NYC-Feature Story

Resisting the Recruiters

It’s a funny name, but their work is serious. The Ya-Ya Network (“Ya-Ya” stands for Youth Activist Youth Allies) is a youth-led “counter recruitment organization”: its members work to counter (or go against) much of what military recruiters do and say in schools.

We recently sat down with some Ya-Ya members to talk about their work and the changes they’d like to see. Below is what we heard from Tracey Hobbs, 17, a senior at Metropolitan Diploma Plus HS; Denise Romero, 17, a freshman at York College; and Jennifer Lee, 18, a freshman at Hunter College.

NYC: What should teens know before joining the military?

Tracey: I would say talk to a veteran, someone who’s been through the whole process and has served the whole eight years. You can ask, “What am I actually going to get?”

NYC: How does the military decide where to recruit?

Jennifer: They usually recruit in schools with a high minority population, and in financially lower-class neighborhoods, because people there are more likely to join because they have trouble finding work.

(Editor’s note: Douglas Smith, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Recruiting Command, told NYC, “We’ve got 9,000 recruiters in cities and towns across the country. It would be ill-advised for us to focus on one portion of the population.” He added that the average military enlistee comes from a household that has an income close to the average U.S. household income.)

NYC: What would you say to teens thinking about the military because they want to get out of troubled homes or neighborhoods?

Denise: I would just say that if they think their neighborhood is tough, the war is tougher. They might die, or come back home with physical injuries and have to be dependent on their parents or guardians all over again.

If you come from a troubled home, you already have an idea of the psychological damage that an environment like that can have on you, and it’s probably going to do even more harm to be in a war. A lot of people don’t think about what a war really means.

NYC: How and why does the military use video games as recruitment tools?

Tracey: In Philly, there’s a recruitment center in a mall called The Army Experience Center. They use video games as a way to filter people. You have to give an Army recruiter your contact information to get into the Center, so that if you have a high score on the video games, they can contact you.

Denise: In video games, it’s game over and you just start again. So that’s a subtle way of making kids think war is not that big a deal. It makes it a lot harder to think about war realistically.

Jennifer: Plus, you’re desensitized to killing people because you press a button and you fire, so it doesn’t seem like such a big deal.

NYC: What is the Department of Education’s stance on military recruiting in high schools?

Jennifer: If a school decides not to allow recruiters in at all, it loses federal funding, which for a public school is devastating.

Denise: But last June, New York City’s Department of Education passed a new Chancellor’s Regulation about military recruitment. It limits the recruiters’ ability to recruit during classroom time, and states that the amount of time a military recruiter’s allowed in schools is the same amount of time a college recruiter should be allowed inside the school.

Tracey: Some schools administer the ASVAB test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, which is an exam to find out who would do well in the military. The regulation states that schools that administer it can’t release the scores or the students’ information to military recruiters unless the student wants them to.

A lot of people don’t know about the Chancellor’s Regulation. We’re trying to spread awareness, so students know that if there’s a recruiter taking up class time, that should not be happening.

NYC: How do you feel about military-oriented programs in schools, like the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC)?

Denise: My high school had a JROTC program. I was in it for a little while. They have athletic programs that make boot camp-like activities seem fun. These programs are very encouraging to kids. Kids gain confidence, but because the programs are military-based, again that’s a very subtle way to steer a high school student toward the military.

NYC: Does the Ya-Ya Network believe there’s a better way to recruit?

Jennifer: In New York City, personal information on juniors and seniors in public schools is sent to the military automatically, unless you “opt out” of sending that information. We believe an “opt-in” policy would protect students better. That way, if you want to be contacted, you can send your information yourself.

Tracey: I am not against the military. But you don’t see scholarship ads on buses like you see military recruitment ads. The same access we have to military options, we should have to other options.

Jennifer: You can look for alternatives to the military on our website at yayanetwork.org/alternatives.

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