From Draft NOtices, January-March 2006
— Michelle Gutiérrez
After the collapse of the Berlin Wall when militaries seemingly shrank in size, many military personnel from around the globe became part of the privatized military industry (PMI). PMI has grown to operate in more than 50 nations, generating over $100 billion in revenue annually. With a growing military presence around the world, recruitment difficulties, and public policy determined by war profiteers, the U.S. has become the largest consumer of PMI of any nation. While the official number of private contractors in Iraq has been recorded at 20,000, which represents 15% of the troop strength, this figure only accounts for security contractors, those who “carry arms.” Recent estimates of all private contractors have been as high as 100,000. Clearly, private contractors are essential for operations in Iraq, and U.S. military projects are fueling this growing business.
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
From Draft NOtices, January-March 2006
— Catherine Kennedy
The career fair committee of Kea‘au High School in Hawai‘i was kind enough to allow me to have a table on Friday, Nov. 4, at their high school career fair to discuss with the students alternatives to military enlistment and the realities of war. As far as I know, this is the first time a table like mine has been present at one of these Big Island high school events. I felt it was important to be there to counterbalance the several tables touting careers in the Armed Forces.
I provided interested students with literature on ways to pay for college without the military; lists of ideas for alternative careers that meet kids’ goals for public service, learning a trade or their desire for adventure and travel; and Web sites for researching these choices. I presented pictures of patriotic role models who have worked outside the military to improve living and working conditions of others. I also offered literature that describes the realities of military life and gives kids advice on things to look at in the enlistment contract. I also played a DVD of wounded vets talking about their experiences in Iraq, many of whom are just a few years older than the high school kids themselves.
- Arlene Inouye and Jorge Mariscal
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Hispanic Heritage Month Means Covert Recruiting
From Draft NOtices, November-December, 2005
— Arlene Inouye and Jorge Mariscal
On October 7, 2005, at the Anaheim, California, Convention Center not far from Disneyland, the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Corporation hosted an awards luncheon for approximately 500 people including more than 300 middle school, high school and college students. The featured employer at the luncheon was the Department of Defense.
Part of the Pentagon’s ongoing efforts to attract more Latinos into its ranks, the luncheon included Latino ROTC and military service academy students and a display that forms part of the “Medal of Honor Tour,” a joint venture between the Army and the Hispanic public relations agency Cartel Impacto (a unit of The Cartel Group of San Antonio, Texas). According to the official press release, the tour is a “national program to highlight the selfless and courageous legacy of service Hispanic Americans have imprinted in our nation's armed services.”
One day earlier, the “Medal of Honor Tour” had descended upon Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles. Accompanied by a JROTC color guard, the display was presented to students by Rick Leal, President of the Medal of Honor Society. Leal’s remarks were followed by presentations by City Councilman Tony Cardenas and Ramon Rodriguez, a local veteran who served three tours in Vietnam.
Rodriguez’s remarks were the stuff of a recruiter’s fantasy. He stated that although he had almost dropped out of high school, he ended up earning three advanced degrees “all because of the military.” He repeatedly stated that he owed a great deal to the military, highlighted career and education benefits, and urged students to join JROTC. He concluded by saying: "Freedom is not free, it has to be fought for.”
Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS
When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:
