Every US military recruit is trained to fight and to kill and obligated to eight years of enlistment.
Ongoing conflicts today prove that deployment can happen at any time. You owe it to yourself to consider the many alternatives that do not restrict your life options. - Learn more
Enlisting in the military has been sold for generations as a way to grow up, get a start in life, maybe learn a skill and be part of a noble cause.
If you have kids today, recruiters will tell that familiar story. But today, less and less of it is true. - Learn more
Based on years of experience in public schools, facilitating student organizations dealing with peace (i.e. peace clubs) in your area can have a transformative impact on student autonomy and school culture around pervasive militarism. Learn more
The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) is a network of organizations that organizes against the militarization of schools and young people in the United States.
NNOMY brings local, regional, and national peace and human rights groups together to connect youth to pathways towards meaningful lives, as alternatives to military enlistment.
"The U.S. military is deeply embedded in public schools, shaping children’s futures long before they’re old enough to understand the consequences — and parents were never meaningfully asked."
NNOMY was founded in the aftermath of the 2004 national counter-recruitment conference "Stopping War Where it Begins" in Philadelphia.[1] It is intended to be a decentralized and flexible structure that helps national, regional and local activists and organizations by promoting communication efforts and by stimulating collaboration between network members. NNOMY organizes actions and campaigns against militarism in order to raise awareness and to increase education on the topic.
Kenneth J. Saltman -
Peaceful Vocations -
On April 19, 2013, Diane Wood, Peaceful Vocations member and representative of the Texas Coalition to Protect Student Privacy member, presented to the Texas State Board in Austin, TX the request that “Option 8” be the choice for all Texas schools when administering the ASVAB.
Jeff Cohen -
While the U.S. media has some spirited debate over politics and social issues – i.e. Fox News vs. MSNBC – there remains a broad consensus about foreign adversaries whose behavior is almost always cast in the harshest light, a reality that colors how America reacts to the world, as Jeff Cohen writes.
Matt Guynn -
These reflections were created and shared in the context of counter-recruitment networking calls organized by On Earth Peace, 2003-2007. On Earth Peace is an agency rooted in the Church of the Brethren, committed to confronting violence with God's love.
The Paths that Lead to Life
"You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence."
Acts 2:28
Please send a check to support the work of NNOMY in 2026!
Your donation works to balance the military's message in our public schools.
Rick Jahnkow -
When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view.
