Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

: Bonnie J Caracciolo; Articles Archive; 16 April 2020; Hits: 4722

A Counter-recruitment Victory

From Draft NOtices, April-June 2020

A Counter-recruitment Victory: Chelsea Uniting Against the War

— Bonnie J Caracciolo

For fourteen years a dedicated group of anti-war citizens in a working-class suburb of Boston, MA, has worked to inform high school students in their community, including their own children, about the perils of military recruitment. Chelsea Uniting Against the War (CUAW) convenes within the first week of the school year to distribute counter-recruitment flyers informing students of the risks of military service. They then follow up this activity by speaking with students one-on-one during school lunch breaks while distributing forms to opt out of school releases of student information to military recruiters. These lunchtime events occurred twice each year and were always preceded by a phone call to the principal’s office to determine an appropriate date. At no time did CUAW enter the school without prior notice.

This annual routine changed in the Spring of 2019 when CUAW showed up on the appointed date and was confronted by the newly-hired principal who told the members they were not going to be allowed to continue. CUAW members left the school without incident.

In September of last year (2019) a group of nine CUAW members assembled outside of Chelsea High School during the first week of school as it had done for the previous thirteen years, for the purpose of distributing a counter-recruitment flyer and to discuss the opt out form which is included in the school’s student handbook.

: Edward Hasbrouck; Articles Archive; 15 April 2020; Hits: 4817

National Commission Recommendation

National Commission Says Expand Draft Registration

to Include Women

— Edward Hasbrouck

On March 25, the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS), after a three-year charade of stage-managed and largely one-sided public events accompanied by closed-door meetings and negotiations among the members of the Commission, released its final report. It recommends that Congress amend the Military Selective Service Act to require that young women, as well as young men, register for the draft when they reach age 18, and inform the Selective Service System each time they change their address until their 26th birthday.

The Commission's recommendations with respect to Selective Service registration are such a naïve fantasy, completely unfeasible and with no foundation in research or reality. The Commission kept its head firmly in the sand, carefully avoiding any inquiry into whether or how the current (unenforced and widely violated) registration requirement for men, much less an expanded registration requirement applicable also to women, could be enforced.

In the report’s 255 pages, there's no mention at all of compliance or noncompliance with draft registration. There's been no audit of the registration database since 1982, and the Commission didn't conduct or ask for one.

: Paula Hoffman-Villanueva; Articles Archive; 06 August 2019; Hits: 6169

The Military’s Collateral Damage: Mother Earth

From Draft NOtices, April - June 2019

-- Paula Hoffman Villanueva

We all know what collateral damage means to the military, but this casual reference to supposedly unintended death can, tragically, be applied to an immensely larger victim: the Earth and life that exists on it. The U.S. military creates more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, contaminating the planet with jet fuel, defoliants (e.g., Agent Orange), lead, depleted uranium, nuclear waste, oil and many more toxic chemicals, to create millions of acres of barren wasteland and contaminated ground water. The facts and the health risks are staggering, and we are only partially aware of the truth.

Most recently, in a February 2019 report by Julie Turkewitz of The New York Times, we learned that military families and other residents living near five military bases in Colorado are speaking up about illnesses related to contaminated water systems. The man-made chemicals in question, which are used in firefighting foam, are called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer and other serious health problems. The chemicals do not break down, but rather stay in the water system and in the human body indefinitely. “Forever chemicals” is the term used by many scientists.

Although the dangers of PFAS have been known by the EPA for years, the military continued to use them until recently. In 2000, 3M stopped producing the foam containing PFAS, but the military found other companies willing to continue production -- after all, landing a contract with the Department of Defense is extremely lucrative. Not until this February did the EPA announce that in the future there will be regulatory action and restrictions regarding PFAS. But it was too little, too late. PFAS are now found in the ground and in water systems on military bases and in nearby communities around the globe.

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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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