

Speakers shared effective strategies for reaching young people who are potential candidates for military service. Tried-and-true methods combine creativity and ingenuity to express the truth about the Armed Forces and the ongoing conflicts youth are recruited to fight. Presenters also examined efforts to demilitarize public schools and counter military tactics of using digital and online gaming platforms to reach kids.

Peace clubs for youth was discussed in Los Angeles and the situation in Chicago with schools configured as public military academies as well as experiences tabling in schools in Texas and strategies for interacting with youth in high schools, one on one.

Tried and true methods that combine creativity and ingenuity to express the truth of the Armed Forces and the ongoing conflicts will be presented followed by an online Q&A for participants. The presentation will include a video overview on Esports based military recruitment.

Speakers

Presenters examined methods to demilitarize public schools and end the flow of new warriors by modernizing counter-recruitment efforts to oppose military tactics that use digital and online gaming platforms to reach kids.

Speakers: Natasha Erskine, VFP Board of Directors Gary David Ghirardi, National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth Chris Venn, San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice – SPNPJ Hart Viges Part of the VFP 2020 Online Convention

Natasha Erskine

VFP Board of Directors

Natasha Erskine is a native of the South Side of Chicago and currently serves as Vice President of the Chicago Veterans For Peace chapter. Natasha is a US Air Force combat Veteran, retiring in 2016 after 20 years on active duty. She is deeply involved with a myriad of projects ranging from social/racial justice, educational equity and replacing JROTC with career technical education in her local community. Natasha is also a proud mother of a high school honors student in Chicago's public schools.

Hart Viges

Hart Viges served in the US Army in Iraq as a mortarman. He is an active member of Veterans For Peace and About Face: Veterans Against the War in Austin Texas where he has dedicated himself to reaching youth to enlighten them on the horrors of war and the injustice of militarism. Hart continually develops creative and effective ways to bring awareness to the next generation so they do not follow in his own footsteps.

Chris Venn

San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice – SPNPJ

Chris Venn is a member of San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice – SPNPJ in California. The group was started in February 2003 shortly before the US invasion of Iraq. Chris has been part of SPNPJ’s sponsorship of several high school peace clubs, now in its 15th year and a summer program for student leaders called Summer Peace Camp. Chris first became involved in the peace movement in 1968 as part of the New England Resistance, a group founded by, among others, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, chaplain of Yale University. Chris was imprisoned for his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Gary David Ghirardi

National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

Gary Ghirardi is the communications staff person for the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth - NNOMY and has developed web based projects for the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft - COMD, The Project on Youth and Non-military Opportunities - Project YANO, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section, and War Resisters International in London

Resources:

Full Spectrum Counter Recruitment - Showcases VFP Counter-recruitment and Truth in Recruitment efforts and examines the Department of Defense's Esports military recruitment strategy to use digital and online gaming platforms to reach kids. The Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment PDF examines efforts to demilitarize public schools and end the flow of new warriors by modernizing counter recruitment efforts to oppose military tactics to use digital and online gaming platforms to reach kids. This document was prepared for a Veterans For Peace Online Convention workshop and is publically available as a resource. (Printable PDF)

Esports Video Video exposing the use of Military Esports teams to lure young gamers and then utilize gaming platforms for military recruitment (Produced for the 2020 Counter-recruitment Workshop - Production of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth)

The Veterans for Peace resources page on Truth in Recruitment Page - Today, less than 0.5% of the U.S. population serves in the armed forces, compared with more than 12% during World War II. Very often, the public's perception of the military lifestyle is limited to what they’ve seen on the news, TV, or video games. As veterans we know the truth of what happens in war and VFP members across the U.S work with young people before they enlist, to help them understand what it’s really like to be part of the U.S. military.