JROTC in San Francisco

The San Francisco Board of Education is currently in the throws of eliminating the JROTC program from its schools. Many are coming out against the organization as a recruitment tool and indoctrination organization that turns people into monsters to do the bidding of the evil military industrial complex.

This is a small action agaist the current momentum in our society of militarism that is destroying our democracy and efforts to spread security, stability, peace and prosperity around the world. I for one am in full support of such an elimination of program that turns the nations young people into fodder for the military industrial complex that values corporate profits and greed over the growth of democracy and benign market economic forces at the expense of innocent youths. In seeing such support, I recall a scene while I was living in Singapore that foreshadowed my strong opinion on this subject.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the media had been reporting all week long the arrival of the US Navy into port from manuvres in the South China Sea. I did not quite know what this meant for the streets of Orchard road and the hustle, and bustle of weekend consumers and citizens of the tiny nation state. What I saw shocked me and made me embarrased to be a US citizen.

As I strolled down Orchard Road browsing the storefronts, numerous young (19-23 year old) faces past me by speaking english with an american accent. I soon became obvious to me that these new faces belonged to the US Navy sailors, as they looked out of place amoungst the high end shops and malls that catered to tourists and local consumers. I soon approached a set of stairs that led up to the entrance to an air-conditioned shopping mall. To my dismay was a young Navy sailor passed out and drunk on the steps clearly blocking the way for others to ascend the steps into the mall. I immediately became aware of this sailors state of intoxication as I observed his mouth open, eyes closed and his pants unzipped exposing himself. His pants were also stained with urine that he obvioulsly had not had the coherence to properly discard in a proper restroom and without control, just let fly leaving his pants clearly advertising the fact that he had just pissed in his pants with out even knowing it. There he was, on display like a museum exhibit, for everone who passed by to see as they went about their shopping. This advertisment for the US military immediately sent me into shock.

I was immediately embarrased to be a US citizen. Something up until that point in time had never felt. To come to realize that this is what the face of the US military was presenting to the world made me sick to my stomach and put me into a state of shock for the rest of the afternoon. If there was anything that I could have done to prevent this scene as a US citizen I would have done so tight then and there, but to no avail I was at a loss for words or actions.

So now as we address our role in the world as a hegemonic, greedy, ignorant and war mongering nation, we now have an opportunity to reduce the influence of the beast that is destroying the mission of the United States. Eliminating the source of recruitment for the military is just the beginning of advancement into the future to create dignity and respect the US should be known for by the rest of the world...

So I say to the Haliburtons, the Boeings, The FedExs, the Littons, The Raythons, The McDonell Douglas', the Textrons and all of the othe MIC corporations that seek no-limit contracts at the expense of the US citizens, go get your own !@#$%! militaries to protect your greedy interests around the world and leave the United States Military that is intended for the defense of a free democracy a alone!