Politics, War and Military Recruiters
Anthony
Does the military unfairly target minorities? Does it prey on the poor and lower classes? Is war the only thing that they teach our young people? That’s the claim made by global justice and antiwar organizer David Solnit. He co-authored the book “Army of None Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World.”His goal: to get military recruiters out of the schools. But when brought to task by counterpoint Peter Bowen, US Marine Corps Reservist and President of Servite, an all-male, Catholic college-preparatory high school in Anaheim, California, David didn’t have all the answers. Peter and callers brought up point after point. David’s responses were repetitive, unsubstantiated and insufficient to change the minds and hearts of this group. In the book he all-but-incites people to take criminal action against recruiters in an effort to block them from our schools. Not exactly the role model I want for my kids. And he misses or dismisses the most important point by refusing to acknowledge the value that the military brings to the life of a young person. Honor, integrity, the ability to stand up and face a foe no matter what the odds. These are qualities that we need to train in our youth and respect in our elders. For his part, Peter articulates very valid points about politics, war and military recruiters. He walks the talk and it is easy to see how he leads of one of the top high schools in California. Where David seeks to break down the recruiting engine that makes men from boys and women from girls, Peter guides the formation of over 850 young men each year and helps them to become high-performance, ethical leaders. Which side made a more compelling argument? I think my comments clearly convey my opinion. But don’t take my word for it. Download this week’s show to hear both sides and decide for yourself.
Posted on: Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 3:40 pm 
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One Response to “Politics, War and Military Recruiters”
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just finished listening the podcast. sorry i missed the show the other night. quite the salient topic.
i like the name change to “the anthony vultagio show.”
i will try to brief, not my strong point though.
i think david and peter both did a pretty good job explaining their views. david is not the most eloquent of speakers, but he at least has some historical perspective. something peter was lacking altogether.
peter said multiple times that the world is a safer place because of the united states and our military. really? tell the people of iraq, afghanistan, el salvador, nicaragua, chile, guatelmala, indonesia, vietnam, etc. they may disagree with that assessment. not to mention the people of hiroshima and nagasaki. last time i checked the only military to ever drop an atomic bomb on civilians was ours. . .
as for military bases, i recommend peter read something on okinawa and the popular movements to remove the u.s. bases. seems the people there are a bit tired of the numerous rapes and molestations committed by some of our american service men.
i love this country enough to be honest about it. we are a bully. we are imperialistic. we have established an empire. peter is right, we have a president, not an emperor. still let’s call a spade a spade. we use our military to conquer smaller countries (see cuba,the phillipines) and then rob them of their resources. sounds like an empire to me.
as for the main topic of the show, recruiting, i recommend this article from cbs and ap (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/19/national/main1913849.shtml) outlining some of the outlandish behaviour of our military recruiters: 722 cases of rape since 1996, 1/200 recruiters disciplined for sexual misconduct in 2005. sounds like the people i want in our high schools. . .
as for life in the military, there are a number of troubling reports on the record high suicide rates among soldiers. not to mention, the number of vets with ptsd who are being kicked out the military in order to be denied their benefits. look it up. this is wrong on so many levels. not really the environment i want my kids to join.
as for the callers, a vet, a marine, an email from a reservist, and some anti-abortion nutjob??? sounded a little one sided if you ask me. about as “fair and balanced” as the o’reilly factor.
well, that is all for now. i always love to hear people say, let’s not live in the past. well the famous quote goes like this: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” george santayana
January 31st, 2008 at 7:02 pm