DID YOU KNOW...

• ... that in this YouTube presentation, "A VIDEO US MILITARY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO SEE!" covers a large number of the topics that are discussed on this website and leads off with a Henry Kissinger quotation (Kissinger was also a Nobel Peace Prize recipient), "Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy."
  (As quoted in "The Final Days" by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in chapter 14. Page 194 in the paperback version, 1995)


• ... that, courtesy of Rep. Vitter (R, LA, and a customer of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the "D.C. Madam"), the notorious No Child Left Behind Act includes a sneaky section that requires high schools to turn over private information on students to military recruiters, but that there is an opt-out provision??


• ... that the Pentagon has created a database (JAMRS) of over 30 million 16-25 year-olds, including names, addresses, email addresses, cell phone numbers, ethnicities, social security numbers, extracurricular activities, and areas of study, but that there is a separate opt-out provision for that, as well??


• ... that "The Contract," the current DD Form 4, is a one-way, eight-year commitment on the part of the enlistee and that the second page of that contract provides the DoD with the capability to negate any and all promises made to the enlistee, even if they were made in writing (with only two lines on Block 8 provided for citing an Annex that could be used to detail such promises)??


• ... and that, even if a youth has signed up for the Delayed Enlistment Program (the DEP, addressed in Block 8.b. of The Contract), s/he is not obligated to enlist??


• ... that (according to this analysis) JROTC programs are poor substitutes for PE classes, not only because of the lower program content, but because JROTC programs COST MORE. School boards need to investigate, in depth, the full expenses of JROTC and discuss JROTC in contrast to less expensive and more productive classes for high school students. Then the question is, is college ROTC in the same questionable situation as JROTC??


• ... that our own prelininary investigations have indicated, with those schools that sponsor JROTC, all ASVAB information is automatically provided to military recuiters under Option 1? (Look for the 2009-2010 ASVAB discussion.)


• ... that the DoD is heavily involved in a “Troops to Teachers” program in an attempt to create a positive image of military life at ALL levels in our schools?


• ... that the increased "combat efficiency" training our military has received following WWII appears to be a major reason for PTSD, because approximately 98% of humanity has extreme difficulty learning to kill another human being??


• ... that, according to a late-80's VA study and contrary to popular belief through several decades about "getting your training in the military," only 12% of male veterans and 6% of female veterans can use their military training after leaving the service? (Military recruiters try to discredit that study because it's a few years old and "out of date," but look at the next two questions and remember that, as VP Cheney once said, "The military is not a jobs program.")


• ... that even today many commercial head hunters shy away from veterans and that unemployment for veterans in the 18-to-34-year-old age group is considerably higher than their non-veteran counterparts?? (see Before You Enlist.html#Training)


• ... that, while up to twelve percent of the general population can claim veteran status, nearly one-third of the homeless population are veterans (ref Pres. Obama's first press conference)??


• ... that a quote from the Dalai Lama, "Violence always brings about unexpected results and almost always provokes retaliation" is absolutely true, even if the country we are committing violence against is too small to be immediately effective, but who's citizenry can find a way to retaliate many years later, in what the CIA calls "blowback"??

CURRENT CONDITIONS:

As pointed out in this American Journal of Public Health paper (in .pdf format) out of Seattle, Washington (with the author's release here), High School youth often have few resources when considering whether or not to join the military. School guidance centers typically have colorful brochures about every branch of the military, but no information about true military life or any personal dangers thereof. Some youth can benefit from a military experience, but how can they make an informed decision when:

• The military for 2009 used a $6.9 billion annual budget for recruiting, which came to about $263,000 per recruit, including reserves. In addition to recruiting on and off of school campuses, these resources contribute to the glorification of war and the warrior.


• Recruiting and pro-military advertising promote the notion that military force and domination are valid foreign policy tools.


• Many youth see through this propaganda and would like to take action, but most do not know where or how to begin.


• Teachers are an important source of support and advice for students. Many are horrified by dishonest military recruiting tactics (see paper mentioned above), but they often lack resources to support their students’ opposition to the militarization of their campuses.


• Many parents are similarly concerned, but they may not understand or be aware of the extent to which military culture and messages pervade their children’s learning environments.

Who We Are:

Rogue Valley Peace Veterans (RVPV) is a privately supported unincorporated association serving S. Oregon, composed of military retirees and veterans dedicated to informing the public, and especially our young people, about the true cost of military enlistment (particularly to the enlistee) and the costs of war. Our primary mission is to provide information to those contemplating enlisting in the military, and through our 'Straight Talk' Program to reach out to individuals, school classes and local PTA groups (wherever they exist, OR to try developing parent-information sessions) in Southern Oregon's Rogue Valley.

We are often asked by parents of potential recruits, "Why do you do what you do?" All we could say is that "We've been there. While we haven't all been in combat, we're simply attempting to let these kids (potential military recruits) in on a somewhat different perspective of military life than what they get from the recruiters."

One of the best advertisements we can reference for this purpose are the WikiLeaks documents released on July 25, 2010, as summarized here a record of war crimes, also the highly prejudicial current versions of military marching chants and, for those that are 'into' reading rather than just video games, some of the highly informative books listed on our 'Costs of War' page, many by veterans of the current Middle East wars.

(a) Toward increasing public awareness of all costs of war;

(b) To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations, as has been done throughout U.S. history (see this Costs of War section);

(c) To eventually eliminate nuclear weapons, anti-personnel phorpherous munitions, cluster bombs and land mines, but also the use of depleted uranium as a standard munition because it is a form of nuclear warfare that doesn't discriminate between local civilian populations or our own troops in terms of unknown diseases and birth deformities - in violation of international accords - some of which is addressed in this (.pdf) article;

(d) To seek justice for veterans and victims of war, although, in the Rogue Valley, we feel the VA seems to be doing an unusually good job;

(e) To support, to the best of our abilities, "sister" organizations such as the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY), the American Friends Service Committee's Youth & Militarism, the Center on Conscience & War (CCW), PeaceAware and even wikileaks.info as a mirror site of wikileaks.org.

(Also note this article, "We Should Talk to Our Enemies".)

Our Mission:

(a) To inform our youth, who might be contemplating military enlistment (particularly as a corollary to this "How to Spot a Recession Scam" article), about true military life, its effects upon veterans and some interesting alternatives to that;

(b) Especially to help to create and to support youth-led peace-oriented organizations. We believe that each youth is fully capable of developing his/her own political consciousness, and acting according to his/her conscience.

(c) Toward that end, we are available for classroom, school, PTA, civic club or other presentations, also one-on-one discussions of the realistic pros and cons of military life. We are also two-year veterans of Veterans For Peace, Chapter 156, having served as President (Hal) and Vice President/Webmaster and author of the "Straight Talk" program (Don), which we have brought into this Association. We can be contacted directly by email through this website, by telephone (the numbers are below, in our short bios), or through Ashland's Peace House at 541-482-9625.

"Dialogue is the most effective way of resolving conflict. ~ the Dalai Lama

"It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." ~ Roy Disney

"Non-violence cannot be preached. It has to be practiced." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

If we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously, we can unite the inner world and the outer world. ~ Sri Chinmoy

The Team:

Jackson County/Ashland-Rogue River, Oregon, Don (a resident of Talent), USAF Retired, 10-1/2 years enlisted as a Nuclear Weapons technician (electronics and nuclear) and team chief. 10 years commissioned military time in aerospace engineering R&D; gov't and industry experience in various technologies, Systems Engineering, ISO 9000 auditing, marketing, publishing and consulting professions (including SCORE and non-profits). Currently chief researcher, webmaster and team lead for RVPV. Contact Don at don@rvpv.org, or call 541-512-1108.

Josephine County/Grants Pass, Oregon, Hal (a resident of Hugo), United States Coast Guard (USCG) radioman for six years, including Search and Rescue missions in the Bering and Northwest Pacific oceans; environmental, land use, animal rights and Peace organizer and advocate, and founder of Rogue Valley Veterans For Peace; a local business owner in the Grants Pass area since 1995; published poet, musician, and fun-loving vegan for life. Hal advises, "Reinforce social fabric with joy!" Contact Hal at hal@rvpv.org, or call 541-476-4156.

"Agreement is less important than respect, for with respect agreement may one day occur, but without it agreement is impossible. Honesty and openness will earn you respect. " ~ The Third Millennium, Ken Carey, Harper, 1995, p.79

The urge to believe in our own world view, which is shaped by our belief system,
is our most powerful intellectual imperative.
Interestingly, our perception is strongly shaped by this, yet perception is reality.
Therefore, we create our own reality from our belief system and world view.

If I don’t choose consciously, I will choose unconsciously. ~ Mary Morrissey

ADDITIONAL PERTINENT QUOTES

"We cannot achieve world peace without first achieving peace within ourselves... inner peace.
In an atmosphere of hatred, anger, competition and violence, no lasting peace can be achieved.
The negative and destructive forces must be overcome by compassion, love and altruisism,
which are the essential teaching of the Buddha." ~ His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama

“Inner Peace ~ A personal solution for global transformation” ~ Anonymous

"World peace must develop from inner peace.
"Peace is not the absence of violence.
"Peace is the manifestation of human compassion."
~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Once you have engaged in violence the consequences are unpredictable.
~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable" ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, will be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." - George Washington

"There is no way to peace, peace is the way." ~ A. J. Muste

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"To create a culture of peace, we must begin by acknowledging the violence in our own hearts and then learn to disarm it." ~ Sulak Sivaraska

"The greatest purveyer of violence in the world today (is) my own government."
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, April 1967>

"The most destructive decision that an individual can make is to give away his or her decision-making authority."
~ The Third Millennium, Ken Carey, Harper, 1995, p.43

"There are no winners in violent confrontation. only losers - and more losers."
~ The Third Millennium, Ken Carey, Harper, 1995, p.81

"We must not conceal from ourselves that no improvement in the present situation is possible without a severe struggle; for the handful of those who are really determined to do something is minute in comparison with the mass of the lukewarm and the misguided." ~ Albert Einstein, 1934

"Violence causes trauma and unhealed trauma causes more violence." ~ Elaine Zook Barge

"The cause of war is preparation for war." ~ W.E.B. Dubois

"Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who, with open minds and hearts, seek out connections." ~ Katherine Paterson

“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience." ~ Julia Ward Howe, in a Mother's Day Proclamation, 1870.

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
~ Edward R. Murrow, CBS newscaster, 1950's-'60s.

"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear."
~ General Douglas MacArthur, May 15, 1951