Counter-recruitment

Counter-recruitment poster.

The rationale for counter-recruitment activity may be based on any of the following reasons:

• The view that war is immoral - see pacifism.
• The view that some or all military organizations are a tool of imperialism - see anti-imperialism.
• Evidence from Australia,[1] Canada,[2] France,[3][4] the UK,[5][6] and the US[7][8] that abusive behaviour such as bullying, racism, sexism and sexual violence, and homophobia are common in military organizations - see, for example, Women in the military and Sexual orientation and gender identity in military service.
• Evidence from the UK[9][10][11][12][13][14] and US[15][16][17][18][19] that military training and employment lead to higher rates of mental health and behavioural problems than are usually found in civilian life, particularly after personnel have left the armed forces.
• Evidence from Germany,[20] Israel,[21] the UK,[22][5][23][24] the US[25][26][27][28][29] and elsewhere that recruiting practices sanitise war, glorify the role of military personnel, and obscure the risks and obligations of military employment, thereby misleading potential recruits, particularly adolescents from socio-economically deprived backgrounds.
• Evidence from Germany,[20] the UK,[30][5][22] the US[31] and elsewhere[32][33] that recruiters target, and capitalise on the precarious position of, socio-economically deprived young people as potential recruits, in a phenomenon sometimes called the poverty draft.
• The fact that military employment suspends certain fundamental rights and freedoms (such as freedom of association and freedom of speech) and introduces new offences with heavy penalties, such as absence without leave (AWOL) (see, for example, Offences against military law in the United Kingdom).[34]
• The fact that some armed forces rely on children aged 16 or 17 to fill their ranks, and evidence from Australia,[35] Israel,[36] the UK[23][37][38][39][40][24] and from the Vietnam era in the US[41][42][43] that these youngest recruits are most likely to be adversely affected by the demands and risks of military life.

Armed forces spokespeople have defended the status quo by recourse to the following:

• The view that military organizations provide a valuable public service.
• Anecdotal evidence that military employment benefits young people.[44]
• The view that duty of care policies protect recruits from harm.[45]

Examples of counter-recruitment activity are:

• Research and analysis of military recruitment practices, and of the effects and outcomes of military employment.[26][5][22][23][46][24][40][33][32]
• Legal advocacy (aimed at changing legislation) and political advocacy (aimed at changing policy) to regulate or limit the scope of military recruitment.[45][47]
• Consciousness-raising to raise awareness and concern about military recruitment practices and the effects of military training and employment.[48][49][50]
• Providing information to potential recruits about the risks and obligations of enlistment,[51][52] or discouraging enlistment.[53]
• Satirising the propagandistic glorification of military personnel.[54]

Counter-recruitment (which has long been a strategy of pacifist and other anti-war groups) received a boost in the United States with the unpopularity of the war in Iraq and brief recruitment difficulties of branches of the U.S. military, particularly the Army; although the Army has met, or exceeded, its recruitment goals year after year during that period. Beginning in early 2005, the U.S. counter-recruitment movement grew, particularly on high school and college campuses, where it is often led by students who see themselves as targeted for military service in a war they do not support.

In response to the Canadian Forces' role as a member of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, an anti-war movement developed in Canada which has tried to utilize counter-recruitment as a part of its efforts. In particular, Operation Objection emerged as the umbrella counter-recruitment campaign in Canada.[59] Operation Objection claimed to have active counter-recruitment operations in 8 to 10 Canadian cities.[60] However, coordinated attempts at counter-recruitment activism in Canada have been fairly limited as of late, and for the most part, unsuccessful.

In the 2005–06 academic year at York University, the York Federation of Students, a federation representing ten of the university's student unions, clashed with a Canadian Forces recruiter forcibly removing the recruiter and the kiosk from the Student Center. York University maintains that the Canadian Forces have the same right to recruit as any other employer participating in career fairs on campus.[61]

On October 25, 2007, an attempt by the student union at the University of Victoria to ban Canadian Forces from participating in career fairs on campus failed when the student body voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing the Canadian military to participate in recruitment and career development activities available to students. Approximately 500 students, five times the usual attendance, appeared at the Annual General Meeting of the University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS), and voted to defeat the motion proposed to stop the Canadian Forces from appearing on campus at career development events, with an estimated 25 votes in favour of the ban. Those voting against the ban argued that the ban was a restriction on freedom of choice and an infringement of students' free speech, that it went beyond the mandate of student government, and that student union executives should not be advocating policy that does not reflect the views of the fee-paying student body.[62][63][64][65]

In November 2007, the Minister of Education for Prince Edward Island, Gerard Greenan, was requested by the Council of Canadians to ban military recruitment on PEI campuses. The Minister responded that military service "is a career and... we think its right to let the Armed Forces have a chance to present this option to students."[66]

• Military recruitment
• Recruit training
• Military personnel
• Women in the military
• Children in the military
• Sexual harassment in the military

• The 2004 Official US Military School Recruiting Program Handbook
• Mennonite Central Committee
• National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth, founded in 2004, deals with the larger issue of militarism as it affects young people.
• Hagopian, A.; Barker, K. (2011). "Should we end military recruiting in high schools as a matter of child protection and public health?". American Journal of Public Health. 101 (1): 19–23. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.183418. PMC 3000735. PMID 21088269.