[Peace-discuss] Recruiting news

Mon Aug 20 08:46:24 CDT 2007

This seems like a thing worth knowing. Does anyone know for certain?

I found this particularly striking in the article Barbara forwarded:

"On this island with a long tradition of military service,
pro-independence advocates are tapping the territory's growing
anti-Iraq war sentiment to revitalize their cause. As a result, 57
percent of Puerto Rico's 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, or their
parents, have signed forms over the past year withholding contact
information from the Pentagon - effectively barring U.S. recruiters
from reaching out to an estimated 65,000 high school students."

And this:

' "We're not taking more than our share from Puerto Rico," Carr
said. "We're taking less than our share, because that's what they'll
give us." Carr said he suspects that opt-out rates for states in the
continental United States rarely break beyond 10 percent - a far cry
from the nearly 60 percent on the island.'

So, as a result of campaigning to distribute the forms, they have an
opt-out rate five times the national rate, in an area with a strong
tradition of military service...

...and it seems that this might appeal to people on "leave-me-alone"
grounds, not unlike the national do-not-call list for telemarketers,
even if they are not particularly exercised about the war...

On 8/19/07, Marti <tvchick at insightbb.com> wrote:
> I am a parent of a high school student in Champaign. It's common practice in
> this area for parents to be given opt-out forms during registration. I
> wouldn't be surprised if that is the case in Urbana as well.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
> [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Robert Naiman
> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 11:40 AM
> To: Barbara kessel
> Cc: Peace Discuss List
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Recruiting news
>
> This is quite inspiring.
>
> AFSC provides a generic opt-out form for students or parents who want
> to exercise their right to block military recruiters from receiving
> their contact information. Has anyone ever tried doing in Urbana what
> the activists have done in Puerto Rico?
>
> http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/militarism-in-schools/opt-out.rtf
>
> AFSC background on the issue:
> http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/militarism-in-schools/default.htm
>
> On 8/18/07, Barbara kessel <barkes at gmail.com> wrote:
> >  Recruiting For Iraq War Undercut in Puerto Rico
> >     By Paul Lewis
> >     The Washington Post
> >
> >     Saturday 18 August 2007
> >
> >     San Juan, Puerto Rico - The political activists, brown envelopes
> > tucked under their arms, staked out the high school gates just after
> > sunrise. When students emerged from the graffiti-scorched streets of
> > the Rio Piedra neighborhood here and began streaming toward their
> > school, the pro-independence advocates ripped open the envelopes and
> > began handing the teens fliers emblazoned with the slogan: "Our youth
> > should not go to war."
> >
> >     At the bottom of the leaflet was a tear sheet that students could
> > sign and later hand to teachers, to request that students' personal
> > contact information not be released to the U.S. Defense Department or
> > to anyone involved in military recruiting.
> >
> >     The scene outside the Ramon Vila Mayo high school unfolded at
> > schools throughout Puerto Rico this week as the academic year opened.
> > On this island with a long tradition of military service,
> > pro-independence advocates are tapping the territory's growing
> > anti-Iraq war sentiment to revitalize their cause. As a result, 57
> > percent of Puerto Rico's 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, or their
> > parents, have signed forms over the past year withholding contact
> > information from the Pentagon - effectively barring U.S. recruiters
> > from reaching out to an estimated 65,000 high school students.
> >
> >     "If the death of a Puerto Rican soldier is tragic, it's more
> > tragic if that soldier has no say in that war," said Juan Dalmau,
> > secretary general of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). His
> > efforts are saving the island's children from becoming "colonial
> > cannon meat," he said.
> >
> >     Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, all schools receiving
> > U.S. federal funding must provide their students' names, addresses and
> > phone numbers to the military unless the child or parents sign an
> > opt-out form. Puerto Rico received $1.88 billion in U.S. education
> > funds this year. For five years, PIP has issued opt-out forms to about
> > 120,000 students in Puerto Rico and encouraged them to sign - and
> > independista activists expect this year to mark their most successful
> > effort yet.
> >
> >     Such actions come as other antiwar groups on the island are
> > seeking to undercut military recruiting, as well. For example, the
> > Coalition of Citizens Against Militarism, an association of pacifist
> > groups, plans to visit about 70 schools on the island in the coming
> > days, meaning that many students will receive two, or even three,
> > opt-out forms by the end of August.
> >
> >     Antiwar advocates have even gained direct access to Puerto Rican
> > classrooms under a controversial directive issued last September by
> > Rafael Aragunde, the island's education secretary, granting "equal
> > access" by pacifist groups and military recruiters.
> >
> >     Although he will not bar recruiters from schools, Aragunde said,
> > he has a "lot of sympathy" for what pacifist groups are trying to
> > accomplish. "I've always felt that one of the byproducts of a good
> > educational system is that you have citizens who will defend
> > pacifism," he said. "I think that just like we have to insist on
> > ecological values, we have to insist on pacifist values." Aragunde
> > described his relations with military recruiters as "cordial."
> >
> >     Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel
> > policy, acknowledged that the counter-recruiting campaigns are having
> > an impact. "We're drawing less than the national average" in Puerto
> > Rico, he said.
> >
> >     In the 2003-06 period, 4,947 Puerto Rican men and women enlisted
> > in the Army or Reserves, or approximately 123 people per 100,000
> > residents, according to Pentagon data. That is below the average
> > contribution of U.S. states, and far below the numbers in states such
> > as Alabama, Kansas, Montana and Oklahoma, each of which enlists more
> > than 200 men and women per 100,000, according to Army data.
> >
> >     "We're not taking more than our share from Puerto Rico," Carr
> > said. "We're taking less than our share, because that's what they'll
> > give us." Carr said he suspects that opt-out rates for states in the
> > continental United States rarely break beyond 10 percent - a far cry
> > from the nearly 60 percent on the island.
> >
> >     Reaction outside the gates of the Ramon Vila Mayo school this week
> > seem to confirm that suspicion. A few students shrugged off the
> > political activists' overtures, while others smiled and declared their
> > interest in joining the "Yankee" military. But most of the teens
> > politely accepted the forms, nodded and even fetched pens from their
> > school bags.
> >
> >     Calls for Puerto Rico's independence have existed since the days
> > of Spanish colonial rule and continued after the United States seized
> > control of the island in 1898. In the 1950s, a branch of the movement
> > attempted a violent uprising. Although many Puerto Ricans express deep
> > patriotism for the island, the independence impulse has never
> > translated in the polls - either in elections or in successive
> > plebiscites on the status of the territory, in which independence has
> > repeatedly been rejected.
> >
> >     Leaders from the island's two major political parties say that
> > their PIP opponents are exploiting young people to advance their
> > separatist grievances. And Pentagon officials accuse the activists of
> > "manipulating" impressionable young people.
> >
> >     "What's going on in Puerto Rico is an artificial circumstance,
> > where a group is trying to persuade students to take their name off a
> > list, and of course that's going to meet in some change in behavior,"
> > Carr said. "In the event that someone approaches a young person and
> > their voluntary behavior is to take an opt-out card and give it to
> > their teacher, there's nothing we can or should do in that case.
> > That's free speech. But it's curious speech, because it's manipulating
> > the flow of information . . . and that is unhealthy."
> >
> >     The Pentagon said it is on track to meet its recruiting targets
> > for this fiscal year. However, despite a $3.2 billion national
> > recruitment campaign, the military was forced to bring back 1,000
> > former recruiters to help with the summer months - the peak recruiting
> > period - and late last month introduced a $20,000 "quick-ship" bonus
> > for recruits willing to enter training before October. Carr said that
> > Puerto Rico's anti-military drive could force recruiters to focus on
> > states such as Texas, where they meet with less resistance.
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> >
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy's current estimate of Iraqi deaths due to violence
since the U.S. invasion - now more than a million:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html