Military Recruiters Target CCNY Students

by Shumon Alam

A few days ago I was going to my class and one table inside the North Academic Center (NAC) caught my sight. A few men were standing by the table wearing nicely pressed uniforms with many brass pins and nicely shined shoes. They were United States Army recruiters. Suddenly I realized that recruiters of different armed forces are visiting our campus frequently. The reason is that U.S. armed forces fail to recruit the targeted number of young people to meet their shortage of personnel.

On September 27th the New York Times reported that Army, Navy and Air force have problems recruiting new young people. The Times reported that more and more young people are looking forward to a college education and a decent job. The Pentagon saw this as a "crisis of national security." As a result, the Department of Defense has launched a multi-million dollar advertisement campaign in newspapers and television across the country, announcing up to $50,000 for education, thousands of dollars in sign-on bonuses, and a better future to prevent the "crisis." Slogans range from "Be all you can be" to "Aim high." Words such as honor and pride are often used in the advertisements.

Now that the propaganda part is done successfully, recruiters have hit the streets of the poorest neighborhoods and educational institutions to exploit the desperate conditions faced by millions of young people in this country. For thousands of poor young people, especially Blacks and Latinos, joining the armed forces is the way to escape poverty, get a secure job, or pursue higher education. As the economy booms, instead of raising the standard of living, government is spending more and more money for military expenses.

For the past several years the safety nets for poor people such as Medicare and welfare have been cut. Rising tuition fees and expenses and cuts in education have made higher education a daydream. Over the past ten years more than $600 million have been taken away from New York State's higher educational system. Now after closing all the doors for minority poor people, the state wants to make us the foot soldiers for their dirty work. Thanks to the Pentagon and the ruling class, poor people will only get a chance at higher education is if they are ready to kill or be killed.

The exploitation of poor young people is obvious, because it is hard to find these recruiters in rich neighborhoods or private schools. Columbia University is a private college only a few blocks from CCNY, but recruiters never show up in that university to stop the crisis of national security. Apparently the rich are exempt from the burden of national security. Our government tends to think that if you can pay for your college, you can also buy honor and pride.