High school and the Iraq War

when the military came to recruit

Background

From 1999 until 2003, I was in Quest High School in Houston, Texas. I saw the Twin Towers fall during those years. I lived the aftermath of it as the world changed.

Almost as if planned, Congress had passed just months prior to 9/11 a sketchy piece of legislation called “No Child Left Behind” or the NCLB. The goal of this legislation was to incentivize and penalize schools based on performance. Rather than investing more into schools that were underperforming, the NCLB would remove funds to penalize the school for underperforming and incentivize performing schools with additional funds: this was sold as a “market approach” to public schooling. The bill carried one noteworthy pernicious rider in Section 9528, an awkward provision that allowed the military to gain access to students

SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS- Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students.

This effectively made it a requirement for schools to permit the military to recruit as a condition for funding. I saw this play out. I remember the recruiters setting up tables in the library. I remember them coming into the cafeteria to talk to students. I remember them joining groups of students anytime we had a conversation they felt could be hijacked, or that they could inject their presence into.

This requirement to grant access to schools stacks with the billions the US military spends every year on advertising. Together these empower the perpetual wars without needing congressional authorization. Wars that utilize volition, advertising, and access don’t require the direct intervention of congress like wars that demand coerced enlistment.

My story

At that time, I was in a group of 15 at the school that was overseen by a teacher Julie Ward. Mrs. Ward clearly didn't approve of the military being in the school — that much was clear. I never knew much of her politics aside from this. She one time told me I could tell the recruiters anything I wanted. It was very clearly a wink and nod to oppose their presence. A lot of kids at that time got the same message in one way or another, and some kids didn’t need to be primed.

One such kid, JP, certainly got the message and knew what was going on. JP was clearly in the punk clique -- something I had no relation too. But unlike many in high school, for him punk wasn't merely about hair, style, or music. It was about challenging authority. I was never a close friend, but when it came to cutting through state propaganda, self-education, and challenging authority JP executed the role masterfully.

I remember quite a few interactions with recruiters and JP. It certainly made for good entertainment. I’ll never forget one time the recruiters were trying to sell patriotic duty and the moral track record of the USA, and JP kept refocusing the conversation on the nuking and firebombing of Japan, and the bombing of Dresden. While the facts of the referenced atrocities speak for themselves it was truly a cluster fuck watching the recruiters get wrecked by a high school kid who wasn’t afraid to say they’re not the good guys, and that signing up was an tacit declaration that you were willing to kill the innocent for country. JP dutifully blunted their propaganda and stymied their progress.

One of the reasons these interactions between the military (accustomed to veneration) and JP were memorable is because only one party wanted the interaction: JP. In the same sense that I am certain the school would have expelled the military if they could and it was the military imposing itself on the school, JP was able to extend that dynamic back to them. I had seen people disagree with authority before, but in such cases the disagreements were cordial and didn’t threaten the goals of authority. But with recruiters and JP, the goal wasn’t resolving the disagreement. It was thwarting their attempts. He knew they couldn’t address the problem. It was about declaring events as indefensible, sidetracking their goal of recruitment, and challenging their claim to a moral authority. He could be counted on to repeat this as necessary.

The here and now

While the NCLB is long gone, the Obama-era replacement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) had a similar rider in Section 8025,

SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS.—Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided to institutions of higher education or to prospective employers of those students.

What I was first in experiencing is now the standard, and we’re now open about the effects, according to Rand

Access to high schools is among the most effective methods available to military recruiters to reach potential recruits.

This goes to show the relationship between military recruitment and high schools hasn’t changed for the better. In fact, if anything new efforts are set to make it worse with a proposed statutory display of propaganda in response to the Army and Air Force struggling and failing to meet recruitment goals.

So here are my takeaways,

• If the USA is serious about a war with Iran, I fully expect military recruiters to once again infest high schools in record numbers. They’ve retained statutory access.

• Teachers that oppose war should work NOW to protect their students by creating a herd immunity to the meat grinder. You know it’s coming. Make the play book clear. Cultivate an environment of skepticism and a willingness to push back on the perceived authority of grunts in uniform.