RECRUITMENT BASICS contents

2. RECRUITMENT BASICScontents Introduction to recruitment Reality of the military State of JROTC and Cadet Corps in CPS What is Counter Recruitment What are the issues Background of the Opt-Out form What is ASVAB What you can do

3. WHO ARE RECRUITERS? Some armed forces personnel volunteer for a recruiting position job and some are chosen to become recruiters Many don�t want to be recruiters but must to further their career in the military Most are not out to purposely spread mis-information, they themselves have been indoctrinated and may need to be informed of the issues surrounding what they do Their performance is measured by how many new recruits they get signed up, not how nice or honest they are As individuals they are not the enemy, but they should not be welcomed into schools by students, parents or administrators

4. WHY ARE RECRUITERS IN THE SCHOOLS? The U.S. Army Recruiter Duty Description states : Contacts representatives of schools, public officials, personnel managers, parents of prospective applicants, religious and civil leaders, and others to present the Army as an employment and career opportunity.� Presents formal and informal talks on advantages of the Army at civic and service organizations and student bodies. Schools provide easy, almost unrestricted access to students in their hallways, cafeterias and classrooms This allows recruitment to begin four years before students will be eligible to join the military Recruiters, until recently, have faced little or no opposition to their presence in the schools

6. A FEW WAYS RECRUITERS GAIN ACCESS TO YOUTH SCHOOLS: aside from hallways, cafeterias and classrooms at schools: job fairs, sporting events, school festivals, Cadet Corps in middle schools, JROTC in high schools, ROTC in colleges MEDIA: school newspapers, tv commercials, movie previews, magazines, billboard advertisements, video games created for the military & downloaded for free from the internet (also collects personal information when registering for download) CITY SPONSORED EVENTS: Taste of Chicago, Blues Fest, Air & Water Show, Armed Forces Day (Navy Pier), Warped Concert Tour, Puerto Rican Festival and other select neighborhood festivals MARKETING DATABASE: aside from ASVAB info and school databases required from the No Child Left Behind Act, the Pentagon has recently contracted with a private marketing firm to create a database of ALL high school age students (16-18) & all college students across the country. The new database will contain personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

9. THE RECRUITING MACHINEMARKETING THE MILITARY According to an April 2005 article in the Chicago Tribune: �The military is exhausting every imaginable idea, effort and inducement to keep manpower up and attract qualified troops. Recruiters are hitting NASCAR events, rock concerts, rodeos and rib festivals, using custom-painted Humvees and other gimmicks to attract the masses like old-fashioned traveling salesmen.� The military's recruiting advertising budget doubled from $300 million to nearly $600 million between 1998 and 2003 The overall recruiting budget in 2004 approached 4 billion dollars. A 1.1 million dollar tractor-trailer with an Apache helicopter simulator travels to schools all across America looking for recruits for the Army. Similar trailers contain Humvee simulators The Army video game (America�s Army) itself cost 12 million dollars to develop and is available for free These deceptive marketing techniques reduce the military, war, death & destruction to a mere game

10. WHY YOUTH ENLIST IN THE MILITARY Money for college Get away from hostile environments Lack of jobs Promise of travel To heroically serve the country Family tradition Discipline and physical challenges Enlistment bonus up $20,000

11. Every enlistment contract contains the following language: Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice... REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment document. This means the military can change an enlistment contract at any time even if a contract contains written promises. The only benefit of getting recruiter�s promises in writing is that there may be a possibility of discharge if the military breaks the enlistment contract. This however is never a certainty. REALITY OF THE MILITARY

14. Message from the director of Chicago JROTC programs We are very proud of our program in Chicago Public Schools. We have the largest JROTC program in the country in number of cadets and total programs. Also, we are unique in offering a myriad of educational opportunities to our students: military academy high schools; military academies within a school; high school JROTC programs; and Middle School Cadet Corps programs. Rick W. Mills

15. Defence Secretary Gen. William Cohen, described JROTC as: �one of the best recruiting services that we could have.�

16. Is Junior ROTC building character -- or lining up soldiers? 

17. The military�s success in Chicago has led it to dub the city �the national leader� for integrating JROTC into an urban education system. 

18. Chicago has 107 Public High Schools

20. In Chicago there are:34 Army JROTC Schools5 Navy JROTC Schools2 Marine JROTC Schools1 Air Force JROTC School 42 Schools with JROTC Programs 3 are full-time military academy high schools

23. ALMOST HALF OF THE CITY�S SCHOOLS HAVE JROTC PROGRAMS

24. Only 5 schools in all of the more affluent Chicago suburbs have JROTC programs

25. Chicago currently has 10,600 students enrolled in Junior ROTC programs--and the military plans to increase that number to 15,000 by 2007

26. JROTC costs $75,000 per school

28. Rick Mills, the JROTC director in Chicago says, �� if we have the opportunity to present ourselves at an earlier age, all the better." 

29. MIDDLE SCHOOL CADET CORPS

30. MIDDLE SCHOOL CADET CORPS (MSCC) 26 MSCC programs in Chicago 850 students are enlisted 11 to 14 year old children

31. INDOCTRINATION

32. (NOT SO) HIDDEN ISSUES BEHIND JROTC JROTC targets low income communities: the majority of nationwide participants are students of color JROTC teaches passivity, not leadership or critical thought JROTC textbooks are biased and bigoted Army JROTC text booklet 3, p. 185, "Fortunately for the Army, the government policy of pushing the Indians farther west then wiping them out was carried out successfully." JROTC discriminates: against students and instructors who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, people with disabilities and immigrants schools with JROTC programs, at a very early age, point students towards the military instead of focusing on teaching valid skills that will prepare them for life

33. Rick Mills, the director of Military Schools and JROTC for the Chicago Public School system, states: �These kinds of programs would not be in schools if there weren�t kids who wanted it, parents who supported it and administrators who facilitated it.�

35. WHAT IS COUNTER RECRUITMENT ANY action that stops or hinders military recruitment at any level EXAMPLES: GETTING INFORMATION OUT THERE - talking and distributing info to youth, parents, teachers, neighbors & friends about the reality of the military DEMONSTRATING � in front of recruiting stations, at city festivals where recruiters are present, in parades, at any number of regularly held neighborhood protests HELPING students, parents and communities get organized around the issues

36. POINT OF COUNTER RECRUITERS �We are not sales people for any ideology or point of view, unlike recruiters, we don�t have quotas to meet. We believe people considering joining the military should be empowered by as much information as possible before making a decision. You should know about the reality of military life and hear the moral arguments against participating in war before making a decision.� CCCO

38. letting recruiters in hallways and cafeterias know that they�re not wanted setting up booths wherever recruiters are, at job fairs and other events, to distribute counter recruitment literature demanding equal access for classroom speakers who provide information about the military and alternatives to the military creating alternative displays in the schools to counter military posters and propaganda organizing to completely ban or severely limit recruiter access to schools WHAT STUDENTS ARE DOING

39. January 20, 2005Students at Seattle Central Community College (CAN) to Recruiters: "No more war, leave our school.�  

41. (NOT SO) HIDDEN ISSUES BEHIND RECRUITMENT target inner city youth and minority communities focus their efforts against the poor and working class rob communities of potential leaders keeps the cycle of poverty turning

42. (NOT SO) HIDDEN ISSUES OF THE MILITARY $399 BILLION tax dollars fund the Pentagon $34 BILLION tax dollars fund K-12 education 12 TIMES as much money is spent on defense than the education of our country�s youth the military consists overwhelmingly of the country�s middle & working class; people who are putting their lives in danger in order for the rich of the country to live in extremely comfortable security while taking tax dollars to protect their interests

44. OPT-OUT vast majority of schools have been voluntarily giving recruiters students� names, addresses and phone numbers for decades the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act of 2001 made providing recruiters access to student lists mandatory before NCLB, release of the information was discretionary and if schools elected to do it, they had to notify parents of the right to opt out when NCLB was implemented in 2002 the opt-out right was still in effect, but schools can no longer choose to withhold names, address and phone numbers from recruiters without risking losing their federal funds opt-out campaigns are important, but they shouldn�t distract from other equally important counter recruitment action

45. ARMED SERVICES VOCATIONAL APTITUDE BATTERY (ASVAB) �This program is designed to help students learn more about themselves and the world of work, identify and explore potentially satisfying occupations, and develop an effective strategy to realize their goals.� straight from the ASVAB website free to schools and targeted for students in grades 10,11,12 & postsecondary schools 14,000 schools per year administer the ASVAB, taken by 1.25 million students, over half of all high schools nationwide participate the military gets around the opt-out barrier using the ASVAB with very few exceptions, the ASVAB results in student contact information and much more personal data being released to recruiters even if opt-out is used

46. if a school or individual decides to use the ASVAB, they should utilize option 8 �no release to recruiters�. this option prevents the students' names from being added to the military's recruiting list. be aware however, the military regularly makes absolutely no mention of this option, and often it is purposely left out schools can also use option 8 to exclude the entire school students are not required to take the test and can not be forced to give this kind of personal information to the military. unfortunately, some schools give the students the impression that they must take it � or even coerce them into taking it the ASVAB discriminates against certain groups of people. Many service members are automatically assigned to non-technical military jobs because of poor ASVAB scores. as a result, for example, many African-American service members are assigned to low-skill jobs when they might have been able to be trained for more technical jobs. Women are also less likely to get good scores on the mechanical sections, because many haven't done mechanical work in the past

47. HOW STUDENTS CAN GET INVOLVED form student social justice clubs look to existing clubs for inspiration research and learn the facts � there is a wealth of information available from a multitude of sources learn & know your rights as an individual & student talk to friends and family to get them involved perform direct action: confront recruiters, start opt-out & anti-ASVAB campaigns, demonstrate, protest, create new ways of approaching the issues

48. talk to teachers, faculty, administrators and guidance counselors attend/join PTA & school councils learn the facts about military recruitment and JROTC programs in your child�s school volunteer to give presentations to schools indirectly help students organize by offering support and encouragement understand the need to allow students to act independently create a parents for social justice group inform students about their options instead of joining the military (very important) HOW PARENTS CAN GET INVOLVED

49. HOW COMMUNITIES CAN GET INVOLVED resist attempts to militarize schools demand tax dollars be spent on education, not militarization support local teacher, student & parent social justice causes & organizations volunteer support and resources make yourselves visible & affective get alderpersons and other local officials involved and aware of local opposition to the militarization of schools and youth network with other communities interested in the issues of militarization if one doesn�t already exist, start your own community counter recruitment organization

50. EMPOWER OTHERS BY EMPOWERING YOURSELVES

51. �Counter-recruitment is far more than a tactical issue concerning Iraq. It is an integral part of a larger strategy for defeating militarism that is absolutely necessary to cultivate a political and social climate that embraces critical thinking and democratic discourse. Counter-recruitment work is really an effort to ensure our future ability to work for progressive social change in the U.S. It's very crucial that this larger context not escape us.�Rick Jahnkow 2005