8/20: Camilo Mejia elected as new chair of the board of IVAW
SAINT LOUIS: Members of a leading Iraq war veterans' organization voted over the weekend to launch a campaign encouraging U.S. troops to refuse to fight.
To underscore that point, the veterans group elected Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia chair of its board of directors. In the winter of 2003, Mejia was the first soldier to refuse to return to fight in Iraq after an initial tour in the war zone >> Read More
(Peace No War) The next battleground for the counter recruitment campaigns will be linking with immigrant rights movement, the military recruiters had been increase to recruiting immigrant youths to join the military.
8/9: Army to expand recruiting incentives
Need a down-payment for your home? Seed money to start a business? The Army wants to help — if you're willing to join up. Despite spending nearly $1 billion last year on recruiting bonuses and ads, Army leaders say an even bolder approach is needed to fill wartime ranks >> Read More
8/5: On the DREAM Act By Fernando Suárez Del Solar
An Open Letter to Latino and Latina students and all leaders of immigrant rights organizations >> Read More
7/25: Illegal Immigrants: Uncle Sam Wants You
Latino teenagers, including illegal immigrants are being recruited into the military with false promises. >> Read More
7/23: Agustin Aguayo, War Resister Gets a Hero's Welcome
Agustin Aguayo, freed from prison after he refused a second tour in Iraq, appears before an appreciative audience of antiwar activists >> Read More
2/22: Dear General Dubik - Let Lt. Watada Resign
Write to General Dubik at Fort Lewis. Use your own words and include this message:
Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik,
I urge you to drop all charges against Lt. Watada and to respect the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy by not attempting to court martial him again. I also urge you to allow Lt. Watada to resign; he has now completed his initial service agreement with the Army.... >> Read More
2/7: Mistrial in Watada's Case!
The court martial of a US army officer who refused to fight in Iraq was ruled a mistrial after a dispute over a pre-trial agreement.
Military judge Lieutenant Colonel John Head halted the case involving First Lieutenant Ehren Watada following possible inconsistencies concerning a "stipulation of fact" agreed before the hearing.
A date for a new court martial has been set for March 19. >> Read More
1/3: Stand with Lt. Ehren Watada Against Illegal and Immoral War in Iraq + Feb 5: National Day of Action
"My fellow soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq and their families are suffering because of the lies and deceptions crafted by the Bush Administration. The Iraq war is not only a crime against domestic and international law but [it] is a terrible moral injustice against the Iraqi people." Lt. Ehren Watada
As the first Army officer to publicly speak out against the war and refuse deployment to Iraq, Lt Watada will be punished by the U.S. Army with a maximum six years in prison. The military's intention IS to SILENCE VOICES OF RESISTANCE and make an example out of Lt. Watada. >> Read More
12/26: Military considers recruiting immigrants and foreigners
The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks -- including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer -- according to Pentagon officials. >> Read More
9/1: Updates on Lt. Watada
Friends and Family of Lt. Watada is moving forward with plans for a regional mobilization near Ft. Lewis in support of bringing the troops home, a "people's hearing" on the legality of the Iraq War, and many other events "to help Lt. Watada put the war on trial” leading up to an expected court martial in the fall.
to refuse to deploy to the unlawful Iraq war and occupation. He has been charged with "contemptuous words" towards President Bush and conduct unbecoming of an officer. These charges represent the first military persecution of an objector for First Amendment speech since 1965. Including the charge for not deploying to Iraq Lt. Watada faces over seven years in military prison.
U.S. Conscientious Objector Stationed in Germany, Forced to Deploy to Iraq, Goes Absent without Leave (AWOL)
First publicly known case of a soldier refusing to deploy from Germany joins a growing group of U.S. soldiers refusing to deploy to Iraq.
Army Specialist Agustín Aguayo, 35, refused orders to deploy to Iraq for a second time after two-and-a-half-year struggle in which he diligently pursued all available legal avenues to obtain conscientious objector status and an honorable discharge from the Army. All of his efforts, both within the Military and in the civil courts in the U.S., have so far failed.
Agustín turned himself in to the Military Police on the base in Schweinfurt saying that he would not deploy to Iraq and would accept a court martial after several Article 15s (non-judicial punishment) for refusing to pick up his weapon. Instead, MPs followed him to his home to get his gear and prepare to deploy. Aguayo escaped and is currently Absent without Leave (AWOL) in Germany. (Read full press release )
Crawford, TX~ 22-year old Army Specialist Mark Wilkerson held a press conference this morning to announce his plan to turn himself in to Fort Hood in Texas, after being AWOL (Absent Without Leave) for more than 18 months. Wilkerson, who served in the 720th Military Police Battalion in Iraq from March 2003 to March 2004, made the decision to refuse redeployment on moral grounds, and went AWOL when his request for ‘Conscientious Objector’ status was denied by the Army in November 2004. (Read full Press Release )
Statement by Mark Wilkerson made at Camp Casey, Crawford,TX Thursday August 31, 2006: "First, I would like to thank you all for being here today. Today is a big day for me. I am turning myself in from being absent without leave, or AWOL, from the military. I have been AWOL for a year and a half. (Read full statement )
Friends and Family of Lt. Watada is moving forward with plans for a regional mobilization near Ft. Lewis in support of bringing the troops home, a "people's hearing" on the legality of the Iraq War, and many other events "to help Lt. Watada put the war on trial” leading up to an expected court martial in the fall.
to refuse to deploy to the unlawful Iraq war and occupation. He has been charged with "contemptuous words" towards President Bush and conduct unbecoming of an officer. These charges represent the first military persecution of an objector for First Amendment speech since 1965. Including the charge for not deploying to Iraq Lt. Watada faces over seven years in military prison.
Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) is pleased to announce a regional Counter-Recruitment Conference to be held April 7-9, 2006 in Pittsburgh, PA. The purpose of the conference is to explain, share, build, expand, and otherwise support the growing counter-recruitment (CR) movement. From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, we will host a variety of hands-on workshops and presentations, facilitated strategy sessions, an exchange of materials, a participatory action or two, as well as nightly entertainment.
Discussion. In addition to facillitated strategy sesssions, the conference will have a space for CR activists to meet and greet and talk about their efforts with one another.
Materials exchange. Throughout the conference there will be a tabling area for the exchange of counter recruitment materials, including flyers, stickers, videos and more. See the materials that groups are using and be inspired to make your own.
Participatory action. We will also put our theories to the test during the conference weekend!
Social events. There will be a low key party/hang out and get to know other activists space on Friday evening and a blow out bash on Saturday night.
Housing will be provided by local activists or you can secure your own housing at local hotels.
This website will be continuously updated with information about logistics and workshops and more.
Request for Workshop Proposals!
We anticipate the need for two dozen workshops focusing on military recruitment, counter-recruitment, skill sharing and related anti-war organizing themes. We are now accepting proposals to fill those slots. In order to host a rewarding and effective conference we need to draw on your experiences and passions. Maybe you have a practiced and perfected workshop that would be perfect for this event. Maybe you’re working on something for NCOR that you’d like to present. Or maybe you just have a knack for dealing with a particular issue and a desire to share it with others. In any case, we have the space for a bunch of workshops and we invite you or your group to present or facilitate a workshop at the conference. Please plan your workshop to last approximately 90 minutes and allow ample time for Q & A and/or discussion.
The deadline for proposals is February 27, 2005. Proposals submitted prior to the deadline will be reviewed and accepted based on merit. Proposals may still be reviewed after the deadline but there are no guarantees. >> Submit your proposal online now.
Become a Sponsor Please consider making a donation to help pay for the conference. To become a conference sponsor, make a $100 donation.
About Us Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG), the organizers of the conference, is an activist group working towards systemic change. We are non-hierarchical, consensus based, and concerned about a wide range of interconnected issues in society. Since our founding in the spring of 2002 we have organized a wide variety of campaigns and actions dealing with issues of war, militarism, labor rights, environmental issues, and global financial institutions. In April 2005, we began working on a local counter-recruitment campaign that has included almost two dozen pickets at our local recruiting hub station, direct actions that have shut the station down, CR presentations and skill shares in other cities, visits and other educational outreach at local high schools, a petition to restrict access of military recruiters at area schools, and actions that confronted recruiters on campuses and in the streets.
For the purpose of this conference, POG has partnered with Conscience, a Pittsburgh-area group for conscientious objectors and supporters, who will serve as the Fiscal Sponsor.
If you have any questions please contact us at
or call Bridget at 412-901-4563.
2/9: Army Focuses on Recruitment of Latinos
DENVER — As Sgt. First Class Gavino Barron, dressed in a crisp Army uniform, trawls the Wal-Mart here for recruits, past stacks of pillows and towers of detergent, he is zeroing-in on one of the Army's "special missions": to increase the number of Hispanic enlisted soldiers.
He approaches a couple of sheepish looking teenage boys in the automotive aisle and seamlessly slides into Spanish, letting loose his pitch: "Have you ever thought about joining the Army?" "Did you know you can get up to $40,000 in bonuses?" "I'm from Mexico, too. Michoacán."
In Denver and other cities where the Hispanic population is growing, recruiting Latinos has become one of the Army's top priorities. From 2001 to 2005, the number of Latino enlistments in the Army rose 26 percent, and in the military as a whole, the increase was 18 percent. >> Read More Some Recent Counter-Recruitment Protests
Jan 28 Greensburg Anti-war Protest 11am at the downtown courthouse, corner of Main and Otterman
Jan 31 Military Recruitment Protest 5:00-7:00pm at Oakland recruiting station, 3712 Forbes Ave.
Before You Enlist... You wouldn't buy a car without looking under the hood. Don't enlist before you check out the reality of military life that lies behind the glamorous television ads and glossy brochures. >> Read More
The Solomon Amendment The U.S. Supreme Court will soon consider the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment, as the case FAIR v. Rumsfeld goes to trial. The case was brought together by a group of law students, Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, as well as the Society for American Law Teachers. To read more about this exciting endeavor, please go to the Solomon Amendment link above. >> Read More
Not Your Soldier Follow UP The unjust war on Iraq has resulted in the military’s need for more soldiers. The provisions of the NCLB Act allow for more aggressive recruiting in our schools and are enabling military recruiters to meet their monthly and yearly missions. Many of the young people recruited this year could wind up in war zones months after graduating from high school. The NCLB Act and the increased proliferation of the JROTC combined with the public relations needs for an unjust war in Iraq has resulted in a huge increase in military presence within our nations schools. As each day goes by and opposition grows greater for this war and other attacks on democracy, more forceful tactics and outright lies will be used to recruit the hearts, minds and bodies of our youth. It is time to stand in the way of this harvesting of human beings. >> Read More
The Solomon Amendment Information on the Solomon Amendment and the current status of the bill.
Military Recruitment Data Now Available from National Priorities Project In the tradition of the National Priorities Project turning data into action, NPP has released a major expansion of the NPP Database. With the addition of military recruitment data, they are again highlighting the cost of war and militarism on local communities.
Organize: Is JROTC Coming to a School Near You? Due to a FOIA filed by Peaceworks Magazine, we have information availble for you on the 48 schools that the Air Force will be starting JROTC and the 208 schools that the Navy will open JROTC. Organize your community to make sure your schools are protected from militarization.
Organize: No Child Left Behind Includes Description of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), TEACHER SURVEY: to be used to gather data on presence of military recruiters on campus & how the NCLB Act is enforced. PARENT/CITIZEN LETTER TO BOE: sample letter to be sent to principals, super intendents & BOE regarding military on campus.
Legislative Action: Support Student Privacy Protection Act 2005 HR551 is a bill proposed by Mike Honda which turns the current "Opt-Out" Policy into an "Opt-In" policy. Instead of opting-out of having students personal contact info handed over to the military, a student or parent will have to opt-in in order for the military to receive his or her information. Help make this happen by putting pressure on congress by contacting "progressive" congresspeople in your state by joining our letter writing campaign.
Counter Recruitment 101 Basic information on the major topics of Counter Recruitment such as the No Child Left Behind Act,ASVAB, Conscientious Objector, Enlistment Agreement & Delayed Enlistment Program, GI Bill and other helpful counter recruitment basics.
National Guard Information on the National Guard including the Army Reserves, historical backround and general information that is important to know.
Reading Materials Laws, Bills and News Articles that are helpful in regards to Counter Recruitment.
Resources Recommended materials to use in counter recruiting.
Alternatives to the Military Links to scholarship sites, youth jobs, test prep's, travel programs, that show alternatives to joining the military.
Campaign Contacts A database of organizations, organized by state, that are working on counter military recruitment efforts.
We urge you to join us in a "National Day of Action for GI Resisters" on Tuesday May 10, 2005. This is the day before the US military is planning to bring sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq War. They face forfeiture of pay and benefits, and military jail time.
On December 6, 2004, Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes refused to board his ship as it left the San Diego Naval Station in support of the Iraq War and occupation. At the time of his refusal, Pablo said he hoped his protest might inspire other GI's to refuse to take part in the war.
On January 5, 2005, Kevin Benderman refused to deploy for a second tour of duty in Iraq with the Army's Third Infantry Division. At the same time seventeen other soldiers from his unit went AWOL, two tried to kill themselves and one had a relative shoot him in the leg to avoid deploying.
Both men applied for discharge from the US military as conscientious objectors. The military has wrongly rejected both claims.
It's time for us to escalate public pressure and action in support of Pablo, Kevin and the thousands of other courageous men and women who have followed their conscience to uphold international law and to take a principled stand against the unjust, illegal war and occupation of Iraq. It's time we had their backs.
Objection and resistance by military servicepersons is a healthy and important assertion of Democracy in a country where the decisions to invade Iraq, to maintain an occupation, and engage in widespread human right violations and torture were made undemocratically in violation of international law and based on continuing lies and disinformation.
Please join us by organizing a public demonstration, vigil or rally of support on May 10. Every action, no matter how large or small is important.
Also: * Send letters of support and donations to cover legal fees to Pablo and Kevin via their websites listed below.
* Come to San Diego, California (Pablo) or Fort Stewart, Georgia (Kevin) to show your support during their trials.
* Write letters to the editor, and help educate your organization, church, union, school, co-workers and community.
Resisting illegal occupation and war is not a crime! The right to conscientious objection is being systematically violated by the military. Those objectors who are publicly asserting their rights are being singled out for punishment. We demand that military personnel retain their right to follow their conscience, publicly dissent and that their basic democratic rights be respected. A better world is possible!
May 12, 2005 Sad News: Military Judge Convicts Sailor Turned Anti-War Activist Pablo Paredes
May. 12, 2005 - A sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted Wednesday in a special court-martial of refusing to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in December.
A military judge found Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes guilty of missing his ship's movement, but dismissed a second count of unauthorized absence, ruling it duplicative.
The proceeding then moved into the sentencing phase. The 23-year-old New Yorker could receive a year in jail, a forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge.
Paredes had waived his right to have his trial heard by a military jury.
Paredes, a weapons control technician, refused to board the ship on Dec. 6 as it left for a six-month deployment in the Pacific and Indian oceans. The Bonhomme Richard and two other ships were transporting about 3,000 Marines to Iraq.
At the time, Paredes told reporters he did not want to be part of a war he views as illegal and immoral. He said his military training has taught him to avoid what he views as a war crime.
Navy prosecutors, however, blocked Paredes' plans to put the war on trial during the court-martial. A Navy officer reviewing Paredes' request for conscientious objector status has also recommended that it be denied.
Defense attorney Jeremy Warren said Paredes passed up deals that would have minimized his punishment in exchange for a guilty plea.
"He's not backing down from what he did or why he did it," Warren said.
Not Your Soldier Follow UP The unjust war on Iraq has resulted in the military’s need for more soldiers. The provisions of the NCLB Act allow for more aggressive recruiting in our schools and are enabling military recruiters to meet their monthly and yearly missions. Many of the young people recruited this year could wind up in war zones months after graduating from high school. The NCLB Act and the increased proliferation of the JROTC combined with the public relations needs for an unjust war in Iraq has resulted in a huge increase in military presence within our nations schools. As each day goes by and opposition grows greater for this war and other attacks on democracy, more forceful tactics and outright lies will be used to recruit the hearts, minds and bodies of our youth. It is time to stand in the way of this harvesting of human beings.
Counter Recruitment 
