By Robert Rhodes
Mennonite Weekly Review
Mennonites concerned about the appeal of military recruitment are taking steps to inform high-school-age youths about tactics that might be used to lure them into the armed forces.
Titus Peachey, a peace education advocate for Mennonite Central Committee, said it was encouraging to see Anabaptists turn recruiting concerns into a public issue.
He also doesn’t want churches to underestimate the military’s appeal among their own young people.
“I’ve had a number of contacts from people wanting to get something started,” said Peachey, who helped design Thermostat, a multimedia resource from MCC that explores witnessing for peace from an Anabaptist perspective. “I’ve been really pleased that there’s been an interest in working with this in a public arena.”
One church that has been addressing military recruitment in its own ranks is Calvary Community Church in Hampton, Va.
There, youth pastor Glen Guyton — a former Air Force captain who left the military as a conscientious objector in 1990 — emphasizes alternatives to military service when young people go in search of options for their lives.
Despite the heavy military presence near the congregation, Guyton said more of the 250 youth at the church are looking at college and other options, such as voluntary service, when it comes to life after high school.
“I think the young people have more options and are more aware of what options are out there,” Guyton said. “I just try to be realistic with them. . . . They are seeing that the military is not just somewhere to go to get college paid for.”
Guyton said his own military experience helps him address the realities of life in the armed forces with youth who are sometimes eager to experience what the military offers. Guyton said he can’t steer everyone away from the military, but he can tell them what they will find there after enlistment.
“I just want the young people to have a realistic viewpoint on it and make their own decision,” he said.
With dwindling numbers — and an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq — causing the military to look hard at its recruitment strategies, some in the historic peace churches are concerned that tactics used by recruiters to sign up more young people will become even more aggressive.
http://www.mennoweekly.org/JULY/07-18-05/RECRUIT07-18.html
Mennonite Weekly Review
Mennonites concerned about the appeal of military recruitment are taking steps to inform high-school-age youths about tactics that might be used to lure them into the armed forces.
Titus Peachey, a peace education advocate for Mennonite Central Committee, said it was encouraging to see Anabaptists turn recruiting concerns into a public issue.
He also doesn’t want churches to underestimate the military’s appeal among their own young people.
“I’ve had a number of contacts from people wanting to get something started,” said Peachey, who helped design Thermostat, a multimedia resource from MCC that explores witnessing for peace from an Anabaptist perspective. “I’ve been really pleased that there’s been an interest in working with this in a public arena.”
One church that has been addressing military recruitment in its own ranks is Calvary Community Church in Hampton, Va.
There, youth pastor Glen Guyton — a former Air Force captain who left the military as a conscientious objector in 1990 — emphasizes alternatives to military service when young people go in search of options for their lives.
Despite the heavy military presence near the congregation, Guyton said more of the 250 youth at the church are looking at college and other options, such as voluntary service, when it comes to life after high school.
“I think the young people have more options and are more aware of what options are out there,” Guyton said. “I just try to be realistic with them. . . . They are seeing that the military is not just somewhere to go to get college paid for.”
Guyton said his own military experience helps him address the realities of life in the armed forces with youth who are sometimes eager to experience what the military offers. Guyton said he can’t steer everyone away from the military, but he can tell them what they will find there after enlistment.
“I just want the young people to have a realistic viewpoint on it and make their own decision,” he said.
With dwindling numbers — and an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq — causing the military to look hard at its recruitment strategies, some in the historic peace churches are concerned that tactics used by recruiters to sign up more young people will become even more aggressive.
http://www.mennoweekly.org/JULY/07-18-05/RECRUIT07-18.html
