|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NNOMYnews: First Quarter 2026
|
|
|
|
Amid an ICE crackdown in her area, an Oregon National Guard recruiter offers U.S. citizens a way to save their immigrant parents
|
Jan. 12, 2026 / Greg Jaffe / New York Times - Greg Jaffe spent eight days in The Dalles, Ore., with a recruiter from the Oregon National Guard. She believed that the key to being a good recruiter was not just selling the military and its benefits, but herself. Sgt. First Class Rosa Cortez wanted potential recruits to notice the pictures of her smiling children, her college diploma and the awards she had earned in the course of her nearly 20 years with the Oregon National Guard.
Â
Her goal was to “radiate positivity,” she said. “People will see it and want to align with you.”
Â
Lately though, she, along with hundreds of other recruiters around the country, had been offering something else: protection from the government she served.
Â
President Trump’s second term has been defined by an extensive crackdown on undocumented immigrants that has set off waves of fear in places with large Hispanic populations. In many of these areas, a little-known government program called Parole in Place has become a refuge of last resort and a powerful recruiting tool.
Â
Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible to enlist in the military. The Parole in Place program, launched in 2013, provides the undocumented parents and spouses of service members protection from deportation, and an expedited pathway to permanent residency.
‍
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
Alarming Increase in Domestic Militarization
|
January 2026 / Lauren Morales / Committee Opposed to Militarism & the Draft (COMD) - For decades the United States has been a hypermilitarized country. The public is force fed the notion that we must respect the armed forces who are forever fighting to keep U.S. Americans safe at home and abroad. Yet there has always been a small part of society that challenges this indoctrination, recognizing that worshiping imperialist ideology is irreconcilable to national and global justice.
Â
But what happens when the empire’s Department of Defense becomes the Department of War, and the war is being waged on our own cities and on our own people? Will members of mainstream U.S. confront their blind glorification of militarism when they see soldiers in the streets facilitating inhuman immigration policies and enforcing the criminalization of dissent?
Â
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
Turning Point USA’s Expansion Into High Schools and the Emerging Military Recruitment Pipeline
|
January 09, 2026 / NNOMY staff / National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth - Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the conservative youth‑mobilization organization founded by Charlie Kirk, has dramatically expanded its presence in American high schools. While this development is often framed as a political or cultural phenomenon, its implications reach far beyond partisan organizing. TPUSA’s school‑based activities intersect with a broader national trend toward youth militarization, particularly under the Trump 2.0 administration, which has embraced policies that expand JROTC, increase recruiter access, and embed military programs more deeply into public education. This report examines how TPUSA’s presence in high schools contributes to a cultural, institutional, and political environment that increases the likelihood of military enlistment among young people. Drawing on academic research, independent media, and counter‑recruitment scholarship, it argues that TPUSA’s expansion is not merely a political project but a structural shift that places high‑school students at heightened risk of recruitment.
Â
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
Education, Not Enlistment ‍
|
January 12, 2026 / Natasha Souza / NNOMY - The military was part of my life long before I was old enough to understand what war meant.
My father served in the Army. Growing up, deployment was not an abstract policy debate—it was our household reality. Iraq. Afghanistan. Each deployment brought a quiet fear that settled into everyday life. Each return carried relief, alongside the understanding that something had shifted. The military does not enlist only one person; it pulls entire families into its orbit. That reality is rarely acknowledged, and almost never disclosed to the young people later targeted for recruitment.
That lived experience is why military recruitment in schools raises serious ethical concerns.
Teenagers are approached at a developmental stage where they are still forming the capacity to understand long-term consequences. They are encouraged to sign legally binding contracts written in complex language, while being presented with a carefully curated narrative of service. Recruiters emphasize opportunity—education benefits, job training, structure—while minimizing or omitting the realities of lost autonomy, indefinite obligation, physical and psychological risk, and the inability to refuse orders once enlisted.‍
‍
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
A Mother’s Report from Caracas
|
Jan 11, 2026 / Ariana Hernández / NNOMY - With the intention of reporting on the current situation in Venezuela, I can thankfully say that I am healthy, at home, with my family, and with stable services so far, although there is a great deal of tension that keeps me on high alert due to the events that unfolded since the early morning of January 3rd. This feeling of alarm I experience, due to the uncertainty of the information circulating on social media, is not unfounded. It is part of the daily work carried out by the prevailing system that manipulates content to its advantage through cognitive warfare, where the basis of opinion shapes individual consciousness from their immediate reality. This has been the process of new-generation warfare that elites have been employing for years, primarily the dominant US system, creating confusion among many people through disinformation, erasing the historical memory so necessary for people to maintain their autonomy, and generating more unrest among the population, making them more vulnerable. This is a geopolitical power struggle, as Trump clearly stated: “We’re going for Venezuela’s oil.” The United States has used the excuse of drug trafficking as a false narrative to criminally invade Venezuela, a script that has been repeated in other Latin American countries. This is not the first time we have seen these events, driven by the great interest in seizing the natural resources necessary to maintain their power, their empire, and their arms industry for the sake of war. Furthermore, it is a hypocritical discourse, since the black market for drugs is one of the major businesses in which the U.S. invests.
‍
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
The Pentagon is Creating its Own Recruiting Crisis
|
January-March 2026 / Rick Jahnkow / Draft NOtices - In the last two years, most of the military's numerical goals for first-time enlistments were reached by lowering acceptance standards and using special pre-boot camp preparation programs to boost the acceptance rate of applicants who would ordinarily have been rejected under past standards. While these measures made recent recruiting goals reachable, Pentagon leaders are now expressing concern about a new possible recruiting crisis driven by societal trends, including a sharp drop in births that began in 2007. The impact of this downward population trend will be to further shrink the pool of eligible recruits despite the lowering of enlistment standards.
To address future recruiting challenges, Secretary of Defense (a.k.a. Secretary of War) Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum in June 2025 announcing the formation of a Military Service Recruitment Task Force. According to Hegseth, the task force's purpose is to analyze current recruiting efforts and trends and formulate “a targeted and strategic approach to strengthen recruiting efforts” across all military branches.
So far, none of the task force's reports have been made public. However, one controversial idea that was apparently discussed by some Pentagon officials is a campaign to call on young people to “honor” Charlie Kirk's legacy by joining the military. As reported by NBC News on September 18, 2025, the campaign would include turning school chapters of Kirk's Turning Point USA organization into recruitment centers. NBC's report stated, however, that there has been pushback by some Pentagon leaders and it's uncertain if the campaign will ultimately occur. According to an Al Jazeera report, a Pentagon spokesperson has told Fox News that no such plan is being considered.
‍
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
Soft Power Play: A Mother's Reflection on Raising Kids Without “War Practice” at Home
|
January 16, 2026 / Emily Graham - Moms shape children’s earliest ideas about conflict long before a kid can explain what “war” even is. The toys we buy, the jokes we laugh at, and the stories we put on in the background quietly teach what problems “look like” and how people “solve” them. When play is saturated with enemies, domination, and “win by force,” kids can start treating antagonism as the default script—regardless of gender. The good news: you don’t need a perfect home or a screen-free childhood to steer play toward creativity, mutual care, cooperation, and emotional awareness. Small, repeatable choices—made consistently—add up.
A quick snapshot you can use today is that the aim is to reduce play patterns that normalize violence or enemies as entertainment. The idea is to replace them with play that builds imagination, teamwork, repair, and empathy. When you do that, kids still get excitement and challenge, but their “problem-solving reflex” becomes collaboration instead of conquest.
‍
|
|
|
|
|
|
Soft Power Play: A Mother's Reflection on Raising Kids Without “War Practice” at Home
|
January 16, 2026 / Emily Graham - Moms shape children’s earliest ideas about conflict long before a kid can explain what “war” even is. The toys we buy, the jokes we laugh at, and the stories we put on in the background quietly teach what problems “look like” and how people “solve” them. When play is saturated with enemies, domination, and “win by force,” kids can start treating antagonism as the default script—regardless of gender. The good news: you don’t need a perfect home or a screen-free childhood to steer play toward creativity, mutual care, cooperation, and emotional awareness. Small, repeatable choices—made consistently—add up.
A quick snapshot you can use today is that the aim is to reduce play patterns that normalize violence or enemies as entertainment. The idea is to replace them with play that builds imagination, teamwork, repair, and empathy. When you do that, kids still get excitement and challenge, but their “problem-solving reflex” becomes collaboration instead of conquest.
‍
|
|
|
| Â |
|
|
| Â |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
