Handout of Readings

Handout of Readings

CARD 1    America's Army - Video Game

"It's an ambush, with gunmen on both sides of the road. Soldiers on top of the five-ton trucks return fire with mounted machine guns. The clatter is deafening. The truck beds fill up with hot, bouncing, jingling brass shell casings …"

"This isn't a real ambush, and the convoy isn't in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's in Guernsey, Wyo., north of Cheyenne. The attack was staged by the U.S. Army for the benefit of about 35 computer programmers who work on the government-sponsored video game called America's Army. The game's primary mission is to recruit: to persuade the millions of young people who play it on their home computers to go from the virtual soldiers to real ones…. Since it was released on July 4, 2002, America's Army has signed up 4.6 million registered players, and it adds 100,000 new ones every month."

Sources do not have to be read aloud.

Source: Time, Feb. 28, 2005 "The Army's Killer App" by Lev Grossman
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CARD 2    America's Army

"30% of Americans ages 16 to 24 say that some of what they know about the Army comes from the game America's Army… You can click a button in the game menu and go straight to an Army recruiting website…".

"We have a death animation. We don't sugarcoat it." He stops and corrects himself. "It's not real; it's simulated. But we're simulating reality. But it has to be fun too, right? Bottom line, it's gotta be fun … If it's not fun, you don't have a game."

Source: Time, Feb. 28, 2005 "The Army's Killer App" by Lev Grossman
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CARD 3    Who is the "YOU" the military recruiter wants?

Since the draft was abandoned in 1973, the Guard has drawn overwhelmingly from the working class, like the Army itself. Few are well-to-do. (1)

Military sociologist Charles Moskos said:

"The major problem that faces Army recruiting … is that we don't have privileged youth serving. We do not have the children of Congress, we don't have the children of the Fortune 400, we don't have the college graduates serving in the military… I was addressing a group of recruiters this past fall and I said, would you prefer to have your advertising budget tripled or have Jenna Bush join the Army? They unanimously chose the Jenna option. (2)"

Sources:

NY Times, May 22, 2005.
Talk of the Nation, NPR, May 10, 2005.
Charles Moskos, Northwestern University professor.

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CARD 4 Statistics about recruiting. Did you know that:

In January, 2005 the Army, the Army Reserve and the National Guard increased their number of recruiters from 9,681 to 12,624. (1)
Military recruiters earn $13.70 per day above their regular pay. (2)
Military personnel in combat earn $7.50 per day above their regular pay. (3)
In 2004 the U.S. Government spent approximately $52,000 for each person enlisted. (4)

Sources:

CW Nevius, SF Chronicle 1/29/05, NY Times 2/17, 2005, NY Times 2/19/05.
NY Times Sunday, 3/27/2005, article by Damien Cave.
Hackworth, SF Chronicle 1/27/05.
News Hour, PBS, Dec.13, 2004.

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CARD 5 The Recruiter's Mission

Each of the Army's recruiters faces a quota of two new recruits a month. They spend several hours per day cold-calling high school students, whose phone numbers are provided under the No Child Left Behind law. They go to malls, high schools, colleges and wherever young people gather…. For the first time since 1998, the Army has lowered its standards, accepting more recruits without high school diplomas. (1)

One of the most common promises recruiters use is money for college, but only 16% of enlisted personnel who completed four years of military duty ever received money for schooling. And recruiters don't tell you that a military person has to make a $1,200 nonrefundable deposit within the first year of his/her service to be eligible for education money. (2)

Only 12% of male veterans and 6% of female veterans said they were using skills learned in the military in their civilian jobs. (3)

Sources:

NY Times, 3/27/2005.
Rand Corp. 2000 Study, SF Bay Guardian, 4/10/2005, pg. 13.
Ohio State University Study, SF Bay Guardian, 4/10/2005, pg. 13.

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CARD 6 Recruiter as "Guidance Counselor"

Recruiter: "I mean, where else can you get paid to jump out of airplanes, shoot cool guns, blow stuff up and travel seeing all kinds of different countries?" (1)

"Marine Sgt. Rick Carloss, a recruiter, is as familiar to students as some teachers at Downey High School. He does push-ups with students during P.E. classes and plays in faculty basketball games. During lunch, he hands out key chains, T-shirts, and posters that proclaim: "Think of me as your new guidance counselor." (2)

Sources:

News Hour, Dec.13, 2004.
The Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 2005.

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CARD 7 General James N. Mattis – "It's Fun to Fight"

Lt. General James N. Mattis was the Marine General "who led 65,000 troops into Baghdad in the early days of the war, led the onslaught on the rebel stronghold of Fallujah and commanded forces in Afghanistan as well as the Persian Gulf War". (1) General Mattis said:

"Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling." You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." (2)

Sources:

SF Chronicle Editorial 2/07/2005.
NY Times Sunday, 2/04/2005.

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CARD 8    Photograph 0f Flagged Draped Coffins

"The Pentagon tightly restricts the publication of photographs of coffins with the remains of U.S. soldiers and has forbidden journalists from taking pictures at Dover Air Force Base where the caskets of slain soldiers usually first stop on their return to the United States."

"A U.S. contractor and her husband were fired after her photograph of 20 flag-draped coffins of slain U.S. soldiers coming home from Iraq was published in violation of military rules. 'I lost my job and they let my husband go as well', Tami Silicio told Reuters…."

The military says the policy is in place to protect the privacy of families of those killed, but critics have said the rules are aimed at sanitizing the war for the public.

Source: TotalObscurity.com
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CARD 9    US War Dead and Injured

As of March 10,2006 there were 2,307 American war dead and 16,653 American wounded.

To find out the numbers as of the date you use this lesson go to: icasualties.org.

"Each death in Iraq blows a hole in a family and sets off concentric circles of grief that touch everyone else who knew and cared for the fallen soldier." (1)

Source: NY Times, Bob Herbert, Dec. 24, 2004
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CARD 10    School Buses
(to be read while viewing school bus illustration)

"As of March 15, 2005 1,043 U.S. children have lost a parent in the Iraq war. (1) The U.S. Government has not kept track of the number, but Scripps Howard News Service used Defense Department casualty reports, obituaries and hometown newspaper accounts as well as family interviews to arrive at its estimate. Most of the children were under 10 years of age". (2)

Sources:

Newsweek, March 21, 2005.
Lisa Hoffman and Annette Rainville, Scripps Howard News Service.

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CARD 11    A Sister's Poem For Her Dead Brother

"Have you ever head the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done,
They call him a hero, you should be glad that he's one,
But have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?

Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
He must be brave because his boy died for another man's lies.
The only grief he allows himself are long deep sighs.
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?

Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say he died so that the flag will continue to wave,
But I believe he died because they had oil to save.
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?

Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep,
But if we people let them continue, another mother will weep.
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep."

"Thank you for your interest in my poem. Please use it in any way possible that may stop at least one unknowing kid from entering the military without ALL the information."

Source: SF Chronicle, March 20, 2005, Carly Sheehan
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CARD 12    Photograph of Typical Iraqi War Injuries (G)

"…two doctors in surgical masks stand over a soldier on a table. One doctor is holding up a stringy, blackish-red, wet thing that looks like a small animal that has been disemboweled. Then you see that the disgusting thing is attached to the soldier's body. It is his right arm. His left arm is hooked to an IV. It is unscathed except for the bloody stump where his wrist and hand used to be. 'Blast injury from exploding ordinance,' the caption says…".

Source: Joan Ryan – SF Chronicle 12/19/04
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CARD 13    Photograph of Typical Iraqi War Injuries (H)

"… doctor is hoisting the ends of two limbs. They look like legs, but the perspective is wrong. The right foot has been torn in half and flipped over, bottom-side up. Embedded in a mass of dark wormy hash, you see the pad of the foot and toes lolling off the side of the soldier's shin. It is as if the foot has been pushed up toward the leg until it ripped away from the ankle and landed face down on the shin. A common type of injury associated with roadside improvised explosive device run over by a Humvee, the caption explains. …"

Source: Joan Ryan – SF Chronicle, 12/19/04
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CARD 14    Military Silence About the Wounded

"Soldiers have been wounded in war since the beginning of time – a fact that armies never like advertising. The Pentagon, which makes terse announcements when U.S. soldiers die in combat in Iraq, doesn't inform the public about those who have been wounded …"

"'When you join the Army, they send your picture to your hometown paper because they want everybody to know that you're leaving for the military,' said Meinen, a dark-haired practical joker from Grangeville, Idaho. 'But if you're wounded, the military doesn't tell them, because they might be worried about the public getting negative about what's going on over there.'"

Source: TheMemoryHole.org
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CARD 15    Sam Ross – Injured

"Blood spurted from his shattered leg and from dozens of small gashes all over his body. More blood streamed from wounds on his head and down on his face. When he cried out that he couldn't see, his frantic buddies poured bottled water over him to wash away the red ooze that matted his hair and eyelashes. But by then, Army Pfc. Sam Ross was aware of only one thing; the wave of pain so intense he was sure he would not live through it. "I was supposed to be dead."

"He hung on through 14 surgeries, a serious bout of pneumonia and the depression that threatened to swamp him when he learned that he was blind, then later that his left leg had been amputated and that he was partially deaf. … His eyesight was gone in one eye; the other registered only light and darkness despite surgeries to reattach his retinas and transplant a cornea. His left eardrum was punctured, his skull was fractured and his sinuses were smashed. His skin looked like Swiss cheese, pierced in dozens of places by more splinters of shrapnel."

Sources: TheMemoryHole.org
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CARD 16    Dramatic Rise in Iraqi Civilian
                  Deaths Since March 2003

"Excluding information from Falluja, they estimate that 100,000 more Iraqis died than would have been expected had the invasion not occurred. Eighty-four percent of the violent deaths were reported to be caused by the actions of Coalition forces and 95 percent of those deaths were due to air strikes and artillery."

Sources:

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Public Health News Center
Columbia University School of Nursing
Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad

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CARD 17 Photographs of Iraqi Civilian
Dead and Injured

IA & IB	"An officer ordered the troops to halt the vehicle. One soldier fired a three- shot burst into the air, but the car kept coming. Then half a dozen troops fired at least 50 rounds, until the car rolled gently to a stop against a curb. 'I could hear sobbing and crying coming from the car, children's voices,' Mr. Hondros, the photographer, said. One of the rear doors opened, and six children, splattered with blood, tumbled into the street. The parents lay dead in the front seat. Their bodies were riddled with bullets, and the man's skull had been smashed." (New York Times, March 7, 2005 & Chris Hondros/Getty Images January 18, 2005)

J	Relatives mourn a dead loved one killed when militiamen ambushed 8 U.S. soldiers. It took a column of tanks to restore order. (Stephanie Sinclair/Corbis)

K	Malsa Sadeq, age 28, was injured by a U.S. helicopter when it fired on her neighborhood. Her sister-in-law died. She will not be compensated for her injuries because she was a combat victim. Her family relied on her income, but she is not able to work. (Stephanie Sinclair/Corbis May 17, 2004)

L	Sokana Hamid, four months old, has struggled to stay alive. She was born premature and is severely malnourished. The hospital lacks electricity and is unable to operate incubators. Most of the premature babies die. Seven to ten infants died daily at this hospital. (Stephanie Sinclair/Corbis August 14, 2003)

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Card 18 Photographs of American military personnel

M	Ceremony for a fallen American soldier August 24, 2003. Photograph taken by Stephanie Sinclair of Corbis.

N	Soldiers embrace at the above ceremony for PFC Michael Adams of Spartenburg, S.C. Photograph taken by Stephanie Sinclair of Corbis.

O	Soldier waits at the Combat Support Hospital inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq to find out about his injured colleagues from Echo Company. April 15, 2004. Photograph taken by Stephanie Sinclair of Corbis.

P	20 year old soldier waiting for her appointment at the Medical Company combat-stress unit. She has visited the stress unit several times over the past two weeks. March 5, 2004. Photograph taken by Stephanie Sinclair of Corbis.

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CARD 19 Mental Health Problems

"'The Pentagon estimates that as many as 100,000 combat veterans nationwide will suffer from mental issues ranging from depression and anxiety to the more debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder characterized by angry outbursts, flashbacks, nightmares and hypervigilance. An estimated 900 service members have been evacuated from Iraq since the start of war due to psychological problems. There's a train coming that's packed with people who are going to need help for the next 35 years', said Stephen L. Robinson, a 20 year Army veteran who is the executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, an advocacy group."¹
"More than 1,700 of those wounded in Iraq are known to have brain injuries, half of which are severe enough that they may permanently impair thinking, memory, mood, behavior and the ability to work.… Medical treatment for brain injuries from the Iraq war will cost the government at least $14 billion over the next 20 years, according to a recent study by researchers at Harvard and Columbia."²

¹Source: New York Times, 12/16/04
²Source: New York Times, 01/22/06, pg. 20
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CARD 20    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

"The soldiers told me about their textbook symptoms of PTSD: sudden, ferocious bouts of rage, utter detachment, anxiety attacks accompanied by shortness of breath, and increased perspiration and rapid eye movement. They complained of relentless insomnia, racing thoughts, self-loathing, blackouts, hallucinations and the constant reliving of war through flashbacks by day and nightmares at night. Some described vivid fantasies of violence toward the Army brass in charge of patients – slicing their throats, throwing them out of windows or shooting them. One psychiatric outpatient, who watched as his best friend was blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq, said: 'It does not matter how hardcore you are. Once you go to that war and you start to see dead bodies – you see an arm over here, you see guts over there. There is no way you are ever going to erase that.'"

Source: "Behind the Walls of Ward 54", Salon.com
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CARD 21    Hernandez – Mental Health

"Hernandez, an Army reservist who spent 16 months in Iraq, was always on guard. Every day, every night, there was danger. As a convoy escort, he came under constant fire. Now he manages a Hollywood Video store. "I do feel lucky to be home", he said. "But I never get rid of the gory images. I lost my ability to trust. You see cute kids coming at you in Iraq. That could be a decoy. The same with women in their burkas. My kids and wife will never understand what I went through. I'm in my homeland, but I perceive life differently. Every day, there is something that reminds me of what I have been through."

Source: SF Chronicle, 01/17/05
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CARD 22    Mental Illness

"An Army panel at Walter Reed Hospital decides what percentage of income each soldier should get from the military to compensate him if he is too ill to serve any longer. The doctors decide whether wounds are combat related, and then the panel decides how much disability the Army will pay. The panel's decision is critical for soldiers trying to make a living after leaving the Army with what can be a debilitating mental condition. Fighting with the hospital about disability pay is a source of considerable stress just as these soldiers are trying to heal their minds."

What does it mean to "Support Our Troops"?

Source: "Behind the Walls of Ward 54", Salon.com
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CARD 23    Mental Illness

"What bewildered the soldiers at Walter Reed was that the Army seemed determined to downplay their war trauma and search for other causes for their mental health problems."

'When you get [to Walter Reed], they analyze you, break you down, and try to find anything wrong with you before you got in' the Army, said Spc. Josh Sanders. 'They started asking me questions about my mom and my dad getting divorced. That was the last thing on my mind when I'm thinking about people getting fragged and burned bodies being pulled out of vehicles,' said Sanders. 'They asked me if I missed my wife. Well, (expletive) yeah, I missed my wife. That is not the (expletive) problem here. Did you ever put your foot through a 5-year-old's skull?'"

What does it mean to "Support Our Troops"?

Source: "Behind the Walls of Ward 54", Salon.com
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CARD 24    Negron, a 48-year-old Psychiatric Patient at
                  Walter Reed After Serving 11 Months in Iraq

"Now, he says his debilitated mental state after the war has left him unable to work. He drives two hours each way for mental health treatment at a V.A. medical center. 'You think I can live on $700 a month?" Negron asked. "I can't work. My wife is suffering. She can't leave me alone. Sometimes I feel suicidal. Sometimes I hear voices. Sometimes I see lights. I feel like I'm being shot at. They sent me home like that. I've been dealing with this since I got back,' Negron said. 'I left here in good condition. If I have a mental condition, they have to deal with it … I did my part. Why can't they do their part?'"

What does it mean to "Support Our Troops"?

Source: "Behind the Walls of Ward 54", Salon.com
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CARD 25    Trouble for Recruiters

"From January through March of 2005 the Marines, the Army and the Army National Guard have missed their recruiting goals, which has lead to more aggressive recruiting in high schools, especially in those serving low-income and minority students." 1

"Since about 75% of enlisted Marines do not re-enlist after their first tour of duty, new recruits are a necessity." 2

"On May 20, 2005 all recruiting activities were suspended for a day in order to retrain recruiters 'in military ethics and the laws that govern what can and cannot be done to enlist applicants.' The Army's statistics show those cases of wrongdoing by recruiters increased by more than 60% in 2004 … 'Recruiters and former Army officials say they are related to the extraordinary pressure being put on recruiters, who must meet quotas of roughly two recruits a month. The strain is breeding not just abuses, they said, but also stress-related illnesses, damaged marriages and even thoughts of suicide among some." 3

Sources:

The Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 2005

NY Times, 02/03/05

NY Times, May 12, 2005, pg. A22

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CARD 26 Santiago's Forced Extension of His
Enlistment (Stop-loss)

"Sgt. Emiliano Santiago enlisted in the National Guard as a junior in high school at the age of 18. At age 27, three weeks before his eight-year enlistment ended, he was told his term of service was being prolonged under the stop-loss policy. He was sent to Afghanistan and told that his enlistment had been extended 27 years until 2031*. Santiago is not alone. At least 7,000 soldiers had been affected by the stop-loss policy and sent to either Afghanistan or Iraq. On April 8, 2005 the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that his eight-year contract did not prevent President Bush from extending his enlistment under the national emergency declaration."

Source: SF Chronicle, Friday, April 8, 2005 article by Bob Egelko

* Bob Egelko was contacted for clarification on the 27 years extension and reported that the Army's public affairs office said the date was an arbitrary figure placed on Santiago's orders for administrative convenience and did not mean he was expected to serve that long. Why is "administrative convenience" so heartless?
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CARD 27    Contracts With the Military

Get a copy of the military contract at RethinkingSchools.org and pay particular attention to section 9b which makes any and all promises in the contract irrelevant:

"Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to me. Such changes may affect my status, pay, allowances, benefits, and responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment reenlistment document."

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Santiago case said: "Enlistment in the armed forces does not constitute merely a bargain between two parties, but effects a change of status by which 'the citizen becomes a soldier' … no breach of the contract destroys the new status or relieves … the obligation which its existence imposes."

This means that it is okay for the government to violate contracts of all those caught in the "stop-loss" or "back door draft". Once a person signs a military contract he/she is no longer a civilian, but a soldier and as such is subject to military rule and laws governing the military."

Source: Rethinking Schools Spring 2005, Vol. 19, Number 3, pg. 46-47
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CARD 28    AGE 16 to 25? The Pentagon
                  Has Your Number, and More

"The Department of Defense and a private contractor have been building an extensive database of 30 million 16-to-25 year olds, combining names with Social Security numbers, grade-point averages, email addresses and phone numbers. The department began building the database three years ago, but military officials filed a notice announcing plans for it only last month. That is apparently a violation of the federal privacy Act, which requires that government agencies accept public comment before new records systems are created".

"David Chu, the Under Secretary of Defense for personnel, said the database was just a tool to send out general material from the Pentagon to those most likely to enlist. The information can also be shared with local recruiters."

"Some parents think that any information gathered by the military covertly amounts to an intrusion. Sandra Lowe of Sonoma, Calif., who has two teenage boys, said, 'It's a direct shot to someone's child without consent from a parent. If you were to come on campus and wanted to take a picture of a child, you have to get a release-just to take a picture. This is a lot more than that.'"

Source:     NY Times, Friday, June 24, 2005. Article by Damien Cave,
                Margot Williams and John Files contributed from
                New York and Washington.