No Child Left Alive Act

This article about the governments new ability to comb through the private information of secondary students as authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act not only subverts the whole intent and purpose of this bill, but it also sheds some light on the continuing problems of getting people to participate in this pre-emptive military action.

I served for 6 years in the USAR, having enlisted during the First Gulf War. A part of me was simply needing some money to complete college, but there was also a part of me that wanted to serve my country. At one time, I had pondered the idea of serving as an officer. Another time, I was also considering returning to the Reserves, mainly to do what I had been doing in my previous term, which was office work for the commander.

In retrospect, there were probably two main reasons that kept me from continuing my service.

Number one, it was too divided on a cultural level. White people were mainly non-inclusive, and generally displayed militaristic/aggressive characteristics. African Americans and Latinos, who comprised half of the divisions roster, wanted nothing to do with the majority of white people because of this, kept to themselves, and simply waited for the end of the weekend. Surprisingly, or not, I felt it was the latter group who were generally more equipped to serve effectively if the need should arise to activate our unit.

The mess hall was split right down the center during chow, with whites on one side and everyone else on the other. This always made it hard for me to know where I was going to eat being a white-ish outsider recently coming from another country. It wasn't until a year or so had passed that I felt comfortable enough to sit with anyone I chose, but it always amazed me that while we live in a free country, there is still such a long way for our nation to come. Evidentially even though the "Whites Only" sign came down, there are plenty of people who still live as if it where hanging right there in plain sight above the chow hall doors.

We were generally not prepared to serve. I have to admit, when signing my name on that dotted line there was a moment of fear. My life was now in the governments hands. What if they called me up and I had to go fight for my country? Would I ever make it back to the rest of my life? No one can ever know the answer to questions like that, and neither could our government, but when my drill instructor confidently told us that this is the best military in the world, I wasn't convinced.

The other privates around me, could hardly read and write let alone keep cadence. Shit, half of them were scared out of their minds just being in basic training. I felt slightly depressed knowing that my unit wasn't more like the ones I had grown up watching on TV and that this small snapshot taken at bootcamp was more common throughout the military.

In the reserves, equipment shortages were frequent, and training, especially combat, was minimal. At one point, our company was given an on-the-spot drug test, but 60 percent failed, so they just threw everything away. Two years later, it was disbanded under Clinton.

So when the time came to re-up, I decided to play it safe. Figuring that, in the event of a real war, this was too serious a combination to be comfortable betting my life upon.

Back to the beginning. Coming to finish off my secondary education in the US, I was excited to see how patriotic and energized most of the students were there. It was an urban middle/working class district where a large percentage of young men would volunteer. General Douglas McAurthur grew up in this neighborhood. When I came to live there, my dad made sure to drive me by his house showing where he used to live before West Point and before WWII.

The high school quarterback went off into the Army. Most of the wrestling team joined the marines, and virtually half of the guys, it seemed, had already completed basic training by their senior year, or were getting ready to go as soon as graduation day passed.

It has been more than ten years since then, and I suspect things aren't the same back there now. Neither is this country.