A debate on recruitment
From: Peter Trafas
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 02:02:28 EST
To: wpc@igc.org
Cc: XXXXX.XXXXXX@polk.army.mil
Subject: Information on volunteering for the Peace Center
Julia or John,
I just stumbled on your site by pure accident and was disgusted in
reading a page of your site "Countering the Military Invasion of
DC High Schools" by John Judge, June 2001. It is disgusting that
you would actually discourage an inner city youth from serving
THEIR country, and badmouth college funding programs that you have
no knowledge on. I would not even dare assume that you have ever
spent one day in the military, yet it is evident that you are part
of the typical crowd who can claim to be military experts on
topics they have NO clue about. I would never be so arrogant or
stupid to talk about something I have never experienced, or do not
have a full working knowledge of.
The quotes from the movie "A few Good Men" hit the nail right on
the head, when it was stated " You Sleep under the blanket of
protection which I provide, and then question the manner in which
I provide it" Sleep well all you peace freaks with nothing better
to do. Life is safe and comfortable for you because there are
people who protect even people like you.
Peter G. Trafas
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Subject: Re: Information on volunteering for the Peace Center
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 02:33:16 -0500
From: Washington Peace Center <wpc@igc.org>
To: Peter Trafas
Peter Trafas,
I will answer your points one at a time:
I discourage inner city youth from choosing a military option
before they know of others that do not put them at similar risk
for eight years of their life. The risk to them, especially
African American males, is primarily from the racism in the
military which fails to provide the disproportionate majority who
join with useable job skills and which targets them for four times
the rate of courts-martial and twice the level of bad discharge as
white enlistees, resulting in recently discharged Black veterans
being twice as unemployed and four times as homeless as Black
youth who do not join the military. For every success story, there
are over 100 a day dumped back into civilian life with the
life-long stigma of a bad discharge which guarantees employer
discrimination and loss of benefits, even though the military
admits that its own racism is the primary cause of these
discharges being given. I also know of many civilian options that
allow these same youth to get job training, job placement and
money for college without joining the military. As to whether they
are serving their country in the current Pax Americana military,
or in past wars I have lived through, I think they have died in
disproportionate numbers defending investments but not security or
liberty here. There are many ways to "serve your country" and I
don't apologize for helping young people explore them.
As to "badmouthing" a program I "have no knowledge on", I have in
fact studied and presented the statistical reality of that program
which provides college level education to only 35% of those
eligible, which is only a fraction of those who pay into the
program. Of those who use it only 15% actually graduate from
college. Enough are kept from using it that the military has made
over $2 billion on the program in funds paid in but never used.
Again, the unevenly administered bad discharge system is the
primary reason that people lose their investment in the program
and cannot get matching funds either. It is a far cry from paying
for a full university degree, which used to be a real benefit for
some who entered the military. Now, like much else, it is a false
promise.
I am glad you would not "dare to assume" whether I have been in
the military or not. The group I work with to present this
information in the DC schools is primarily a group of veterans, as
are those who work to provide statistics and a realistic picture
of military life to youth and those who counter the deceptions of
military recruiting ads and claims. I have counseled tens of
thousands of active duty military personnel and veterans over the
last 30 years, so I know the military quite well. I did not join
the military because of my opposition to war. That does not mean
that I can know nothing of it. I know more than any individual
enlisted member in one branch, and most veterans I meet know that
the realities presented in my article match their experiences
inside the military and since. I work from honest concern, not
arrogance. The source of my statistics is the Pentagon itself. The
Center for Defense Information here in DC and the Veterans for
Peace both do the same work and make the same critique, and they
were formed by enlisted and officers alike from all branches and
with combat experience. Hemingway said, "If you want to have a
war, don't ask the veterans and don't ask the dead."
As to your claim of "protection" in my view it is a racket. I do
not feel protected by either the domestic or foreign actions of
the US military, in fact they have made me more insecure in my
lifetime than any foreign power or peoples. Did you find it
strange that they could not protect their own building on
September 11 with a 40 minute warning? They do have a "mechanism",
several in fact, despite their denials. I grew up in a family of
civilian employees of the Pentagon, so I know first hand about
surface to air missile ports, protected air spaces, radar defenses
at the site, etc. They were on stand down that day. I was not
protected by the wars in Afghanistan, or the Gulf, nor will I be
by the current push to invade Iraq. Bush's Pax Americana bullying
is going to destabilize international relations, spread war and
death, and put us further at risk from increased terrorism.
It is your arrogance, and I have heard it many times, to suggest
that you can or have the right to "protect" me without my
permission. My Constitutional rights are in far more danger from
the current military domestic spying, the breakdown of military
and police function, the militarization of society and outer
space, and the undemocratic pressure here and on the UN to go to
war with people who have not challenged my rights whatsoever. The
cost of this so-called "protection" has been massive cuts in
social services and social security, gutting of the civilian
industrial base and economic recession in my lifetime, which
trouble me far more than the boogey men I am told to fear abroad.
The deficit and high taxes? It's the Pentagon budget, which is
still out of control, along with so-called "intelligence" agencies
whose interventions abroad sparked the hatred and rage that have
led to recent terrorism.
And, yes, I question the "manner in which you provide" your
alleged "protection" as well because I am still a citizen in what
is left of a democracy and the military is no sacred cow beyond
questioning. If we are to have a military, then it should be under
full and open civilian control without secrecy, it should rely on
a budget given it voluntarily by directly allocated taxes, and its
abysmal personnel policies from recruitment to treatment in peace
and war to discipline and discharge should be changed to take us
out of the 18th century and end our isolation from all other
industrialized nations who have much more democratic military
policies than we do, including no internal military discipline and
court systems. We are still a Prussian military geared for empire
building, which is of course what Bush wants to use it for.
I don't sleep well knowing that the military is made up of people
who are so furious with anyone who questions them that they call
us "freaks" and imply that we are not even worthy of the rights we
have because we use them. Practicing democracy between wars is
like being a vegetarian between meals. You took an oath to defend
the Constitution, not the President, so why not read it and think
about what it really means?
I will sleep well when I live in an open and informed democracy,
not run and threatened by the "undue influence of a vast
military-intelligence-industrial complex" which President and
former General Eisenhower warned of in 1959. I suppose you think I
should be so happy to have freedom of speech that I sit down and
shut up about it?
You are of course welcome to be disgusted about whatever you like,
but when you imply I do not know about the topic on which I wrote
you are wrong. I have studied, read and experienced a great deal
of military reality and many others who are veterans agree with my
point of view. And as to my sanction to have you use violence and
war to "protect me", I will say NOT IN MY NAME!
John Judge (speaking for himself)
--
Washington Peace Center
1801 Columbia Road NW, Suite 104
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-2000; (202) 234-7064 (fax)
www.washingtonpeacecenter.org
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From: Peter Trafas
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 03:58:05 EST
To: wpc@igc.org
Subject: Re: Information on volunteering for the Peace Center
John,
Thanks for the vast expansion on your ideals, but I have no idea
of what military you are referring to. If today's US military is
racist, I the single white male heterosexual would be the top most
discriminated group in the military today. I have been in the
military for 12 years, and have NEVER seen a black guy being
discriminated against, or given unfair treatment. I HAVE seen
preferential treatment given to females, and minorities. If a
minority is getting kicked out on a bad discharge he obviously
made his own bed to lie in all by himself, or is trying to use the
clintonian way of not taking responsibility, and blame everyone
else. You act as though the military is kicking minorities out in
droves, when in fact it is extremely difficult to kick anyone out
these days. If you read the regs, about the only way these days
you can get a dishonorable discharge is if you stab, shoot, or
kill someone. I suppose that those things would be good to label
someone with a life long stigma. Food for thought...how could it
be that there is people getting discriminated against if the large
majority of the military leadership is a minority. Just does not
make any sense. Maybe they are culling their own herd. I guess
these bad apples that go running to you need to pull out the
racial card to pass the buck on their own self worth. If these
people can not make it in the Military, they will hardly be able
to deal with the real world that does not have so many
regulations, and laws promoting equal treatment.
To say that minorities are thrown into the meat grinder, and
easily sacrificed to die is a pipe dream. The precentage of whites
males in combat arms jobs is disproportionate to the make up of
the whole military. We are talking about the people who volunteer
to actually meet, close, and yes KILL the enemy (infantry, pilots,
SpecOps). If you were ever to visit a combat support unit which is
made up of more desk jobs, and easy living, you would find an
abundance of blacks and other minorities there. A bullet does not
see black and white.
I am sorry that you only seem to see things as discrimination
issues constantly. There are stupid, uneducated black people, and
stupid uneducated white people. There are bad apples of all colors
in this world. Let these people all take some personal
responsibility for their actions, and inadequacies. Thats right
personal responsibility. There are plenty of inner city youth that
have grabbed themselves by the balls to make a better life for
themselves, and there are plenty of others who just sit around and
blame anyone and anything.
It is easy to blame the system, and not the individual. Please
continue to help filter out these racist individuals for the
military. The military is not a social experiment, or a welfare
system. Your ratio of 1 success story to 100 bad ones is TOTALLY
out of line. It would be more like 1000 success stories to a
handful of bad ones. I call it like I have seen it. Not based off
of some book studies or bad apple sob stories. I am sorry that the
success of the worlds people does not always conform to a persons
skin color. It is people like yourself (hyper-sensitive
anti-racists) stirring the racial pot that do the most damage to
any race relations.
Lastly, being a dependant of someone who use to be in the
military, or worked for the military, HARDLY qualifies as having
been there. Hopefully soon they will reinstitute the draft to
maybe instill todays young with some values that your social
programs seem to be lacking for them and their one parent
families. Also I hope that you have traveled the world and have
actually seen how other people live, outside your own little world
you are protected, and it is totally invisable to you.
PS - $1200 for $20,000 worth of college money is a good deal in
anyones book, or better yet...join the national guard and go to
school for free. Where is the bad deal in that???
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From: Washington Peace Center <wpc@igc.org>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 00:55:10 -0500
To: Peter Trafas
Subject: Re: Information on volunteering for the Peace Center
Thanks,
I'll pull your letter out next time someone asks me to prove the
military is racist. You are blind to your own skin privilege, and
I'm not hyper-sensitive. I'm just quoting the facts. I don't have
to be in the military to comprehend it or critique it, which is
amply demonstrated by your lack of insight from in the ranks.
Despite your anecdotes, the statistical reality is one of
disproportionate bad discharge, and combat risk for people of
color. That is not to say there are no whites on the front lines.
I know there are. But people of color are and have historically
been over-represented among the US war dead. You can blame the
victims all you want, and perhaps for you it is hard to be
discharged.
If any corporation was turning over new personnel at the rate and
cost of military enlisted it would be broke. But, even if I
thought it was a socially progressive institution, its role in the
world is dead wrong. The $20,000 only does you any good when you
qualify for it or are able to use it, which was my point. For 65%
of the people eligible, and 100% of those who discharge early,
miss a payment, discharge less than honorably (primarily because
of racism according to the Pentagon itself) or score low on an
SAT, they just lose the $1200 instead. Civilian college loan and
grant programs provide for 75% of all college enrollments, and
they can get you all the way through school with no risk, and
certainly without selling 8 years of your life. What's so bad
about that? Education should be a right, not a privilege for
anyone, veterans included.
But, no need to belabor the point I can tell. You live in "your"
military and I will listen to the vast majority of veterans who
when polled say they have not learned any usable skills, have been
discriminated against, raped and harassed, have had recruiter
promises and expectations broken and denied, and would not
recommend that any member of their family join. I hope it works
out better for you, but that should not make you blind to what
happens to others around you.
John Judge
--
Washington Peace Center
1801 Columbia Road NW, Suite 104
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-2000; (202) 234-7064 (fax)
www.washingtonpeacecenter.org