tomorrow, May 26, at Ft. Stewart, Georgia
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Get the military recruiters out of our schools!
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT
Petition Drive Launch Rally & Signature Gathering Blitz
Saturday, May 28, 10:30 am
16th & Mission Street, San Francisco
(at 16th Street BART stop)
Rally speakers to include: Matt Gonzales, Green Party*,
Supervisor Chris Daly & many of the CNC endorsers
2) Protest Condoleezza Rice in San Francisco!
Stop the War! Bring the Troops Home now!
Where: Davies Symphony Hall, Grove St. between Van Ness
and Franklin. When: Friday, May 27, 10am to 1pm
3) UNITED DEMONSTRATIONS SEPTEMBER 24 WASHINGTON, D.C.,
LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO!
4) Protest Racists - Stand in Solidarity with the people of
Palestine. SAVE THE DATE: SUNDAY JUNE 5TH, 12 NOON
5) U.S. leads global attack on human rights -Amnesty
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters)
Wed May 25, 2005 09:21 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8601948&src=eDialog/GetContent
6) Seattle high school seeks military recruiter ban
24 May 2005 23:44:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Linda Thomas
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24332906.htm
7) US Selling More Weapons to Undemocratic Regimes That Support
'War on Terror'
by Abid Aslam
Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 by OneWorld.net
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0525-04.htm
8)* East Bay Local 2 Rally
* Protest Condoleezza Rice in SF
* College Not Combat: Counter-Recruitment Drive
* Stand Against Racism: Boycott Picket at SF Badlands
* ANSWER Forum on Korea
9) "School in Chicago-Senn High
-is being turned into a partial Naval
Academy beginning next fall. The
military has already started recruiting
kids and at the end of the year shows
up in a screaming hummer. The teachers,
community members, the local school
council (which acts as the school board in
Chicago for schools) and students do not
want this presence in there school."
CodePinkCounterRecruitGroup@yahoogroups.com
From: "Nancy L. Mancias"
[CodePinkCounterRecruitGroup] Fw: [discussions]
military in our schools -
fwd from diana cabcabin
-----Forwarded Message-----
Betsy Borgacz < borgacz1@yahoo.com >wrote:
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 06:42:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Betsy Borgacz < borgacz1@yahoo.com >
Subject: [discussions] military in our schools
To: "Alumnet Discussions Listserv" < discussions@alumnet.sit.edu >
To reply only to the sender, email borgacz1@yahoo.com
10) Peace Does Not Come Easily
by Camilo Mejia
Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0525-22.htm
11) 15 Years on the Bottom Rung
By ANTHONY DePALMA
May 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/national/class/MEXICANS-FINAL.html?
12) Murder Charges Dropped Against Marine
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)
Published: May 26, 2005
Filed at 10:36 a.m. ET
"Prosecutors alleged Pantano intended to make an example of the
men by shooting them 60 times and hanging a sign over their
bodies -- ''No better friend, no worse enemy,'' a Marine slogan.
While citing self-defense as his motive, Pantano did not deny
hanging the sign or shooting the men repeatedly."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Marine-Iraq-Death.html?hp&ex=1117166400&en=b3bc4a9b8703a9b7&ei=5094&partner=homepage
13) Minutemen Car Hits 4 Protestors -
8 Felony Charges
Chican@ protestors + allies show fierce determination in the face of
attempted murder by Minutemen and brutal suppression by police.
Los Angeles Independent Media Center
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/127256.php
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Get the military recruiters out of our schools!
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT
Petition Drive Launch Rally & Signature Gathering Blitz
Saturday, May 28, 10:30 am
16th & Mission Street, San Francisco
(at 16th Street BART stop)
Rally speakers to include: Matt Gonzales, Green Party*,
Supervisor Chris Daly & many of the CNC endorsers
All out for May 28th Petition Launch!
At the organizing meeting on May 21st, we planned out most of
the logistics for the Petition Drive Launch coming up this
Saturday, May 28th, but there is still much to be done! For
College not Combat to be a success, we need not only your
endorsement but as much help launching this campaign as possible.
Volunteers
We ask that each organization bring as many people as possible
to petition. The main table is going to be set up at 16th and
Mission with signs and banners for the rally, and this will act
as the headquarters of the petition launch. We will direct
volunteers from the rally to sign up, give them petitions
and other materials, and dispatch them with petition captains.
Petition Captains needed
We'd also encourage groups to volunteer petition captains. The
petition captains should be confident petitioners who can lead
a group of 5 or 6 volunteers around a given location. The captains
will be responsible for collecting the petitions and communicating
with the headquarters about how many people their petition station
should have. A short orientation will be held so captains are
prepared to lead a group of volunteers immediately after they
sign up.
Speakers
At the kick-off rally, in addition to Matt Gonzalez and Chris
Daly, we'd like a representative of each endorser to speak for
a few minutes about the reasons their organization decided to be
involved. We think it will be inspiring and powerful for people
to hear how the war is hurting many groups at home, and how we
need to work together to rebuild the anti-war movement.
Materials will be provided
CNC is currently working
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Protest Condoleezza Rice in San Francisco!
Stop the War! Bring the Troops Home now!
Where: Davies Symphony Hall, Grove St. between Van Ness
and Franklin. When: Friday, May 27, 10am to 1pm
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in San Francisco
this Friday to speak at a Commonwealth Club event. Join us to
protest her visit with a loud demonstration outside. Take the
morning off work or join us on your lunch break to SAY NO! to
war and occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan and
everywhere. Stop the U.S. threats and intervention against Cuba,
Venezuela, Korea, Philippines, Syria, Iran and other countries.
Protest the War at Home!
Secretary Rice's recent surprise visit to Iraq, meant to shore
up the fractured coalition government that the U.S created, was
a miserable failure. Since her visit the situation in Iraq has
spiraled out of control with no end in sight. Despite the rosy
picture of progress by Condoleezza Rice, Pentagon generals are
now openly giving a more sobering assessment that the occupation
is bogged down and could go on for years. There is no more light
at the end of the tunnel in Iraq today than there was in Vietnam.
The cost in human lives and critically needed resources has
already been enormous. More than 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed and untold numbers wounded. Living conditions have
declined drastically in most of the country, while the indices
of malnutrition; sickness and illiteracy have all risen
sharply, astounding statistics given the fact that the baseline
for measurement was a society that had lived for 13 years under
genocidal sanctions. More than 1,600 U.S. soldiers have been
killed, and over 28,000 have suffered from serious wounds
(many causing permanent disability), injuries and illness.
A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor predicts
that the Iraq war could cost $748 billion by 2014.
Call 415-821-6545, for more info.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 415-821-6545 or 202-544-3389.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) UNITED DEMONSTRATIONS SEPTEMBER 24 WASHINGTON, D.C.,
LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO!
Hold Bush & Congress Accountable for the Deaths, the Destruction,
the Lies, and the Toll on Our Communities
SEPTEMBER 24-26, 2005
END THE WAR ON IRAQ - BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Leave no bases behind - End the corporate occupation of Iraq
Stop bankrupting our communities - No military recruitment in our
schools
Sat., 9/24 - Massive March, Rally & Festival
Sun., 9/25 - Interfaith Service, Grassroots Training
Mon., 9/26 - Lobby Day, Mass Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil
Disobedience
More than two years after the illegal and immoral U.S. invasion
of Iraq, the nightmare continues. More than 1600 U.S. soldiers have
died, at least another 15,000 have been wounded; even the most
conservative estimates of Iraqi deaths number in the tens of
thousands. Iraq, a once sovereign nation, now lies in ruins under
the military and corporate occupation of the United States; U.S.
promises to rebuild have not been kept and Iraqis still lack food,
water, electricity, and other basic needs.
A majority of Americans believe that this war never should have
happened, but our elected representatives in Washington continue
to rubber-stamp the Bush Administration's disastrous Iraq policies.
They have given military recruiters nearly unrestricted access to
our schools -- and the Pentagon nearly unrestricted access to our
tax dollars. At a time when our vital social programs are eroding
or completely decimated, an overwhelming majority in Congress
recently approved Bush's request for an additional $82 billion
in war funding, and there's already talk of another $50 billion
appropriation this fall.
It's time to hold all pro-war politicians accountable for the
deaths, the destruction, the lies, and the toll on our communities!
Join United for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C. for three
massive days of action against the war: a major march, rally,
and festival on Saturday, September 24; an interfaith religious
service and day of grassroots trainings on Sunday, September 25;
and a large-scale grassroots lobbying day and mass nonviolent
direct action and civil disobedience on Monday, September 26.
From every corner of this country, people will travel to Washington
to bring our demands directly to the policymakers responsible
for this unjust war. These three days of actions will send
a clear message to the White House and Congress: The Iraq war
must end. It's time to bring all the troops home, leaving no
U.S. military bases behind, and to stop the corporate theft of
Iraq's resources. Instead of draining our national treasury
for endless war, we demand that our tax dollars be used to
repair the damage done to Iraq and to fund services in our
communities. We call for an immediate end to our government's
assault on immigrants, the unethical pressures on our young
people to join the military, and the undermining of democracy
through relentless attacks on everyone's basic rights.
Our mobilization will coincide with the meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, whose economic
policies place corporate profits ahead of basic human needs
worldwide. We will speak out against the corporate theft of
Iraq's resources and the decimation of the Iraqi economy
through privatization and "free trade."
Join our weekend of action to stop this war, and help
prevent any new wars!
Leaflets and more information will be available soon at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2854
In the meantime, circulate this announcement far and wide
and mark your calendar for the weekend of September 24-26.
We need your financial support to make this mobilization
possible! Please make the most generous contribution you
can today at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/donate
Thanks, and we'll see you in Washington!
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Protest Racists - Stand in Solidarity with the people of
Palestine. SAVE THE DATE: SUNDAY JUNE 5TH, 12 NOON
"It must be clear that there is no room for both peoples in
this country...The Zionist enterprise so far...has been fine and
good in its own time, and could do with 'land buying' - but this
will not bring about the State of Israel; that must come all at
once... and there is no way besides transferring the Arabs from
here to the neighboring countries, to transfer them all; except
maybe for Bethlehem, Nazareth and Old Jerusalem, we must not
leave a single village, not a single tribe"
Joseph Weitz, director of the Jewish National Land Fund, Diary
entry December 19, 1940
Local Zionists are celebrating "Israeli Independence Day" in San
Francisco at Yerba Buena Gardens. But Israel 's independence has
meant the destruction of the Palestinian people and their society.
Over 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly dispossessed to create
"the Jewish state" in 1948, and they and their descendants (who
number more than 5 million people today) remain in exile in
refugee camps, despite countless UN Resolutions demanding
their return. Furthermore, the date selected to "celebrate"
this occasion (June 5 th ) is not accidentally the anniversary
of the 1967 War and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank,
Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights .
During a time when Israeli and US forces reap havoc on the
people of Palestine and Iraq; when the money to fund these
wars and occupations come from US tax payer money; at a time
when schools are being closed in Oakland, and budgets and
pensions slashed across the board, we call upon all people
of conscience to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian
people, and to demonstrate against the reactionary
apologists of war, racism and colonialism
We say NO to celebrating ethnic cleansing
We say NO to celebrating occupation
We say NO to celebrating Israel apartheid
We say YES to a Free Palestine
We say YES to Self-determination
We say YES to the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees
We say YES to boycotting Israeli goods
We say YES to stopping all aid to Israel
This is not a day to celebrate but a day to protest and
raise our voices with our allies in struggle for
a Free Palestine.
Meet in front of Office Depot on 3rd Street, between
Market and Mission
for more information info@justiceinpalestine.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) U.S. leads global attack on human rights -Amnesty
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters)
Wed May 25, 2005 09:21 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8601948&src=eDialog/GetContent
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Seattle high school seeks military recruiter ban
24 May 2005 23:44:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Linda Thomas
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24332906.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) US Selling More Weapons to Undemocratic Regimes That Support
'War on Terror'
by Abid Aslam
Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 by OneWorld.net
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0525-04.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8)* East Bay Local 2 Rally
* Protest Condoleezza Rice in SF
* College Not Combat: Counter-Recruitment Drive
* Stand Against Racism: Boycott Picket at SF Badlands
* ANSWER Forum on Korea
For more information on the following events,
contact 415-821-6545.
Thurs. May 26, 4pm
Local 2 March and Rally for East Bay Hotel Workers
Claremont Hotel, 41 Tunnel Rd., Berkeley
Local 2's actions have been escalating with over 1500 people
marching to the Hilton on May 3rd and 40 of them taking over the
lobby in an act of civil disobedience. Two weeks ago, almost
a thousand hotel workers, their supporters and labor side
attorneys picketed the St Francis.
It's been more than three months since the union gave its
proposals and the bosses have not responded. Join the ANSWER
Coalition and show your support for the hotel workers in their
struggle for a fair contract.
For more info on the Local 2 struggle, visit
http://www.unitehere2.org/.
Fri. May 27, 10am-1pm
Protest Condoleezza Rice in S.F.
Davies Symphony Hall, on Grove between Van Ness and Franklin
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in San Francisco
this Friday to speak at a Commonwealth Club event. Join us to
protest her visit with a loud demonstration outside. Take the
morning off work or join us on your lunch break to SAY NO! to
war and occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan and
everywhere. Stop the U.S. threats and intervention against Cuba,
Venezuela, Korea, Philippines, Syria, Iran and other countries.
Protest the War at Home!
Sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition.
Sat. May 28, 10:30am
College Not Combat:
Kickoff Rally and Petition Drive for Anti-War, Counter-
Recruitment Ballot Initiative
16th and Mission St., San Francisco
Join with the ANSWER Coalition to help petition to get the
Counter-Recruitment Proposition on the ballot. The proposition
states: the people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters
using public school, college and university facilities to recruit
young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco
should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating
the means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college
and job training to low-income students so they are not economically
compelled to join the military!
Endorsed by the ANSWER Coalition and many other community groups
and activists.
Sat. May 28, 10pm-12midnight
Boycott Picket at the SF Badlands
In front of S.F. Badlands on 18th Street between Castro
and Collingwood
After a thorough 10-month investigation, the San Francisco Human
Rights Commission (HRC) concluded definitively on April 29th
that Les Natali, owner of the SF Badlands, violated numerous
civil rights ordinances over the past four years by directly
discriminating against people of color. Stand against racism
and demand accountability for widespread racial discrimination
and create inclusion in the Castro.
Join the ANSWER Coalition and other community and labor groups
on the picket line.
Tues. May 31, 7pm
ANSWER Educational Forum - Korea: The Gwangju Uprising
S.F. Women's Building 3543 18th St. (btwn Valencia and Guerrero)
With video presentation and featured speakers Hyo-Seok Kim,
Co-director of the Korea Truth Commission and participant in
the 1980 uprising and Shin Lee, director of the Reunification
Alliance of Gwangju-Chomman.
This year is the 25th anniversary of the Gwangju People's Uprising.
On May 18, 1980, the people of Gwangju, a city in the southwest
of the Korean peninsula, organized mass resistance to liberate
the city from the military dictatorship of General Chun Doo Hwan.
Their martyrdom and the struggle for democracy, self-determination
and reunification that followed sparked a fundamental transformation
of South Korean society that continues to reverberate to this day.
Now a national holiday, the Gwangju People's Uprising is revered
as a source of inspiration for activists around the world as
a point of unity for the Korean people.
$3-10 donation (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Call 415-821-6545 to reseve free childcare.
Wheelchair accessible.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 415-821-6545 or 202-544-3389.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) "School in Chicago-Senn High
-is being turned into a partial Naval
Academy beginning next fall. The
military has already started recruiting
kids and at the end of the year shows
up in a screaming hummer. The teachers,
community members, the local school
council (which acts as the school board in
Chicago for schools) and students do not
want this presence in there school."
CodePinkCounterRecruitGroup@yahoogroups.com
From: "Nancy L. Mancias"
[CodePinkCounterRecruitGroup] Fw: [discussions]
military in our schools -
fwd from diana cabcabin
-----Forwarded Message-----
Betsy Borgacz < borgacz1@yahoo.com >wrote:
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 06:42:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Betsy Borgacz < borgacz1@yahoo.com >
Subject: [discussions] military in our schools
To: "Alumnet Discussions Listserv"
< discussions@alumnet.sit.edu >
To reply only to the sender,
email borgacz1@yahoo.com .
I wanted to let everyone know about
a school in Chicago. Senn High School
is being turned into a partial Naval Academy.
The high school is fixed to be a partial
military high school starting next fall.
The military has already started recruting
kids and at the end of the year shows up in
a screaming hummer. The teachers, community
members, the local school council (which acts
as the school board in Chicago for schools)
and students do not want this presence in
there school.
Several students come from countries where
there was torture and violence all connected
to the military and are deeply troubled by
the thought of having uniforms in the halls.
The school would like to try some counter
recruitment on the last day which is a majo
recruitment day but also other days throughout
the summer.
If anyone has any suggestions for this group
in how to better handle this situation or if
there is some way to keep the school from becoming
a partial military school please contact me or go to
http://www.savesenn.org/ and contact the group
working on this.
Thank you,
Betsy E. Borgacz
773-262-5214
borgacz1@yahoo.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Peace Does Not Come Easily
by Camilo Mejia
Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0525-22.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) 15 Years on the Bottom Rung
By ANTHONY DePALMA
May 26, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/national/class/MEXICANS-FINAL.html?
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) Murder Charges Dropped Against Marine
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)
Published: May 26, 2005
Filed at 10:36 a.m. ET
"Prosecutors alleged Pantano intended to make an example of the
men by shooting them 60 times and hanging a sign over their bodies
-- ''No better friend, no worse enemy,'' a Marine slogan. While citing
self-defense as his motive, Pantano did not deny hanging the sign or
shooting the men repeatedly."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Marine-Iraq-Death.html?hp&ex=1117166400&en=b3bc4a9b8703a9b7&ei=5094&partner=homepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Minutemen Car Hits 4 Protestors -
8 Felony Charges
Chican@ protestors + allies show fierce determination in the face of
attempted murder by Minutemen and brutal suppression by police.
Los Angeles Independent Media Center
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/127256.php
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) Barren at basic
Recruiting shortfall echoes in quiet training center
By Gina Cavallaro
Times staff writer
FORT BENNING, Ga.
May 30, 2005
FORT BENNING, Ga. - Three long rows of young soldiers stood
in front of unloaded M249 squad automatic weapons for the first
time.
Unable to resist touching the cold steel during orientation,
the soldiers were ordered to step back an arm's length.
It was Week 7 of basic training.
"Does anybody know what posthumous means?" Staff Sgt. Andre
Allen asked the 150 infantrymen-in-training, members of F Company,
1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment.
A few hands went up, but he answered his own question.
"It means after death. Some of you are going to get medals that
way," he said matter-of-factly, underscoring the possibility
that some of them would be sent to combat and not return.
The gritty realities of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being
cited as prime reasons that the Army is having a tough time
filling its training posts with new soldiers.
A basic training company here should be packed with as many
as 250 men, but what has been a chronic recruiting shortfall
this year means the mission to train about 24,500 infantrymen
at Benning by the end of fiscal 2005 is looking more elusive
every day.
As of May 5, the Infantry Training Brigade had been forced to
cancel 14 "training cycles," or companies, representing about
3,200 soldiers programmed to go through 14-week, one-station
unit training.
The ITB, expecting an increase in the number of recruits to
meet the manpower needs driven by the Army's reorganization
from 33 brigades to 48, had boosted the number of companies
undergoing training at one time from 24 to 34. That number
will rise to 39 by July to meet the traditional summer surge
in trainees after high school graduation.
But since January, the training center has been forced to
cancel cycles because there were not enough soldiers to make
up even a small company.
"Parents don't want their kids to join the Army because
they're getting killed," said F Company Staff Sgt. Peter
Garwood, who has been a drill sergeant at Benning for two
years.
Staff Sgt. McKinley Rodgers, an infantryman who spent 12 months
in Iraq with the 1st Armored Division, was shadowing Garwood
in preparation for becoming a drill sergeant. The number of
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the corps of drill
sergeants is nearly 60 percent.
He noted that while patriotism still motivates many young
men, "some don't have a clue." But he agreed with Garwood
that the war is a deterrent.
In April, the Army filled an average of 50 percent of its
recruit training classes, versus 92 percent for the same
month last year.
For the year through April, the Army was at 84 percent of
its recruiting goal. Nevertheless, Army leaders are confident
that recruiters will meet the mission of signing up 80,000
new soldiers in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
Despite the current shortfall in infantry recruits, a senior
commander here said it's too early to panic.
"To be 3,000 [soldiers] short this time of the year ...
I don't know that we're overly excited. We're concerned.
To get to the end of the fiscal year, somebody at [Army
Recruiting Command] had better answer that," said Lt. Col.
Hap Smith, deputy commanding officer at the Infantry
Training Brigade, whose fiscal 2004 training mission of
18,700 - and 16,000 the year before - were easily attained,
even surpassed, he added.
At F Company, the 150 soldiers in training is an even lower
number than the bare minimum of 185 the ITB likes to have to
fill a training cycle.
But the standard of training is as rigorous as usual, and the
enthusiasm and sense of duty among the soldiers, even with the
prospect of heading to Iraq as few as 27 days from graduation,
hasn't wavered.
"They need help. That's why I joined. I want to get over
[to Iraq] as soon as possible," said Pvt. Robert Blevins, 21,
of Niagara Falls, N.Y., who left what he called a dead-end
job at a steel plant after earning his general equivalency
diploma. His 18-year-old brother is coming in, too, and will
be in training at Benning in two months.
"My friends wanted to join before, but now they don't want to
join because there's a war going on," Blevins said. "Personally,
I think they're cowards."
Equally committed but admittedly "a little bit" nervous, Pvt.
Daniel Hough chased cows, broke horses and fixed fences on
a ranch near Kamiah, Idaho, and later operated a forklift at
a sawmill before joining the Army.
"I have a lot of friends who have been in Iraq. They've said
the casualties are not as bad as they say, as bad as the media
makes it out to be," Hough said. Still, he said his friends
think he's stupid for joining the Army. And, at 26, he's not
a typical recruit.
In this company, one-third of the soldiers have GED certificates,
and almost all have had some work experience before coming to
Benning. That's according to company commander Capt. Justin
Bosanko, who said this cycle is the smallest he's seen in
the six months he's been on the job.
Bosanko said he's worried that if the number of recruits
doesn't pick up, he will start to lose training resources.
he does like the higher drill-sergeant-to-trainee ratio.
Staff Sgt. Chad Doughty, an Army reservist from Indianapolis,
has been training soldiers at Fort Benning for a year. He said
he started noticing smaller groups in March.
"We know that right now it's not a popular thing to be in the
Army," said Bosanko, 30, a former National Guardsman who spent
10 months in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division.
"I feel a strong sense of pride in putting on a uniform and
it worries me that that feeling isn't back at home."
Patriotism remained a strong driving force for many in the
ranks of recent recruits, however.
"If somebody's defending my country, if somebody's defending
my family, I want it to be me," said Pvt. Pat Corbett, 20, of
Indianapolis, a former college football player who plans to
become a Ranger.
Spc. Michael Tregle, 25, of New Orleans gave up a law career
to enlist as an infantryman.
"I've wanted to be a soldier longer than I've wanted to be
a lawyer. I finished school and I thought, it's now or never,"
said Tregle, who opted to enlist for a $20,000 bonus rather
than go in as an officer because "I want to see the Army
from the ground up and take advantage of the student loan
repayment pledge."
The dearth of new recruits notwithstanding, retention among
the permanent-party soldiers at Benning is robust, reflecting
Armywide trends. As of March, initial term re-enlistment at
Benning was 110 percent, midcareer was 112 percent and
careerists re-enlisted at a rate of 137 percent.
The post's top career counselor, Sgt. Maj. Lyle Hogue, said
many of the 5,000 soldiers assigned to the training units
are staying Army because they are motivated by their mission.
"We train the infantry guys who are going to go straight over
there into harm's way," he said. "You couldn't have a more
important job than what they have here."
School's out
This year's recruit training classes, in some cases, are
half as full as last year's. By percentage:
April '04 April '05
Fort Knox, Ky. 94 47
Fort Jackson, S.C. 92 44
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. 86 58
Fort Benning, Ga. 98 56
Fort Sill, Okla. 87 39
TOTAL 92 50
Source: Training and Doctrine Command
Copyright (c) 2005
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