Scott Rittenhouse

JROTC is Fascist

Retrieved on January 1, 2005 from www.cat.org.au

“At a mass meeting thought is eliminated.”

— Adolf Hitler

“When troops react to command rather than thought, the result is more than just a good-looking ceremony or parade. Drill has been and will continue to be the backbone of military discipline.”

— Army JROTC Textbook, Vol 1, Page 87

“We’ve eliminated that conception of political freedom which holds that everybody has the right to say whatever comes into his head.”

— Adolf Hitler, Secret Conversations, 1943

“Soldiers are trained to obey orders instantly, without questioning them.”

— Army JROTC Textbook, Vol 2, Page 185

“Fascism, in short, is not only the giver of laws and the founder of institutions, but the educator and promoter of spiritual life. It wants to remake, not the forms of life, but its content, man, character, faith. And to this end it requires discipline and authority that can enter into the spirits of men and there govern unopposed.”

— Benito Mussolini, Italian Encyclopedia, 1932

“Respect for authority and discipline go hand in hand, but the first one to be acquired must be discipline. Self-discipline involves voluntary acceptance of authority.”

— Air Force JROTC Textbook, Vol 1, Page 65

“My Honor is Loyalty.”

— Nazi SS slogan etched in their daggers

“Among the traits of a good follower, loyalty is at the top of the list. This means loyalty to those above us on the chain of command, whether or not we agree with them.”

— Navy JROTC textbook, Vol 1, Page 24

Only you can destroy fascism, racism and sexism.

Smash Fascism!

Expel JROTC from our schools.

“The receptive ability of the great masses is only very limited, their understanding is small; on the other hand, their forgetfulness is great.”

— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1923

“The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived that they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell big ones.”

— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1923

“If Fascism came to America it would be on a program of Americanism.”

— Huey P. Long, Army Talk, March 24, 1945

JROTC is Racist

“Not every item of news should be published: rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.”

— Joseph Paul Goebbels, Diary, March 14, 1943

The United States Government is tracking non-white and low income youth into the military. The military has runs JROTC programs in 2600 high schools nationwide. The military targets low income schools in the same way tobacco and alcohol companies target low income communities. The results are equally deadly. 54% of JROTC participants are students of color. JROTC participants are recruited directly into the lowest enlisted ranks of the military. During the Persian Gulf War over 50% of Front Line Troops were people of color. Overall, 30% of enlisted personnel are people of color but, only 12% of officers are people of color. As a result, people of color are disciplined and discharged under other than honorable conditions at a much higher rate than whites. Non-whites are less likely to receive technical training with applications outside the military and are more likely to be tracked into combat jobs. As a result, they are less likely to be employed when they get out. When a recent study showed a slight dip in young African-Americans’ (disproportionately high) interest in the military, the Pentagon reacted with a new advertising campaign. They now target Latino youth with special Spanish-language advertising.

The US Army spends $800,000 a year on 16 vans used for recruiting. The recruiting vans avoid wealthier communities and target more working class areas and communities of color. The vans spread propaganda that tells high school students that the military is an adventure and war is like playing video games. They gloss over military involvement in promoting racial segregation, the placement of Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps and genocide against Native Americans. The official military policy until after World War II was that African Americans were “natural cowards” and couldn’t be trusted to fight in combat!

JROTC takes $50,000 per school per year of local school district money away from high schools in communities of color which would otherwise go to fund a legitimate education for students.

JROTC is Sexist

“War is to man what maternity is to a woman.”

— Benito Mussolini, Autobiography

Sexual harassment and assault are a daily reality for the overwhelming majority of women in the military. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says that 90% of recent women veterans report being sexually harassed and 1/3 report being raped while they are in the military. Despite glossy military recruiting brochures which advertise “opportunities for women,” the military’s inherent sexism is evident from Sergeants shouting “girl!” at trainees who don’t “measure up,” to the intimidation of women who speak out about harassment and discrimination.

The military doesn’t consider women to be “qualified” for many military jobs and many military personnel don’t consider women “strong enough” to lead or accompany male troops into combat. The military does not consider them serious material for potential military personnel. As a result, female JROTC students are not given the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

JROTC Promotes Fascism

“The greatness of every mighty organization embodying an idea in this world lies in the religious fanaticism and intolerance with which, fanatically convinced of its own right, it intolerantly imposes its will against others.”

— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1923

Almost all schools feel that one of their primary obligations is to teach critical thinking where young people are able to solve “real world” problems. Instead, JROTC teaches unquestioning amoral obedience and loyalty to “leaders,” regardless of whether they are right or wrong. The military teaches that “leadership,” blind obedience to authority and “honor” are one in the same thing and that this is the military’s most respected personality characteristic. The military drills JROTC cadets over and over so that they are conditioned to blindly follow orders and believe whatever the military authorities over them tell them.

JROTC classes are taught by teachers who do not have the education necessary to qualify to get a standardized State teaching credential. JROTC classes and textbooks are designed by the Pentagon to encourage cadets to trust the military and believe that anyone who does not trust military “leaders” and the U.S. Government is inferior and deserves to be discriminated against. JROTC lies about American history to promote militarism and make largely boring, servile and degrading military jobs look glamorous and adventurous.

JROTC promotes Nationalism to encourage cadets to think of wars like high school team sports rather than a series of hardships, senseless killings and betrayals by people in charge which are characteristic of real combat. They teach cadets that the military only fights to defend “Freedom” and “the American Way of Life.” They do not tell them that members of the military are routinely denied civil rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution; including being assumed guilty of charges made by persons in charge unless you can prove yourself innocent (and that the military seldom believes you if your “leaders” contradict you).

The military never tells cadets that military officers are trained to accept 50% casualties (half of you and your friends ending up dead in combat) as acceptable losses in a war. It claims that this is “fighting for your country” but, young people from wealthy or upper middle class families have seldom been drafted. The Government has routinely provided draft loopholes for privileged people through College Exemptions or non-combat jobs in the United States, or military administration or support operations where they are unlikely to get shot at. The people in the government who declare war are never the ones to fight it.

JROTC programs across the country have been rocked by scandals because JROTC encourages violence and predatory behavior among the young. The resulting violence ranges from military-style executions to military-style hazing. Violence is not an aberrational byproduct of JROTC; violence is the program’s inevitable result. Violence is promoted by the ethics and curriculum of the program itself! By glossing over the murder and brutality of war, cadets become more at ease with murder, hazing and other forms of brutality. The continued presence of bigotry in the military curriculum teaches JROTC cadets that hate crimes are O.K. because certain people are “inferior.”

Military training is designed to dehumanize soldiers so they will kill on command without questioning orders. JROTC praises obedience without question. JROTC cadets receive military training like enlisted soldiers including training them to uses rifles and other weapons. JROTC training has been linked to the Mafia style shooting of a student in Detroit, MI, Hate crimes, kidnapping and murder in Long Beach, CA, Murder in an Arizona Buddhist Temple, Conspiracy to murder in Clifton, NJ, Robbery against immigrants in South San Diego County, CA, Hazing and assault in San Francisco, CA and Heat Stroke of 50 students in Houston, TX after they were ordered to remain standing in formation in the hot sun (26 of these students were hospitalized).

JROTC Promises of Job and College Opportunities are a Lie

“A violently active, dominating youth is what I am after. I will have no intellectual training. Knowledge is ruin to my young men.”

— Adolf Hitler, Quoted in The Nation

JROTC is a “Trojan Horse” used by the military to get access to high school students for recruiting purposes. JROTC provides no opportunities to learn job skills applicable to a real job. 50% of JROTC graduates goon to enlist in the military. Persons enlisting in the college fund program must pay a $1,200 non-refundable fee and only 35% of veterans ever receive any college benefits. Although persons going into the military were promised money to go to college, the military actually deducted $720 million more from military paychecks between 1986 and 1993 than they paid out in actual college assistance.

Military job training is a myth. Only 12% of men and 6% of women use any of the skills they learn in the military in a job after they get out. The unemployment rate for veterans is higher than people who don’t join the military. 50,000 veterans are now on Government waiting lists for training. 1/3 of all homeless people were once in the military. Many employers actively discriminate against ex-military personnel.

Many soldiers who end up in combat are permanently disabled. Land mines and terrorism are now the weapons of choice in most third world wars and so-called “low intensity conflicts.” Battlefield medical facilities often do not provide for modern medical care and the military medical doctrine which emphasizes returning soldiers to combat as quickly as possible sometimes leads to malpractice. Military doctors are officers and are protected by federal law from be sued by military personnel or their families.

In the 1950s U.S. Army troops were ordered to conduct military training in the desert after nuclear bombs had been set off so the military could see what would happen to them. All of them died from cancer or related diseases. Many Viet Nam veterans were permanently disabled by Agent Orange and other chemical weapons. Gulf War veterans have been genetically disabled so their children are born physically deformed. The military routinely denies any harmful exposure of troops as a result of military blunders in order to protect their image.

“Three cheers for war! Three cheers for Italy’s war, noble and beautiful above all, with its 500,000 dead who are our surest wealth. And three cheers for war in general.”

— Benito Mussolini, Autobiography

Destroy Fascism

Organize Against JROTC in Your School

Tell Everybody about the Big Lie of Military Opportunity