Donate

  • +1-443-671-7111
  • admin@nnomy.org
  • Office: Tuesday and Thursday 10 am to 6pm
The National Network Opposing the Militarization of YouthThe National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth
  • Home
  • Who are we?
    • National counter-recruitment network forming (2003)
    • Committee and Staff
    • Contact NNOMY
    • Register for full resources access
    • NNOMY Newsletter Archive & Subscription Form
    • NNOMY on Social Media Networks
      • Twitter Followers
    • Subscribe Counter-recrutment activists list
    • Donate to NNOMY
  • What is militarization?
    • How can we counter it?
    • Why does NNOMY matter?
    • The Militarization of U.S. Culture
    • School Militarization
      • By Policy
        • JAMRS
        • No Child Left Behind
      • By Program
        • ASVAB Testing
        • Delayed Entry Program
        • DOD STEM
        • JROTC
        • Mission: Readiness
        • Shooting Ranges
        • and Lead Contamination
  • Resources
    • Classroom Resources
      • Before You Enlist 2018
      • Documentaries/Films
      • Peaceful Career Alternatives
      • Peace Pill Videos
      • Researching Pop Culture & Militarism - Selene Rivas
      • Video Reports
    • Considering Enlisting?
    • Counter-recruitment
      • 2018/9 Back-to-school-Counter-recruitment Kit
      • 2017 VFP Workshop
      • Equal Access
      • Guide to High School Leafleting
      • Opt Out/Student lists
      • Organizing Option 8
      • Recruiter Access
      • School Policies
      • Tabling Alternatives
      • Webinars
    • Educating Activists
      • Glossary of Terms
      • NNOMY Reader
      • Pamphlets/Reports
      • Peace Activism
        • Careers in Peacemaking and Social Change
        • Cultural & Art Activism
        • Cultural & Art Activism / NYC
      • Recent Trends in Military Recruitment
      • Toolkits/guides
      • Webinars
        • Webinars: Countering Military Recruiting in Schools During the Pandemic
        • Workshop - Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment
    • Downloads
      • NNOMY Bookshelf
    • NNOMY Blog
      • Pat Elder: Military Recruiting in the United States
      • Edward Hasbrouck: Registration Resistance
      • John Judge on Counter-recruitment
      • Article Archive
    • SEARCH
      • Advanced site search
  • Groups & Actions
    • National Directory of Youth Demilitarization Groups
      • NNOMY Groups in Photos
    • Add Your Group
    • Campaigns
      • Divest Your Body Campaign
      • Desinvierta su campaña del cuerpo
      • School Marksmanship Training
      • Winning The Peace
      • VFP/Counter-recruiting
      • Women's March on the Pentagon
        • War: A Women's Issue
        • La guerra: un asunto de mujeres
      • Campaign: A National Call
      • Education for Peace
        • My Education for Peace PDF
    • On Facebook
      • Stop Kids Going to War
      • De-militarizing Youth
      • Sergeant Solomon
      • The Counter-Recruitment Team
      • Demilitarize Our Schools Group
    • NNOMY 2018 Strategy Summit Report
    • Community Action
    • International Networking
    • Social media Outreach
      • Social media Campaign Resources
  • Login
    • Request a registered account
    • Forgot Login?

Print Recommend Feed Entries

John Judge

John Judge was a co-founder of the Committee for High School Options and Information on Careers, Education and Self-Improvement (CHOICES) in Washington DC, an organization engaged since 1985 in countering military recruitment in DC area high schools and educating young people about their options with regard to the military. Beginning with the war in Viet Nam, Judge was a life-long anti-war activist and tireless supporter of active-duty soldiers and veterans.

 

"It is our view that military enlistment puts youth, especially African American youth, at special risk, not only for combat duty, injury and fatality, but for military discipline and less than honorable discharge, which can ruin their chances for employment once they get out. There are other options available to them."


In the 1970's the Selective Service System and the paper draft became unworkable, requiring four induction orders to get one report. Boards  were under siege by anti-war and anti-draft forces, resistance of many kinds was rampant. The lottery system failed to dampen the dissent, since people who knew they were going to be drafted ahead of time became all the more active. Local draft board members quit in such numbers that even I was approached, as a knowledgeable draft counselor to join the board. I refused on the grounds that I could never vote anyone 1-A or eligible to go since I opposed conscription and the war.

At this point the Pentagon decided to replace the paper draft with a poverty draft, based on economic incentive and coercion. It has been working since then to draw in between 200-400,000 enlisted members annually. Soon after, they began to recruit larger numbers of women to "do the jobs men don't want to". Currently recruitment quotas are falling short, especially in Black communities, and reluctant parents are seen as part of the problem. The hidden problem is retention, since the military would have quadrupled by this time at that rate of enlistment, but the percentage who never finish their first time of enlistment drop out at a staggering rate.

I began bringing veterans of the Vietnam War into high schools in Dayton, Ohio in the late 1960s, and have continued since then to expose young people to the realities of military life, the recruiters' false claims and the risks in combat or out. I did it first through Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, then Dayton Draft & Military Counseling, and since 1985 in DC through C.H.O.I.C.E.S.

The key is to address the broader issues of militarization of the schools and privacy rights for students in community forums and at meetings of the school board and city council. Good counter-recruitment also provides alternatives in the civilian sector to help the poor and people of color, who are the first targets of the poverty draft, to find ways to break into the job market, go to a trade school, join an apprenticeship program, get job skills and placement help, and find money for college without enlisting in the military.

John Judge -- counselor, C.H.O.I.C.E.S.
Source: https://web.archive.org
 
Articles
  • War Opponents Train For Visits to Area Schools And Recruitment Centers, Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post
References:
  • Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools - Scott Harding, Seth Kershner
Videos
  • C.H.O.I.C.E.S., John Judge
  • Interview - John Judge - U.S. Wars & Military Recruitment
  • Military and your Schools
  • A Celebration of the Life of John Judge May 31, 2014
Tributes
  • In Memory of John Judge - Washington Peace Center
  • John Judge- Obituary and request for reflections - Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA)
  • The Loss of John Judge Hits Hard - David Swanson
  • John Judge, Leading Change: A Transformational, Quiet Servant Leader, David Ratcliffe

###

Search
Search / Filtering
Text Search
Filters changed, please click to submit when done
All ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789
Results 1 - 5 of 5
  • Countering Military Recruitment Celebrating and Carrying On John Judge’s Legacy

    Pat Elder Remarks delivered at the Celebration of the Life of John Patrick Judge (See film of Pat’s remarks, starting at 32:50) National Press Club, Washington DC 31 May 2014 Phone skit I saw the email message about a week ago and it said, We’ve lost John Judge! We haven’t lost John! Hell, we’re just finding him. I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you or me. Says I “But Joe, you're ten ...

    Tags
    John Judge | Pat Elder
    Read more...
  • A debate on recruitment

    From: Peter Trafas Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 02:02:28 EST To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Cc: This email address is being protected from ...

    Tags
    John Judge
    Read more...
  • Uncle Scram

    Uncle Scram

    Brian Montopoli | Washington City Paper, January 31, 2003 Career Day, Cardozo High School. First session. Marine recruiter Sgt. Derrick Sanders is making his pitch. "Good morning, class," he says. Th ...

    Tags
    John Judge | Counter-recruitment
    Read more...
  • War Opponents Train For Visits to Area Schools And Recruitment Centers

    Michelle Boorstein | Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 17, 2007 Two days after bringing thousands of protesters to the U.S. Capitol, Iraq war opponents will begin a "week of action" toda ...

    Tags
    National Truth in Recruiting Day | ANSWER Coalition | John Judge
    Read more...
  • Countering the Military Invasion of DC High Schools

    Countering the Military Invasion of DC High Schools

    John Judge | Originally published in Washington Peace Letter, Volume 38, No. 5 - June 2001 In the early 1980's a citywide movement attempted to rid local high schools of JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer ...

    Tags
    Committee for High School Options & Information on Careers, Education and Self-Improvement (C.H.O.I.C.E.S.) | John Judge | JROTC
    Read more...

Subscribe to NNOMY Newsletter

Please enable the javascript to submit this form

Demilitarizing Life & Land

FOR Life & LandThe Fellowship of Reconciliation pursues a vision of a free and “demilitarized” world in which the Earth’s resources sustain life and promote the well-being of all people. To do so, we challenge economic exploitation, work to eradicate racism and religious intolerance, and call attention to imperialistic U.S. foreign policy. As we continue to speak truth to power, FOR engages in an ongoing interfaith dialogue to shift the collective unconscious from a fear-based military culture to a peaceful world community grounded in faith and nonviolent justice. At the start of 2011, we launched a series of projects, campaigns, and collaborations to demilitarize life and land in the Americas and the Middle East.

Demilitarizing Life & Land Download this information as a printable PDF (2.6 MB).

Share this

FacebookTwitterStumbleuponGoogle BookmarksRedditLinkedInRSS FeedPinterestInstagramSnapchat

Gonate time or money to demilitarize our public schools

Contact NNOMY

The National Network Opposing
the Militarization of youth (NNOMY)

San Diego Peace Campus
3850 Westgate Place
San Diego
California
92105
U.S.A. 

admin@nnomy.org 

+1-443-671-7111
Monday through Friday 10am till 5pm PST

Skype: nnomy.demilitarization

Subscribe to NNOMY Newsletter

Please enable the javascript to submit this form

Search the NNOMY website

The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) is supported by individual contributions and a grant by the Craigslist Charitable Fund - 2021 Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. NNOMY websites are hosted by The Electric Embers Coop.

Mobile Menu

  • Home
  • Who are we?
    • National counter-recruitment network forming (2003)
    • Committee and Staff
    • Contact NNOMY
    • Register for full resources access
    • NNOMY Newsletter Archive & Subscription Form
    • NNOMY on Social Media Networks
      • Twitter Followers
    • Subscribe Counter-recrutment activists list
    • Donate to NNOMY
  • What is militarization?
    • How can we counter it?
    • Why does NNOMY matter?
    • The Militarization of U.S. Culture
    • School Militarization
      • By Policy
        • JAMRS
        • No Child Left Behind
      • By Program
        • ASVAB Testing
        • Delayed Entry Program
        • DOD STEM
        • JROTC
        • Mission: Readiness
        • Shooting Ranges
        • and Lead Contamination
  • Resources
    • Classroom Resources
      • Before You Enlist 2018
      • Documentaries/Films
      • Peaceful Career Alternatives
      • Peace Pill Videos
      • Researching Pop Culture & Militarism - Selene Rivas
      • Video Reports
    • Considering Enlisting?
    • Counter-recruitment
      • 2018/9 Back-to-school-Counter-recruitment Kit
      • 2017 VFP Workshop
      • Equal Access
      • Guide to High School Leafleting
      • Opt Out/Student lists
      • Organizing Option 8
      • Recruiter Access
      • School Policies
      • Tabling Alternatives
      • Webinars
    • Educating Activists
      • Glossary of Terms
      • NNOMY Reader
      • Pamphlets/Reports
      • Peace Activism
        • Careers in Peacemaking and Social Change
        • Cultural & Art Activism
        • Cultural & Art Activism / NYC
      • Recent Trends in Military Recruitment
      • Toolkits/guides
      • Webinars
        • Webinars: Countering Military Recruiting in Schools During the Pandemic
        • Workshop - Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment
    • Downloads
      • NNOMY Bookshelf
    • NNOMY Blog
      • Pat Elder: Military Recruiting in the United States
      • Edward Hasbrouck: Registration Resistance
      • John Judge on Counter-recruitment
      • Article Archive
    • SEARCH
      • Advanced site search
  • Groups & Actions
    • National Directory of Youth Demilitarization Groups
      • NNOMY Groups in Photos
    • Add Your Group
    • Campaigns
      • Divest Your Body Campaign
      • Desinvierta su campaña del cuerpo
      • School Marksmanship Training
      • Winning The Peace
      • VFP/Counter-recruiting
      • Women's March on the Pentagon
        • War: A Women's Issue
        • La guerra: un asunto de mujeres
      • Campaign: A National Call
      • Education for Peace
        • My Education for Peace PDF
    • On Facebook
      • Stop Kids Going to War
      • De-militarizing Youth
      • Sergeant Solomon
      • The Counter-Recruitment Team
      • Demilitarize Our Schools Group
    • NNOMY 2018 Strategy Summit Report
    • Community Action
    • International Networking
    • Social media Outreach
      • Social media Campaign Resources
  • Login
    • Request a registered account
    • Forgot Login?