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| Drugs Pushers? No, Recruiters by Bruce Howard
It happened to me. Just the other day, I was approached by a military recruiter and the circumstances of the encounter made it seem more like a drug deal. As I said, the officer got out of the minivan and began to walk towards me. (I wonder what singled me out as a prospective sign-up; if I had been dressed differently, would he have approached me?) He smiled and gave a greeting, something like, “How are you doing?” I said immediately and with a rejecting gesture of my hand, “I don’t want to join.” He asked, “Now, why do you say that?” “You’re a recruiter,” I came back with. Grinning, he said, “Nah—actually, I just wanted to ask you the time.” Long pause. Then he said he was just kidding. The conversation progressed. He asked me what I was doing for myself. I told him I was working. He asked if I had graduated from high school. I said I had, with a GED diploma. He went on to ask if I was in school now, and I said I was saving for it, which I am. I asked if the military would pay for college. He told me the military would pay 75 percent of my college tuition toward a Bachelor’s degree. I asked him what kind of education the military itself would give me. He said I could learn computer training and how to “fix airplanes and stuff.” I asked him if he had ever killed anyone. He said he hadn’t, but if it came down to it, he would. I said I was dedicated to nonviolence. Throughout the conversation he kept saying that he respected my beliefs. Yeah, right. Then he came up with different scenarios. He asked what would I do if another government came over here and enslaved everyone and told us all what to do. I said I would “directly, openly and nonviolently resist it.” He asked, “Even if they were beating you up?” I answered yes, as anyone dedicated to nonviolence would. He brought up another scenario: “Now, what if someone broke into your house, beat up or raped your sister or something like that?” To that I responded that that was a different situation, a personal situation not a governmental or political situation, and that the two aren’t comparable. I think he expected me to be trapped in my beliefs. He went on to say he had served in the Gulf War. He praised the United States for going in to fight for a country that was being taken over by another country. I remarked that countries are invading other countries all the time. Then he asked if I drive. He said that I wouldn’t be driving today if the United States hadn’t gotten involved the Gulf War because gas prices would be so high—proving the activist stance that the Gulf War was a blood-for-oil war! I didn’t mention the destructive role the Gulf War had played in the life of the Iraqi people (although now I regret not taking on this issue with him). He said he knew the United States was the best country in the world because he’s seen other countries. I asked him if he’d ever been to Europe. He said no. He said we have the best police, that there are only a handful of bad cops out there, and that most of the police force is “good.” The conversation went on a little longer and we touched on some other subjects, but eventually he got the hint that I would never give him the satisfaction of signing my soul over to the U.S. Marines and left. What a strange experience it was! I was ready to refute his arguments, but I think about all the other young people this man will be approaching around my neighborhood. I think about how most young people out there don’t know the truth about military life and the role the military plays in the world. I think about how it sounds like such a fine deal that the military will give you an “education” and pay for 75 percent of your Bachelor’s degree and “take you around the world.” What young person in today’s economy could afford to pass that up? They see the ads on popular youth-oriented television programing, they hear the ads on the popular radio stations, they see the recruiters welcomed in their schools. I even saw a recruiting brochure holder at my old job at Taco Bell—of course I took the holder and threw it in the garbage and recycled the brochures that had been in the holder. I saw numerous brochures (I recycled them, too) at the high school I went to, along with an occasional recruiter (I was unable to recycle). I saw a multitude of brochures at a friend’s high school—of course those brochures were dealt with in the same manner, to the recycling bin they went! I got packets of advertisements in the mail and phone calls from a recruiter twice. The phone calls, in fact, were from the recruiter I saw at the garage. He even knew what year I graduated from high school and what school I graduated from. That’s why I believe the schools are openly and willingly giving this information out. What insanity! The dealers of death are calling the youth of the nation, one by one. Over the phone, in the mail, in the school, on the street corners, they are out there suckering in those who have no other option and those who do not understand what military life really is about. It scares me. Life is too precious. We must get the message out. Stop the recruiters! Bruce Howard is an activist with the New Jersey YouthPeace local. |
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icture
this: An innocent afternoon. A young man is waiting outside an automotive service
garage for his oil to be changed. A purple minivan pulls up to the curb beside
him. A man steps out quickly and tries to push a deal on the young man.