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Invasion of the Body Snatchers
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Mary Beaudoin, W A M M
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“School Ownership is the Goal”
We watch in horror the development of an expanding empire, destroying people, ancient and modern civilizations, the infrastructures on which they depend, their cultures, arts and environments. Country after country is occupied, through either overt or covert means, resources are looted and complicit puppet governments installed, which require military installations to maintain them. But, empire building not only demands the lives of those in foreign lands, it requires an endless supply of soldiers at its source. Hence, the United States Army is developing a constant stream of recruits here at home, among our youth, by mining American schools for soldiers.
“Remember first to contact, first to contract” reads the School Recruiting Program Handbook (USAREC Pamphlet 350-13), developed by United States Army Recruiting Command, updated September 1, 2004. The handbook advises recruiters not to wait until students are seniors in high school, because if they wait that long,“it’s probably too late.” And apparently, it’s never too early. Ninth-grade students at the junior high school in the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury, Minnesota, were recently treated to a promotional video about JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps) in their homerooms. Parents were not informed and students had no choice but to watch.
Often parents and communities are unaware of the extent to which the military has become involved in schools. Educators are bound by law or policy to comply with some army goals. School board members and administrators can’t help but be aware of the extent of the militarization of our schools (and, in fact, have been part of the process) but even those who are troubled by this trend often feel unable to speak out—particularly in rural areas, in areas of poverty, and in areas where there are large populations of color—because jobs or money for post-secondary education may be scarce. The military, with its enormous financial coffers, offers the solution to preparing high schoolers for the future—training, jobs, money for college or technical school. But, it is a Faustian bargain.
The means through which this bargain is struck is laid out in the School Recruiting Program Handbook which is described as “a well planned, prioritized and coordinated effort...designed to assist recruiters in penetrating the school market.” Though ostensibly it reads like a sales and marketing plan, it is, in fact, a strategic military operation for overt and covert infiltration of America’s schools for the purpose of obtaining a continuous supply of fresh recruits. It states “School ownership is the goal.”
In fact, the army already believes it has entitlement to schools. Hence, it is concerned about losing them. “Like the farmer who fails to guard the henhouse, we can easily lose our schools and relinquish ownership to other services,” it slyly warns. This handbook calls for nothing less than getting schools to reprioritize so that the military becomes an integral part of the school—activities, personnel, and curriculum. It tells the recruiter to analyze the school to understand what the school priorities are—for example, music, athletics or academics—and tailor their recruiting program to fit. “Many times you can use Total Army Involvement in Recruiting activities or COI (Center of Influence) events in conjunction with activities going on in your schools...”
In order to execute its plans, the Army’s School Recruiting Program attempts to make collaborators of school staff, students and their surrounding community whom it identifies as COIs (Centers of Influence) at each school. The goal, it states, is “to develop as many COIs” as possible. “Never rely on guidance counselors as the sole COI in the school. Cultivate coaches, librarians, administrative staff, and teachers...By directing your efforts toward other faculty members you may be able to obtain the information necessary to communicate with others...”
To this end, recruiters are to be setting up lunches with faculty members who have been identified as Centers of Influence, assuring them that they, too, believe that students should stay in school, off drugs and out of trouble (all the while assuming that it is perfectly acceptable for the same students to give up control of their lives and be put in a position in which they will kill or be killed).
The School Recruiting Program extends beyond the school, itself, to include “the total community” (defined as “educators, parents and business leaders”) because they also are considered COIs who can help the Recruiter make his quota.
But, perhaps the most insidious part of the COI concept is the section on identifying student influencers— “Students such as class officers, newspaper and yearbook editors, and athletes can help build interest in the Army among the student body...Some influential students such as the student president or the captain of the football team may not enlist; however, they can and will provide you with referrals who will enlist.” And how does a recruiter get so chummy with a student that he will give the names of his peers to the recruiter, who is presumably a stranger? Recruiters are told to offer their services to students, thereby becoming familiar and useful people around the high school.
The handbook tells the recruiter how to prepare for this: “You should have a strip map to the school from the RS (Recruiting Station), showing both distance and time to travel.” The handbook instructs them to obtain—and expects the school to provide them with—a map of the school floor plan, a calendar of school activities, details about an individual school—such as school colors, mascots, etc., and student directory information (containing information on students-e.g., names, phone numbers, possibly addresses). It describes as expectations which “it is reasonable for the armed services’ recruiters to expect” from school officials—not only allocating opportunity for armed services presentations and promotions as education and career options in the school and to individual students, but also assistance with them, as well as invitations for recruiters to participate!
The Recruiter is a busy fellow and he needs all the help from school officials that he can get because his calendar is filled with responsibilities for each month which are designed to further ingratiate him with the total community of COIs in order to further the amy’s goals. On Labor Day and at the high-school Homecoming, he is to obtain a tactical army vehicle and drive it in the local parade. He’s to offer to help with high-school registration and other administrative work in the fall as the Recruiters Handbook reminds him, “You need all the blueprint information on your HS (high school) you can get.” He’s also to attend athletic events, offer to lead team calisthenics, challenge faculty to exhibition basketball games, help students deliver Thanksgiving baskets for the needy (offering the Army Recruiting Station as a collection point ), chaperone school events and never miss an opportunity to address PTA meetings. Several times each month, he is to eat in the high-school cafeteria and he is to deliver donuts, coffee and gifts to faculty. In addition, he is to give presentations to school history and government classes about how the Army serves a vital role in national security--the list goes on.
During December holidays, the recruiter is to contact first-year college students, remembering that many youngsters do not return to college after the first semester. There is no lack of irony in the fact that on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, he is instructed, “Wear your dress blues and participate in school events commemorating this holiday.”
One of the key items in the recruiter’s arsenal is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), a test that was developed at the direction of the Department of Defense (DOD). It is presented to the school as a benign, no-cost tool for career and educational determinations as well as good practice for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). However, it is particularly useful to the recruiter because, as The Handbook informs him, “The ASVAB recruiter printout provides information you can’t get from any other list...the printout provides the recruiter with concrete and personal information about the student.” The ASVAB is mandatory at some schools. At others, taking it is voluntary. The School Recruiting Program Handbook makes it very clear that recruiters are expected to encourage all schools to make it mandatory for all students.
As well orchestrated as this campaign sounds, its success is not guaranteed. It may well encounter resistance from parents, churches, educators and students themselves, as community members become more attuned to the extent of the School Recruiting Program and begin to challenge it. |
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© 2005 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete February 2005 Index - click here
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