Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiA ninth grader in a suburban Washington DC classroom is delighted to be excused from Algebra class to spend a half hour shooting a life-like 9 MM pistol and lobbing explosive ordinance from an M1A2 Abrams tank simulator. At the same time 3,000 miles away in La Habra, California, a 15 year-old girl is released from English class to squeeze off rounds from a very real looking M-16 rifle. The kids thoroughly enjoy the experience, especially the part about getting out of class.
The two students have experienced the Army's Adventure Van, a 60-foot, 30-ton 18-wheeler with several interactive exhibits that bring an adrenaline rush and glorify weaponry and combat. The Army's 19 vans frequent various community events and two thousand schools a year, generating more than 63,000 recruiter leads. In addition to the Adventure Van, the Army has three other 18-wheelers for recruiting purposes. The Aviation Recruiting Van contains an AH 64 Helicopter flight simulator and an interactive air warrior and weapons display.
The American Soldier Adventure Van has an interactive air/land warrior display and a future warrior display. The Army Marksmanship Trainer has an interactive rifle range.
In addition to the fleet of 18-wheelers, the Army has four RockWalls, the popular rock climbing wall for youth. The Army also brings machine gun toting humvees, tanks and other military vehicles on high school campuses to enhance their recruiting efforts. Both the Army and Air Force have their own recruiting motorcycles.
The interactive theatrical weapons simulators provide a mesmerizing experience for many teens, captivated by the awesome accuracy and power of the Army's killing machines. The banter between adolescent and Army recruiter is empowering for the Maryland teenager as he holds an absolutely frightening replica of the cold, metallic 8.5 pound M-16-A-2. "This is awesome!" The recruiter explains, "The weapon is a 5.56 mm caliber, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed rifle, with a rotating bolt. It is constructed of steel, aluminum and composite plastics."
Firing the simulator produces a minor kick to the weapon and a small red dot is projected on a bull's eye target about 20 feet away. The shooter is accurate from left to right on the target, but he's hitting it a few inches below bull's eye. His recruiter explains that soldiers shooting the M-16-A-2 must aim high in order to place shots on the desired target, especially at close range. "Cool!" is the reply.
Despite protests by parents and civic groups across the country, the Army defends its right to enter high school campuses with their high-tech mobile cinemas. Kelly Rowe, public affairs officer for the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion, compared the Army Adventure Van to efforts by colleges to recruit students. "I don't think it's any different from an athlete who gets 10 letters saying, 'Come play for us,' " Rowe said.
Of course, these military vehicles go beyond the access required by Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act, which states that military recruiters are to have the same access as college and career recruiters.
The Air Force and the Navy also have fleets of trucks and vans that visit high schools. The Air Force has a Raptor Trailer, with a miniature replica of the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft and two video game stations that put children behind the joystick piloting an F-22 fighter that's coming to the aid of a friendly F-4 under attack by hostile MiG-29s. Five Navy Exhibit Centers include a "Nuclear Power Van," and an "America's Sea Power Van."
Some school districts, like the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Montgomery County, Maryland Public Schools have policies that forbid military vehicles on public school campuses.
If you see a military vehicle at your high school, let your local school officials know of your concerns. These vehicles don't belong in our schools.
Pat Elder is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth
49 Comments so far
Show AllWhat would be really cool is if there was a van that simulated being in a building when terrorists fly a plane into it, then the simulator showed the kids the future of America and what became of it because a bunch of pussy asses didn't want anyone to join the military. What do you think this country will be like if there is no one to protect it and fight for it? America and it's military is far from perfect, but very necessary. I am proud of EVERYONE who decides to volunteer for the armed services.
anon a mouse November 27th, 2007 3:39 pm
"Face it, when you are in the service, you get to play with the coolest toys in the world."
when are people gonna grow the fuck up?
JMB4WT: Excellent posting! It mirrors commentary I often relate that our nation has fallen under thrall to MARS, the god of war and bloodshed; and lost all identification and reverence for Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, culture, art, and peace! Your insight into the celebration of violence AS the educational/cultural norm at the direct expense of human touch/compassion/contact exactly reinforces my point that our global vessel is being navigated by the principle of violence, without that of love coordinating our progress. A vessel with only one oar operating can only circle, and thus the redundancy of aggression, war AS history. It's time to deploy the other oar, and it's all about caring and becoming a CARING society! Thank you for validating what I've been also sharing for months.
america is finished....
Something else to worry about as my son enters high school in a couple of years. Parents should also be aware of the "military aptitude test" (or whatever they call it) given in many high schools by the military to identify potential recruits without, in many cases, the parents even being notified that their kid has been scheduled to take it. Wake up and ask your high school administration about this!!
The whole purpose of public schools is to brainwash our children into becoming "good citizens." The common school was never meant to be anything more than a "state prep school," to prepare our children to be loyal soldiers and laborers. They were patterned after the Prussian model of education from the 1800s. It's no surprise that schools go along with the military's dog and pony show.
Good luck going to your kid's school to complain or let them know how you feel. You can ask the school for a special form to sign that expressly forbids the military from accessing your child's school records without obtaining your permission first. At our local high school, however, they let individual recruiters on campus without parents' knowledge, to mix and mingle with the students in the weight room. When I talked with the high school principal about there having been a military recruiter in the weight room with my son's PE class, he said, "They're just concerned about their health." I was flabbergasted!
Get a group of like-minded parents to sign on to the anti-military campaign at your school. At least you won't feel like the lone ranger when the administrators start treating you like persona non grata!
Suter -
Something (supposedly) people can do on this recruitment issue: OPT OUT - parents can fill out a form that takes their kid/s off the military recruitment list in their local schools.
But there's no way yet to stop the military vans from visiting secondary schools ( the vans containing the multi-media shows that help seduce vulnerable kids into becoming fodder for the Empire's wars) unless the entire school district opts out --at which point the school district is punished by loosing most of its federal funding. Only a few school districts around the country have opted-out so far, but surprisingly they've been big districts - so maybe there's some hope.
Most of these anti-recruitment "options" for kids in school are contained in Section 9528 of the 'No Child Left Behind Act' (Public Law 107-110.) The entire law is a disgrace, of course: idiotic from an educational standpoint and clearly crafted to further homogenize the educational process for Orwellian ends by the powers that be (Big Government/Military; Big Corporations, etc.)
Another thing: I agree that way too many people on CD vent steam without posting creative alternatives. CD's format too often seems like the Editors are zoo keepers feeding Red Meat Outrage articles to a pack of angry woolves who dutifully rip each meat feeding to shreds in a constant, kind of mindless flow that allows no time (or alternate page) to stay focused on a single subject or organize people action alternatives.
I don't blame CD posters, though -- most of them are smart and caring people.
You should know that several times in the past, sizeable groups of posters have asked CD's Editors to expand the website's format, to allow the option of a focus page or forum page where people could better organize, but the Editors never responded.
If you're interested, I have the personal email adresses of some of the posters who tried to get this other site feature going a while back.
Face it, when you are in the service, you get to play with the coolest toys in the world.
Hmmm ... One simple to do solution would be to have another innocuous event following one of these vans. Make it a driving simulator, parachute game, whatever is popular. The education part comes in the lineup. You give the students a card that they have to open to get in. Half say "Welcome in!"
Half say "In your stay in the army, you got killed / maimed / shot / lost a leg / whatever. Sorry you can't play."
Blunt and to the point.
Craig
We've got to stop the spreading of this hopelessness with our cynicism and negativity here!
Americans are confused, overwhelmed and withdrawing into avoidance behaviors to cope with the bombardment of developements in nearly every walk of life - the environment, politics, society, etc.
If we CD readers and writers are truly some of the few who see the problems clearly, we should be the ones to begin to offer a solution!
Even I get pulled deeper into a feeling of helplessness after reading posts like the above. Come on folks, let's begin to offer some support of suggestions and action ideas that can bolster the dimming hopes of those who need it most.
We all know who they are - our neighbors, families affected by the economic downward spiral of foreclosure and tight credit, rising cost of living, unemployment, lack of health care, environmental issues. They are us!
Let's begin to create a solution rather than dwelling on the problems and wallowing in our gloom!
PDA (Progressive Democrats of America) is conducting this straw poll to determine which of the currently declared Democratic Candidates our membership is supporting for President.
Polling is open until 3pm Eastern time on December 4.)
https://www.pdamerica.org/polls/poll-pres-2008-1.php
Be sure to visit the Web site of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY), where the author of this article, Pat Elder, and others offer a wealth of alternatives etc.:
http://www.nnomy.org/joomla/index.php
Gladiator skool woddn't noddink like dis! God blast amerika; carnage, rape, pillage, plunder, mayhem, mass murder the only subjects our little killers need to learn in an off the wall, gone to seed empire of waspish neocohen elites that lets the children of redneck amerika do its killin and dyin for empire. Pox amerikan without end amen... Let us prey!
"We're ridin to Utopia..." juggernaut war machine amerika runnin on empty on "the long road out of Eden" and there aint no way back to all that innocent injun killing diet of little house on the prarie pap you fed your evil bloated soul on that brought you to this sick abuse of your children not to mention the rest of humanity your "enemy".
"weaving down the highway
through the litter and the wreckage
and the cultural junk
bloated with entitlement
loaded on propaganda
and now we're driving dazed and drunk"
Long Road Out of Eden
Henley, Frey & Schmit
Los Angeles Unified bans military vehicles? WOW! The one school system in the nation that most resembles a battle zone doesn't allow battle simulation...unintentional parody is the purest comedy.
This is atrocious. You can argue that the basic public school cirriculum is brainwashing, but this is on another level. It irks me that this is perfectly OK. Would it be OK for public schools to teach peace? Instead of looking at wars as inevitable things that the U.S. had to stand up to, how about looking at them as acts of aggression instigated by aggressive people. Obviously, NO. We can't expect high school history to go into the "why" of war - that's for left-wing liberal arts colleges.
Schools let kids play these simulated war games, which are like MANY video games (not just the military recruitment game, but there is a whole war genre of games, mostly named after Tom Clancy, seemingly a cultural hero). Why don't they let them play any old video game during school time, why don't they let them do a commercial flight simulator or something cool like a deep sea simulator? I think we all know the answer.
Also, some schools are banning hugging. Some are banning ANY TOUCHING. Message: personal contact, sympathy, showing love toward one another are not societal values to be instilled and have no place in school. Mind numbing "cool" war games, and their ethic of KILLING FOR FUN is a way to dupe bored young people into the killing machine. For the smart ones that want more, it is a preparation for modern "network warfare" where you carry out war from a computer terminal at the push of a button.
My last tidbit: fundamentalists decry Hollywood as filth mostly because of sex/nudity and the partying lifestyle of stars. Where is the condemnation of gratuitous violence? Death on TV, death on the movie screen, death in the paper (except pictures of soldiers' coffins). A breast appears during a super bowl - scandal! All I can say is that this way of life has to come to an end.
A teacher whose computer was infected with a computer virus, which it contained before she was hired, whose students saw some pictures of naked women was sentenced to jail for abusing children. But these guys who indoctrinate children in violence and induce them to sign up to kill others, and perhaps themselves, in a pointless, counterproductive and illegal war are paid with our tax money.
Just another symptom of a very sick society,
It might be useful if the schools would have to show movies of the injured soldiers in the various medical units with their asses shot off. Maybe a few shots of the ones with all the dis figuration from being burned. how about some close ups of the stumps as a result of IED's. this might just put some balance into the contacts.
What I would further suggest is having members from the VVAW enter every High School that had been visited by these recruiters. Give them the same list of students as the recruiters had, and have them be educated by this group.
...and why is the State allowed endanger children . I understand college students, they're mostly legal adults -- but these are mostly children (or perhaps if a 12 yr old can be deemed legally compentent to be tried as an adult for murder, they can be deemed legally compentent to murder for the State).
Nevertheless...if any one else (ANYONE!) came around your children's school with the entent on endangering them driving VANS WITH COOL VIDEO GAMES, there would be an AMBER ALERT!
"The Air Force has a Raptor Trailer, with a miniature replica of the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft and two video game stations that put children behind the joystick piloting an F-22 fighter that's coming to the aid of a friendly F-4 under attack by hostile MiG-29s. "
The Raptor Trailer!!! Cool name.
Video Games. The Armed services use video game-like simulators for training, right? Which countries fly "hostile MiGs?"
I can imagine the banter in the video game room:
Student: ["Playing" flight simulator]
Recruiter: You know, son, we use flight simulator programs like these for training purposes. Of course, we have better simulator programs than these!
Student: I bet. The stuff that'll NEVER come out on PS3 or Xbox 360!
Recruiter: That's Right! And you're not so bad on this thing. You might make a good pilot.
Now, doesn't this whole affair remind you of a twisted Hansel and Gretel story?
So happy I saw this. will print it out and hand it to the kids as they cross the street to enter the people that give kids death warrants.
Bad enough, through my email, try to steal my youngest daughter when she was 17. I stopped that with great speed.
I cannot believe this van thing, please all things that keep me calm do not allow me to see one, please.
I am sure if some of these kids were PERMITTED by the military to tour a burn unit, any fresh young victim of war unit in these crappy V.A. Hospitals, more than a few may think twice. Let the Vets tell them for real, for real.
The depravity of the recruit for death centers never cease to sicken me daily.
"In addition to the fleet of 18-wheelers, the Army has four RockWalls, the popular rock climbing wall for youth. The Army also brings machine gun toting humvees, tanks and other military vehicles on high school campuses to enhance their recruiting efforts. Both the Army and Air Force have their own recruiting motorcycles."
they have just about everything...they have games, shows, rides, clowns, but no "bounce house". bummer.
freeranger: Random selection (if truly random) might well be acceptable, but only if exceptions were made for those young people who were truly conscientious objectors to war. I might also accept a "national service" type of draft that allowed the draftees to opt for such service as working in the Peace Corps, Americorps, teaching in Native American reservations, tutoring in inner-city schools, and so forth. I have a real problem with forcing our young people to go to war, carry guns, and kill people if they do not believe in the justification for that war.
Overpopulation control, conservative style.
Zorba and Damien:
You're right about past drafts being unfair from the county level on up. We started to get it right with a lottery in the latter years of Viet Nam. In my class, two of the most priviledged young men (smart kids with rich parents) got low numbers. They both had to go. These kids would've had college deferments ala Cheney under the old system. I lucked out with a high number. I especially favor a random selection draft for combat assignments.
I believe there is such as thing as just war, but when ruling classes don't pay the cost of war in blood, they are irresponsible. Shared sacrifice disciplines and tempers the war impulse.
Education about the horrors of war begin at home..........
EARTH PUPPET: Brilliant idea/satire! If only...
My 4 year old grandson was approached by an army recruiter at a recent public event. I walked over, looked the young militant in the eye, and said "You leave him alone!" The child vulture looked at me and chuckled. "I'm not kidding!" I continued..."Take your lies elsewhere." We walked away.
There is nothing honest and equal about an American military draft. In 1951 (Korean war era) after I graduated from High school there were 18 names on the county draft quota for the month. Not one was a rich man son, or a professionals son.
True, JZ; as a person who was active in the Viet Nam War protests, I'm disappointed in the response today. I'm truly torn about the draft. I don't believe in wars, except for demonstrably defensive ones (and not ones manufactured out of the illusory threat of "weapons of mass destruction"), and I'm also not terribly keen on the draft, but it does seem grossly unfair to place the burden on kids, many of whom have no other viable options and who are seduced into military service (and I'm not talking about the ones who really seem to want to join for reasons of patriotism, a family history, or whatever). I wish I knew the answer. Well, yes, I do: no more war.
This is really sick.
ZtG: but we got out. Painfully, but we got out. Today, who even protests, except online?
freeranger @ 1:36PM: "If our military truly consisted of citizen soldiers drafted into service from all classes, we'd see a dramatic decline in US militarism."
I don't seem to recall a dramatic decline of US militarism during the Viet Nam War, despite the draft. Yes, there were protests, but it took many years, and many, many American and Vietnamese casualties, before we got out. It didn't truly consist of citizens drafted from "all classes," but do you really think that Jenna and Barbara Bush, or most of the children of the rich and powerful, would wind up deployed into combat zones?
earth_puppet
Good idea. I have activist friends who do target these vans, as well as recruitment offices, with literature and information that the military does not provide the children they are trying to bag. This is a very effective way to intervene in the recruitment process, especially today when it is harder to promote the idea that the profession of soldiery is either an honorable or intelligent choice. It would be nice to have competitive vans, but printed literature with photographs and pointed questions also does the trick.
They had vans in the parking lot at the community college where I taught classes a few years back. We used them for motivators, not unlike spotted hyenas waiting for straggling herd babies. That's the life that is waiting for you if you don't keep your grades up.
earth_puppet: your vans would never be allowed within 500 yards of a school in this fascist nation -- the elite need cannon fodder, and we're "it," it's just that plain and simple.
This whole concept of brainwashing children to become the cannon fodder of the future is absolutely immoral! Kids have always figured out ways to play cops & robbers, cowboys & indians, and war games. But we did it with sticks, cap guns, and toy soldiers. And as a parent, I didn't even like that for my kids. There is NO WAY I would allow my children to be indoctrinated to a war machine in school. Why are parents allowing this to happen?
And, another question: If the US military recruiters have to be allowed access to our children at school, does that mean Blackwater has to be allowed to? What does all this have to say about the future of America?
A suggestion: Instead of a draft, why not have mandatory service for all Americans instead? Soldiers, peace corps, doctors, nurses, diplomats, support services, etc.
I want to know when the Blackwater vans are going to come around. If they are going to take my kid I want him to at least make $150K a year.
I have only 2 words: absolutely disgusting
Darn. When I saw the title Military Recruiting Vans Draw Fire, I thought it was open season on these vans. Praise the Lord and pass the RPG!
Bring back the draft. A professional military, consisting mostly of citizens from lower classes who lack other economic opportunities but headed by an elite that works for the military industrial complex, is a clear sign of empire, militarism, authoritariaism, imperialism, take your pick.
If our military truly consisted of citizen soldiers drafted into service from all classes, we'd see a dramatic decline in US militarism. Bring back the draft. Professional soldiers are too close to mercenaries...oh that's right..we have them too!
Yet we don't want guns in our schools??????
Screw footage of pics of dead people, the kids would be fascinated to look at that sort of thing. What they need to see is the reality of battle, bring a rotting burnt pig so they can smell something of the reality of war, a simulator that shows what they and their friends look like after having half their head shot off. The creative use of poisons to simulate the pain from loosing a limb... That sort of thing.
An army fun van...
Imagine the little ambassadors dumb enough to enlist nowadays trying to win the hearts and minds in Iraq.
I would be for a van to collect all volunteer funds for this debacle from those who voted Bush /Cheney in 04 though.
"Sign up! Travel! See the world and kill people with immunity with an awesome array of firepower!"
It's a marketing ploy that resonates well with children across America. Yet we are surprised at how easily children are recruited abroad to wage war against us.
If I had the money, I would create recruiting Vans to follow the Military Recruiting Vans:
1) A Surgery Van, with "trauma simulators", where kids can be the trauma doctor or nurse working on the bleeding and mangled bodies of our injured soldiers. Use to recruit doctors and nurses.
2) A Refugee Van, with "refugee simulators", where kids can see the destruction of families, homes, and villages that result from modern warfare and what it is like inside a refugee camp. Use to recruit NGO aid workers.
3) A Receiving End Van, with "shock & awe simulators", where kids can get a feel of what it is like to have their homes and neighborhood attacked with modern U.S. weapons. Use to recruit kids for Peace & Conflict Resolution Scholarships.
4) A Failed History of War Van, with "newsreel simulators", that projects a continual strings of multimedia presentations of the truth about war form a historical perspective. Use to recruit the next generation of peace candidates to get involved in the political processes of local, state, and federal politics.
Ahhh....get them young and train them to be hateful killers....Screw the education....the US is going to need as many warm bodies as they can find to prepare for the occupation (err I mean liberation) of Iran.....
r06ue 1:
I like your idea, but I think we all know how that would play out. Just look for the Common Dreams article about the Peace kids in the Florida high school.
I wonder if schools would allow kids to leave class to go to the anti-military recruiting van? The van comes with video tape footage of what happens when your leg gets blown off or your buddy dies next to you from shrapnel from a IED.
Could be called the "Reality Van".
How are we going to rule the world militarily if we don`t get these kids while they are young and immpressionable so we have plenty of manpower for our killing machines and weapons of mass destruction? The young do not realize how permanent death is until they have seen it so they are great prospects for our grand design to force every nation to do things our way.
"These vehicles don't belong in our schools."
How else will they be able to lie to kids in order to get them to join?