[Peace] Join AWARE as we counter Army National Guard recruiting!

[Randall Cotton]

Just after Thanksgiving, the Army National Guard has plans to recruit
Illinois high school football players, their friends, family members
and fans near Memorial Stadium. The AWARE counter-recruitment working
group will be there with signs and flyers to provide a counterweight
to that effort. Join us anytime (for as long or as little as you like)
between the hours of noon and 4PM on the Friday and Saturday after
Thanksgiving as we demonstrate with flyers and posters near an actual
military recruitment event. We especially welcome and encourage
veterans to attend.

Our counter-recruitment presence will take place near the Army
National Guard tent facility planned for this year's IHSA state high
school football championship games at Memorial Stadium on November
25th and 26th.

WHAT: AWARE counter-recruitment presence (signs and flyers)

WHERE: Army National Guard tent, 1st and Kirby
(for map, see http://tinyurl.com/8fhfe )

WHEN: noon to 4PM (arrive and leave anytime),
Friday November 25th and Saturday, November 26th

CONTACTS: Randall Cotton - 722-8470 (for Friday's presence)
Durl Kruse - 766-2684 (for Saturday's presence)

If you're interested, but would like to know the details, read on...
---------------------------------------------------------
Every year, high school football teams from across the state, their
families and sometimes a substantial portion of their communities come
to Champaign for two days of state-wide championship games at Memorial
Stadium (see reference 1 below). And the Army National Guard (which is
increasingly being deployed to Iraq) apparently views this as a good
opportunity to recruit high school kids. Last year, the military had a
flashy presence there, complete with a neon-lit Hummer.

AWARE's counter-recruitment working group has confirmed that they'll
be back this year, with the Army National Guard trying desperately to
make up for their recruitment shortfall of more than 10,000 so far
this year, the worst (or best, depending on how you look at it 8-) in
the U.S. military (see reference 2 below).

We've planned a four-hour presence on both days of the IHSA
championships, from noon to 4PM, rain or shine.

The Army National Guard tent will be located on the southwest corner
of 1st Street and Kirby, at the edge of the sprawling parking lot
there, next to large sidewalks along both streets. We've alerted the
Champaign Police Department of our plans and have confirmed that we
have the right to be present with signs on those sidewalks so long as
we don't block traffic. Flyering is fine too, so long as we don't
force folks to take anything.

We will be featuring signs showing a particularly compelling poster
depicting a military cemetery with the slogan "You Can't be All You
Can Be ... If You're Dead". See the poster on-line at:

http://www.syrculturalworkers.com/catalog/catalogIndex/CatCounterRecruitment.html

We'll have other signs as well, including the casualty portraits (both
military and Iraqi) that we often feature at AWARE events (you can see
them in the top page banner photo at www.ucimc.org  ).

In addition, all are welcome, indeed encouraged, to bring their own
signs as well.

And we'll have hundreds of copies of two flyers we've chosen for the
occasion, both from the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers).
You can see them on-line as follows:

Do You Know Enough to Enlist?
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/Military-Recruitment/Enlist.PDF

Ten Points to Consider Before You Sign a Military Enlistment
Agreement:
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/Military-Recruitment/10pts.pdf

The tide of public opinion is turning against the war in Iraq. Current
polls, such as the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, show that 60% of
Americans believe the war is "not worth it" (see reference 3 below).
Anti-war activism is increasingly accepted and even welcomed. With
this in mind, we feel that as the military has an increasingly
difficult time meeting recruitment goals and they become more and more
desperate for new recruits, counter-recruitment is increasingly
important and effective.

So please consider joining us for as long or as little as you like on
the southwest corner of 1st and Kirby anytime between noon and 4PM on
Friday, November 25th and Saturday, November 26th as we provide a
counterweight to recruiting efforts aimed at Illinois high school
kids.

And please feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail if you have any
questions or concerns:

Randall Cotton - 722-8470 (coordinator for Friday's presence)
recotton at earthlink.net

Durl Kruse - 766-2684 (coordinator for Saturday's presence)
jandurl at insightbb.com

References:
1. (IHSA football championship info)
http://www.ihsa.org/activity/fb/index.htm

2. (military recruiting shortfalls)
http://www.political-news.org/breaking/14438/army-poised-to-miss-2005-recruiting-goal.html

3. (recent polling on Iraq)
 http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/2005-11-15-iraq-poll.htm
also:
http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq