How The War Machine ‘Recruits’ Poor, Oppressed Youth, by Richie Merino

Image by Debra Sweet via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Richie Merino
Workers World, Dec. 20, 2022
December 21, 2022

A Dec. 11 New York Times report highlighted how thousands of public high school students in majority poor, Black and Brown districts are funneled into the U.S. military’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. Students are automatically enrolled and forced to participate as an explicit requirement without parental consent. Some high schools have saved money by using JROTC, which is ostensibly a feeder system for children to ultimately enlist in the military, as an alternative to hiring physical education or health teachers. (NY Times, Dec. 11)

The Military to American Youth: You Belong to Me, by Robert C. Koehler

Image by borderhacker via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 26, 2022

Ah, the children!

They belong to us, sayeth the Department of Defense. At least some of them do.

David Swanson: If Everybody Matters, War Can Never Be Justified At All

Image by Ricky Leong via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Mar. 10, 2019
March 12, 2019

Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County on Mar 12, 2019

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. The U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation awarded him their 2018 Peace Prize, and he has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pat Elder: It’s Not A Volunteer Force, Amy. It’s A Recruited Force. + Militarizing Schools, Criminalizing Students

Image by Lorie Shaull via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Pat Elder
World Beyond War, Feb. 21, 2018
February 26, 2018

Part 1: Inside the U.S. Military Recruitment Program That Trained Nikolas Cruz to be “A Very Good Shot”

Democracy Now! on Feb 21, 2018

https://democracynow.org – Dozens of students who survived last week’s school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida have arrived in Tallahassee to push for new gun control measures. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Florida House of Representatives blocked a bid to bring up a bill to ban sales of assault-style rifles in the state. The Florida gunman, a 19-year-old white former student named Nikolas Cruz, was a member of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program before he was expelled from the school. Cruz was also part of a four-person JROTC marksmanship team at the school which had received $10,000 in funding from the NRA. For more, we speak with Pat Elder, director of the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, an organization that confronts militarism in schools. He’s the author of Military Recruiting in the United States.