U.S. Breaks International Pledge Not To Recruit Children Under 17

[babylonsister]

U.S. BREAKS INTERNATIONAL PLEDGE NOT TO RECRUIT CHILDREN UNDER 17
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2008-11-29 01:51.

By Sherwood Ross


In violation of its pledge to the United Nations not to recruit children into the military, the Pentagon “regularly target(s) children under 17,” the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) says.

The Pentagon “heavily recruits on high school campuses, targeting students for recruitment as early as possible and generally without limits on the age of students they contact,” the ACLU states in a 46-page report titled “Soldiers of Misfortune.”

This is in violation of the U.S. Senate's 2002 ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Pentagon recruiters are enrolling children as young as 14 in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps(JROTC) in 3,000 middle-, junior-, and high schools nationwide, causing about 45 percent of the quarter of million students so enrolled to enlist, a rate much higher than in the general student population. Clearly, this is the outcome of underage exposure.

In some cities, such as Los Angeles, high school administrators have been enrolling reluctant students involuntarily in JROTC as an alternative to overcrowded gym classes! In Lincoln high school, enrollees were not told JROTC was involuntary. In Buffalo, N.Y., the entire incoming freshman class at Hutchinson Central Technical High School, (average age 14), was involuntarily enrolled in JROTC. In Chicago, graduating eighth graders (average age 13) are allowed to join any of 45 JROTC programs.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/37972

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. well, they are at least 20 years late with their story

as the JROTC has been around forever...well, WWI anyway in various forms...

sP

On Edit : Oh yes, just a little bone to pick: joining the JROTC doesn't 'cause' one to enlist in the military...what a poorly worded phrase and I would bet the intent is to mislead...

[babylonsister]

2. Did you read about the 2002 ratification? nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. this article is completely misleading

as the JROTC is NOT the military and does not cause people to enter the military. the only thing interesting in this article is the mandatory enrollment...which i would have thought would be a bigger story if true.

sP

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Hell, pledges don't mean doodly squat to us. We're Republicons." - Republicons

"Integrity is for, um, whoever. The ends -- PERPETUAL PROFITABLE WAR -- justify the means, cuz we are republicon homelanders. Smirk."

- Republicon Homelanders

[NNN0LHI]

5. I bet thats why they call it the INFANTry

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marines/a/youngmarines.htm

Young Marines

From Marine Corps News Service, for About.com

by Lance Cpl. Bryan A. Peterson

CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan -- Stand up! Now get on your face! Push up!

"Marine Corps!" These words are shouted in unison by several young recruits as they push their bodies off the ground.

Does this sound familiar? Of course it does. Although it's not a platoon of Marine recruits sounding off at Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island or San Diego, it's the Camp Foster Young Marines.

The Young Marines program is a volunteer organization offered by the United States Marine Corps for boys and girls ages 8 through 17. The program promotes physical fitness, self-discipline, leadership, teamwork and a healthy, drug-free lifestyle among youth.

[Solly Mack]

6. I'm livid.

I hope parents can sue the schools and there must be a way to hold the government agency accountable. (not that America is big on accountability in government)

Perhaps the parents can file a complaint with the UN (if nothing else)

Something..anything...to get this stopped.

Oh man...I'm pissed.

I'm cursing up a blue streak here.

[babylonsister]

7. So is the ACLU. They have so much on their plate, but this

seems to be getting some traction. Not all rules were made to be broken. Maybe if enough 'lawmakers' understand what's happening, this will change. Or maybe not.

[BunkerHill24]

8. In Guantanamo we have been holding Children....why bother now?

[angrycarpenter]

9. The big problem I have.

Is that they target poor kids, Troubled kids, and under achievers. They tell them that the military is the solution to all of their problems. I would not be so against this if it was evenly distributed. We should be recruiting the best educated most talented people out there with decent money and benefits instead we get poor people and pull them from one trap into another. The poor have always fought the wars but we should be better than that.

[exboyfil]

10. Who on the board has been through JROTC?

I spent three years in High School in JROTC, and I learned a great deal. I agree that it should be voluntary, but it is a wonderful program (at least the program which I went through). Many of my fellow cadets went on to college (one at the Naval Academy) and many into ROTC scholarships. I would say that the median family income for cadet's families pretty closely matched the median income for the community as a whole.

I learned about leadership in JROTC. I studied the Vietnam War far more in JROTC than I ever did in my History class. My Commander encouraged us to think for ourselves, and we even conducted debates in class, and we were forced to take both positions in our arguments. We did more presentations and opportunities to teach than I had in my other classes. We learned practical skills like map reading and basic survival and first aid. I got into the best shape of my life in JROTC since they concentrated on lifetime fitness and not excelling at individual sports. We had the opportunity to compete in fitness, drill, and marksmanship. I developed friendships with kids that I would have never interacted with otherwise since they were not in the college prep classes. JROTC is a great alternative for kids who can't dribble, tackle, or hit a baseball.

Most of the my cadet classmates (like me) did not chose a career in the military, and our Commander actually advised several that he did not think that a military career would be the best for them. He was an excellent judge of character and aptitude. I did not detect any obvious attempts to recruit, and, at our class reunions, our Commander is one of our favorite guests.

Just because sometimes our foreign policy has been abused in its use of our sons and daughters does not make the military bad. Thank goodness that we have individuals willing to take up rifles in defense of our country. It is easy for us to lose perspective because we still benefit from two oceans between us and most of our potential enemies, but many liberal democracies in Europe still recognize the need for service.

I wonder how the replacement JROTC program is San Francisco is going? It would be a good case study in ten years to see if the replacement program has the same level of success as the canceled JROTC program.