COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Youth of Color
Retaliation Alleged for Teaching on Iraq War
Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times
August 26, 2006
Among the students at San Fernando High School, a sun-baked campus in a poor, mostly Latino area on the northern fringe of the San Fernando Valley, the issue of military recruiting looms large.The school sends hundreds more students to college than it does into the military, but still, according to senior Erika Preciado, "more recruiters are here for the military than for colleges."
The 17-year-old is co-editor of the school newspaper, El Tigre. In her journalism class this week, almost all of the students said they had been contacted by a military recruiter, and several said recruiters had been guest speakers in their classes or had talked to them at school events, such as one where recruiters brought a chin-up bar onto campus.
Seven of the 28 students said they knew someone who had died in Iraq while serving in the U.S. military.
The issue concerns the school librarian, Kitty Kroger, so much that she banned recruiters from placing their literature in the library and has waged a campaign to "make kids fully aware of what it would mean to be in the military."
Now the issue figures in a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District by a San Fernando High teacher who says the principal retaliated against him because he urged students to think critically about the military and the war in Iraq.
Alberto Gutierrez, a 33-year-old social studies teacher who is known on campus as a passionate educator with a left-wing tilt, says in a suit filed this week that after he "offered objective discussion … regarding the United States' involvement in the war in Iraq to his students," then-Principal Jose Luis Rodriguez began filling Gutierrez's personnel file with negative reviews and surreptitiously encouraging parents to complain about him.
The teacher says he received only glowing performance reviews until two years ago, after he began teaching about the war.
At the same time, according to the suit, Rodriguez didn't object wt object when another teacher required students to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, designed by the Department of Defense to measure aptitude for military service.
The suit contends that Rodriguez "strongly supports the United States' involvement in the war and adamantly opposes any other opinions."
Rodriguez, who has since been promoted to director of secondary services for one of Los Angeles Unified's local district headquarters in the Valley, denied those claims. He said he limited military recruiters' presence on campus to Wednesdays at lunch.
And he said his concerns about the teacher "weren't specific to the war in Iraq." Rather, he said, he spoke to Gutierrez because of complaints from parents that the teacher had required students to visit a cafe in Sylmar to watch movies including "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore's 2004 antiwar film, and "Crash," which won the Academy Award this year for best picture.
District policy requires that students have their parents' permission to see such adult-oriented movies, Rodriguez said. He added that Gutierrez is a committed teacher and called it unfortunate that he had chosen to sue.
Gutierrez responded that he did not require students to visit Tia Chucha's Cafe; he only offered them an extra-credit opportunity.
As for "Fahrenheit 9/11," Gutierrez said, he showed it to students in his classroom in response to unannounced and uninvited visits from military recruiters.
"I had military recruiters walk into my class two times in one week," he said. After those visits, he said, he decided to show the movie, which includes scenes of recruiters - one of whom was later killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq - before allowing recruiters to address his class. He also said Rodriguez placed limits on the recruiters only after Gutierrez and other teachers exerted pressure.
Gutierrez, who grew up in North Hills, said he was once affiliated with a gang but has dedicated himself to improving conditions in his community and at San Fernando High.
"As a teacher, my goal is to bring awareness and make the connection between the textbook and the real world," he said.
Military recruiters' visits to high schools have led to disputes around the country in the last few years, with some teachers and parents complaining that they use overly aggressive tactics and target schools with low-income and minority students.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act allows the Pentagon to gather the home addresses and telephone numbers of public school students.
An opt-out clause lets parents sign a form preventing information about their child from being released.
In addition, the law says any school that allows college recruiters must also allow military recruiters if it wants to keep its federal funding.
At San Fernando High, Kroger, the librarian and sponsor of the now-defunct Peace Club, said she was taken aback when some of her students talked of joining the military and bombing Middle Eastern countries.
"I think we should have separation of the school and the military," she said. "It's become much too enmeshed in the school."
But Kroger said she blames the federal law that allows recruiters on campus - not the former principal.
"I personally haven't seen any crackdown on dissent," she said.
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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