America's Child Soldiers

This gives a nice slant on the never ending tirade about young Muslims that are brainwashed into fighting for the cause. Obviously they are not on their own.

America's Child Soldiers: US Military Recruiting Children to Serve in the Armed Forces

www.globalresearch.ca...

Whoever wrote that article is a complete idiot. Recruiters have NOTHING to do with JROTC classes. They are voluntary classes that students CHOOSE to enroll in. A recruiter may come in at some point to talk to the class, but as for signing up, recruiters have NOTHING to do with it.

I know several people that went through JROTC and said it was the best choice they made. There was ZERO pressure to join the military, but there was military like discipline. It helped them to become better organized, and better at fulfilling goals. Some of them went into the military, many of them didn't afterwards.

Personally I think that it is a great idea to have students go through JROTC. It's great for building discipline in students.

Students, thats a nice word, it sounds a whole lot better than children does it not. Its good to see the hypocrisy though. Making out all the time that only the baddies brainwash their kids when we all do it.

That's funny that it didn't brainwash anyone in my class though isn't it. Out of my entire senior class in high school that went through JROTC, only two or three decided to join the military AFTER being in JROTC that were only thinking about it before. That's out of 50+ seniors. Most of the rest of them went on to be pretty successful in what they chose to do, and all learned a lot of interesting things they didn't know before.

Originally posted by magicmushroom
Students, thats a nice word, it sounds a whole lot better than children does it not. Its good to see the hypocrisy though. Making out all the time that only the baddies brainwash their kids when we all do it.

The difference is JROTC does not preach/teach/brainwash hate, intolerance or extreme views.

We all can say we are brainwashed (if that is the word you would like to use) I like to use the word "taught", but what we are taught is what matters.

So how many American children have been sent into a war zone in Iraq or Afghanistan to go blow themselves and as many other people as possible up so that they can die in a holy war?

Oh, wait....

How many children blew themselves up to stop Iraqi tanks during the Iran/Iraq war? How many children walk into crowded restaurants in Israel and blow themselves up just to kill a few Israeli citizens? How many US soldiers convince mentally retarded children to wear a vest and then blow it up near soldiers just to kill one or two of them?

Yes, the US has killed civilians in this war, and that's unfortunate. The difference here is that in almost every case (except where a small group of soldiers has gone out and started shooting) they have tried to AVOID casualties.

I never have liked globalresearch.ca. or the ACLU to begin with. Of course this just gets me irritated and it got rid of any hope I might've had for either group. Too late now.
Hooah my friends.

Whether or not its true- the military loves the idea of presenting the idea of joining the military to kids at any age. Im not picturing a 6 year old with an m-16 in Iraq but I do see the military giving hints to kids to consider joining the army like its crucial.

You can't deny the fact that kids aren't being subjected to the idea of joining the army (later).

Mere semantics and fera of the truth I'm affraid to say. Splitting hairs does not cut it with me either. You fight with what you have and if all you have to fight with is kids than thats what you do. You see America being a big bully and being in the habit of picking on nations that cannot fight back or don't have strong forces then all you are left with is freedom fighters.

But let me ask you this, if the boot was on the other foot and it was America that was invaded and occupide would you not fight back, your women and your children for your freedom and liberty, I would expect you to but if you did are you wrong for doing so. Its all about perspective and seeing that the US is thousands of miles away from the wars it prosecutes the average American has no understanding of it.

And what purpose does it serve to have a 10 year old blow up a line of people waiting to get breakfast? You call them freedom fighters, but how is blowing up 50 people that have nothing to do with the occupying forces fighting for freedom?

If the US was ever occupied, hell yes I'd fight back, but not by blowing up innocents. All that does is piss off the people that you are supposed to be fighting for and drive them into helping the occupying forces, even when they don't want to. That's happened in several provinces in Iraq. The so called freedom fighters blew up so many people that the people in the villages took up arms and drove them out.

The US picks and chooses its enemies very carefully.
Iraq, for instance, had the world's third largest standing army. Yet they were woefully inadequate when compared with the US war machine.

Not only does beating up on the little guy make America look tough, it sends a very strong message to the rest of the world. The disparity is striking. The third largest taken out as if it weren't but a thing.

Hell, we won't even FIGHT unless we have a 3:1 advantage. That is SOP across the board.
Pitiful really.

And yeah, they target underage kids. Lots of underage kids SIGN UP. I knew several when I was in basic training. They have to get their parents to sign a waiver allowing them to join.
Not only is this illegal, but I feel that those parents should do a little jail-time also.

Young minds are easily impressionable. We need to be careful the messages we send them.

But hey, I guess the military looks at it from the perspective that these kids are less likely to question the increasingly illegal "lawful" orders handed down the pipe.
What better way to "fill the ranks"...

Zaphod, I don't agre with any of it but I am a realist and face the facts. When it comes to the crunch we either fight to survive or we become slaves. The US military actively grooms kids in school for the forces end of and many countries do. What happens afterwards is history but the fact remains that we fill impressionable heads with ideas of fighting for the greater good. For an American it is to be a proud patriot and to serve ones country to a Muslim it is to serve Allah. Who is right and who is wrong, are both not just fighting for what they believe in and the means and methods are merely stage props.

My concern is more for the fact that we are waging an illegal war.

This isn't a cause deserving of ANY noble person, especially a child.

PS - And this doesn't even make mention of the youth who are given the option of having a clean record in exchange for military service...

That happens a lot also and it is bullsnap. Hell, instead of initiating the draft we could accomplish the same bullsnap by just opening our prisons up and allowing THEM to serve.
Now there's a novel idea.
Who better to follow criminal orders but crimanls themselves.

[edit on 5-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

Cartoons like GiJoe or games like America's Army or HALO also help indoctrinate or condition children into the military lifestyle, or to give the impression that an militaristic society is more well-structured or ideal.

Certainly the perception of stability the military gives young adults perhaps suffering from disorganization in their lives a stronger belief in a 'don't question your elders' rank-and-file system.

That, is invaluable to the military, soldiers who do not question their superiors, or are far less likely to.

[edit on 5-3-2009 by star in a jar]

Being a child soilder isn't a joke. Nor should it be discounted as not occurring on American soil; unless of course the child is so unfortunate to be attached to a diplomat freely moving his/her country acrossed American soil-due to the nature of the credentials.

It doesn't seem feasible that the jrROTCs are trying to make the children their soilders-but, by nature they will offer the intented soilder careered minded child the necessary tools to make a smooth and profitable transition into that field-if that child so chooses that path; it's coupled into the program-a higher rate of entrance pay and status for however many years enrolled in the program.

We did recieve an unusual amount of military mail/invitations--but never any thing harrassing, and most of that is because somewhere we signed up, were automatically signed up, or failed to refuse to be signed up for such mailings.

I'm not even going to read that article. You wanna see real child soldiers? Just go to any barrio or any black ghetto. I don't say, just ghetto, because Jews feel whereever they are it's a ghetto. Cuz, well, ghetto was first used to describe anywhere any Jews were gathered together for commerce and/or living. But black ghetto describes a totally different situation than Jews can understand. Oh, how funny. Off topic, but let me explain. I was visiting Israel and my host spoke about how she was living in a ghetto. A neighborhood I could only dream about living in. Peaceful and quiet, with no one persecuting anyone. And no rockets falling into her city like in, say, Gaza City.