From Draft NOtices, January-February 2005
— Amy Wagner
Many people, including school staff, students, parents and activists have expressed concern about the presence of military recruiters in our high schools and on our college campuses. When deciding how best to address these concerns, it helps to understand just what recruiters do and how they present themselves to teachers and administrators to gain what seems like unfettered admittance to many schools. It may be productive to share this information with school staff. They may want to reassess their policy on recruiter access or incorporate a counter recruitment component.
The Army provides its recruiters with efficient and thorough training manuals on all aspects of their job, including one titled, "The School Recruiting Program Handbook" (USAREC Pamphlet 350-13).
This handbook contains many practical suggestions, including a monthly breakdown of activities and general advice about working productively with school staff, which are equally useful for planning a counter-recruitment campaign. In addition, it provides an inside look at how recruiters are taught to give the appearance of caring about the best interest of the students and the school, while systematically "penetrating their school market...to obtain the maximum number of quality enlistments."
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
From Draft NOtices, November-December, 2004
— Rick Jahnkow
On October 5, Representative Charles Rangel's proposal for a draft was brought to the floor of the House of Representatives under a procedure that bypassed the normal legislative committee process and gave little advance notice. Members of the House voted 402-2 against the bill, and even its author voted to defeat it.
What makes this move especially interesting is that no one close to the issue felt that the proposal was ever going to go anywhere, and even Rangel (D-NY) had said that he was not pushing his bill. Yet this issue is so explosive that merely having such a proposal sitting dead in the House Armed Services Committee was enough to create a wave of public concern that threatened to undermine the presidential campaigns of both major political parties.
- Jorge Mariscal
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The Interpretation of Dreams: Covert recruitment strategies in the DREAM Act
From Draft NOtices, November-December, 2004
— Jorge Mariscal
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, has received strong support from Latino activists across the country. Throughout the month of September, numerous groups staged rallies and fasts in over fifty cities. What advocates and the media have ignored are the potential consequences of the military service component of the proposed legislation.
According to the latest version of the bill sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), immigrants who entered the country five years or more before the bill's enactment and before they were 16 years old would receive provisional U.S. residency.
Permanent residency would be granted if, within six years of obtaining conditional residency, the immigrant graduates from a two-year college, completes two years in a bachelor's degree program, performs 910 hours of volunteer community service, or serves in the U.S. armed forces for two years.
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:
