Rick Jahnkow has worked for two San Diego-based anti-militarist organizations, the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities and the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft. Rick Jahnkow, one of both organization’s founders, first became active organizing draft resistance and opposition to the Vietnam War. He can be reached at: RJahnkow@aol.com

Counter-recruitment and school demilitarization work in the U.S. has gone through several cycles of expansion and contraction during the last few decades. The first expansion was during the early 1980s when it was supported by a small number of national organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), War Resisters League, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) and National Lawyers Guild. Most grassroots activities at the time were carried out by chapters of these organizations and a number of independent community peace groups (including COMD and, eventually, Project YANO).

Many counter-recruitment organizers in the 1980s came from the Vietnam-era anti-draft movement, so it was common for them to include draft counseling information as they also worked to counter the presence of military recruiters in schools. This dual emphasis was encouraged by the return of Selective Service registration in 1980 and the government’s various efforts to coerce young men into compliance. Frequently, organizers saw no distinction between the issues of recruiting and Selective Service registration, which had both positive and negative consequences. It was positive in the sense that fear of a possible return to the draft fueled more youth-focused organizing and helped increase awareness of recruiting and militarism in schools. But on the negative side, the frequent focus on Selective Service kept many activists from fully comprehending that economics had become the primary factor driving the militarization of young people, and that draft counseling was not an effective approach to the problem. Another negative consequence was that as concern about conscription diminished in the late 1980s, the overall level of counter-recruitment work also fell considerably.

Fortunately, those groups that did continue to organize deepened their analysis and developed more appropriate and effective organizing approaches. For example, they focused on addressing the “poverty draft” by compiling and distributing literature on alternatives to enlistment. At the same time, they sought to either eliminate recruiters from schools or at least secure equal access to give students alternative information. As the tactics evolved and improved, there were a number of important achievements. For example:

The principle of equal school access for counter-recruiters was realized in many places, thanks to a combination of effective organizing and a few successful lawsuits decided in the late 1980s. The broadest legal precedent for equal access came in a 1986 ruling won by COMD in the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Solid research produced high-quality tools for grassroots organizing, including a professionally produced slide show that eventually evolved into a powerful educational DVD, “Before You Enlist,” which is used widely today.

• In many places, school policies were passed that severely curtailed, or completely banned, recruiter access to students.

• Opportunities for successful cross-community and cross-issue organizing developed that had not been available to the traditional U.S. antiwar movement.

Read More

Media:

• How the Affirmative Action Exemption for Military Academies Exploits Students of Color, Politics / Aina Marzia and Lajward Zahra / The Nation / September 8, 2023
• The “Groundhog Day” Syndrome and Progressive Movements in the U.S., Rick Jahnkow, The PeaceWorker, December 22, 2022
• Dismantling the School-to-Soldier Pipeline, Nancy Cruz Barbara Harris Rick Jahnkow Seth Kershner, Jacobin Magazine, August 27, 2019
• The Gun Problem No One Talks About: Shooting Ranges in Schools, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, undated
• Engaging Youth in Non-Violent Alternatives to Militarism, Featured Speakers: Amjad Ali (Youth Can), Oskar Castro (WRL), Daniel Lakemacher (Center on Conscience & War), Pernille Ironside (UNICEF), Rick Jahnkow (Project YANO), Patrick Spahn (Center on Conscience), Mike Ferner (Veterans for Peace), New Tactics in Human Rights, March 10, 2010
• A Movement to End Militarism: Reflections from Project YANO, Z Magazine, Lynn Koh, February 19, 2006
• Proof That a Draft is Being Readied for 2005?, Rick Jahnkow, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, 2005
• Military Recruiting in High Schools, Special Correspondent John Merrow reports on military recruiting in high schools, PBS Newshour, Dec 13, 2004
• Rick Jahnkow Articles, Draft NOtices Archive, Rick Jahnkow, 2011 - current
• Rick Jahnkow Articles, NNOMY Blog, Rick Jahnkow, 2011 - current

Publications:

• NNOMY Reader, National Counter-recruitment Movement Enters New Stage (pp 4-6), National Counter-recruitment Movement Enters New Stage (pp. 10-14), (NNOMY) Academia.edu, 2013
• Using Equal Access to Counter Militarism in High Schools, Rick Jahnkow, (Project YANO) Internet Archive, February 20, 2007

Group affiliations:

• National Network Opposed to the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)
• Project on Youth & Non-military Opportunities (Project YANO)
• Committee Opposed to Militarism & the Draft (COMDSD)

Special Collections & University Archives:

• Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft Records
  1979-2021 Bulk: 1980-1987
  http://scua.library.umass.edu › category › social-change › draft-resistan…
  Draft resistance – Special Collections & University Archives
  Formed in 1979 in the wake of a congressional vote on reinstating the draft, the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD) was formed by San Diego-based anti-war activists Bill Roe, Hoppy Chandler, Norm Lewis, Fritz Sands, and Rick Jahnkow.
  
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