Rampant Militarism (A Personal Analysis)

[unhappycamper]

http://www.ivaw.org/node/1923

Rampant Militarism (A Personal Analysis)
by Evan M. Knappenberger | Wed, 10/17/2007 - 1:35am

As part of the IVAW national TRUTH IN RECRUITING campaign, I have taken over the responsibilities of counter-recruiting from the local Peace Center. They have been doing it for nearly 4 years here, and in many places across the country there are similar setups. The idea is, to go out and set up a table (on equal access with military recruiters, if possible) in the local high schools at lunch time. There you can hand out literature and try to negate some of the influence of the military which is spreading in every aspect of our lives.

As I was leaving a meeting with a principal at one of the local high schools, I saw, seated at the front desk, a boy in ACU's, a mohawk, camouflage paint on face and hands, and no unit or combat patches. My first reaction was that this was a recruiter, and I approached him. When I realized he was a student I asked him what his deal was. He told me that he was "split-option" reserves. He was wearing E2 rank, and still had not yet been through entry training. When I asked what unit he was in, he wasn't exactly sure, and he did not have his ID or dogtags on his person. It turns out that he wears his ACU's to school on a regular basis, in order to recruit his fellow students and recieve a $2,000 bounty for each new recruit he brings in. He then proceeded to ask if I, a well-known local veteran and activist, wanted to join the army. According to the principal, he used to be a trouble-maker, but now that he "has the army, he is acting much better." I would imagine that the improvement in his behavior has something to do with the fact that he wears a uniform, the symbol of authority, now. So, no matter how much I hate discipline and standards, I still could not resist the urge to track down his Sergeant Major and let loose.

But on a deeper level, I have to ask myself: what is the REAL problem with this picture? Is it the fact that we have become so accustomed to uniforms everywhere that we just don't care? Is it the implication that we are loosing our children to a militarism which knows no boundaries? Or is it the fact that we, as principals, parents, and community members refuse to deal with the "trouble-makers", instead opting to ship them off to some military institution, thereby absolving us of responsibility?

I would have to say that not only is it important that IVAW develop a GI resistance, but that it destroy the Cult of the Warrior, which allows kids with no combat or unit patch to exploit the uniform. We hear about scandalous "phony soldier" remarks, but here we see an actual example of it going completely unnoticed.

Yes, ending the war is important. Yes, preventing 'Iranification' is urgent.

But what we are missing here is the underlying principle of the matter: by blindly honoring the uniform and glorifying the military, we will fail to prevent the next war generations away. WE MUST GET ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY CONTEXT. (Not just on MySpace and the Blogosphere.) And we must stop the military from creeping into our schools, our communities, and our homes.

This means engaging it whenever we as veterans see it in our day-to-day, and going to our schools to counter-recruit.

~Evan Knappenberger
SPC (R) MI.


http://www.ivaw.org/node/1923