Dear Nederland youth and concerned parents,

More than 20 years ago, I wrote a Letter to the Editor of The Mountain-Ear titled “DON'T GO.”

In the early 2000s,  the United States government was ratcheting up recruitment for the armed services to begin war with Iraq. What might have seemed a pro-forma Selective Service annual effort was in fact a focused, deliberate plan to create  an all-volunteer fighting force made up of all Army, Navy, Marines, Special Forces, Coast Guard, and National Guard to train an extraordinary military to save America.  

I was part of Nederland's Mountain Forum for Peace—begun in 1985 and made up of dozens who had been against the US war in Vietnam and even recruitment resisters who had served in World War II—who refused to register for the military draft, pay taxes for the US to wage war, and elevate the readiness of the US Military despite enticements like college tuition, attractive home loans, job training, Veterans Administration healthcare packages, parades, metals, and uniforms.

Some of us in Ned's Mountain Forum for Peace [MFP] took workshops to learn how to counsel students and families that were considering enlistment.

I learned that not only were some of the offers and enticements, exaggerations, but some were misinformation. The Iraq War and subsequent Afghanistan War and Iraq military assignments were horrific for  soldiers as well as for civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Today, I write to suggest that even National Guard service has been usurped and resulted in stunningly extreme suicide statistics among service personnel who cannot leave the service no matter their well-founded fears and mental state.

Today some in the United States government are misusing members of the National Guard to participate in Immigration and Custom Enforcement activities against US civilians without Guards' consent.

Again I say, DON'T GO.

Study all aspects of Selective Service Law and practice: centeronconscience.org/mil-co-guide-2024-2/

Realize that even registering as required and expected under law, puts you potentially in harm's way. As with many crimes, ignorance of the law is no defense.  

I will ask the MFP to arrange workshops for young men and their parents, so military service will be discussed in full in Nederland, Colorado!

Meanwhile I shout, DON’T GO!

Peace,  

Ellen Moore

Nederland