Arcata Vs. DOJ: blocking the military from recruiting anybody under the age of 18

[BlueJessamine]

Arcata Ca. Vs. DOJ: blocking the military from recruiting anybody in town under the age of 18

http://obama.wsj.com/article/0cT27b0a5A6Y2?q=White+House

Over the years, its civic leaders have declared this city a sanctuary for military resisters to the Persian Gulf War and barred local enforcement of the Patriot Act. If they had had enough pull, President George W. Bush would have been impeached at least once.

Now Arcata is at it again, with a law blocking the military from recruiting anybody in town under the age of 18. And this time, the law has the backing not of a few City Council activists, but of thousands of voters who went to the polls in November.

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Heading for court

This time the federal government isn't shrugging. A court hearing is scheduled in Oakland on June 9 on the government's demand that the cities' laws be overturned for seeking powers constitutionally granted to the federal government.

Characteristically anti-war cities, including San Francisco and Berkeley, have tried to battle military recruitment. But nobody can recall a case where a city used the ballot box as a counter-recruitment tool, an act that has broader significance.

Voters in the town of Eureka have followed suit by approving an identical measure.


Dave Meserve who authored the legislation writes:

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_10843866?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com

Measures F in Arcata and J in Eureka will enact city ordinances prohibiting military recruiters from initiating contact with minors under the age of 18 for the purpose of recruiting them into any branch of the military. “We the People,” through the initiative process, have the power to make laws to protect our youth from governmental excesses.

These ordinances will protect youth from the intense pressure to enlist exerted by military recruiters. While recruiters may deny that they pressure teens to sign up, many local students and their parents have had to deal with repeated, persistent phone calls and personal contact efforts, even after asking to be left alone. Recruiters target teens at school, at home, at community events, and in public places.

Recruiters are rewarded for meeting enlistment quotas and risk reassignment if quotas are not met. They are trained sales people, referring to our communities as “market areas,” our kids as “prospects,” and a successful enlistment as “closing the sale.” They target teens by glorifying military service and focusing on the high-tech, sexy, action-packed military jobs that few recruits ever experience. Rarely do they mention the horrific truth of modern warfare: Soldiers thrown into battle situations where they must kill or be killed, 18 percent returning from Iraq with traumatic brain injuries, and 20 percent with diagnosed post traumatic stress disorder.

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As a society, we believe that people under 18 lack the life experience to make informed choices: they cannot vote, sign contracts, or make medical decisions. Recent studies have shown that the young brain does not fully develop critical thinking abilities until after the age of 20. If we agree that kids lack the experience and maturity necessary for voting, then they should not be subjected to the highly sophisticated sales efforts of military recruiters.

Dawn Blanken, a counselor with the GI Rights Hotline, has written that a common problem voiced by callers is that promises are made by the recruiter that cannot be kept. "A promised job (MOS), a particular base, school, a non-deploying assignment, all disappear when the recruit arrives at basic training. Often soldiers accept this situation, complete their training and move forward." However, as an example, "a seventeen year old, in a single parent household, with younger siblings, and a mother undergoing treatment for cancer, is vulnerable to promises (often misrepresented) of pay, benefits, assignments, education and "career opportunities" available through enlistment that a more mature adult would be able to analyze more critically."

http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/04/obama-demands-right-to-recruit-minors.html

[MADem]

1. No one can be "recruited" under age 18 without a parental consent signature.

That said, they can be "pestered."

I think -- and this won't be popular here -- that the enlistment age ought to match the drinking age, and that should be 20 or 21. I also think the US should go to "graduated" driver's licenses for teen agers, that limit hours of operation and horsepower based on age, like they do in Europe.

[BlueJessamine]

2. The enlistment age of 20 to 21 is not a bad idea...

as Mr Meserve writes:

"Recent studies have shown that the young brain does not fully develop critical thinking abilities until after the age of 20. If we agree that kids lack the experience and maturity necessary for voting, then they should not be subjected to the highly sophisticated sales efforts of military recruiters."

[bemildred]

3. The problem is, the older you get, the less you are inclined to sell yourself to the government.

That's why they are having to resort to all these mercenaries. And you better believe, if you are in the military, they own you.

[depakid]

4. Plus kids that age feel invincible and take risks that older ones think twice about