Jerks!
Posted on 08/05/2008 8:53:32 PM PDT by Radix
(An anti-war activist seeks permission to set up a table in the high school hallway — just like military recruiters.)
RAYNHAM, Mass. — Some call it counter-recruitment.
Ray Ajemian prefers to call it “truth in advertising.”
Whatever the terminology, the question of whether the Bridgewater-Raynham schools in Raynham, Mass., should allow anti-war groups equal access to students as military recruiters will be taken up Wednesday at a meeting of the Counter Recruitment Subcommittee.
The meeting will take place at the LaLiberte Elementary School in Raynham.
Ajemian, 66, a member of Bridgewater-based Citizens for an Informed Community, an anti-war group, wants permission to set up a table in the high school hallway — just as military recruiters do — to educate students who are thinking about entering the armed forces.
He was granted permission last spring by the high school principal, but that was overturned by the district’s then-director of business services Joseph Delude and then-Supt. George Guasconi, both of whom have since retired.
Subcommittee members who will discuss the matter Wednesday include Joseph Gillis Jr. and Patricia Leighton of Bridgewater, and Stephen M. Donohue of Raynham.
Gillis said the subcommittee will gather information this week to make a presentation to the full School Committee which will then address the district’s policy on the issue.
While Ajemian argues the school district has a requirement to protect the rights of the students and provide them with pros and cons about joining the military, Gillis says, “There’s also a bigger requirement that we’re part of a country, and the military is a major part of what makes the United States what it is.”
Gillis noted that an Internet search for “counter-recruiting” produced some extreme results, many of which appear to be anti-military.
“We’re not opposed to the military,” said Ajemian. “We’re only asking that (high school students and parents) have free knowledge and that they make that decision based on that knowledge … It’s the fair thing to do.”
Nationally, counter-recruiters ranging from Vietnam War veterans to high school students formed a network at meetings in Philadelphia in the summers of 2003 and 2004, according to a March 2005 article in USA Today. The American Friends Service Committee has even prepared a brochure titled, “Do You Know Enough to Enlist?” deliberately designed to look like a military recruiting brochure, according to the article.
Counter-recruiters have gained access to the Los Angeles Unified School District, while in San Francisco, members of a group called the Raging Grannies visit high schools to offer political buttons, talk to students who are choosing whether to go into the military, and sing peace songs and dance.
Besides the tables, Ajemian also wants to spread the word among parents that they can choose not to have their student’s personal information provided to the government for military recruiting purposes, and that high school students are not required to take the Army Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test to see if they are well-suited to serve in the country’s armed forces.
Ajemian says his group seeks only to provide both sides of the story. He notes that he served in the armed forces during the Vietnam era (providing training, not on the front lines) and says that he had a good military experience, but others do not.
His group seeks to provide teenagers with an arsenal of information including relevant questions for military recruiters.
“Students have to be fully aware, that’s all,” says Ajemian. “All we’re asking is to let us give the other side and let (students) make up their own mind.”
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
They should also get the same “access” to the Islamofascists in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
If the “counter” organizations want to cough up matching education funds to what the Feds contribute... they’re welcome to set up wherever the please.
the = they, even
Sorry to say it, but I've gotten quite skeptical over the years. Let's see some 214's, guys. Or at least be able to say what your MOS was -- without having to think about it.
I forgot to ping you about this for some of your friends to view.
Excellent response.
if students can be enticed by those things then they have no business in the military.
The problem I’ve gotten into with that is I’ll get a response, but it always ends up being (something like) “flight equipment secretary” and other such garbage which is a real position but... that’s where they put you when you can’t tie your own damn shoes. I never know quite where to go at that point.
They should have a chapter in every school district!
Picture yourself as a strong, know it all hormone crazy 18 yr old. There is the military option to consider. Then a 15 passenger van full of over the hill hippies comes up. They pile out singing, dancing and covering the place with carnations, roses and fairies. Enlistment will go up.
Yeah, it can get tricky. The funniest one for me was the Army Lance Corporal who was telling his Desert Storm war stories. He didn't even realize that Lance Corporal is strictly a Marine Corps rank and that it isn't used in the Army.
Some we’ll read this headline: “Islamic Terrorists Demand Equal Access at High School”
(I have a mental picture of that crazy little old lady in the Little Annie Fannie cartoons).
I've got a toll free number to help you out in your struggle
1.800. get- bent
Ignorant and ungrateful jerks like him need to be taken out and have their asses kicked until they are bright red and can be seen for miles.
It is the role of government to provide for the National Defense.
What government does Ajemian serve? He preaches sedition against the state and I'll bet dimes to donuts that he DOES support some wars. Like the Palestinian war against Israel.
It is a misnomer to call this a "peace movement", too many naked Communists who's first goal is overthrow of our form of government (Marxist literature, CPUSA, etc. at the rallies), pro-insurgency banners, calls for the deaths of our president and troops, anti-semitic signs and pro-Palestinian propaganda.
When you declare yourself to be "anti-war", you are supposed to be against ALL wars. That is what this fool is saying in opposing the recruiting of future soldiers (who will not be serving in this conflict). Where is the call to get the other side(s) to lay down their weapons?
Anti-Americanism 101 and state funded schools do not have to grant him a political stage any more that a polling center must permit campaigning INSIDE the polling center.
There are enough anti-American “teachers” in the public schools that this clown’s services are not required.
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