A colleague of mine with United for Peace and Justice’s Anti-Recrutiment Committee, sent the item below to me. Military recruiters are going way beyond the provision in the NCLB to get into schools and entice our youth. Read on:

A ninth grader in a suburban Washington DC classroom is delighted to be excused from Algebra class to spend a half hour shooting a life-like 9 MM pistol and lobbing explosive ordinance from an M1A2 Abrams tank simulator. At the same time 3,000 miles away in La Habra, California, a 15 year-old girl is released from English class to squeeze off rounds from a very real looking M-16 rifle. The kids thoroughly enjoy the experience, especially the part about getting out of class.

The two students have experienced the Army’s Adventure Van, a 60-foot, 30-ton 18-wheeler with several interactive exhibits that bring an adrenaline rush and glorify weaponry and combat. http://www.usarec.army.mil/MSBn/Pages/adventure.htm The Army’s 19 vans frequent various community events and two thousand schools a year, generating more than 63,000 recruiter leads. In addition to the Adventure Van, the Army has three other 18-wheelers for recruiting purposes. The Aviation Recruiting Van contains an AH 64 Helicopter flight simulator and an interactive air warrior and weapons display. The American Soldier Adventure Van has an interactive air/land warrior display and a future warrior display. The Army Marksmanship Trainer has an interactive rifle range.

 

 

I received this from fellow green Pat Elder, of the Center on Conscience & War in Washington. I met Pat this summer at the National Green Party Convention and then again at Camp Democracy.


House Armed Services Committee Chairman, Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is apparently upset by the San Francisco Board of Education's decision last week to toss out JROTC. Will Ike Skelton's leadership be any different? We'll soon find out.

If you get a chance, call Pelosi's office and urge her to stand strong! 2371 Rayburn HOB - Washington, DC 20515 - (202) 225-4965.

U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) today sent the attached letter to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urging her to renounce the San Francisco Board of Education's recent decision to severe ties with the Junior Reserve Officers Training Program.

According to an Associated Press news article, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called the decision a "bad idea" since it penalized students without having a practical effect on Pentagon policies.

The San Francisco program, one of more than 3,500 units nationwide, provides leadership and civic education to more than 1,600 students.

For more information, please contact the House Armed Services Committee Communications Office at (202) 225-2539 or e-mail Josh Holly at josh.holly@mail.house.gov.

Hold onto your schoolbooks, folks.

Your kids still aren't safe. Take action. (see end of this post)

Background:
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, there is a provision that requires schools to hand over children's contact information to the Pentagon. To refuse to do so results in the Federal Government Funds for that school being pulled. Under this provision, parents have the option of requesting that the school not release records of their children - the "opt out" clause.

Common Dreams has posted an article from the Vermont Guardian which learned that Parents cannot remove their children’s names from a Pentagon database that includes highly personal information used to attract military recruits.

This was discovered after many parents had completed the opt-out requirements, only to have their children still be contacted by recruiters.
Parents must contact the Pentagon directly to ask that their children’s information not be released to recruiters, but the data is not removed from the JAMRS database, according to Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Not only that, the Pentagon is spending millions of dollars on this effort.
( Read more... )