Don’t Enlist, But Don’t Just Take My Word For It by Lo

Image by Kate Tomlinson via Flickr

by Lo
Editor, Dandelion Salad
July 12, 2012

This is the most important blog post on Dandelion Salad. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be considering enlisting as a soldier (mercenary). Stop them from selling their souls.

First is a list of the best videos with a description of the video followed by the link. Next is a short list of article links, then the archive of posts for “Before You Enlist” and websites for more information.

Thank you for sharing this post, you may have just saved a life or two. Here is the short link if you prefer: http://wp.me/p5qmX-yEJ.

Highly recommended videos:

Straight talk from soldiers, veterans and their family members tells what is missing from the sales pitches presented by recruiters and the military’s marketing efforts.

Before You Enlist! (2006) (must-see)

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In 1983, the National Film Board of Canada produced a 57-minute film, “Anybody’s Son Will Do”. Arguably the best anti-war film ever made, and tailored for public television, it scared the hell out of the U.S. military machine, which has done its best to “disappear” it. For years it has been nearly impossible to find a copy, but some kind soul has posted it on YouTube where it can be seen in six segments.

[…]

As for “Anyone’s Son Will Do”, DVDs of it should be in every junior high and high school in the country. Parent-teacher associations should have screenings. With any luck, it might get us headed toward a day when a common sight will be bumper stickers “Support Our Peace Makers”.

Anybody’s Son Will Do (1983; must-see)

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“In the 1960’s an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. This movement didn’t take place on college campuses, but in barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. It was a movement no one expected, least of all those in it. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. And by 1971 it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam.”

Sir, No Sir! (must-see)

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Interview with Ian Slattery, associate producer of the documentary film “Soldiers of Conscience.” December 16, 2007

Interview: Soldiers of Conscience (video)

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Directed by Josh Rushing, a veteran Marine Corps media spokesman, “SPIN: The Art of Selling War” is an investigative documentary that looks at the standard justification for going to war by the American administrations of past and present.

SPIN: The Art of Selling War

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“The Good Soldier” follows the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of American wars as they sign up, go into battle, and eventually change their minds about what it means to be a good soldier.

A film that could not be timelier, “The Good Soldier” poses the question: What is it that makes a good soldier? The answer: The ability to kill other human beings.

“The Good Soldier” reveals how soldiers simultaneously grapple with their duty and their own humanity.

Bill Moyers Journal: The Good Soldier

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Body of War, a film by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue. It is an intimate and transformational feature documentary about the true face of war today.

Body of War (must-see)

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In this disturbing chapter of The Empire Files, Abby Martin documents decades of experimentation on US troops—from nuclear tests to psychotropic drugs—as well as knowingly exposing them to deadly poisons, from sarin gas to Agent Orange. Most damning is that the hundreds of thousands of veterans seeking help from the government for the side-effects are always met with lies and denial.

Abby Martin: Used and Betrayed: 100 Years of US Troops as Lab Rats

Articles:

Military Recruiting and How To Confront It by Pat Elder

How to Counter Military Recruitment by Pat Elder

Army Makes Case Against Enlisting by David Swanson

Radical Peace: People Refusing War (archive of posts)

What if they gave a War? By Charles Sullivan (2006)

Stopping the War Machine: Military Recruiters Must Be Confronted

Wars Begin in High School Cafeterias by David Swanson

Don’t Enlist by Laurence M. Vance

Should Anyone Join the Military? by Laurence M. Vance

Testimony of a US ex-marine By Rosa Miriam Elizalde

The price of pacifism: Refusing to go to war is finally being recognised as a brave act

Archive of posts:

Before You Enlist

Recommended websites:

Courage to Resist

The National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy

The Objector Registry

Recommended Information:

Meet Sgt. Abe, the Honest Recruiter by The Quakers

GI Rights Hotline: 877-447-4487 or 919-663-7122

Updated:

Please take a look at other blog posts that have been published after this date. The links are listed below in the comment section.