COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Counter-Recruitment: General
Rooting for recruiters
Joel Banner Baird, Burlington Free Press
Dec 8, 2007
WILLISTON -- A dozen flag-toting demonstrators -- some of themtoddlers -- rallied Friday morning at Maple Tree Place in support of
the U.S. military.
Dannielle Thomas of Fairfax organized the event at the Armed Forces
Career Center in response to last week's lively protest at the same
location against military recruiters in high schools.
"I took it personally because my husband is a soldier and he's been
deployed," she said.
About 50 demonstrators, organized by the Mount Mansfield Union High
School Peace Club, converged Nov. 30 on Williston's recruitment
offices to protest military recruitment practices. That group,
augmented by anti-war veterans and other peace demonstrators, later
occupied the Vermont Army National Guard recruiting station.
Thirteen protesters were cited for trespassing at the earlier rally.
Thomas's husband, Staff Sgt. Philip Thomas, is halfway through a
three-year stint as an Army recruiter at the Williston facility. Two
other recruiters' spouses, Brandy Borja of Grand Isle and Jennifer
Rea of Milton, likewise braved the cold Friday to show support.
A last-minute bump in numbers from about 20 Essex Technical Center
students, boosted morale, Thomas said. And despite the
disappointingly low turnout, the rally's message never faltered.
"I understand this community is mourning the loss of a soldier,"
Thomas said, invoking the combat death of Army Pfc. Adam Muller, a
2004 graduate of Mount Mansfield Union, "but I think their actions
last week were misguided. Soldiers pray for peace when they go to bed
at night.
"Recruiters certainly don't want people in the military who don't
want to be there," she added. "It's the same as those people in
booths in malls asking people if they want to try this hand cream:
You can tell them, 'No thank you,' and leave."
Thomas said it was possible that competition among the branches of
the armed services for high schoolers could leave an over-eager impression.
"The Army's out there; the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines. Each
one is saying they're the best, and some recruiters take their
missions personally."
Policy points
Diana Thomas, Dannielle's mother, said loyalty to the military runs
deep in the family. Her other son, Army Sgt. Patrick Thomas, serves
in Germany. Dannielle's sister, Caroline Yarmala, is a Navy Seabee.
But, she added, a uniform did not lead to uniform political beliefs.
"I'm sure not all of the soldiers out there agree with the policies,
and that's what your right to vote is all about," she said. "But
meanwhile, they're doing the job they signed up to do."
Army vet Chandler Clifford of St. Johnsbury said differences of
opinion flourished in his military family.
"My brother, a former Marine, isn't too happy with the Iraq war," he
said. "My mother is dead stone cold against it. She wants Hillary
Clinton for president because she says she'll bring the troops home."
Friday, Clifford toted a flag as he walked with his fellow
demonstrators to the slightly less-windy sidewalk at the Army
National Guard recruiting station.
His other arm cradled a Christmas-decked teddy bear. He said the
bruin illustrated America's tolerance for free speech -- a reference
to a Sudanese judge's recent pronouncement against a stuffed
classroom mascot named Mohammed.
"This bear's name is Jesus -- but just for the day," he said.
Clifford's pattern of serial enlistment took him for a 20-year career
in the Army, Navy, Marines and the Army National Guard.
"I dropped out of high school to go to Vietnam," he said. "They sent
me to Germany instead."
Straight talk
Misconceptions -- many fostered by action movies -- steer many young
people's impressions of the military, said Staff Sgt. Michael Cowles
during a break from a morning training session.
"I spend a lot of time clearing up myths and fallacies," he said.
"People think drill sergeants beat you; or that eventually every
recruit will go to war. The truth is, for every combat soldier, there
are 12 in support jobs."
Cowles and his colleagues hope to polish the lure of safe,
civilian-like jobs in an organization primed for warfare.
But young Vermonters are not biting, said Andy Entwistle, the chief
of advertising and public affairs for the Albany, N.Y., Army
Recruiting Battalion.
In fiscal year 2007, the Burlington Recruiting Company, which
encompasses most of Vermont and a sliver of upstate New York, set a
goal of 297 people, Entwistle said. Only 186 signed up.
None of them were Mount Mansfield Union grads.
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