COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Youth of Color
Anti-war group presents $500 checks to 2 students
Elena Gaona, UNION-TRIBUNE
July 8, 2005
VISTA – It was a simple garden ceremony, complete with an oversized check announcing the award: $500 toward college.Fernando Suarez del Solar, the father of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq, is the founder of a group that gave scholarships to help minorities go to college rather than into military service.Jessica Sánchez, 25, and Hector Najera, 17, were given the first scholarships on July Fourth from the nonprofit anti-war group, Aztec Warrior Project for Peace.
"It's not like a lot of money, but the reassurance that somebody believes in me and does find me adequate to go to college and wishes me success, I'm grateful for that because it does allow me to dream," said Hector, who plans to become a teacher.
The scholarships – there will be 20 of them next year, organizers say – are mostly symbolic. They are meant to encourage mainly Latino students to go to college without joining the military.
Hector says he was approached by five military recruiters during his final days before graduating from Escondido's Orange Glen High School. Getting the award helped him say no, he said, even though he needs thousands more to complete his education.
The scholarships come from a group founded by Fernando Suarez del Solar of Escondido, who became an anti-war activist after his 20-year-old son died in 2003 while serving in Iraq.
"I never say, 'Don't join the military,' " Suarez said. "What I say is that our children should not feel they need to join the military for the wrong reasons, to pay for college or because they see it as the only way out."
Suarez contends that military recruiters target schools in low-income, mostly Latino and African-American neighborhoods more than others.
Recruiters, however, deny that.
"We recruit the best and the brightest," said Maj. Joe Kloppel, a spokesman with the Western Recruitment Region of the Marine Corps. "We just don't target any racial or socioeconomic group. We want a reflection of U.S. society. We just want young men and women who want to serve."
But Hector – who comes from a household where his mother supports him and two siblings by working at a dry cleaners – said that even though he made it clear military service was not for him during several calls from the Army, the Navy and the Coast Guard, the calls didn't stop coming.
He said he also ran into recruiters at lunchtime, got letters, saw them at career fairs and after school.
"It's just overwhelming," said Rick Jahnkow, one of the founders of the Encinitas-based Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO) that started in 1984.
"They bring tanks, helicopters, Humvees" to attract attention, he said, and they go to places like Chula Vista, not La Jolla.
Suarez and his organization are part of a growing movement not only in San Diego County but nationwide trying to inform low-income high school students that they have options beyond the military, Jahnkow said.
As some branches of the armed forces struggle with finding enough recruits, however, Jahnkow said expects recruitment efforts to be stepped up too.
Under federal school guidelines, military recruiters can request student names, addresses and telephone numbers. Families can ask that the information not be released without written consent, but many are unaware of that right, Jahnkow said.
YANO is part of a coalition whose volunteers, including about 60 students, distribute leaflets at key San Diego schools in the morning, informing families of their right to opt out of the lists provided to recruiters.
One recruiter who visited Suarez's home convinced his son, Jesus Alberto, and his family that by joining the U.S. Marines he could pay for his education and begin studying to become a drug enforcement agent or attorney after one year, Suarez said.
Suarez said he later learned that because his son was not a U.S. citizen, he wouldn't have qualified to become a DEA agent, and it is unlikely his studies could have begun after a year because he would still be serving.
"I'm against the recruiters who lie, who enter the schools and call students at home, talk to them after school, give them gifts, get friendly with their parents. It's a sales job," he said.
Marine recruiters, like other armed forces recruiters including Army, Navy, Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard, do visit schools regularly to recruit, Kloppel said, but it's not their job to deceive families.
Kloppel applauded the new scholarships and said, "It's not us against them. The Marine Corps is not competitive with them or any other group. Scholarships are wonderful for everyone."
who was 6 when she traveled through the Southern California desert with her mother to enter America illegally. "Nobody can kick me out of here.
My rights will be defended."
In exchange, Quintero-Espinoza and her comrades assumed
responsibilities and risks, including being sent to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. Phone,
24, the airman first class who came from Burma in 2002, didn't hesitate to
volunteer to serve a nation willing to help him get ahead in life.
"I would be grateful to meet somebody who offers you what you want" in
return for accepting an obligation, said Phone, who became a citizen
about
two years after enlisting. "That's fair -- totally fair -- I think."
A history of service
That deal, with the promise of naturalization, has appealed to millions
of
immigrants and the military throughout American history. The Army, in
particular, has sought out and relied on immigrant recruits, especially
during wars.
In the 1840s, almost half of all recruits were not U.S. citizens, said
Conrad Crane, director of the Army Military History Institute at the
Army
War College in Carlisle, Penn. "They're just right off the boat,
basically."
During the Civil War, the government promised citizenship to
immigrants,
and recruiters sailed overseas to make the pitch. Noncitizens
constituted
as much as 20 percent of the 1.5 million-man Union Army.
"Some of them were attracted, of course, by glory; some of them by a
chance
for adventure," Crane said. "For a lot of them, citizenship is the
promise."
So many immigrants populated the ranks during World War I that the Army
was
dubbed the "American foreign legion" in Europe. After the war, an Army
unit
of 14 nationalities toured the United States to recruit immigrants,
touting
the promise of naturalization.
Many immigrants fought in World War II, but patriotism more than
citizenship drove enlistment, Crane said. Conscription also helped fill
the
ranks and continued to do so until the all-volunteer military returned
in
the 1970s.
Military resource
Given that history, Bush's executive order fast-tracking citizenship
was no
surprise, Crane said. With the Iraq war in its fourth year and military
recruiters struggling, speedy naturalization can attract volunteers and
is
a fitting reward.
"When times get tough to fill the Army and immigrants are available,
they're a resource," Crane said.
Despite raising enlistment bonuses and offering other new incentives,
the
Army has had a tough time attracting people. It missed its target last
year
by 6,600 recruits. April was its worst month effort since last summer.
The military typically accepts only U.S. citizens or legal residents.
Illegal immigrants have slipped in, in some cases with fake citizenship
or
immigration documents, said Stock, the U.S. military academy professor.
As a result of Bush's order, illegal immigrants serving honorably on
active
duty and meeting other requirements are eligible to apply for
citizenship,
Stock said. Also, a new law gives the military the authority to enlist
at
any time anyone, even an illegal immigrant, whose enlistment is deemed
"vital to the national interest."
"They could form a foreign legion right now," Stock said. "I get calls
all
the time from illegal immigrants who want to join the military."
For the most part, recruiters have not targeted noncitizens, said
Douglas
Smith, spokesman for the Army's recruiting command. Recruiting that
targets
populations of noncitizens likely accounts for at least some of the
noncitizen recruits, he said.
California's Army National Guard recruiters do not systematically seek
noncitizens, Guard officials said. They do point out that soldiers can
get
on the naturalization fast track, said spokeswoman Lt. Toni Gray.
"For us, noncitizens contribute valuable language and cultural
expertise,"
Gray said. "The value of their skills, however, is often surpassed by
their
sincere appreciation and commitment to our nation."
Noncitizens have been military standouts, according to a May 2005 study
by
the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research organization
serving the military. For instance, they are about half as likely as
their
U.S.-born comrades to wash out before completing their enlistment.
The military's need for foreign-language speakers recently spurred the
Army
to relax enlistment requirements, including maximum age and English
proficiency, to attract people with such native skills, reported the
Center
for Naval Analyses.
Opposition
Not everyone is pleased at the prospect of increasing the number of
noncitizens in the military.
Among the critics is Krikorian, head of the group that wants stricter
immigration controls. What concerns him is the potential for the
combination of military needs and political pressure from immigration
advocates to widen the ranks and expand benefits for noncitizens.
"This is one of those feel-good issues, at least for politicians," he
said.
"There's no reason that it wouldn't be tacked on to an immigration
bill, if
one were to come up."
Krikorian hasn't much of an argument, says Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El
Monte,
who favors expanded benefits for noncitizen soldiers. The California
congresswoman said immigrants have proved their value to the military
and
have earned their benefits.
"I think he's barking up the wrong tree," Solis said.
Spc. Cristianne Silva, 29, said enlisting in the California Army
National
Guard helped her complete a journey that began eight years ago, when
she
left her native Brazil and illegally entered America in search of a
better
life.
After cleaning houses and doing other jobs, Silva hired an immigration
lawyer and became a legal resident. She learned that her military
service
could help her become a citizen after she joined the Army in 2003 and
was
sent to Iraq.
"I'm still, actually, kind of shocked that I have accomplished this,"
said
Silva, who was naturalized in April in Sacramento.
"After so long of dreaming, now, finally, I can say: Yes, I am a
citizen."
Times staff writer Steven Harmon contributed to this story. Reach Dogen
Hannah at 925-945-4794 or dhannah@cctimes.com.
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