my care2
make a difference

community & fun

shares

share your passions, stories, inspirations, and more

Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War and Build a Better World
Oct 6, 2009
Focus: Peace
Action Request: Various
Location: United States
Editor's Note: The following is excerpted from Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War and Build a Better World published by Seven Stories Press, August 2007. Reprinted here by permission of publisher. Copyright © 2007 Aimee Allison and David Solnit

Top military recruitment facts

1. Recruiters lie. According the New York Times, nearly one of five United States Army recruiters was under investigation in 2004 for offenses varying from "threats and coercion to false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq." One veteran recruiter told a reporter for the Albany Times Union, "I've been recruiting for years, and I don't know one recruiter who wasn't dishonest about it. I did it myself."

2. The military contract guarantees nothing. The Department of Defense's own enlistment/re-enlistment document states, "Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to me. Such changes may affect my status, pay allowances, benefits and responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment/re-enlistment document" (DD Form4/1, 1998, Sec.9.5b).

3. Advertised signing bonuses are bogus. Bonuses are often thought of as gifts, but they're not. They're like loans: If an enlistee leaves the military before his or her agreed term of service, he or she will be forced to repay the bonus. Besides, Army data shows that the top bonus of $20,000 was given to only 6 percent of the 47,7272 enlistees who signed up for active duty.

4. The military won't make you financially secure. Military members are no strangers to financial strain: 48 percent report having financial difficulty, approximately 33 percent of homeless men in the United States are veterans, and nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.

5. Money for college ($71,424 in the bank?). If you expect the military to pay for college, better read the fine print. Among recruits who sign up for the Montgomery GI Bill, 65 percent receive no money for college, and only 15 percent ever receive a college degree. The maximum Montgomery GI Bill benefit is $37,224, and even this 37K is hard to get: To join, you must first put in a nonrefundable $1,200 deposit that has to be paid to the military during the first year of service. To receive the $37K, you must also be an active-duty member who has completed at least a three-year service agreement and is attending a four-year college full time. Benefits are significantly lower if you are going to school part-time or attending a two-year college. If you receive a less than honorable discharge (as one in four do), leave the military early (as one in three do), or later decide not to go to college, the military will keep your deposit and give you nothing. Note: The $71,424 advertised by the Army and $86,000 by the Navy includes benefits from the Amy or Navy College Fund, respectively. Fewer than 10 percent of all recruits earn money from the Army College Fund, which is specifically designed to lure recruits into hard-to-fill positions.

6. Job training. Vice President Dick Cheney once said, "The military is not a social welfare agency; it's not a jobs program." If you enlist, the military does not have to place you in your chosen career field or give you the specific training requested. Even if enlistees do receive training, it is often to develop skills that will not transfer to the civilian job market. (There aren't many jobs for M240 machine-gunners stateside.)

7. War, combat, and your contract. First off, if it's your first time enlisting, you're signing up for eight years. On top of that, the military can, without your consent, extend active-duty obligations during times of conflict, "national emergency," or when directed by the president. This means that even if an enlistee has two weeks left on his/ her contract (yes, even Guard/Reserve) or has already served in combat, she/he can still be sent to war. More than a dozen U.S. soldiers have challenged "stop-loss" measures like these in court so far, but people continue to be shipped off involuntarily. The military has called thousands up from Inactive Ready Reserve -- soldiers who have served, some for as long as a decade, and been discharged. The numbers: twice as many troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan per year as during the Vietnam War. One-third of the troops who have gone to Iraq have gone more than once. The highest rate of first- time deployments belongs to the Marine Corps Reserve: almost 90 percent have fought.

More, incuding information on counterrecruitment can be found here:
http://www.alternet.org/world/62945/

And the MySpace page for the book that listed the above facts:
http://www.myspace.com/armyofnonebook
(1) | () | | send green star | flag as inappropriate
Visibility: Everyone
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted: Oct 6, 2009 2:22am

 
 
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.

Author

NotSilent SpeakTheTruth
male, age 28, committed relationship
Blue Ash, OH, USA
Shares by Type:
All (62) | Blog (8) | Alert (54)

Showing shares tagged with: navy [show all]
ads keep care2 free
SHARES FROM NOTSILENT'S NETWORK
Dec
22
(0 comments  |  discussions )
St. Valentine's Day Lore Every February 14 millions of people around the world prepare to celebrate the greatest holiday of love; a holiday of flowers, candy, jewelry, romantic dinners and poems of love and affection. But how did such a holiday come...
by Just C.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
"A mouse in a cookie jar . . . doesn't make him a cookie." ~ Barbara DuvalAnd, I guess, an internet-bestowed title is similarly meaningless, without actions to prove its worth.In my lowest hours, two people -- yes, linked to me by you -- reached out ...
Dec
21
by Just C.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Top Censored Stories of 2009/2010 1. US Congress Sells Out to Wall Street 2. US Schools are More Segregated Today than in the 1950s 3. Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates 4. Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina 5. Europe Blocks US Toxic Produ...
by Just C.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
By Sara Flounders URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/ind ex.php?context=va&aid =16609 Global Research, December 19, 2009 International Action Center - 2009-12-18 In evaluating the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen --...
Dec
18
by Just C.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
10 Good Things About 2009 By Medea Benjamin My almost annual list of ten good things about the waning year has never before posed such a tremendous challenge. In the face of this challenge, I decided to try a minimalist thought experime...
(0 comments  |  discussions )
More than JesusWe believe in Christianity (or not) because we believe the stories about Jesus are true (or not).  Christianity is Jesus' story, right?   Well, not really.  Here's something you maybe haven't thought about (at least it t...
Dec
17
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Born: ? Birthplace: Roman Empire Died: c. 270 (beheading - ?) Best Known As: The namesake of Valentine's Day Saint Valentine, according to romantic legend, was a kind-hearted Roman priest who married young couples against the wishes of E...
Dec
7
by Hans L.
(2 comments  |  discussions )
---------------- Dear Friends, Please support Laura Dohmen. She is nine years old and the new junior Managing Director of GaiaPark Zoo in Kerkrade, The Netherlands. Her most important role is to collect as much as possible fans for the Nature Co...
Dec
4
by Just C.
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Dear Friends, Congressman Kucinich is making a major impact in his challenge to the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. See the following: MSNBC, The Ed Show, December 1, 2009   FOX News, The O'Reilly Factor December 1, 2009   C...
Dec
1
by Just C.
(0 comments  |  0 discussions )
Writing letters may not sound like the key to freeing prisoners and saving lives, but it works!The Global Write-a-thon begins December 5th -- pledge to write letters on behalf of people who need your help. The Global Write-a-thon is the biggest ...

Copyright © 2009 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved