Buying the Young

“The military leaves no stone left unturned when it comes to getting into the hearts and minds of young people," - Oskar Castro of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker anti-war group.

What does it take to convince a high school student to join the military?

Could it be the recent video the military put up on the famous video website Youtube, with the intentions of convincing young individuals. This action-packed short movie titled “Vanguard” includes scenes of explosion, use of high-tech devices, and heroism. Future plans include less scripted scenes and more real “homemade” clips of soldiers serving in Iraq.

This video can be found on the following link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6kv8qlEVKU0

US Army Future Combat Systems (FCS) 'Vanguard'

Or could it also be the constant presence in high schools, lack of awareness by teachers, parents, and students, or the sweet promises of non-combat jobs such as mechanical work, communications, and wiring. Dr. Teresa Whitehurst writes about the presence of the military at her daughter’s school. She senses that nowadays it is a more common thing to see posters of the military decorate school halls and commercials on educational channels. Slogans such as “The Power of One”, "Army Strong", and “Be All That You Can Be” have become popular and well known among the young and old alike.

“I think the teachers and the kids are so used to it at my school that they don't even notice anymore. I mean, the other day I was walking to Sociology class and heard the ROTC instructor telling the kids, "Okay, this is how you hold your M-16". The whole culture of the school is military these days, so nobody notices anything unusual about this. And I think the few teachers who aren't pro-war or pro-Bush are afraid to get in trouble if they say anything that doesn't sound pro-military." - Isa Whitehurst, Dr. Teresa Whitehurst daughter.

Whatever it may be, students are not alone. Not all ignore the fact that the military pursues us. Many of our educators have taken a stand to opposing military forces. “Young people must be given a true picture of Army life, not a marketised version", the National Union of Teachers conference heard. Opening the eyes of the young is one of the most important jobs of an educator. If they fail at this, they have failed at everything else because to some degree our educators’ guidance is of the essence to our future.

"Join the Army and we will send you to carry out the imperialist occupation of other people's countries,"

"Join the Army and we will send you to bomb, shoot and possibly torture fellow human beings in other countries.

"Join the Army and we will send you probably poorly equipped into situations where people will try to shoot or kill you because you are occupying other people's countries.

"Join the Army, and if you survive and come home, possibly injured or mentally damaged, you and your family will be shabbily treated." - Paul McGarr, a teacher from east London.

Sources:

Info:

Military Recruiting: Be All That YouTube Can Be

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2983159&page=1

Propaganda of US Military through our Schools

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8125.htm

Teachers reject 'Army propaganda'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7311917.stm

Pics:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/NCO%20slaute%20poster-web.jpg

http://images.despair.com/products/demotivators/propaganda.jpg

Vids:

Army Strong Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OEOokKp67Y&feature=related

The Downfall to Being Young

There is no doubt that when a person returns from war, they are never the same. When a person is at war, on the battlefield, they experience things that can traumatize and scar them for life. Being a young individual these experiences can have a tremendous effect on the rest of their lives and can either make you or ruin you.

“Children’s nervous systems are immature, making it harder for them to handle emotion.” – Roger Pitman, MD

Pitman, who works in the psychiatry departments at both Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, believes children and adolescents alike should not be involved in wars because they are most at risk of suffering severe side effects afterwards.

Researchers Judith Pizarro, MA, Roxane Cohen Silver, PhD, and JoAnn Prause, PhD, wrote a study in the "Archives of General Psychiatry" that stated the following:

“Young soldiers are likelier to have physical and psychological symptoms than older veterans.”

Their report can be found on the following link:

http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/63/2/193?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=roxanne+silver&searchid=1139327688105_1471&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=archpsyc

Their study was based on the medical records, death certificates, and war records of about 15,000 Union army recruits aging from 9 to 71 years. Their research concluded that “the youngest recruits also had the highest risk of dying early after the war”.

Young soldiers have their whole life ahead of them. When they enter the military, not only are they setting themselves up for a lifetime of remorse and regrets but also a lifetime of side effects and symptoms of nervous and physical diseases that can only make things worse in the end.

Sources:
Info: War Tougher On Young Soldiersa http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20060206/war-rough-young-soldiers

Pics:
http://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/0303/5126de3fbdd0c9bfb6ba.jpeg
http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/jun2006/ustrpstitle.peg.jpg

Economic Conscription

Once upon a time there were two countries arguing two different ideas and a war was born. The people of one country opposed this argument and did not want to be a part of the war. This country needed soldiers to fight so it developed this thing called a Draft. The Draft forced a lot of poor people who did not want to fight, including students who wanted an education to better themselves, to serve and defend ideas they did not believe in. A lot of people died. A lot of young people died.

Though nowadays, the United States no longer has an official draft, many people believe there is a “hidden draft” known as the economic draft. This economic draft is made up of the lower class masses, mainly including minorities and poor whites, who need help funding their education. With the increasing college tuition, and decreasing federal aide, students are turning to the military for help. The military’s promises of a brighter future and money for their education, is what usually highly entices students.

Activist Sam Anderson says, “For Black, Latino, Native American, Asian and poor white youth, there is a powerful economic draft that forces our children into the military with promises of discounted higher education, benefits, job skills development and travelling the world. The shrinking civilian job market with sweatshop labor conditions helps create this economic draft. Hence, the proposed draft legislation does not have to be passed to ensure a multimillion populated standing army for the protection and promotion of imperialism and white supremacy.”

While our teachers greatly advise us to pursue a college degree, to some degree our government denies us the opportunity. Anderson believes “constant breaking into their (students’) educational course is devastating. But, it is systematic. It doesn’t pay for the rulers of this country to have a military that has an educated rank and file, because then they might question orders, and what they want are grunts.” It is no surprise that the military has lowered its standards for new recruits in order to fill their quotas and pick up on the ones with no money and no future.

The following link provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about the draft.

http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/aa030203e.htm

The following link provides information on what happens during a draft.

http://www.sss.gov/seq.htm

A Brief History of the Selective Service/Draft:

- In 1940, President Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act which established the Selective Service System as an independent Federal agency.

- In 1973, the United States replaced the draft with an all-volunteer military.

- In 1975, the Selective Service System was “eliminated”.

- In 1980, the Selective Service was reinstalled and President Carter resumed the draft due to the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. The Selective Service System still remains in order to bring back the draft in the event of a future crisis.

Sources:

Info:

Military Draft Considered in U.S. House, Senate

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=e1e7f5ddc27748a5ba27813da4ea67c8

Background of Selective Service

http://www.sss.gov/backgr.htm

Pics:

http://media.komoradio.com/images/061222_draft_graphic.jpg

http://www.selectiveserviceinfo-ny.org/sam-choice2.JPG

The Backdoor Draft

The stop-loss policy allows the military to extend a soldier’s contract, forcing them to serve a longer term than they originally signed up for. With the war in its fifth year and the rising resent towards the military, the stop-loss policy has heavily come into play.

According to Lieutenant General James D. Thurman, with the current high demand for soldiers there are now more than 12,000 soldiers serving under the stop-loss policy. He states “if demand stabilized at around 15 brigades, the use of stop-loss could be completed by the end of the budget year 2009, or beginning budget year 2010.”

In 2004, a California Army National Guard soldier sued the government over the stop-loss policy. His suit went against Bush’s executive order of the deployment of troops for the prevention of terrorist attacks on the United States. It stated “the change of government in Iraq (removal of Saddam Hussein) removed the threat there (United States).” Unfortunately this anonymous soldier, who previously served nine years in the Army and Marine Corps and suffers from post-traumatic stress, lost the court case and was deployed to Iraq. His court case can be found on the following link: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/D418158D930E7F78882570F4000815CD/$file/0515680.pdf?openelement.

This year, Hilary Clinton proposes to end the stop-loss policy, ensuring that the Department of Defense abides by contracts made with soldiers. Whether this becomes true if she is elected is a different story.

Sources:
Info:
Army Needs 'Stop-Loss' Until '09, General Says

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04/22/army_needs_stop_loss_until_09_general_says/
Soldier Sues Over Tour Made Longer

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E1DD113FF93BA2575BC0A9629C8B63
Clinton Proposes End to Stop-Loss Policy

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/04/09/clinton_proposes_end_to_stop-loss_policy/1244/

Pics:
http://www.firstshowing.net/img/stoploss-flag.jpg
http://www.aolcdn.com/aolnews_photos/08/05/20080422105909990018

Reasons and Excuses

The war in Iraq is one of the main reasons for the low percentage of young new military recruits and the hostile attitude towards the military. Here are the “reasons” for the lucrative war’s beginning and the “necessities” for its continuation.

The war in Iraq began on March 20, 2003 and this year marks its fifth year anniversary. In a radio announcement President Bush states the reasons for the invasion of Iraq as follows, “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” Now we know there are no (and have never been) any weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein has been caught and executed, and the people of Iraq do not want the United States’ military presence in their country.

Last year President Bush proposed to send 20,000 more American troops to Iraq. He argues that there have not been enough American or Iraqi troops in Baghdad and that the United States cannot afford to lose the war because the consequences would be oh so devastating. Though there have been documents where the White House acknowledges that Bush’s previous strategy was “based on fundamentally flawed assumptions about the power of the shaky Iraqi government.” There is no telling if this new strategy is any different than the last, but President Bush was quote on quote saying this new strategy will surely succeed, “Because it has to.”

There are many people that claim President Bush and his administration decided to invade Iraq with no intentions of ever leaving the country. That is because they have established fourteen permanent or “long-term” military bases as “temporary international peace keepers.” Democracy Rising, a founding member of United for Peace and Justice, is an organization of people opposed to the war in Iraq. In response to the turmoil the war has caused both Iraq and the United States, Democracy Rising has developed an exit strategy to bring the troops back home and establish some form of stability in both countries. This strategy consists of three steps that involve developing an international peace-keeping force, supporting Iraqi self rule and fair elections, and the United States providing aid and support to the reconstruction of Iraq.

With the United States spending over $500 billion on the war alone and neglecting domestic problems, President Bush should act on this exit strategy and give up his “reasons” to continue the war.

Sources:

Info:

President Discusses Beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030322.html

Bush Adds Troops in Bid to Secure Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/world/middleeast/11prexy.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=The+Struggle+for+Iraq%3B+Bush+Adding+20%2C000+U.S.+Troops%3B+Sets+Goal+of+Securing+Baghdad&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Time for an Exit Strategy

http://democracyrising.us/content/view/19/2/

Pics:

http://www.afmaal.com/media/specials/war-in-iraq-710_reasons.jpg

http://www.liberty-news.com/cartoons/IraqExitStrategy.gif

The Military's New #1 Threat

Nowadays most parents are outraged when they learn that their graduating high school senior is thinking about enlisting in the military. What parents once viewed as a grand step in their child’s life has now become a nightmare.

The No Child Left Behind Act, which forces schools to provide the military with student information, requests that schools notify parents and students of the opt-out option. But many schools are doing a poor job in giving out this information and many parents as well as students are left confused or uninformed. In an article by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos titled, "Heavy Military Recruitment at High Schools Irks Some Parents", school officials said they believed the reason for parents and students confusion is due to the fact that “Every school has adopted different notification policies, some being more effective than others,”.

All the confusion and violations of students’ privacy has made students and parents alike extremely angry and upset. Now more than ever parents are opposing the idea of seeing their sons and daughters march off into the military. An article titled “Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents” by Damien Cave stated “The Pentagon - faced with using only volunteers during a sustained conflict, an effort rarely tried in American history - is especially vexed by a generation of more activist parents who have no qualms about projecting their own views onto their children.”

With the desperately increasing military advertisements and low number of new recruits, parents fear the return of a military draft. "With the draft, there were limited opportunities for avoiding the military, and parents were trapped, reduced to draft counseling or taking their children to Canada," said Lawrence S. Wittner, a military historian, "But with the volunteer armed force, what one gets is more vigorous recruitment and more opportunities to resist." Many have decided to form independent organizations and groups in order to raise awareness and gain supporters. Parents Against a Draft is one of the many organizations formed in response to the fear of a military draft.

With the ongoing pointless war in Iraq, many informed parents are choosing to opt-out of allowing military access to their sons and daughters personal information and continue to be a powerful threat to the military.

Sources:

Info

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160406,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/nyregion/03recruit.html

http://parentsagainstadraft.org/

Pics

http://louisville.edu/student/localresources/images/Parents-1.jpg

http://murray.senate.gov/images/news/030108-ed-full.jpg

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/04.10.20.KerryDraft-X.gif

Game On

With the low number of people enlisting into the military is looking towards new methods of attracting new recruits. Propaganda has once again come into play in these new methods of recruiting.

America’s Army, an online multiplayer game, is one of the methods the United States Army came up in order to spark interest into the minds of the young. This game was released in July 2002 and is rated T for teens. Aimed towards boys 14 years old and older, the game was designed to be able to give young boys a taste of what it feels like to be a part of the Army. As the main function of the game is to get young boys to reach out to the Army, the game includes contact information for recruiters. Casey Wardynski came up with the idea to use a game to reach young boys when “Army officials were looking for a way to reach out to potential recruits with minimal cost”, as stated in the article “It’s a Video Game, and an Army Recruiter” by Josh White.

The game starts off with basic obstacle courses, including learning how to fire weapons such as automatic rifles and grenade launchers. Wardynski was quoted saying America’s Army is “designed to give them (young boys) an inside view on the very fundamentals of being a soldier, and it's also designed to give them a sense of self-efficacy, that they can do it,” because "We want them to see that they can succeed in doing this. You don't have to think what it would look like -- you can see what it looks like."

I visited the website for the America’s Army game which can be found on the link http://www.americasarmy.com/. According to the website statistics there are 239,575 registered users and an average of 45 new users on a daily basis. Unfortunately this means that the there are people falling for the Army’s propaganda just like in WWI and WWII.

Sources:

Info:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/26/AR2005052601505.html

http://www.americasarmy.com/

Pics:

http://osx.iusethis.com/screenshot/americasarmy.png