The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

NNOMY

Introduction to Counter Recruitment Work

COUNTER RECRUITING ESSENTIALS

Counter recruiting in NYCCounter-recruitment essentials

Counter recruitment (CR) takes many different forms.  At its core the goal is to present alternative views to young people in order to "balance" the narrative of military recruiters'  by discussing the realities of military service and how it could potentially effect their future lives.

Counter recruitment often means that people set up tables in high schools to pass out flyers and talk to students about the military and their options.  "Truth in Recruiting" is a form of CR that often involves veterans (and other activists) sharing their experiences in classrooms.  Other CR activities include: Opt-out campaigns, organizing against JROTC programs, protesting at recruiting stations and most importantly, providing information about alternatives to the military. To counter recruit, you have to know what you are up against and what is appealing about the military and militarism to young people.
 

Taking back our communities from militarism:

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Historical Information on Counter-recruitment:
 

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 Revised/GDG - 10/05/2023

A Victory For Military Recruiters

Articles

Schools Must Give Access Despite Objection to Policy On Gays, Justices Say

The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld a federal law that forces colleges and universities to permit military recruiting on campus, despite the schools' objections to the Pentagon ban on openly gay people serving in the armed forces.

By a vote of 8 to 0, the court upheld the Solomon Amendment, which permits the denial of federal funding to schools that do not allow military recruiters the same access given to all other job recruiters. But in ruling that schools must provide the military the same access to students as they would for any other recruiters, the justices noted that schools are still free to protest their presence on campus.

The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR) -- a coalition of law schools and professors that formed to sue the government -- had said the law "compelled speech" that made it appear schools were endorsing the government's exclusion of acknowledged gays in the military, thus violating the schools' right to free speech under the First Amendment.

But in writing for the court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that Solomon "neither limits what law schools may say nor requires them to say anything."

"Law schools remain free under the statute to express whatever views they may have on the military's congressionally mandated employment policy. . . . Nothing about recruiting suggests that law schools agree with any speech by recruiters and nothing in the Solomon Amendment restricts what the law schools may say about the military's policies," Roberts wrote.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the newest member of the court, did not take part in the case.

Though a federal district court had sided with the government, an appeals court in Philadelphia reversed that decision, ruling in favor of FAIR last year and blocking enforcement of Solomon. But yesterday's Supreme Court opinion rejected each argument that had been advanced on FAIR's behalf.

"In this case, FAIR has attempted to stretch a number of First Amendment doctrines well beyond the sort of activities these doctrines protect," Roberts wrote.

So thorough was the court's rejection of FAIR's arguments that it ruled Congress could have achieved equal access not only indirectly, by threatening a funding cutoff, but also directly, through legislation based on its constitutional power to raise military forces. In fact, the court suggested in passing, even colleges and universities that do not receive any federal funding could be compelled by Congress to allow military recruiters.

"Congress's power in this area is broad and sweeping," Roberts wrote, "and there is no dispute in this cases that it includes the authority to require campus access to military recruiters."

So far, however, the government has chosen the more indirect approach of the Solomon Amendment. With yesterday's decision, many universities will now have to choose between their law schools' anti-discrimination principles and their dependence on federal money.

Most schools have made it clear that they could not afford to lose federal aid, which totals about $35 billion a year. Only a few schools -- including the law schools of New York University and George Washington University -- allowed their names to be publicly attached to the lawsuit.

Geoffrey Shields, dean of Vermont Law School, told the Associated Press yesterday that since 1999 his school has given up some federal money and will continue to bar recruiters "as a symbol of the importance of fair treatment of all people."

"We've stuck to our guns, and I anticipate we'll continue to stick to our guns," he said.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who had called the appellate court's decision in favor of FAIR an "insult" to the military, said in a statement yesterday that "this decision will ensure that the military will continue to be comprised of our nation's finest -- men and women who know how to defend our country in a manner consistent with our values and principles."

Supporters of FAIR took solace in passages of the opinion that noted students and others would still be free to protest military recruiters. Tensions between Congress and academia over university efforts to restrict military recruitment date to the Vietnam War and campus protests against it.

"The court affirmed the idea of a vigorous public forum and that's what's refreshing," said Michael Tigar, a law professor at American University and an opponent of Solomon. "The opinion sounds these First Amendment themes. The message is: If you don't like something, there is always more speech."

Joshua Rosencranz, a New York lawyer who represented FAIR in the case, said the schools always saw the suit as a "scrimmage in a broader war" about equality.

"We brought the suit in part because there are those saying 'How dare you let protesters on campus when the recruiters were there?' " he said. "Well, this opinion makes clear that those rights are still intact. It forced the government to state what the line was."

Attaching various strings to federal funding is itself standard practice, used most famously to secure equal treatment for women in athletic programs. It's been upheld by the courts in part because the educational institutions are free to reject the money if they object to the strings.

The decision, while closely watched, was unsurprising after the oral arguments in the case, during which the justices expressed great skepticism about equating the recruiting with protected expression. Roberts wrote that although the court held in 1977 that New Hampshire motorists cannot be compelled to display the state motto -- "Live Free or Die" -- on license plates, in this case the government "does not require any similar expression by law schools" and "does not dictate the content of speech at all."

"Compelling a law school that sends scheduling e-mails for other recruiters to send one for a military recruiter is simply not the same as forcing a student to pledge allegiance, or forcing a Jehovah's Witness to display the motto 'Live Free or Die,' " Roberts wrote.

 

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/03/07/a-victory-for-military-recruiters-span-classbankheadschools-must-give-access-despite-objection-to-policy-on-gays-justices-sayspan/1e2dc565-9c5e-4595-882d-10e6f4adb0db/

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 Revised: 03/06/2006 GDG

 
 

Why to Join the NNOMY Network

NNOMY

OPPOSE THE MILITARIZATION OF YOUTH

Register Your CR Group Now!

 Join the growing national network of groups working to stop the militarization of schools!

 Counter-recruitment helps slow warThese are times when the Pentagon presence in our schools is expanding. The need for a renewed and active counter military recruitment movement is needed more than ever. Those of us who are proactive in opposing war must help shape the tone of anti-war and peace conversations to be more inclusive of the counter-recruitment analysis. The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) will be integral in bringing our groups together so we can help the nation understand that providing youth with peaceful and viable alternatives to achieve success in life is an important sign of a civilized society.

 

Your NNOMY Registered Account...

...gives your organization a user page with features to help inform the national CR community about your activism such as:

Keeping Connected

Submitting reports about the activities of your CR work in your region helps share your information with other CR orgs and provides the opportunity for inter-organizational support and collaborations.

Upload and Share your CR Documents

The NNOMY Materials and Training section provides the largest online resource of Articles about CR issues, government documents, materials for CR activists for reproduction and distribution, and video reports available on the web. Submit your own materials to add to this archive and help advance the learning and networking tools to assist in counter-recruitment activism.

Your Listing in the National Counter-recruitment Database

The NNOMY National & Regional C-R Organizations Database provides essential information about national and regional CR organizations and their focus areas of work and services. This is a resource that covers issues such as the scope of your organization, your organizational base, and issues you are working on as well as a description of your mission. The database provides access to CR activists to the people who can assist them in their work, and additionally, helps youth find the information to make informed choices about their futures. Please list your organization with NNOMY.
 

REGISTER Now!

Your NNOMY registered account gives your organization a user page with features such as submitting reports about the activities of your CR work in your region.

Subcategories

Opinion Article Count:  3

The NNOMY Opinion section is a new feature of our articles section. Writing on youth demilitarization issues is quite rare but we have discovered the beginning articles and notes being offered on this subject so we have decided to present them under an opinion category.  The articles presented do not necessarily reflect the views of the NNOMY Steering Committee.

Art & Cultural Activism Article Count:  1

The Militarization of U.S. Culture Article Count:  23

General David Petraeus' rocky first days as a lecturer at the City University of New York Though the United States of America shares with other nations in a history of modern state militarism, the past 65 years following its consolidation as a world military power after World War II, has seen a shift away from previous democratic characterizations of the state.  The last thirty years, with the rise of the neo-conservative Reagan and Bush administrations (2), began the abandonment of moral justifications for democracy building replaced by  bellicose proclamations of the need and right to move towards a national project of global security by preemptive military force .

In the process of global military expansion, the US population has been subjected to an internal re-education to accept the role of the U.S. as consolidating its hegemonic rule internationally in the interest of liberal ideals of wealth creation and protectionism.

The average citizen has slowly come to terms with a stealthly increasing campaign of militarization domestically in media offerings; from television, movies and scripted news networks to reinforce the inevitability of a re-configured society as security state. The effect has begun a transformation of how, as citizens, we undertand our roles and viability as workers and families in relation to this security state. This new order has brought with it a shrinking public common and an increasing privatization of publicly held infrustructure; libraries, health clinics, schools and the expectation of diminished social benefits for the poor and middle-class. The national borders are being militarized as are our domestic police forces in the name of Homeland Security but largely in the interest of business. The rate and expansion of research and development for security industries and the government agencies that fund them, now represent the major growth sector of the U.S.economy. Additionally, as the U.S. economy continually shifts from productive capital to financial capital as the engine of growth for wealth creation and development, the corporate culture has seen its fortunes rise politically and its power over the public sector grow relatively unchallenged by a confused citizenry who are watching their social security and jobs diminishing.

How increasing cultural militarization effects our common future will likely manifest in increased public dissatisfaction with political leadership and economic strictures. Social movements within the peace community, like NNOMY, will need to expand their role of addressing the dangers of  militarists predating youth for military recruitment in school to giving more visibility to the additional dangers of the role of an influential militarized media, violent entertainment and play offerings effecting our youth in formation and a general increase and influence of the military complex in all aspects of our lives. We are confronted with a demand for a greater awareness of the inter-relationships of militarism in the entire landscape of domestic U.S. society.  Where once we could ignore the impacts of U.S. military adventurisms abroad, we are now faced with the transformation of our domestic comfort zone with the impacts of militarism in our day to day lives.

How this warning can be imparted in a meaningful way by a movement seeking to continue with the stated goals of counter-recruitment and public policy activism, and not loose itself in the process, will be the test for those activists, past and future, who take up the call to protect our youth from the cultural violence of militarism.

The "militarization of US culture" category will be an archive of editorials and articles about the increasing dangers we face as a people from those who are invested in the business of war. This page will serve as a resource for the NNOMY community of activists and the movement they represent moving into the future. The arguments presented in this archive will offer important realizations for those who are receptive to NNOMY's message of protecting our youth, and thus our entire society, of the abuses militarism plays upon our hopes for a sustainable and truly democratic society.

NNOMY

 

Resources Article Count:  2

The Resources section covers the following topics:

International Networking Article Count:  1

Book Reviews Article Count:  5

NNOMY Network News Article Count:  12

News reports from the groups associated to the NNOMY Network including Social Media.

CR Reports Article Count:  5

Reports from counter-recruitment groups and activists from the field. Includes information about action reports at recruiting centers and career fairs, school tabling, and actions in relation to school boards and state legislatures.

CR in the News Article Count:  8

David Swanson Article Count:  6

David SwansonDavid Swanson is the author of the new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union, by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush by Dennis Kucinich. In addition to cofounding AfterDowningStreet.org, he is the Washington director of Democrats.com and sits on the boards of a number of progressive organizations in Washington, DC.


Charlottesville Right Now: 11-10-11 David Swanson
David Swanson joins Coy to discuss Occupy Charlottesville, protesting Dick Cheney's visit to the University of Virginia, and his new book. -  Listen

Jorge Mariscal Article Count:  2

Jorge MariscalJorge Mariscal is the grandson of Mexican immigrants and the son of a U.S. Marine who fought in World War II. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego.

Matt Guynn Article Count:  1

Matt GuynnMatt Guynn plays the dual role of program director and coordinator for congregational organizing for On Earth Peace, building peace and nonviolence leadership within the 1000+ congregations of the Church of the Brethren across the United States and Puerto Rico. He previously served a co-coordinator of training for Christian Peacemaker Teams, serving as an unarmed accompanier with political refugees in Chiapas, Mexico, and offering or supporting trainings in the US and Mexico.

Rick Jahnkow Article Count:  8

Rick JahnkowRick Jahnkow works for two San Diego-based anti-militarist organizations, the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities and the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft. He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pat Elder Article Count:  12

Pat ElderPat Elder was a co-founder of the DC Antiwar Network (DAWN) and a member of the Steering Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, (NNOMY).  Pat is currently involved in a national campaign with the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom project, Military Poisons,  investigating on U.S. military base contamination domestically and internationally.  Pat’s work has prominently appeared in NSA documents tracking domestic peace groups.

 

All Documents:

Pat Elder - National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth

COMMUNITY ACTION Article Count:  2

Network Actions Article Count:  5

EVENTS & CONFERENCES Article Count:  4

NNOMY periodically participates in or organizes events(e.i. conferences, rallies) with other organizations.

CR Activist Reports Article Count:  2

CR Discussion List Article Count:  1

NNOMY in the News Article Count:  13

National CR Database Article Count:  1

GI Resistance Article Count:  1

Conscientious Objection Article Count:  1

NNOMY National Conference Article Count:  11

Materials/Training Article Count:  1

Model Programs Article Count:  1

School Policies Article Count:  5

EN ESPAÑOL Article Count:  1

Equal access Article Count:  1

NCLB Article Count:  1

MILITARISM & WAR Article Count:  3

FOR ENLISTED PERSONNEL Article Count:  1

FOR PARENTS Article Count:  1

CONSIDERING ENLISTING? Article Count:  1

Know Your Rights Article Count:  2

Delayed Entry Program/DEP Article Count:  1

Alternatives by State Article Count:  1

NNOMY Article Count:  13

ALTERNATIVES TO THE MILITARY Article Count:  3

Facts & Figures Article Count:  1

COUNTER RECRUITING ESSENTIALS Article Count:  1

The Counter-recruitment Essentials section of the NNOMY web site covers the issues and actions spanning this type of activism. Bridging the difficult chasms between religious, veteran, educator, student, and community based activism is no small task. In this section you will find information on how to engage in CR activism in your school and community with the support of the knowledge of others who have been working to inform youth considering enlisting in the military. You will also find resources for those already in the military that are looking for some guidance on how to actively resist injustices  as a soldier or how to choose a path as a conscientious objector.

Steering Committee Article Count:  1

Articles Article Count:  237

John Judge Article Count:  5

John Judge was a co-founder of the Committee for High School Options and Information on Careers, Education and Self-Improvement (CHOICES) in Washington DC, an organization engaged since 1985 in countering military recruitment in DC area high schools and educating young people about their options with regard to the military. Beginning with the war in Viet Nam, Judge was a life-long anti-war activist and tireless supporter of active-duty soldiers and veterans.

 

"It is our view that military enlistment puts youth, especially African American youth, at special risk, not only for combat duty, injury and fatality, but for military discipline and less than honorable discharge, which can ruin their chances for employment once they get out. There are other options available to them."


In the 1970's the Selective Service System and the paper draft became unworkable, requiring four induction orders to get one report. Boards  were under siege by anti-war and anti-draft forces, resistance of many kinds was rampant. The lottery system failed to dampen the dissent, since people who knew they were going to be drafted ahead of time became all the more active. Local draft board members quit in such numbers that even I was approached, as a knowledgeable draft counselor to join the board. I refused on the grounds that I could never vote anyone 1-A or eligible to go since I opposed conscription and the war.

At this point the Pentagon decided to replace the paper draft with a poverty draft, based on economic incentive and coercion. It has been working since then to draw in between 200-400,000 enlisted members annually. Soon after, they began to recruit larger numbers of women to "do the jobs men don't want to". Currently recruitment quotas are falling short, especially in Black communities, and reluctant parents are seen as part of the problem. The hidden problem is retention, since the military would have quadrupled by this time at that rate of enlistment, but the percentage who never finish their first time of enlistment drop out at a staggering rate.

I began bringing veterans of the Vietnam War into high schools in Dayton, Ohio in the late 1960s, and have continued since then to expose young people to the realities of military life, the recruiters' false claims and the risks in combat or out. I did it first through Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, then Dayton Draft & Military Counseling, and since 1985 in DC through C.H.O.I.C.E.S.

The key is to address the broader issues of militarization of the schools and privacy rights for students in community forums and at meetings of the school board and city council. Good counter-recruitment also provides alternatives in the civilian sector to help the poor and people of color, who are the first targets of the poverty draft, to find ways to break into the job market, go to a trade school, join an apprenticeship program, get job skills and placement help, and find money for college without enlisting in the military.

John Judge -- counselor, C.H.O.I.C.E.S.
 
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