By Aina Marzia for Yes! Media.
Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the YES! Media-Public News Service Collaboration

Year after year, the same foldable table is propped up near the entrance of a high school gym. People with the same uniform but different faces, all eager to tell you about a new "opportunity," will sit idly at the table. There will be a sign in front of the table and a clipboard on top, ready to jot down any name that will take the bait being offered.

The U.S.'s "all-volunteer military" requires people, and the search for young high schoolers to fill the ranks of the armed forces is always ongoing. Further, the military tends to prioritize recruiting low-income minority kids because, as per Anthony Clark, a U.S. Air Force veteran, "Poverty is the draft."

Racial and Socioeconomic Discrepancies in Enlistment

From embedding militarism into public schools to setting up shop inside schools, the military will seemingly go to any lengths necessary to get more boots on the ground. Programs like Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), while not directly affiliated with recruiters, attract large enlistments from high schoolers and are introduced to students as early as freshman year. In a report by RAND Corporation in 2017, it is estimated that more than 500,000 students are enrolled in Army training programs. Further, 56% of schools with such programs offered federal reduced or free lunch options, suggesting that they serve students near or below the poverty line.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, around 64% of enlistments are of people from household incomes below $87,000, and 19% are from household incomes below $41,691. Although the CFR classifies such people as "middle income," many social scientists point out the increasing financial precarity of the American middle class, such as Alissa Quart's 2018 book Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America. Such research highlights how the middle class is shrinking, making income data unreliable when assessing economic hardship. While there is a common belief that the armed forces are an "all-volunteer military," the data suggests that low-income students often view the military as an economic opportunity.

Study after study shows similar results. A 2018 RAND study found that 46% of enlisted soldiers cited economic and job-related reasons for joining the military. Among those whom the study profiled was a single mother who said she joined "just because I had my son and I needed the benefits," or another enlistee who stated they "needed to make money."

So, when recruiters offer high schoolers a simply worded way out of poor economic situations-"join the military so you can pay for school"-it is a tempting prospect.

Youth of color are also disproportionately represented among enlistees and those targeted by recruiters. A 2017 Pew Research Study showed that almost 43% of the active duty forces in the military were people of color. Of that number, 36% were Hispanic. Through public relations campaigns, like "Yo Soy El Army," that serve as government propaganda, the military portrays itself in a positive light, specifically marketed to Hispanic populations. Furthermore, many of the states with the largest number of enlistments, such as Texas, California, and Florida, are areas that neighbor the U.S.-Mexico border and are also, unsurprisingly, areas with predominantly Hispanic populations.

The U.S. Army, falling short of recruits, blames higher wages and accessibility to more jobs for the enlistment decrease. As congressman Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, stated recently in response to President Biden's program to forgive a portion of educational debt, "Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military's greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments." In other words, if college and health care were to become affordable, enlistments would be even lower than they already are, because the "greatest recruitment tools" are in fact predatory economic practices.

In an attempt to meet its recruitment goal, the military has slowly started taking away qualification requirements. Students who fail the initial body fat and academic tests will get training on the job allowing for "uneducated" youth to enlist.

Already, Hispanic and Indigenous youth make up some of the largest percentages of high school dropouts. Further, 17% of youth ages 16-24 identifying as Hispanic or Indigenous drop out of secondary school education. Their reasons include systemic issues, like the school-to-prison pipeline and economic hardship. These kids will now be subject to recruiting as a "way out" of their situations.

Latino High School Students Enlist for Financial Security

Students attending public schools across the southern border of the U.S. experience aggressive recruitment practices constantly. Luis Mendez, a senior at El Paso High School and a member of the JROTC program at his school, says he frequently sees recruiters on his campus. "A majority of recruiters I have encountered have asked me if I ever had any major considerations on joining ... mostly Army, Marines, and Navy branches," he says.

When asked about how recruiters talk to students, Mendez explains, "They'll show you what each branch offers, the different opportunities one can reach, and the different jobs they offer, with benefits to each specified job." Mendez is aware of the health care and college benefits and believes they are incentives to recruit students, saying, "A majority of recruiters commonly use this as a subject to inform or persuade students."

Mendez also says that despite being a first-generation Mexican American, he was "taught that [as] an American citizen, [he] must answer to the country's calling if the need arises."

Joseph Correa, a student at Eastwood High School, cites that he is from a low-income family and says, "I have considered joining the military to serve the United States and [for] the college [and] health care benefits."

Similarly, Brandon Hernandez, a recent high school graduate, believes the military will "help me while I get back on my feet." Facing few other options, Hernandez feels that joining the military was his best bet, saying, "Maybe [in the future] I can study for another career while I'm in any branch." He also adds that the military will provide him with benefits that other institutions don't offer, such as free college education. "It is the best option for me, because I get to go to college and get it paid; I will have good money and benefits [from] the start."

Counter-Recruitment Organizations Speak Out

There are numerous organizations working on demilitarization-the abolition of military forces and war. A main component of demilitarization is countering the recruitment of young people in schools.

Sustainable Options for Youth (SOY) is an Austin-based network of veterans and community members that promotes peace in schools. Through interactive real-life games, like allocating taxpayer money to life after the military, students get a holistic understanding of what they may be in for if they join the military.

Another organization, the Network Opposing the Militarization of YouthNational (NNOMY), is a nationwide outreach program that aims to counter military recruitment in public schools. The group's website offers an analysis of race- and class-based recruitment and assesses the harms of militarization.

From providing alternative peace-centered careers to advocating for an end to weapons training in high schools, NNOMY believes taking recruiters out of schools is vital to divesting from wars. "The Pentagon is taking over our poorer public schools. This is the new reality for our disadvantaged youth," says the group. The organization has also put together a comprehensive kit for students facing aggressive recruiting and how to organize against it.

The kit includes informational videos from veterans; links to national campaigns, such as "Winning the Peace"; hotline cards; and more. Issue-based sections, like JROTC, gender, and the military, and privacy protections, make the kit easy to navigate and a must-have for those who want to get involved in countering recruitment and demilitarizing.

Everyone can play a role in counter-recruitment efforts: Students, teachers, counselors, parents, and organizers can contribute to the movement by protecting students' privacy, learning how to opt out from recruitment databases, organizing against shooting ranges, exposing funding gaps in education, investigating JROTC, starting counter-recruitment chapters locally, and more.

Aina Marzia wrote this article for YES! Magazine.

A New Mexico resident will attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union address tonight as legislation is pending to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The measure was passed in 1990, with money going to residents of the Southwest who were harmed, either from uranium mining or atomic tests in 1945. The original legislation included "downwinders" in Arizona, Utah and Nevada. But New Mexico was left out, despite the state being home to the world's first atomic bomb testing and explosion.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has made it her life's work to get New Mexico families compensated.

"I've been working for 19 years to bring attention to the negative health effects the people of New Mexico suffered," Cordova explained. "The Trinity bomb was detonated in the middle of our state and adjacent to a bunch of towns where 13,000 people lived in a 50-mile radius."

Cordova was invited to the annual Presidential address by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. In the coming days, the Senate is scheduled to vote on legislation to reauthorize the act, now scheduled to end in June.

Cordova pointed out the more than 30-year-old compensation program was an admission of guilt on the part of the government but left out many of those harmed. She knows families who have lost relatives to cancer, some within 10 years of the nuclear bomb testing.

"I just hope that people who know I'm present, realize that we will never give up the fight," Cordova asserted. "We will work very hard to get the RECA amendments passed this year, but if by some chance that doesn't happen, we will continue to fight this fight for justice as long as it takes."

This Sunday, the Hollywood blockbuster, Oppenheimer, about the creation of the atomic bomb, is a favorite to win best picture at the 2024 Academy Awards. The film did not address effects to those downwind of the bombing site.


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A new report finds Connecticut's recently released prison population is facing reentry challenges.

The State of Reentry report found resources and services are lacking for formerly incarcerated people. Between 2022 and 2023, 14% of the population said they would be homeless upon release.

It is just the tip of the iceberg as many of the state's Reentry Welcome Centers reported most of their clients were housing unstable.

Scott Wilderman, president and CEO of Career Resources, said it can be attributed to numerous factors including the stigma of being an ex-offender.

"We have to do a better job of educating and working with landlords and try to encourage them to give individuals a second chance," Wilderman contended. "There's no doubt about that. The sad part is, with returning citizens or ex-offenders, there's really no such thing as an ex-offender since everybody always sees the offense."

He thinks Connecticut should focus more on justice reinvestment. Other criminal justice advocates have called for using funds saved by closing prisons to invest in reentry centers. The centers are not funded by the state and have been subsisting on American Rescue Plan funds. When the money expires at the end of the year, it is uncertain how they will be able to help people with life after prison.

Given it is the third year of the report, Wilderman acknowledged there have not been many changes, but he found it surprising, noting there has been plenty of time to make improvements, specifically in areas like education.

"We know education is the great equalizer and having a high school diploma is essential," Wilderman asserted. "It just opens a lot more doors for an individual as it's often a requirement for employment, or in some cases going after further education or job training."

The report noted 66% of incarcerated people with sentences ending in six months said they did not have a high school diploma. Enrollment is down in programs for incarcerated people to complete their degrees. One reason for it is Connecticut's ongoing teacher shortage.


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After a five-year court battle, New Jersey's medical aid-in-dying law has been affirmed by the state's Supreme Court, which rejected an attempt to overturn the statute.

Signed by the governor in 2019, the law was soon challenged by a physician based on religious, personal and constitutional grounds. It allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get a prescription they can use to end their lives.

Dr. Paul Bryman, a hospice and palliative care physician, is an advocate for medical aid in dying for people who feel their suffering is intolerable.

"I think it's important that that option is available for people who choose to avail themselves of it. It's not for everyone and it's someone's choice whether they want to use that. No one's forced to do it," he explained.

Bryman practices geriatric and internal medicine and believes there are adequate legal safeguards to make sure patients are protected. The law was briefly suspended in August 2019, but reinstated 13 days later as court proceedings continued.

The nonprofit group Compassion & Choices expressed support for the decision as well as expanded and improved end-of-life care options.

Alan Howard, Compassion & Choices attorney, urged the justices to uphold a lower court's ruling.

"We are grateful that the Supreme Court recognized that there are terminally ill New Jersey residents who are counting on this end-of-life care option to bring them peace of mind during this difficult time," said Howard. "Dying people should have this compassionate option to peacefully end their suffering if it becomes unbearable."

Bryman added a total of 186 terminally ill New Jerseyans have used the medical aid-in-dying law and believes the court made the right decision.

"I'm glad that it's finally over and that this law's available for people in New Jersey who have the right to their own health-care decisions," he said.

In addition to New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and nine other states, which represent 22% of all Americans, have authorized medical aid in dying.