Posted on 02/22/2008 1:42:28 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Some columns write themselves. Some are a struggle and leave me confused, conflicted and a little angry. This is one of those.
It started out as a tongue-in-cheek look at the recent action by the city council in Berkeley, Calif., to oust the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office and brand the Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”
I planned to compare the situation in that strange city with our fairly-liberal-but-not-ridiculously-so approach here in Corvallis. Then I started doing research.
I learned that an anti-military organization has access to our high school students equal to that of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The Corvallis Counter-recruitment Committee (CCC), a subcommittee of Corvallis Alternatives to War, is allowed the same number of high school visits, for the same amount of time as recruiters for the various branches of the military.
Their legal right to this access was granted by a 1986 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The counter-recruitment folks are also given the same amount of bookshelf space as the military to showcase their written material. The handouts they provide to students are virulently anti-military. They are instruction manuals on how and why to stay away from military service and celebrations of soldiers who have deserted. They are published by the Center on Conscience and War, the Peace Alliance and the War Resisters League.
According to Jeanne Raymond, one of the forces behind the CCC, her group was concerned that military recruiters, whose access to high school students’ names, addresses and phone numbers was required under the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind Act, were providing misleading information to students who lacked the experience and maturity to make informed choices.
Raymond and others banded together in 2005 to make sure the students received the other side of the story.
They also ensured students knew they had the right to opt out or be removed from military recruiters’ contact lists.
From all indications, the CCC seems to have been particularly effective in our town.
In the last three years, a total of 11 Crescent Valley High School graduates enlisted in the military, out of 723.
Raymond said that last year 86 percent of Corvallis High School and 76 percent of Crescent Valley High School seniors chose to opt out of military recruiting efforts. That is, they never even received information about military opportunities.
I am deeply troubled by this situation for a variety of reasons.
I don’t begrudge the CCC its access to high school students, but I don’t agree with the court decision giving them access equal to the military recruiters.
I do begrudge this organization its portrayal of military recruiters as liars.
Recruiters are capable, knowledgeable and aggressive. They provide the best, most up-to-date information available and work incredibly hard to get young men and women the best opportunities for which they qualify.
I begrudge them their misleading statements about the GI Bill. Having seen dozens of people receive degrees paid for by the GI Bill (and having two myself), I know better.
As a writing instructor for an Internet university, I have taught courses to hundreds of active-duty military folks, many of them stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq and aboard ship.
These people, many of whom were underprivileged as youngsters, were able to complete the requirements for undergraduate degrees while on active duty, completely paid for by the GI Bill.
I begrudge them their statements that military service does not prepare you for the real world.
Generations of metalsmiths, mechanics, heavy equipment operators, policemen, firemen, cooks, electricians, plumbers, engineers, EMTs, nurses, pilots and hundreds of other tradesmen and professionals learned their skills for free in the military.
And while the market for riflemen, machine gunners and artillerymen is thin in the civilian world, those folks still come out of the military with a sense of discipline and teamwork and responsibility very difficult to duplicate. They are better prepared for any line of work.
But what I begrudge most of all is the duplicity with which the CCC is operating.
The true purpose in this organization’s efforts, obvious from its Internet connections as well as its literature, is not to help kids, but to interrupt the supply of young men and women available for military service.
In doing so, the CCC is cheating the country of a strong defense and is cheating our youngsters out of one of the most honorable, demanding and rewarding careers in the world.
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Pat Wray is a freelance writer and longtime local resident. His general-interest columns can be found in this section on Fridays. He can be reached at patwray@comcast.net.
I joined the Marine Corps after college. While in, I learned database administration, programming, networking and network server administration. I spent two of five years overseas, enjoying the cultures of eight Asian countries, from Japan to Australia to Malaysia, to name a few.
It wasn’t an easy road, but I loved it, and it was quite beneficial personally.
I hope you enjoyed your stay in Australia.
Okay, Asia is a continent, as is Australia. Suffice to say I visited eight Western Pacific countries.
Spent most of my time overseas in Korea. Loved it! My stepson is trying to lose weight so he can join the Army.
The Australians were so cool. I recall playing pool in Perth, and one of the Aussies jokingly would make up billiard rules, “Australian Rules” to benefit his current table layout.
Later we were buying rounds, and some fellow came in off the street to heckle us. One of the locals said to him, “You better get on your bike, Mate”. I noticed that his fist was clinched, cocked and ready.
We were manning the rails entering Fremantle harbor, when a speedboat of girls rode by and threw beer up to us. A more innocent time, apparently.
I would think the 9th Circuit would be just a little interested in whether their CCC group was spreading the truth, but maybe that doesn’t matter to them in their socialistic La-La land. Even they must believe lies spread socialism better than does the truth.
I know someone who works in Corvallis, who saw a strange looking plane flying around. I showed him a picture of a Predator drone, and he told me that is what he saw.
I recalled a TV news program years ago (60 Minutes?), about a flow of money from (something like) organizations sponsoring terrorist activities, to two cities in the US. One was on the east coast, the other was Corvallis.
It was a few days before the 9/11 attacks.
“providing misleading information to students who lacked the experience and maturity to make informed choices.”
I would be willing to wager that quite a few members of the CCC, suffer from this very same lack.
There is also an Army Reserve air field in Albany, which is just a few miles north of Corvallis.
What is the CCC saying about the GI Bill
I did undergraduate work while I was in the military..
paid 25% of the tuition costs with free books with the University of Maryland
and when I got out I went to college and graduated using the “Old” GI Bill
This disease is especially prevalent in such places as Oregon and Washington, but is certainly present throughout the U. S.
The pathology leads directly to national suicide - these people in their fantasies only encourage enemies of freedom throughout the world, and especially radical Islamists who view this as a sign that the Almighty approves of their murderous Jihads.
Yes, it was beneficial wasn’t it, and in a way Barak, Mitt (and his sons), Rudy, the Huckster (and his sons), will never know.
There are many young adults who start out with only one bad decision in life, then continued to hang around the same crowd that got them into trouble to begin with. Now some of them have 10-20 plus appearances in criminal court with little hope for a future. I wonder how many of these types the military not only could have helped, but; would have taught responsibility,discipline, plus trained them for a decent job?
I spent about 9 years on active duty, went to war, got a college degree paid for by the Army, and; I can honestly state that the military was a great experience.
Typical leftist hypocrisy.
They’re old and mature enough to “make informed decisions” about premarital and homosexual sex, but not enough to make a decision to defend this great country.
I wonder if undue pressure is brought on these seniors to induce them to opt-out. As in, Leftist teacher hands out and collects completed opt-out forms, and brands opt-out refusals as "wannabe baby killers"
The Corps made a responsible man out of my brother to bad kids in these cities won’t have the same opportunities.
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