Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

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From Draft NOtices, January-March 2024

- Seth Kershner

 Beginning in 2022 the New York Times began publishing an astonishing series of investigative articles on Junior ROTC -- the most sustained and critical coverage of high school militarism in recent memory. As this issue of Draft NOtices points out, the articles led to congressional action to ensure much needed oversight of high school military training. Since Junior ROTC is the crown jewel of the Pentagon’s school militarism apparatus, it’s understandable that counter-recruiters concentrate their limited resources on combating it. But a narrow focus on JROTC overlooks the many other ways the Dept. of Defense plants its flag in schools. Draft NOtices last reported on DoD STARBASE in 2015, and this article attempts to reacquaint readers with the program that annually brings militarism to nearly 80,000 elementary school students.

A Way to “Pre-recruit” Fifth Graders

The DoD STARBASE program is a transparent effort to leverage public interest in STEM education while pushing a pro-military message to ten- and eleven-year-old kids. Students participating in the program receive five days of instruction at a military base where civilian instructors offer hands-on lessons in science and engineering. One full day is reserved for uniformed members of the military to talk with students about careers in the military and give tours of their facilities.

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From Draft NOtices, January-March 2024

In 2020, when the law was repealed that had made Selective Service registration a requirement to receive federal student financial aid, the standard form (FAFSA) used to apply for such aid was not immediately revised to reflect the change. Instead, it was promised that it would happen in stages as new versions of the FAFSA were produced.

 

COMD has confirmed that mention of the Selective Service registration requirement has now been removed from the most recent version of the FAFSA. It should be noted, however, that some states have had their own laws requiring Selective Service registration as a condition for state-funded student aid. Some of those states have repealed those laws (California did in 2021), but in states where the law is still on the books, it is unclear how they will handle Selective Service registration in their local financial aid application process.

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From Draft NOtices, October-December 2023

- Rick Jahnkow

   On August 29, 2023, the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education approved a resolution that, effectively, bans the enrollment of any student in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program without first obtaining fully informed consent from the student and a parent or legal guardian.

The impetus for proposing the resolution came from a front-page New York Times article published in December 2022, titled, "Thousands of Teens Are Being Pushed Into Military's Junior R.O.T.C." Enrollment data obtained by The Times indicated that some San Diego high schools were among those that were automatically placing students in the program.

Community groups in San Diego did further research and received confirmation that hundreds of students at one inner-city school were being automatically enrolled in JROTC. The groups contacted the school district and asked for action to end the practice. They pointed out that, according to The Times, involuntary placement in JROTC appeared to be taking place at schools "attended by a large proportion of nonwhite students and those from low-income households." They also noted that automatic JROTC enrollment at San Diego schools was in violation of section 51750 of the California Education Code, which states that "no student . . . shall be required to enroll in any course in military science and tactics."

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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:

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