November 13, 2011 - Bloomberg Business Week

Dan Beucke -

My post last Friday about the jobless picture for young veterans clearly struck a nerve. The commentary that followed ranges across issues of war, peace, hope, despair, skills training — and, yes, immigration.

Some readers recounted their own experiences coming back from war and their success or failure in finding work. Billy Mo wrote that he “easily” found good-paying work after leaving the Air Force, then got caught in a 2006 downsizing. He has received “zero offers” and wound up “losing my home, car, retirement account and most of my possessions.” He concludes: “No one really seems to care.”

One part of my reporting that was backed up in some of the comments was the suggestion that vets face a cultural barrier coming back to corporate America. “There is (a) great wall against War veterans from corporate America,” writes John A. Mele. But it works both ways, says K. Mark Northrup; he suggests part of the problem is the military style of problem solving:

How the No Child Left Behind Act allowed military recruiters to collect info on millions of unsuspecting teens.

David Goodman /  September/October 2009 Issue - Mother Jones Magazine -  John Travers was striding purposefully into the Westfield mall in Wheaton, Maryland, for some back-to-school shopping before starting his junior year at Bowling Green State University. When I asked him whether he'd ever talked to a military recruiter, Travers, a 19-year-old African American with a buzz cut, a crisp white T-shirt, and a diamond stud in his left ear, smiled wryly. "To get to lunch in my high school, you had to pass recruiters," he said. "It was overwhelming." Then he added, "I thought the recruiters had too much information about me. They called me, but I never gave them my phone number."

October 25, 2011

March Forward -

Since the Occupy movement started, veterans and active-duty troops in March Forward! have been active organizers and participants in cities all over the country. Our members have been attacked by police, pepper sprayed and arrested at occupations and actions. We have been speaking, camping and helping organize at Occupy events from coast to coast.

We believe that it is essential for our community to be active in this movement, and call on all veterans and GIs to join the encampment nearest you.

Click here if you are a veteran or active-duty GI who supports the Occupy movement!

Here is why we are participating:

1. We are used as pawns in Wall Street’s wars. Over 6,000 of our brothers and sisters are dead; tens of thousands maimed; hundreds of thousands will live the rest of their lives with psychological trauma. Over 1 million Iraqis have been killed, along with tens of thousands of innocent Afghans. The past 10 years have been nothing but constant, repeated deployments to wars waged in the interests of the 1%.

27 October 2011 - War Is a Crime - David Swanson's blog

David Swanson -

One of the most valuable benefits of putting political action into the form of nonviolent encampments is that we learn each other's stories as we occupy our public parks and squares. Here's a story from the October 2011 occupation in Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C. There are many more, and we'd like to hear yours when you join us.

Aristine Maharry is 29 years old and now lives in Freedom Plaza. She grew up in a very military family, with members of her family having participated in every major U.S. war going back to the war for independence, and with members of every generation having joined the military.

Maharry's family did not encourage her to aspire to a military career, but -- as in many such stories I've heard -- actions spoke more loudly than words. Maharry was proud of her father's military experience. She hoped from a very young age to join the U.S. Army. She grew up playing at army with her half-brothers. They would flip the couch on its side and toss pretend grenades. She loved the board game Risk. The biggest holiday in Aristine's family was the Fourth of July. She doesn't say she bled red white and blue. She says she bled green, Army green. She wanted to serve her country and other people. She was willing to die for her country. She was proud of her country.

October 31, 2005

Nikki Robinson -

Iraq war veteran and Kent State student, Dave Airhart, is under attack for opposing the war he considers "unjust" and for attempting to stop any more students from being used as "cannon fodder."

On October 19, the Kent State Anti-War Committee (KSAWC) stood around the Army recruiters, who had brought a rock-climbing wall to entice students over to talk with them. A member of KSAWC and former Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran, David Airhart decided to show his opposition against the war by exercising his rights of free speech. After filling out liability forms Airhart climbed the rock wall. Once he reached the top he took out a banner, which he held under his jacket, and draped it over the wall. The banner read: Kent, Ohio for Peace. Airhart was forced to climb down the back of the wall because a recruiter was coming up the front, yelling at him.

As he was climbing down another recruiter came up the back and proceeded to assault Airhart both verbally and physically by pulling his shirt, forcing him off the wall. Airhart was fined $105 by city police for disorderly conduct and told that he will have to go to judicial affairs at the university where he will face probation or expulsion.

When asked why he wanted to counter-recruit against the military Airhart responded, "I do not feel that the administration should allow the military to recruit their students for an unjust war that is taking the lives of innocent people. They should be protecting their students, not using them for cannon fodder." The recruiter who assaulted Airhart was never charged with disorderly conduct; nor was the bigot who came by screaming profanities and spitting at KSAWC members fined for being disorderly.

Somehow an Iraq War veteran hanging a banner, which called for peace, was disorderly and the others were not. Even after the atrocities of the May 4, 1970 massacre at Kent State University the military has the audacity to come to campus and attempt to recruit students for their illegal war. However, KSAWC, which is a member of the national grassroots organization, Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), counter-recruits against the military every time they are on campus. We stand around the table of the military, hold signs, chant and pass out literature exposing the lies of recruiters.

The administration’s blatant attack against the antiwar movement will not be tolerated. We can clearly see that the administration does not want its students and veterans practicing free speech on this campus, especially if we are taking a stand against the war in Iraq. However, we will continue to fight.

We believe in getting troops out of Iraq now, as well as assuring that they have a voice to stand in opposition to the war when they return. It is obvious that the Kent State administration does not care about Iraq Veterans who attend their school. After everything Airhart had to go through and see as a soldier, after viewing thousands of innocent Iraqi lives being taken, he has every right to exercise his opposition to this war. The administration may have the audacity to punish an Iraq Veteran for speaking out against the war, but the Kent State Anti-War Committee will continue to fight back for all Veterans and students right to exercise free speech against the war. We will continue to challenge our administration’s role in recruiting for the war and demand our right to a ‘recruiter-free’ school.

Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/10/29/crack-down-at-kent-state/