This past Monday the Army 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, NC
came to my school.
Students had written letters to these soldiers while they were in the
Middle East, part of Operation Tribute to Freedom.
I am not ant-military, I should clarify before moving on, and I treated
these soldiers with all due respect. Also, I had students in my own
classrooms (I was in a different school last year) write to servicemen
and women in the Middle East (although I also told the students that
they could merely tell the soldiers that we were praying for their safe
return--I had students whose parents protested the war right along side

But I have a couple of problems:

First of all, I never saw Iraq as a threat to my freedom.

So, soldiers in Iraq are not defending my freedom;

They're defending
Cheney's Haliburton's freedom to pick up reconstruction contracts paid
for with our tax money. They fought for rich oil industry republicans'
rights to exploit foreign oil...(Not that deposing Saddam Hussein was a
bad idea, mind you). I feel that calling present military activities in
the Middle East anything at all to do with my Freedom is particularly
dishonest. This is what I call "propaganda".

The biggest problem I have with our little visit, however, had to do
with a little multimedia presentation that our soldier friends showed
us. The images were all fine. I don't begrudge them their pride in their
outfit and the successes they've had. They've worked hard and followed
orders and done their job (even if I don't agree with those giving the
orders). That's all well and good.
The problem was the music that went along with it. They blared some
country/rock song in our auditorium that went something like this:

"Don't mess with the US; There'll be Hell to pay. We'll put a bullet in
your *****; It's the American Way!"
Well, first of all, if students use such language, they get detention,

so one could argue that the language is inappropriate. Of course, I'm
not much of one for censorship.

The problem is that here I am trying to teach these children to resolve
conflicts among themselves in a peaceful fashion, to seek out adults for
assistance and mediation, etc., etc. and here comes the US Army to teach
them that the American Way is to simply solve your problems with violence.

This is a middle school. We wonder why our students shoot each other.
We're teaching impressionable, hormonally challenged, emotional
pre-teens that the American Way is to just shoot now and ask questions
later...Good idea...

Students had plenty to say about the song after the presentation, too.
They loved it.
I have seen an increase in violent behavior over the week since this
visit, too.