Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
- 70,230
- 10,865
- 2,040
I'm speechless.. They don't want to allow recruiters on the school grounds, yet they allow these losers to be there. 
Jennifer Gollan
RESISTING: Paul Koch (left) and David Crawford, both Tamalpais High School students, are among 6,700 high school students in Marin who opted out of having their names sent to military recruiters last fall. The two Tamalpais High School juniors persuaded 300 of their peers to block their names from a list of potential enlistees. IJ photo/Robert Tong
Anti-war veterans will visit San Rafael High School this week to brief students on their experiences in the military.
The event, sponsored by several peace groups, will feature three panelists: Aidan Delgado, a former Army reservist from Sarasota, Fla., who served in the Iraq war; Aimee Allison, a former combat medic in the Army Reserves from Oakland, who was assigned to a Sunnyvale hospital during the Persian Gulf War; and Pablo Paredes, a former Navy enlistee from San Diego, who was court-martialed for refusing orders during the Iraq war.
The three plan to share their objections to the Iraq war and military recruiting at public schools at the so-called "Truth and Lies About Joining the Military" forum on Thursday.
Delgado and Allison were granted conscientious objector status and honorably discharged. Paredes was stationed in Japan until he refused orders to ferry soldiers to Iraq and applied for conscientious objector status. He was turned down and sentenced by a military judge to several months of base confinement and hard labor.
The veterans will be joined by David Crawford, a Tamalpais High School 11th-grader who created a Web site "nochildleftstanding.org," which opposes No Child Left Behind Act requirements that schools provide military recruiters with students' contact information.
Last year, Crawford collected hundreds of signatures from students, authorizing the school to withhold their names from the Pentagon - an option permitted under the No Child law.
The forum is intended to inform students about military recruiting practices and the realities of war, said Marg Piaggio, co-chairwoman of the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition, which is sponsoring the event with another anti-war group, Veterans for Peace of San Francisco, and Marin County Hope Inc., a local organization that educates students about federal military requirements.
"The recruiters don't tell the truth because they just want to get people to join the military; they are using lures to get kids in to get their numbers up," Piaggio said.
But John Heil, a spokesman for the Sacramento Army Recruiting Battalion, which oversees recruiting in most of Northern California, said Army recruiters honestly give students all the information they need.
"Our job is to educate the individuals who might be joining about what the service means, which includes the very real possibility that they might be sent to war," Heil said. "We are providing the correct information to potential applicants."
Denise Beck, a project coordinator at Marin County Hope Inc. said her organization objected to military recruiters' access to student information, citing students' constitutional right to privacy.
"I think there should be a separation between the military and educational institutions," Beck said.
Further, Beck charged that military recruiters
in Marin frequent schools populated by predominantly low-income students more often than those with more affluent students.
"That is incorrect," Heil said. "We look at everybody out there; we look at every place that people between the ages of 18 and 39 go and where they frequent."
Critics of the No Child Left Behind Act, Heil said, should raise their concerns with Congress.
Meantime, Army recruiters would be entitled to students' names, he said.
In telephone interviews, Paredes and Allison, a candidate for Oakland City Council, expressed concern over whether the military delivers on promises of career advancement and help with college tuition costs.
"I tell people to know the entire story," Allison said. "If you want money for college, there are lots of strings and there are no guarantees you will be repaid."
Allison said she never received $18,000 for college tuition that the military had promised her because her paperwork wasn't properly processed.
"It is very important to give young people a full picture about the reality of what the benefits actually are and about the dangers and risks of war," Allison said. "When a young person gets that information, they will be able to make a better decision for themselves."
Heil said he had never heard of the Army failing to fulfill a pledge for college aid.
"The Army's practice is to make sure you get what you were promised," Heil said.
Paredes said recruiters were persuasive and that they "make children fall in love with the G.I. Joe aspect of the military."
"I feel like something should be there to counteract that," he said, describing his motivation for visiting San Rafael High and other schools as an anti-war activist. "I feel like students can then make an educated decision somewhere in the middle."
Asked what he thought about the forum, in which conscientious objectors like Allison would address potential recruits, Heil said: "Part of the Constitution is freedom of speech, and that is their right. We defend those rights everyday."
http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_3551690
Jennifer Gollan
RESISTING: Paul Koch (left) and David Crawford, both Tamalpais High School students, are among 6,700 high school students in Marin who opted out of having their names sent to military recruiters last fall. The two Tamalpais High School juniors persuaded 300 of their peers to block their names from a list of potential enlistees. IJ photo/Robert Tong
Anti-war veterans will visit San Rafael High School this week to brief students on their experiences in the military.
The event, sponsored by several peace groups, will feature three panelists: Aidan Delgado, a former Army reservist from Sarasota, Fla., who served in the Iraq war; Aimee Allison, a former combat medic in the Army Reserves from Oakland, who was assigned to a Sunnyvale hospital during the Persian Gulf War; and Pablo Paredes, a former Navy enlistee from San Diego, who was court-martialed for refusing orders during the Iraq war.
The three plan to share their objections to the Iraq war and military recruiting at public schools at the so-called "Truth and Lies About Joining the Military" forum on Thursday.
Delgado and Allison were granted conscientious objector status and honorably discharged. Paredes was stationed in Japan until he refused orders to ferry soldiers to Iraq and applied for conscientious objector status. He was turned down and sentenced by a military judge to several months of base confinement and hard labor.
The veterans will be joined by David Crawford, a Tamalpais High School 11th-grader who created a Web site "nochildleftstanding.org," which opposes No Child Left Behind Act requirements that schools provide military recruiters with students' contact information.
Last year, Crawford collected hundreds of signatures from students, authorizing the school to withhold their names from the Pentagon - an option permitted under the No Child law.
The forum is intended to inform students about military recruiting practices and the realities of war, said Marg Piaggio, co-chairwoman of the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition, which is sponsoring the event with another anti-war group, Veterans for Peace of San Francisco, and Marin County Hope Inc., a local organization that educates students about federal military requirements.
"The recruiters don't tell the truth because they just want to get people to join the military; they are using lures to get kids in to get their numbers up," Piaggio said.
But John Heil, a spokesman for the Sacramento Army Recruiting Battalion, which oversees recruiting in most of Northern California, said Army recruiters honestly give students all the information they need.
"Our job is to educate the individuals who might be joining about what the service means, which includes the very real possibility that they might be sent to war," Heil said. "We are providing the correct information to potential applicants."
Denise Beck, a project coordinator at Marin County Hope Inc. said her organization objected to military recruiters' access to student information, citing students' constitutional right to privacy.
"I think there should be a separation between the military and educational institutions," Beck said.
Further, Beck charged that military recruiters
in Marin frequent schools populated by predominantly low-income students more often than those with more affluent students.
"That is incorrect," Heil said. "We look at everybody out there; we look at every place that people between the ages of 18 and 39 go and where they frequent."
Critics of the No Child Left Behind Act, Heil said, should raise their concerns with Congress.
Meantime, Army recruiters would be entitled to students' names, he said.
In telephone interviews, Paredes and Allison, a candidate for Oakland City Council, expressed concern over whether the military delivers on promises of career advancement and help with college tuition costs.
"I tell people to know the entire story," Allison said. "If you want money for college, there are lots of strings and there are no guarantees you will be repaid."
Allison said she never received $18,000 for college tuition that the military had promised her because her paperwork wasn't properly processed.
"It is very important to give young people a full picture about the reality of what the benefits actually are and about the dangers and risks of war," Allison said. "When a young person gets that information, they will be able to make a better decision for themselves."
Heil said he had never heard of the Army failing to fulfill a pledge for college aid.
"The Army's practice is to make sure you get what you were promised," Heil said.
Paredes said recruiters were persuasive and that they "make children fall in love with the G.I. Joe aspect of the military."
"I feel like something should be there to counteract that," he said, describing his motivation for visiting San Rafael High and other schools as an anti-war activist. "I feel like students can then make an educated decision somewhere in the middle."
Asked what he thought about the forum, in which conscientious objectors like Allison would address potential recruits, Heil said: "Part of the Constitution is freedom of speech, and that is their right. We defend those rights everyday."
http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_3551690
