Citizen, Student, Soldier: Latina/o Youth, JROTC, and the American Dream 1479850616, 9781479850617

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Citizen, Student, Soldier

Social Transformations in American Anthropology General Editor: Ida Susser

The Sounds of Latinidad: Immigrants Making Music and Creating Culture in a Southern City Samuel K. Byrd Mobile Selves: Race, Migration, and Belonging in Peru and the U.S. Ulla D. Berg Citizen, Student, Soldier: Latina/o Youth, JROTC, and the American Dream Gina M. Pérez

Citizen, Student, Soldier Latina/o Youth, JROTC, and the American Dream Gina M. Pérez

NEW YORK UNIVERSIT Y PRESS New York and London

N EW YORK U N I VE R SIT Y PRE S S New York and London www.nyupress.org © 2015 by New York University All rights reserved References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. ISBN: 978-1-4798-5061-7 (hardback) ISBN: 978-1-4798-0780-2 (paperback) For Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data, please contact the Library of Congress. New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books. Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Also available as an ebook

I dedicate this book to Antonio, Pablo, and Lucia, for inspiring me and filling me with hope for the future. And to Baron, for everything.

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Quiet pragmatism, of course, lacks the romance of vocal militancy.  .  .  . If you want to change someone’s mind, you must understand what need shapes his or her opinion. To prevail, you must first listen. —Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, My Beloved World.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction

1

1. JROTC’s Enduring Appeal: Militarism, Ethnic Pride, and Social Opportunity in the Postindustrial City

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2. “What Are These Kids Doing in Uniforms?”: Discipline, Dignity, and JROTC Exceptionalism

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3. “JROTC Today, Leaders Tomorrow”: Leadership, Social Capital, and Stories of Redemption

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4. “Citizenship Takes Practice”: Service, Personal Responsibility, and Representing What Is Good about America

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Conclusion

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Notes

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References

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Index

239

About the Author

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Acknowledgments

There were countless times I worried I would not finish this book. Now that I have, I am deeply humbled by how many people made this possible. And I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to thank them for their love and support over so many years. I offer my sincerest thanks to the students, teachers, and staff at Fairview High School who shared their stories with me. I am also incredibly grateful to the parents and family of the students who allowed me to be a part of their lives while doing this research. Gracias por su confianza. I am also grateful to my editor, Jennifer Hammer, for believing in this project from early on and patiently reaching out to me over the years to check on my progress. My thanks also to Ida Susser for encouragement and support of this work and to the anonymous reviewers at New York University Press whose insightful comments helped me revise this book and make it better. I also want to thank Dorothea Halliday, Constance Grady, Willa Speiser, and others at NYU for your efforts to see this project to its conclusion. So many eager, smart, and engaged Oberlin College students helped me with my research over the years. I want to thank Ronni Armstead and Melissa Sánchez, helping me learn more about Puerto Rican Lorain through their work playing dominoes and other games with los viejitos. Melissa Hines transcribed interviews and provided me with extremely helpful interview summaries. Lee Gargagliano gathered important census data and information from the Ohio Department of Education. And I am grateful to Daniel Gillespie for helping to transcribe interviews. Marisol LeBrón not only transcribed interviews and talked through ideas about the project with me, she is also one of the brightest undergraduate students I have had the pleasure to work with over the years. She completed her PhD in 2014, and I am honored to now have her as both my colleague and my friend. As a work study student in Comparative American Studies, Brenda Alvarez checked out books for me from xi

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the library and helped me in countless ways during my research leave as I finished this book. I am incredibly grateful to Judi Davidson for all her support as an excellent and patient administrative assistant over the years. Rebecca Hoffman also helped with library research during the summer of 2012. I also want to thank the wonderful Eboni Johnson for keeping me organized and helping me access the resources I need. I am also incredibly grateful to Lyle Kash, whose excellent research skills were invaluable in the final moments of my data collection to help update the numbers of JROTC enrollment. Over the years, students in my Militarization of American Daily Life course and my other classes provided valuable insight and critical engagement with texts and ideas that helped me clarify my own research. I am especially grateful to Sophia Yapalater, Luke Alpert, Aly Halpert, Alicia Dudziak, Catherine Wright, Erik Martinez, Catherine Wright, Charlotte Sawyer, Lyle Kash, Eric Oeur, Lauren Salazar, Zoe Chace, Lorena Lucero, Teresita Prieto, Michael Sosa, Rebecca DeCola, Haley Pollack, Emily Alexander, Miriam Lakes, Cindy Camacho, Jonathan Doucette, Sophie Simon-Ortiz, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, Rusty Bartels, Max Beshers, Amelia Fortunato, and Katrina Forman. As I completed my first draft of my manuscript, I was fortunate to have bright and willing students read and provide incredibly useful feedback. I want to thank Katrina Cortés, Jessica DePaz, Wes Ruiz, Kat Malone, and Brenda Alvarez for taking the time out of their busy schedules to read and engage my work. I believe it is much stronger and clearer because of your comments and insights. A research grant in 2013–2014 allowed me to complete this book manuscript. For this and for so many other things, I am grateful to my friends, colleagues, and administrators at Oberlin College. In the first few weeks of my research leave, my friend and colleague Shelley Lee suggested working together in a writing accountability group. And although I initially balked and suggested I was far too stressed and busy to meet and talk about writing on a weekly basis, I am convinced I would not have been able to see this project through otherwise. My most profound thanks to Shelley, Afia Ofori-Mensa and Michelle Boyd for being the most remarkable, reliable, and supportive writing group colleagues imaginable. And to Arlene Dávila who, on a visit to Oberlin that fall, lovingly and firmly, instructed me to “just write every day.” I am also

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grateful for the time I spent at the writing retreat When Words Count, in Vermont, in June 2014. The beauty and solitude the space provided, as well as the kindness and astute feedback of Steve Eisner and Jon Reisfeld, were extraordinarily useful as I finished this book. I am also grateful to chefs Paul, Aaron, and Kirk, as well as Eberle, who prepared delicious meals, made me feel welcome, and allowed me to focus solely on my writing for five days. This project began as I completed my first book when I was a Research Associate from 2000 to 2003, at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, the City University of New York. I want to thank all my colleagues and friends at Centro and at Hunter College for all their support over the years, especially Carlos Vargas Ramos, Xavier Totti, Félix Matos Rodríguez, Caridad Souza, Ismael García, Yasmin Ramírez, Mario Ramírez, Yosenex Orengo, Nelida Pérez, Patricia Silver, Harry FranquiRivera, Pedro Juan Hernández, José De Jesus, Mayra Torres, Andrés Torres, Miriam Jiménez Román, and the late and esteemed Juan Flores. Friends and colleagues at Oberlin and beyond sustained me throughout the years of writing this project. At Oberlin, Meredith Gadsby, Pablo Mitchell, Meredith Raimondo, Wendy Kozol, Daphne John, Shelley Lee, Afia Ofori-Mensa, Sean Decatur, Pawan Dhingra, Gillian Johns, Harrod Suarez, Renee Romano, Harry Hirsch, Janet Fiskio, Adrian Bautista, Eric Estes, Pam Brooks, Charles Peterson, Caroline Jackson-Smith, Justin Emeka, Zeb Page, Greggor Mattson, Frances Hasso, Rick Baldoz, Ben Lee, Lisa Hall, Michelle Baron, Nancy Boutilier, Christa Champion, David Kamitsuka, A. G. Miller, Brenda Grier-Miller, Laurie McMillin, Anu Needham, Jennifer Fraser, Kim Faber, Beth Blissman, Carol Lasser, Gary Kornblith, Len Smith, Yveline Alexis, Isabella Moreno, and Marvin Krislov have been exemplary colleagues. Beyond Oberlin I am grateful to so many who have provided mentorship, support, encouragement and friendship over the years: Micaela di Leonardo, Arlene Dávila, Patricia Zavella, Jorge Mariscal, Fernando Suárez de Solar, Yarimar Bonilla, Jonathan Rosa, José Lopez, Meca Sorrentini, Isar Godreau, Zaire Dinzey-Flores, Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera, Frank Guridy, Adrian Burgos Jr., Deborah Paredez, Wilson Valentín, Marisol Negrón, Lilia Fernandez, John McKiernan-González, Carrie Cordova, Luis Plascencia, Ana Aparicio, Frances Aparicio, Larry La Fountain-Stokes, Arlene Torres, Jorge Duany, Lourdes Torres, Nilda Flores-González, Maura Toro-Morn,

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Marixsa Alicea, Amalia Pallares, Heather Horsley, Melissa Rosario, Almita Miranda, Jeff Maskovsky, Lee Baker, Roberto González, Sandra Morgen, Alisse Waterson, Catherine Lutz, Brett Williams, Jane Collins, Amal Fadlalla, Roger Lancaster, Melissa Checker, Dorothy Roberts, Katherine McCaffrey, John Phillips Nieto, Jacalyn Harden, Linda Lucas, Sudhir Venkatesh, Dána-Ain Davis, Christa Craven, Regina Deil-Amen, Liesl Haas, David Carey Jr., Bethsaida Garcia and her children Jessica, Josie, Tito, Betsy, and J.J., and to Robert Launay who, in graduate school, exhorted me and my fellow graduate students to pay careful attention to the things people choose to argue about. A handful of strong women friends in Oberlin and beyond also made this journey possible. I want to thank Charu Gupta, who talked with me about writing, inspired me with her work as a journalist, and shared thoughts with me about juggling family and professional work. And to my cherished girlfriends who helped with playdates, good humor, and much-needed girls’ nights out with cocktails, wine, and Tater Tots, I am ever so grateful for your friendship: Melanie Lee, Meredith Gadsby, Kim Slimak, Jill Sands, Farah Emeka, Lili Sandler, and Rebecca Bagley. Tita Reed and her family, Leroy, Cleo, Sofia, Boise, Noelle, and Baily, have been dear friends who welcomed me and my family into their homes and made us feel part of a larger community. As always, my family have been loving and indefatigable supporters over the years. I am so grateful to my siblings, Eric, Peter, Lorna, and Teresa, as well as their partners Cristina, Christine and Codrin. My mom, Leeann Pérez, my mother, Toni Rideout, my brother, Lee Stevens, my suegros Sofia and Roland Pineda, and my husband’s cousin Jose Dolores Gomez and his wife Griselda Soto Bravo and their son José Dolores Gomez have all been encouraging over the years. I am also grateful for the life and energy of my departed brother-in-law, Andre Pineda, who loved talking through ideas in unorthodox and really smart ways. And in death as in life, my father, Félix Antonio Pérez, continues to inspire me to ask questions, listen carefully, and humbly learn from others. I could not have written this book without the friendship, wisdom, and insight of Michelle Boyd, who reassured me, helped me set goals, dried tears from long distance, listened, provide sage advice, and listened some more. Michelle is the bravest, smartest woman I know. Michelle, you have inspired me and so many others to learn to embrace the

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writing beast within. But more than anything, you have taught me how to be principled, intellectually curious, and persevere with grace. My life, how I look at the world, and my hopes for the future are indelibly shaped by my children, Pablo, Lucia, and Antonio. Your inquisitiveness, irrepressible joy, and humor have sustained me over the years. Thank you for your patience and love during all the weekends, evenings, and days I was consumed with writing and finishing this book. Dreaming about your futures inspired me in ways you will probably never fully appreciate. And finally, to my media naranja, Baron. I am at a loss to express my gratitude for your love and faith in me over so many years. Your humor, intelligence, patience, charm, and loving insistence that I leave to write while you cook and care for the kids are all more than I ever deserve. And while we never seem to have enough time for music nights or to sing, play tennis, and watch movies together (let alone read each other’s work), I am certain none of this would be possible without you.

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Introduction

One Friday morning in early November students, teachers, and staff of Fairview High School in Lorain, Ohio, slowly file into the spacious, dimly lit auditorium for a Veterans Day assembly.1 It is noisy, with students laughing, greeting each other, and vying for seats near the back of the hall, while teachers and staff try to get everyone seated as quickly as possible. Mayor Craig Foltin is seated in the front of the hall, where three rows are reserved for local veterans who are the invited guests for the morning’s assembly. He sits quietly with a bemused expression at the controlled chaos of students who are required to attend this annual event honoring local veterans. This is one of many events that will take place throughout the Veterans Day weekend and in each instance—at elementary and middle schools, public parks, VFW posts, and private banquet halls—cadets from Fairview’s Army JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) program play a prominent role. In this morning’s assembly, members of the school’s Color Guard solemnly proceed into the auditorium as the rest of the student body suddenly lowers their voices to hushed whispers. Four young cadets carry large flags and post the colors at the front of the auditorium to signal the beginning of the program. They are immediately followed by nearly two dozen veterans who proceed down the main aisle to take the reserved front-row seats while all in attendance stand and applaud as they enter. The veterans reflect the diversity of U.S. military personnel: most are older white men, but many are young women and men, white, black, and Latino. And almost all wear some kind of hat, button, patch, cap, or jacket identifying their military branch or the wars in which in which they served. A number of the younger veterans wear items that identify them as veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A school administrator invites everyone to take their seats, welcomes us to this Veterans Day event, and then dims the lights to show a video chronicling wars in U.S. history. There is a lot of whispering and giggling among the students during the video, and 1

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its sparse narrative, with patriotic background music celebrating war victories and the heroes who have served honorably over two centuries, does not seem to inspire those in attendance. Even the veterans appear a little bored. Once the movie is over, our attention is directed to the stage, where a round table, draped in white cloth with a single candle in the center, is elegantly set for five. There are five empty chairs, also covered in white, each bearing a different seal representing the five branches of the military. Cadet Major Alana Ramos, in dress uniform and a white beret, approaches the podium near the table and begins a deeply moving POW/MIA ceremony that I have seen Fairview’s Honor Guard perform for veterans groups throughout Lorain County. As she begins speaking, five cadets also in dress uniforms and white berets march solemnly to the table. They each carry a service cap in their right hand, and a long, shiny saber hangs from their left side. As they approach the table, they move slowly around the empty chairs until they form a circle around the table, with a cadet standing tall and straight behind each chair. The auditorium is silent as Alana explains the significance of this ceremony: I have been given the honor and privilege of introducing and acknowledging this table representing and paying tribute to all the prisoners of war, missing in action and killed in action from American involvement in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, the Persian Gulf Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and more. Many of you have looked at this table and wondered. Let me explain. This table, set for five, symbolizes the frailty of the prisoners against their oppressors. Remember, the tablecloth is white, symbolizing the purity of their country’s call to arms. Remember, the single candle, displayed at the center of the table, is symbolic of the families and loved ones who have kept the faith, waiting for the return of those dear to them. Remember, the red ribbon, tied prominently on the candle, is reminiscent of the red ribbon worn upon lapels and breasts of the many thousands who bear witness to their unyielding determination to demand a proper counting of our missing and the return of any Americans left on foreign soil. Remember, the lemon on the bread plate reminds us of their bitter fate. Remember, there is salt on the bread plate symbolic of the tears of the families as they still wait for their loved one

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to return. Remember, the glasses are inverted. They cannot toast with us this afternoon. Remember, the chairs are empty. They are not here. Remember, all of you who have served with them and call them brothers and sisters and depended on their aid and relied on them. Remember them, for surely they have not forgotten you.

Once Alana has finished speaking, the song “Soldiers of the Cloud” begins as the five cadets pay tribute to the POW/MIA. With painstaking military precision, they slowly place the service caps on the table, salute the missing, raise their sabers to their hearts, and use them to salute once more before returning them to their saber guards at their side. The song is slow and haunting, with a poignant chorus about bearing witness to soldiers who must not be forgotten: “Tell the mothers that their sons are marching in the sky. Tell them that they’re soldiers of the clouds. Tell them, please tell them. Please tell them so they know.”2 As they finish their tribute, Alana joins her fellow cadets at the front of the stage, the members of the Honor Guard face all of us in the audience, and turn again with military precision and march silently offstage. The auditorium is filled with the sound of applause, cheers, and whistles from the students. The veterans, many with tears streaming down their faces, stand quietly while applauding. They are visibly moved, a response that I have consistently observed each time the Honor Guard has performed this ceremony. As students and teachers file out of the auditorium, ready to begin their school day, some staff and school administrators stay behind with the mayor and the veterans. They embrace, shake hands, and are invited to a modest reception of cookies, soda, and coffee in the cafeteria, where they meet up with student cadets from the Honor and Color Guards as well as some of their parents who attended the event. First Sergeant Milano, one of two retired military personnel who leads Fairview’s JROTC program, is beaming. He is proud of how his students performed and is even more delighted by how moved and appreciative his fellow veterans are by the cadets’ tribute. During the reception veterans approach the students, tell them how proud they are of what they are doing, praise them for their hard work, and emphasize how good it is to see young people doing something positive for their community. The students are a little embarrassed but graciously receive their praise and thank

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them for attending the assembly and for their service in the military. The parents are also pleased and remark, once again, on how well they performed the ceremony and what a great program Fairview’s JROTC is. Some thank First Sergeant (as students and others in the community often refer to him) for all his work with the cadets. Soon the students regroup and get ready to leave with their parents and First Sergeant to perform the ceremony at another school. Most of the Honor and Color Guard will be excused from classes for the day, a perk for being one of the few cadets to be in Honor and Color Guard. As an assistant principal of the school explained to me earlier in the fall, JROTC students are exceptional. Another administrator described JROTC as “one of the best programs in the school.” And in a formal interview with the three principals of the school, they all remarked on the distinctiveness of the program, with its emphasis on character building, extracurricular activities, leadership development, community service, and high levels of parental and community involvement.3 One of the principals observed that it is precisely these features that ensure the program’s success. “These kids are not perfect,” Principal Ramona Sánchez noted with a smile, “but they are good and quick to volunteer. They have the best behavior and discipline and integrity. So much of JROTC is about character development and leadership.” Principal Sánchez’s observations about the distinctiveness of JROTC cadets are shared widely among administrators, teachers, veterans, and community members, who publicly praise JROTC as one of Fairview’s most valued programs. For many students participating in JROTC, it is precisely these positive experiences of being commended for the acclaim they bring to their schools, their families, and their communities that affirm the value of their participation in JROTC. Indeed, events like the Veterans Day assembly not only provide an opportunity for students to publicly honor military veterans but also elicit praise from a range of people both inside the school and beyond, and highlight the students’ exceptional accomplishments. These accolades were not uncommon. In fact, throughout the year I observed countless instances in local media, formal speeches, casual conversations, and interactions between JROTC students and the broader public that affirmed both the value of the program and of the kind of service and citizenship these students embodied. These positive assessments of young people’s dedication, discipline,

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leadership, and commitment to community service are dramatically different from the negative portrayals of today’s youth—and in particular youth of color—who are often characterized as lazy, undisciplined, and prone to criminal activities. Thus, this Veterans Day assembly confirms what proponents of JROTC proclaim as one the most valued features of the program: it creates better citizens. Since its inception in 1916, JROTC has been promoted as a vital program for developing in young people the moral and physical discipline necessary for good citizenship. Today, JROTC’s principal mission is to “motivate young people to be better citizens,” a motto that is ubiquitous in the program’s promotional materials, educational texts, posters, and handbooks, and that infuses conversations with students, administrators, family members, and the broader community alike.4 But what kind of citizens are JROTC students invited to become? And what exactly does citizenship mean? How do working-class youth, and in particular young Latinas/os and their families, define citizenship? And why does the language of citizenship resonate with them so powerfully? Although these are not the questions that initially guided my interest in the experiences of Latina/o youth in JROTC, political and economic shifts at the local, national, and global levels made them unavoidable and led me to consider the ideological, social, and cultural conditions in which ideas about citizenship, obligation, and social opportunity are discussed and vigorously debated. These questions took on a particular urgency as the seemingly unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required new military recruits, deployed soldiers for multiple tours, and enacted a stop-loss policy that prevented military personnel from leaving the military once their service had ended.5 The devastating impact of war on soldiers and their families was concomitant with other violences in the American landscape, including rising anti-immigrant sentiment and the proliferation of anti-immigrant legislation at the local, state and national levels.6 In both instances questions about citizenship—who is a citizen and what are the obligations of those who lay claim to citizenship status—loomed large and raised particularly vexing problems for U.S. Latinas/os whose youth, marginal economic status, and growing numbers made them simultaneously a source of hope for contributing to the ranks of the allvolunteer-force military and a source of fear and threat to the nation.7 And while JROTC is explicit in its claim that that the program is not a

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recruiting tool for the U.S. military, it was clear that for many Latina/o youth in high school military programs, questions of citizenship, duty, inclusion, and belonging were not merely theoretical concerns. Instead, they confronted these matters on a daily basis and developed a sense of themselves as citizens, community members, and contributors to the nation through both their local experiences in JROTC and their keen awareness of the broader political, economic, and social context of militarism, economic opportunity, and social aspirations. Because Fairview High School is located in the predominantly Puerto Rican community of South Lorain, it is not surprising that large numbers of Latinas/os participate in its JROTC program. What is noteworthy, however, is the fact that the majority of the students who participated in Honor and Color Guard are young Latinas, primarily from Puerto Rican families, some of whom have a long histories and deep roots in the city of Lorain, while others are recent migrants. Not only do young Latinas slightly outnumber their male counterparts in the program, they are also quite visible and hold the highest leadership roles in the program. Along with their fellow cadets, they interact frequently with local veterans and civic organizations in both the city and Lorain County, and they are actively involved in a wide range of community service, fund-raising, and public ceremonies throughout the year. This was not the first time that many of the veterans who attended the morning’s assembly had interacted with members of Fairview’s Color Guard and Honor Guards. Many veterans were also familiar with the students’ families, who are actively involved in JROTC through the Booster Club and who regularly attend different events and support the program through citywide fundraisers. In short, the morning’s assembly illustrates the appeal and success of Fairview’s JROTC program: As a high school class that explicitly links curricular and extracurricular learning and activities, it integrates community engagement in ways that not only develop important leadership skills and experiential learning but also help students develop social and cultural capital that are absolutely essential for their success in high school and beyond.8 The Veterans Day performance is also significant because it captures in a very visceral way the remarkable self-discipline and agency of students who participate in JROTC, two recurring themes that emerged throughout the research and that guide the analysis in this book around

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the question of what motivates Latina/o youths’ decisions to take part in JROTC. The precision involved in posting the colors, performing a ceremony with sabers, service caps, and salutes, and a memorized speech honoring POW/MIA all require long hours of practice and self-discipline not unfamiliar to students who participate in their high school sports teams, debate club, drama, dance or drill, and cheer squads. But the cadets’ engagement in military rituals—which range from the most solemn national events such as presidential inaugurations and military funerals to more routine displays of national unity and patriotism like raising the flag, singing the national anthem, and military flyovers before sporting events—is of a profoundly different order. By participating in JROTC, a military program that is extolled by politicians, governmental officials, and national leaders across the political spectrum, students have aligned themselves with one of the most revered and trusted institutions in American public life and are the beneficiaries of the positive associations and respect that accompany their affiliation with the military.9 Students’ decisions to participate in JROTC are certainly shaped by the prestige and respect military affiliations potentially offer, but their choices also reflect their agency and their attempts to cultivate themselves as disciplined, community-oriented, and aspiring young people worthy of praise and emulation. As a program that began in 1916, and whose presence in American public schools has waxed and waned throughout the twentieth century, JROTC has experienced unprecedented expansion since the 1990s and now has approximately 557,600 participating in 3,405 units nationwide.10 Public support for proliferation of JROTC programs in poor urban school districts with large numbers of Latina/o and African American students is often based on the belief that the program provides much-needed discipline for “at risk” youth. Critics of JROTC argue, however, that the program is a recruiting tool for the U.S. military and is yet another example of an increasingly punitive climate that disproportionately affects impoverished, workingclass, and youth of color in American public schools. There are certainly limitations to laying claim to status that rests on militarized notions of respect, worthiness, citizenship, and belonging, but this book highlights the agency of the young men and women who choose to take part in JROTC and their efforts to redefine themselves and

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their communities. By emphasizing youth agency, I do not wish to diminish the deeply troubling and very real ways that working-class youth and communities of color are targeted by military recruiters in their high schools, through slick media campaigns, online gaming sites, and interactive media. Military recruiters are more visible in some high schools and communities than others, and researchers and activists alike have drawn particular attention to the ways that Latina/o youth are specifically the targets of well-coordinated military recruitment campaigns.11 As the youngest and fastest-growing demographic in the United States, and one that the military has identified as having relatively positive attitudes toward the military and “active duty propensity,” Latinas/os are aggressively recruited and encouraged to consider military service as a viable pathway to economic security, fast-track naturalization, and greater social status.12 Military programs profoundly inform the aspirations of many Latina/o youth. But their hopes for the future are indelibly shaped by their profound understandings of the limited choices and resources available to them. Both the local political economy and national debates about citizenship, race, class, and belonging are characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity, and concern for working-class youth, and Latina/o youth in particular. It is precisely in this context that they strategize, aspire, and organize their social worlds with the limited resources available to them. Military service, education, social status, and upward mobility are intertwined in complicated ways, as they were to so many before them, and Latina/o youth draw on these resources in unexpected ways in order to create meaningful and economically secure lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.

JROTC, Citizenship Formation, and Youth Aspirations That working-class Latina/o youth would turn to military programs (and, at different moments, military service) as an avenue for upward mobility and social standing is not surprising or new. As many scholars have shown, military service has been an important avenue for upward economic and social mobility and has been the site of significant struggle for full citizenship rights.13 What is less known and understood, however, is the role of military education programs like JROTC in the lives of young people. This book intervenes in these debates and provides

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critical ethnographic attention to aid in understanding the motivations, experiences, and aspirations of students who participate in increasing numbers in JROTC programs in cities like Lorain, Ohio. Anthropologists, and feminist ethnographers in particular, have long distinguished their work by its commitment to “documenting lived experience as it is impacted by gender, race, class, sexuality and other aspects of participants’ lives.”14 In doing so, they are able to capture the complexity of social phenomena while simultaneously drawing our attention to power differentials in ethnographic practice. These methodological and theoretical insights inform my own research and writing, and they reaffirm the unique insights ethnographic approaches can provide, as well as the challenges they can pose to feminist researchers committed to producing “intellectual contributions that further social justice goals.”15 Students have complicated reasons for participating in JROTC—they join because of friends and family who had positive experiences in the program; they want to become more disciplined; they hope the course would be an “easy A”; they are considering the military after high school; they found strong mentorship in the program; they hope it looks good on their résumé as they apply for jobs and college. And although some of their reasons certainly resonate with public perceptions about the benefits and/or dangers of the program, their experiences in JROTC often challenge analyses that reduce the image of youth as either dangerous (and in need of discipline) or as victims (who need to be saved).16 This book explores students’ complex experiences in JROTC and pays particular attention to the experiences of Latina/o youth and the ways that gender, race, ethnicity, and class shape their experiences within the program, their aspirations for the future, and their evolving understandings of citizenship. It argues that Latina/o youths’ decisions to participate in JROTC are informed by their marginal economic position in the local political economy as well as their desire to be regarded as full citizens, both locally and nationally. Like a number of recent scholarly publications focusing on neoliberal subject formation, this book is fundamentally concerned with Latina/o youths’ citizenship formation, as well as their educational and vocational aspirations, and raises important questions about what kind of citizens JROTC students are invited to become.17 Because citizenship is one of the central concerns guiding the JROTC curriculum, this book explores ethnographically how students

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understand and enact different visions of citizenship and grounds these understandings in local and national political economic contexts. It also highlights the ideological, social, and cultural conditions of Latina/o youth and their families who both participate and are enmeshed in vigorous debates about citizenship, obligation, social opportunity, militarism, and, ultimately, the American Dream. Questions about citizenship, social opportunity, and the American Dream that guide this book are not the ones that first drew me to this project. In fact, they are concerns that emerged as a result of many years of fieldwork in Latina/o communities in both Chicago and Northeast Ohio and my engagement with scholarly and popular debates about citizenship, militarism, and inequality in post-9/11 America. A range of scholars has meticulously documented the experiences of impoverished and working-class youth in a neoliberal moment characterized by powerful narratives of personal responsibility, punitive governance, increased militarism, and diminishing public resources and has been invaluable in my own conceptualization of this research. But I have also benefited enormously from political debates about the American public’s relationship to war and its sense of duty, honor, and public service, as well as questions regarding what kind of citizenship do Americans value and aspire to for ourselves and the nation.18 These conversations both inside and outside the academy are bound up with even more troubling challenges around immigration, race, education, and social opportunity. Therefore, my focus on Latina/o youth and JROTC is not only grounded in scholarship that examines the ways that race, class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship persist as important axes of difference that stigmatize, marginalize, and ultimately criminalize poor and workingclass youth and their communities. It also grapples with the meaning and effects of U.S. military power and what many have referred to as the dangers of a civilian-military divide that characterize a post-9/11 world of heightened militarization and economic and political uncertainty.19 More specifically, this book asks what kind of citizenship is engendered, encouraged, and supported in military programs like JROTC programs in American public schools. How do local educational, cultural, and social institutions shape students’ daily lives and inform their educational and vocational aspirations, and how do class, gender, and race shape these aspirations and outcomes? And finally, how do Latina/o youth

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themselves define and strategize to gain skills, social capital, dignity, and respect within a context of limited and diminishing economic, cultural, and social resources? To answer these questions, I draw on the important work of scholars who explore the ways neoliberalism and militarization have shaped identities, communities, and cultural practices in distinctive ways in contemporary America.20 This book also builds on invaluable research that richly details the critical roles schools and communities play in youth subject and citizenship formation and how these processes are embedded in broader understandings—at the local, state and national levels—about young people that are often steeped in fear and exacerbate inequality.21 Feminist scholars have long concerned themselves with the particular ways militarism and militarization have shaped and the lives of women and the ways gender ideologies, sexuality, and inequality are inextricably linked in military projects. The attention to young Latinas’ experiences in JROTC contributes to feminist scholarship on militarization and considers the ways that race, gender, autonomy, and social opportunity shape young girls’ aspirations and hopes for the future.22 Burgeoning scholarship in Latina/o Studies provides a final foundation for my work, particularly writers’ focus on the limits of belonging, inclusion, and citizenship for Latina/o youth who do not always fit neatly within dominant narratives that ascribe social meaning and value to their lives.23

Ethics and Ethnographic Practice Over the years, I have reflected a great deal about the circuitous routes that led me to do this work. As I engaged in the research for and writing of this book, it often seemed to me that my interests in questions about inequality, the creative and tenacious strategies of marginalized communities to improve their lives, and the enduring power of American Dream ideology naturally led me to consider the role the military plays in people’s lives. But this was not the case. While I was familiar with the complicated ways military service often opened up important avenues for social and economic mobility for people, it wasn’t until I was completing my graduate work at Northwestern University that I began to develop a more profound sense of the myriad ways the

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military insinuated itself into educational programs that would have a profound impact on working-class youth. Prior to my research in Chicago, I had little knowledge of JROTC, although I was quite familiar with university-based ROTC programs. My Catholic high school in Stockton, California, did not have a JROTC program; nor did JROTC have the high profile in the 1980s that it does today. Like many students, however, I was encouraged to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude and Battery test) my sophomore year with the idea that it was yet another standardized test that would help me and my classmates discern our vocational paths beyond high school. And recruiters approached and praised all of us for our high test scores by sending letters, promotional brochures, and information about the exciting possibilities in the U.S. military. But because I was interested in going to college, military service was not appealing to me, although one of my closest friends enlisted in the army after high school as I went off on scholarship to study at a four-year university. My sophomore year in college, I returned home for one of my brother’s high school graduation and met the marine who actively recruited him his senior year in high school. My brother eventually enlisted in the marine reserves, in part to help pay for his college expenses, but largely because of his interest in serving his country as a marine. His education was abruptly suspended when his unit was activated during the first Gulf War. And as a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, he remains active in his local veterans’ organizations and feels a great sense of pride as a marine and a deep sense of connection to other veterans, including our grandfather. By the time I began my fieldwork among Puerto Rican families in Chicago and Puerto Rico, military service was not unfamiliar to me, but the intensity and ubiquitous presence of the military and military programs was surprising. At the time, I didn’t realize the significance of JROTC in the lives of the people I worked with, even though many of the families I knew had children, uncles, aunts, and friends who were either in JROTC or in the U.S. military. The military was such a familiar part of so many people’s lives—the pictures of family and friends in military uniforms adorned living room walls and shelves; talking about recruiters in high school and considering the military as a good option after graduating was commonplace—that it was unremarkable and naturalized. It wasn’t until spring 2002, when a bright, intelligent

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young girl whom I had known for many years and who had been so focused on going to college with the ultimate goal of going to Harvard Law School, surprised her family with the news that she had enlisted in the army, that I began to pay more attention to the presence of the military in high schools. Because she had met her recruiter through her sister’s participation in their school’s JROTC program, I became curious about the role such programs play in the lives of Puerto Rican and Latina/o youth, and I eventually learned that Chicago led the nation in the number of JROTC programs and students and was increasingly presented as a model of success for school districts struggling to meet the needs of a diverse student body.24 Since beginning my research on Latina/o youth and JROTC, I have struggled to understand my role as an ethnographer working with remarkably generous people whose thoughts about the military and military programs are often different from my own. Many have shared the ways their lives are better because of their participation in JROTC or military service. They have learned important values and skills—discipline, leadership, the value of service; they have developed critical important social networks that have helped them get jobs and have economic security. And they have also been clear about the pride and social prestige military service has provided them. When my family and I moved to Oberlin, Ohio, in 2003, I remained interested in understanding the consequences of the growth of JROTC programs on Latina/o youth in Chicago. As we settled into our new life in Northeast Ohio, we had the good fortune to meet a woman from Lorain who invited us to Sacred Heart Chapel, the beloved Catholic church in South Lorain established in 1952 to meet the needs of the city’s expanding Puerto Rican and Mexican communities.25 Our friend and her extended family taught us a great deal about the experiences of Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and ethnic whites in Lorain, as well as about the city’s evolving political economy, which relied so heavily on the steel mills and heavy manufacturing that still operate, albeit on a much smaller scale. These conversations led me to want to learn more about the history and contemporary experiences of Puerto Ricans in Lorain and shifted my interests from Chicago to Northeast Ohio. When I learned of Fairview’s JROTC program, I was curious about how the experiences of Puerto Rican and Latina/o youth in Lorain were similar to and distinct from what I had observed in Chicago, and I reached out

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to the JROTC instructors at the school to see whether I would be able to work with the unit for the 2006–2007 academic year. I was welcomed by the JROTC instructors to meet students, parents, teachers, and administrators; attend drill competitions and events; and learn all I could about JROTC at Fairview High School. When I finally had my first opportunity to meet some of the parents of students in the program, they were initially quite enthusiastic about my interest in their children’s lives, and they welcomed me as someone whose attention affirmed the pride they and other community members felt about their children’s involvement in the JROTC program they had collectively worked hard to develop over the years. But during the first Honor Guard performance I attended at a local VFW hall, the same solemn tribute honoring POW/MIAs I observed on Veterans Day at Fairview High School, one of the parents took me aside and said that some of them were concerned that I might want to do this research to dismantle their program. “Are you here to prove what you think you already know about this program? Or are you really here to learn?” I responded honestly that there were many ways for me to conduct this research and that one of the things I had discovered over the years is that young people have complicated reasons for joining JROTC and I wanted to understand those reasons. I wanted to work with them because I wanted to learn from them; and this entailed significant risk. It would be a lot easier for me, I explained, to prove what I thought I knew by not talking to anyone and not being challenged to rethink my critiques of the program. In following this unit for a year, I was committing myself to be as objective as possible and open to understanding their complex understandings of JROTC and the military more broadly. He and the other parents seemed cautiously reassured, but they reminded me that this was a program they had all worked very hard to develop and support and that it meant a great deal to the parents as well as the kids. “We’re here for the kids. We do this for the kids.” This was a mantra repeated throughout my time working with students, parents, and teachers involved in the program. I don’t believe my answer was completely satisfying to the parents that evening, but they did welcome me into their lives and I ultimately learned more than I could have ever imagined. And while my research has led me to some unexpected conclusions, my respect for those who provide emotional, financial, social and educational support for the students at Fairview High School and

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the broader community guided and continues to inform how I approach my research and present my findings. The national debate about JROTC is quite polarized. Proponents of the program embrace it as a powerful alternative for many youth who might otherwise choose to be involved in gangs. In his memoir, My American Journey, Retired General Colin Powell, for example, writes, “Innercity kids, many from broken homes, found stability and role models in Junior ROTC. They got a taste of discipline, the work ethic, and they experienced pride of membership in something healthier than a gang.”26 Critics of JROTC argue that despite claims to the contrary, the program is a recruiting tool specifically targeting poor and workingclass youth of color and that these students, in particular, are tracked into military programs rather than college preparation. Within this extremely polarized debate, I argue that ethnography offers a unique opportunity to understand how Latina/o youth and their families make decisions regarding participation in JROTC, their attitudes about the military, and their futures. While the students and family members I worked with in Lorain share some of the views that proponents of JROTC advance, they are much more nuanced in their understandings of the limits of military programs. Yet unlike critics of JROTC, they see real material and social advantages the program potentially offers. This book explores some of the social and economic benefits Latina/o youth derive from their participation in JROTC and locates their understandings of the program within the realities of a local political economy with extremely limited employment opportunities for working-class youth. Understanding both the meaning of JROTC in their school and the broader community was essential for appreciating both its popularity and support, and the ways students’ aspirations and hopes for the future developed. This broader context also required me to think carefully about the material and ideological contexts in which the students forge their aspirations. Ultimately, I was challenged to evaluate my firmly held beliefs and try to ethically analyze the experiences of these young people and their families in the context of limited economic and social resources, and pervasive media images that increasingly stigmatize youth and in particular working-class youth of color. Ethnography is often a risky enterprise, but it is absolutely essential for understanding complex social phenomena and broadening opportunities for critical engagement for effective social change.27

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The Study and Its Setting Fairview High School is located in South Lorain, the largely Puerto Rican area of the city that, according to local historian Gene Rivera, is home to some of La Colonia’s pioneering Puerto Rican institutions from the 1950s. It lies within one mile of U.S. Steel Corporation and other heavy manufacturing to the east, with small residential neighborhoods to the south and west. Opposite the school is a strip mall with a convenience store and fast food shops catering to students after school. The high school is clean and spacious, filled with youth representing the diversity of Lorain, black, Latina/o, and white. There are security guards, men and women, who talk with students in the hallways and escort them to classrooms when they have to enter a class while it is in session, and they wear security uniforms. Fairview students do not wear uniforms, but there is a dress code that is enforced by staff. Unlike the Chicago high schools I was familiar with, Fairview does not feel crowded: lockers line the hallways, the cafeteria is open, and animated students walk loudly and playfully between classes. Visitors must sign in and show state-issued identification at the door before entering the school. On my first day visiting the school, I entered the main office immediately to the right of the front door, and after I introduced myself, the attending secretary, a middle-aged Latina, asked a student to walk me down to the JROTC office. The student gladly accompanied me quietly to the JROTC office, past the cafeteria, the open doors of classes in session, and postered walls with motivating messages about the importance of education, student achievements, and announcements for upcoming events. Fairview houses three small schools or academies—Leadership, Pride, and Arts Academy. JROTC is located within Leadership Academy. When we arrived at the JROTC office, I was immediately struck by how many young girls were in the class. In both sessions I observed on that first day, girls outnumbered boys, and most were young Latinas. Because it was the first day of classes, there was a remarkable amount of movement and activity, with students walking, talking, and laughing with each other and the JROTC instructors, Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano, middle-aged retired military personnel who developed and have run the Army JROTC program since 1994. Both Major Wise and First Sergeant appeared to have excellent rapport with the students,

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who talked easily with them in a lighthearted manner. It was quite obvious that both men cared deeply about their students and are extremely proud of them. First Sergeant, for example, immediately showed me a computer file he keeps that listed what he calls the “success stories” of his JROTC cadets, many of whom are young Latinas. Two cadets entered West Point, the United States Military Academy, after graduation, and another currently attends the U.S. Naval Academy. Other success stories include those who have gone to college (mostly Ohio universities), military service, and are leaders in the local community. These biographical sketches are rich with details of the students’ accomplishments while in JROTC at Fairview, photographs, letters of thanks from students, and information about scholarships and awards the students have won. First Sergeant then introduced me to Alana Ramos with the same earnestness he evoked when discussing his students. Alana is a senior, tall, bright, and sweet, who immediately described how JROTC had changed her life. Initially uninterested in the program, she registered for the class in her sophomore year against the wishes of her father, who insisted she would not rise to the physical and emotional requirements of the program. To her parents’ and her own surprise, Alana enjoyed JROTC so much so that after a lackluster first year with significant absences from school, she began attending classes regularly and demonstrated a level of discipline and commitment to her studies that included arriving at school early in order to drill and practice for Honor Guard. Alana attributed her success in school to her participation in JROTC. Now in her senior year, she was the executive officer of the JROTC battalion, the second-highest position in the chain of command, and was thoughtfully considering what she will do once she graduates. Like many of the students I would eventually meet, Alana planned to go to college, and given her positive experiences in JROTC she was considering applying to the Air Force Academy as well as universities in Ohio and neighboring Indiana. Alana was not alone in explaining how JROTC changed her life in a positive way. On my second day in the JROTC classroom, two sisters, Briana and Brenda Calderón, were sitting at a computer entering data about cadets’ community service hours when First Sergeant introduced me, explaining that I was there to study and learn about JROTC. The girls beamed when I asked whether they enjoyed JROTC, and Briana

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responded emphatically, “I live for JROTC. I just love it.” Her sister nodded enthusiastically and then asked with a worried look how I was going to learn about JROTC in just one day. When I clarified that my hope was to spend the year working with them, Brenda seemed relieved and assured me that “there’s no way you can learn about it in a day. There is so much to learn!” Students often declared their love for JROTC, describing their classmates as family, emphasizing the ways that Major and First Sergeant provided much-needed guidance, explaining how it made them feel important, focused, disciplined, and excited about school. It was not uncommon to see JROTC students in the classroom before and after school, even when their classes were not in session. They would hang out with Major and First Sergeant and the other cadets, tell stories, laugh, seek advice and recommendations from Major and First Sergeant, and talk about upcoming events in JROTC and school in general. Beyond the curricular instruction, the JROTC classroom served as an important meeting space that contributed to the sense of camaraderie and family students consistently described. The JROTC classroom had a large space filled with long tables and typically four chairs at each table. At the back of the classroom was small office space where Major Wise and First Sergeant prepared for class, worked on the computer, used the phones, and allowed students to do work for the unit. Adjacent to the classroom was a smaller space, also with desks and chairs, where juniors and seniors typically met with First Sergeant Milano, while Major Wise worked with freshmen and sophomores in the larger classroom. Large, colorful trophies filled tables along the walls of the main classroom, symbols of the unit’s success in drill competitions in Ohio and throughout the Midwest. Above the trophies were posters emphasizing core principles of JROTC, such as “Being a good citizen takes practice” and “Mission: To motivate young people to be better citizens.” The American flag was at the front of the classroom, as were photographs of President Bush, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and other Department of Defense and Pentagon officials, with the words, “Chain of Command” underneath. Fairview’s JROTC has four classes each day and each is identified using military language: Alpha, Beta, Charlie, and Delta Companies. Each day class begins the same way. Role is taken with cadets responding “Here, Sir” when their name is called. Students then all stand to recite

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the Pledge of Allegiance and the Cadets Creed, and then sit to begin the lesson for the day. On my first day in class, Major Wise encouraged students to participate and be involved in all of the extracurricular activities JROTC has to offer. Although students are not required to attend drill competitions, he reassured them that it is fun, an opportunity to travel to new places and meet different people, and he encouraged students to take advantage of these opportunities to have fun. Parental involvement is also important, and he explained the critical role the JROTC parent booster club plays in the program. Its members help to raise money for field trips, for lodging and food when they attend drill competition, and for JROTC T-shirts and sweatshirts. Although he emphasized the fun and importance of extracurriculars, Major Wise also explained the important life lessons students will take away from JROTC. “We’re teaching you to be better citizens. To do things in your community to get involved.” Being a better citizen requires discipline and respect, and these are values and skills they will develop in the program. “You have to learn certain behaviors,” he explained. Some things in life you just don’t have naturally, and discipline is one of them. JROTC provides discipline that helps students develop themselves and is a “military technique transferable to other areas of your life.” Students seemed attentive as he spoke, and after class many students approached him with specific questions about the program, especially how they might manage participating in drill competitions while also participating in other extracurricular activities such as band, sports, and cheerleading. Major Wise assured them that with early morning drill before school at 7 a.m., they would be able to be involved in multiple school activities. At Fairview High School JROTC is a one-credit elective course that students can take all four years. In cities like Chicago students can choose to take JROTC in lieu of their physical education requirement, or it can also meet some high schools’ vocational education requirement.28 This is not the case at Fairview. Students take JROTC as an elective, and the course meets daily and uses a national JROTC curriculum. While extracurricular activities like drill team, Honor Guard, and Color Guard are not required, community service is and students are involved in a range of individual and collaborative community service projects throughout the year. Some students first learn of JROTC when they begin high school, although most are familiar with the program

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because of siblings, friends, or other relatives who have participated in the program, or because they have seen cadets perform during middle school assemblies, local parades, church program, or community activities such as Lorain’s International Festival, which often feature drill performance and Color Guard or Honor Guard. In 2006–2007, 140 students participated in JROTC at Fairview; that is nearly 12 percent of the student population. As in other programs, young women outnumber young men in Fairview’s JROTC, and they also hold key leadership positions, including executive officer and commanding officer/battalion commander. In a school where 40 percent of the students are Latina/o, approximately 65 percent of cadets identify as Latina/o, with 15 percent as black, 20 percent as white.29 During the year I conducted research with Fairview’s JROTC program, I attended classes regularly throughout the school day. I also watched students practice before and after school for their various drill competitions as they participated in armed and unarmed exhibition, marksmanship, Honor and Color Guards and IDR (Infantry Drill Regulation). They drilled, ran, did push-ups, and worked closely with each other and Major Wise and First Sergeant. When possible I accompanied them out of town to drill competitions, orienteering events, public performances, and assemblies in their school and throughout Lorain. I also spent a great deal of time with their families at Booster Club meetings, on long road trips to different events, and also Sacred Heart Chapel, the local Catholic church many attended and that is a cherished institution for so many Puerto Rican and Latino families in Lorain. I would take detailed field notes after attending school and JROTC functions, and I eventually conducted thirty-two formal interviews with current JROTC students. Over the years, I have had the opportunity stay in touch with many of the students I was fortunate to work with during that year. I was pleasantly surprised to meet up with former students who attended a lecture I was invited to give at a local university about my research and was happy to reconnect and learn about what others I worked with that year had gone on to accomplish. My analysis is primarily informed by the fieldwork I conducted that year. But like many researchers, my questions, interests, and understanding of the topics of militarism, education, social opportunity, citizenship, and youth aspirations go beyond that year’s ethnographic work. As a professor at Oberlin College, I have

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taught classes that have allowed me to think through difficult questions about citizenship, race, and belonging. And in various public presentations on college campuses and community spaces, I have benefited from the challenging questions people have raised regarding my research findings. I have also been humbled and surprised by how much this story about JROTC, military service, social opportunity, and youth aspirations resonates in deeply emotionally ways with so many people across race, class, and gender. Thus, while the analysis that follows focuses specifically on the experiences of the Fairview JROTC cadets and their families and communities, it is deeply informed by broader political, economic, and cultural currents in which debates about citizenship, youth, and our nation’s future are vigorously contested and discussed.

Book Overview The chapters that follow provide insight into the ways citizenship, military programs, and youth aspirations are inextricably bound up in the lives of many working-class Puerto Rican and Latina/o families. Because citizenship is one of the central concerns guiding the JROTC curriculum, this book explores ethnographically how students understand and enact different visions of citizenship, grounds these understandings in local and national political economic contexts, and reflects on the kind of citizenship we value and aspire to for ourselves and the nation. More specifically, this book asks what kind of citizenship is engendered, encouraged, and supported in JROTC programs in American public schools. How do local educational, cultural, and social institutions shape students’ daily lives and inform their educational and vocational aspirations, and how do class, gender, and race shape these aspirations and outcomes? And finally, how do Latina/o youth define themselves and strategize to gain skills, social capital, dignity, and respect within a context of limited and diminishing economic, cultural, and social resources? Chapter 1, “JROTC’s Enduring Appeal: Militarism, Ethnic Pride, and Social Opportunity in the Postindustrial City,” provides a history of JROTC and draws parallels between the political and social contexts in which the program was founded in 1916 and the present moment in which JROTC has enjoyed expansion. In both cases, anxieties and debates about U.S. military power inform understandings about JROTC,

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militarism, and American identity. This chapter analyzes the appeal and success of JROTC in a time of war, economic uncertainty, and social polarization that include debates about citizenship, inclusion, and belonging. A key element of the program’s success is its broad support in a community where veterans’ organizations—although small in number—are quite visible and highly respected. The program also benefits from the profound ethnic and family pride in military service that informs and shapes young people’s understandings of the military and JROTC specifically. This is particularly true for Latina/o youth, who frequently link their participation in JROTC to their family’s distinguished and successful military careers. This chapter explores these understandings of service, honor, and ethnic pride and locates them within the context of deindustrialization in analyzing student and community support for JROTC. Chapter 2, “‘What Are These Kids Doing In Uniforms?’: Discipline, Dignity, and JROTC Exceptionalism,” focuses on the ways JROTC students discuss the meanings of wearing the cadet uniform, including the ways in which wearing it commands respect from their peers, teachers, and the larger community. In this chapter I argue that this desire for positive recognition is critical for youth who are often regarded as dangerous in local and national media and challenges stigmatizing characterizations of working-class youth and youth of color. Drawing on interview data and participant observation in school, I explore how the cadet uniform is not only an important vehicle for eliciting the dignity Latina/o youth desire but also an important example of the cultural capital students develop in JROTC. From the very first day students join JROTC, they are trained, molded, and reminded of the importance of discipline, self-presentation, and self-modification that not only meets expectations in the program but also serve them in their aspirations for the future. Chapter 3, “‘JROTC Today, Leaders Tomorrow’: Leadership, Social Capital, and Stories of Redemption,” focuses on the curious, and consistent, statement by cadets that JROTC teaches them to be leaders. Indeed, JROTC websites, teaching materials, and extracurricular activities all emphasize the progam’s role in developing leadership skills in its students and how this is one of its most valuable transferable skills. This chapter explores the meaning of leadership, authority, and gender

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and analyzes both how the JROTC curriculum advances ideas of leadership and the ways students understand and assume leadership roles. In formal interviews, students consistenly explained the large number of young women in leadership roles, most of whom are Latina, as a result of their distinctive discipline, skills, and attention to detail. I argue that one of the reasons so many Latinas participate in JROTC and hold leadership positions is because participating in JROTC provides gendered autonomy otherwise unavailable to them. This analysis depends on an understanding of culturally informed gender roles that often limits young Latinas’ activities and how participating in JROTC is one way of exercising more freedom and autonomy. Chapter 4, “‘Citizenship Takes Practice’: Service, Personal Responsibility, and Representing What Is Good about America,” focuses on the meaning of citizenship for JROTC students and their families. Since the 1990s, JROTC has developed and marketed itself as a premier leadership and citizenship education program. Students describe and discuss citizenship in a variety of ways, but central to their understanding of citizenship is the notion of service and obligation. These ideas are certainly reinforced through the JROTC curriculum, with its emphasis on community service, which brings JROTC cadets into contact with community organzations and groups, like AMVETS, that they might not otherwise know. Students talk positively about the interactions with veterans who, in turn, provide critical financial and moral support for the program. This chapter explores how young people develop concrete understandings about citizenship as a result of their community engagement. Latina/o students in particular explicitly link their understandings of citizenship to concern with uplift of their communities and neighborhoods, which are often characterized as troubled and stigmatized in local news media. Citizenship, therefore, is an opportunity for students to challenge the ways they and their families are regarded as being deficient, and to embody, instead, a vision of citizenship bound up with reverence for the military, a commitment to service, and disciplinary practices that focus on personal and community betterment. These citizenship acts are also an opportunity to interrogate the broader national discourse in which Latinas/os are defined as outside the nation, questioned about their motives and deservingness/right to be a part or even in the United States and their ability to properly belong.

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The conclusion revisits the debates about JROTC, as well as highlights the ways that the expansion of JROTC programs in recent years can be conceptualized as part of what Andrew Bacevich calls the “new American militarism.” By focusing on the varied reasons why military programs appeal to Latina/o youth, as well as the way these very same programs and the military more broadly appeal to “Hispanic values and culture” as ones commensurate with the miltiary as an institution, I raise questions about the costs and benefits of using military programs as a mechanism for inclusion in the nation. As the experiences of Latina/o and working-class youth and their families attest to thoughout this book, binding oneself up with one of the most highly regarded institutions in American public life has tangible benefits. But there are also profound costs to this kind of inclusion. How young poeple creatively reconfigure the very notions of citizenship, duty, and obligation that are at the core of JROTC instruction not only challenges narrrow understandings of belonging that Latina/o youth face but also speaks to the enduring power of their dreams for a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities.

1

JROTC’s Enduring Appeal Militarism, Ethnic Pride, and Social Opportunity in the Postindustrial City And I tell this story because for decades, Puerto Ricans like Juan and Ramon have put themselves in harm’s way for a simple reason: They want to protect the country that they love. Their willingness to serve, their willingness to sacrifice, is as American as apple pie—or as arroz con gandules. The aspirations and the struggles on this island mirror those across America. —President Barak Obama, San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 14, 2011

On June 14, 2011, President Barak Obama visited Puerto Rico, fulfilling a 2008 campaign promise to return to the island if he were elected president. During this visit, President Obama referred to Puerto Rico’s military service as “American as apple pie” and noted that Puerto Ricans’ aspirations “mirror those across America.” This is not the first time that Puerto Ricans’ military service has been highlighted as a measure of their Americanness and loyalty. In fact, Puerto Ricans’ long record of military service, like that of Mexican Americans, is often celebrated as a powerful example of their loyalty, patriotism, sacrifice, and, ultimately, their worthiness of American citizenship. President Obama, for example, spoke reverently of Juan Castillo, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, and he honored Chief Master Sergeant Ramón Colón-López of the United States Air Force, whose bravery in Afghanistan made him the first Hispanic American to be awarded the Air Force Combat Action Medal.1 These comments echo those by prominent military officials like former Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera and retired General Ricardo Sanchez who consistently praise Hispanics for being “great soldiers” and embodying the kind of values and ethics that define military values.2 25

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Love of one’s family and nation, and self-sacrifice and loyalty are celebrated as the shared values binding Hispanic heritage and the military. They are also characteristics of an ideal form of citizenship that is often portrayed as “the most desired of conditions, as the highest fulfillment of democratic and egalitarian aspiration.”3 Given the American public’s high regard for the military, and Latinas/os tenuous and contested claims to full citizenship, the linking of military and Hispanic values is no small matter. Indeed, political discourse and popular culture, past and present, rely on idealized notions of this connection in order to challenge stigmatizing tropes and lay claim to full national membership and belonging.4 President Obama’s observation that Puerto Ricans’ “aspirations and struggles on the island reflect those across America” is a prescient one that captures what many young Puerto Rican, Latina/o, and workingclass youth in Lorain experience on a daily basis. As part of a long history of labor recruitment and chain migration to Northeast Ohio, Puerto Rican and Mexican families have been defined, in large part, by their aspirations for a better life as well as ongoing struggles to attain economic, social, and political advancement, first in the context of rapid industrial expansion and living-wage jobs, and later in a deindustrialized political economy increasingly characterized by low-wage service sector employment. Recognizing how these aspirations and struggles converge with military service and ethnic pride is critical for understanding the appeal and success of JROTC among many working poor youth, and specifically young Latinas/os and their families. For many Puerto Ricans in Lorain, their willingness to serve and sacrifice is, indeed, as “American as apple pie—or as arroz con gandules”—precisely because it is woven into the fabric of American Dream ideology that rests on notions of hard work, economic success, and social mobility. Their experiences resonate with many young people, who regard their participation in JROTC (and possible enlistment in the military after high school) as part of a tradition of military service that has conferred both economic stability and respect on their families and broader communities. And although this view is certainly not shared by all, it is absolutely essential for understanding not only students’ motivations to participate in JROTC but also JROTC’s broad support both locally and nationally. As noted earlier, since its inception in 1916, JROTC has been a controversial program whose popularity has waxed and waned over time,

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although beginning in the 1990s it experienced unprecedented expansion in American public schools, and its supporters traverse the political spectrum. By analyzing this cultural shift and locating the experiences of Puerto Rican, Latina/o and other working-class youth in Lorain within this nexus it becomes clear that support for JROTC is inextricably linked with three powerful trends in American public life: the military’s goal to maintain high visibility during heated debates about the size of the military budget; an educational landscape that is increasingly defined by zero-tolerance policies to address growing concerns about discipline in American public schools; and increasing economic inequality and diminished social opportunities for youth in urban and rural school districts where JROTC programs are expanding the fastest. These trends occur simultaneously with intense debates about immigration, citizenship, race, and national membership. In this way, vitriolic contestations over citizenship and race in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries parallel those of a hundred years before, an era characterized by high levels of immigration as well as heightened levels of xenophobia and anti-immigrant legislation that created legal and social barriers to citizenship and inclusion. Both then and now, race, gender, sexuality, and class are central to these debates. What distinguishes these two important historical moments, however, is what Andrew Bacevich calls “the new American militarism,” our contemporary yet historically informed “outsized ambitions and infatuation with military power.”5 JROTC expansion needs to be understood in this context of new American militarism. In a moment when full citizenship is vigorously contested on the basis of class, race, sexuality, and immigration status, Latina/o youth turn to military programs like JROTC as a way to gain social standing and assert full citizenship rights that are often denied or elusive to them. They also do so in a context of increased economic uncertainty. It is important, therefore, to understand how students in JROTC navigate the effects of deindustrialization in Lorain. With limited employment opportunities and deteriorating conditions in their neighborhoods and schools, JROTC and military service become real, if overdetermined, options for young people seeking economic mobility, social standing, and improved living conditions for their families and their communities. While a proud ethnic tradition of military service is intimately bound up with Latina/o youth’s experiences in JROTC, local political economic realities, as well as

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national debates about citizenship and belonging, also shape their aspirations for themselves and their communities.

JROTC: Origins and Uses I am a great believer in the JROTC programs. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I succeeded in getting Mr. Cheney, my boss at the time, and President H.W. Bush to allow me to go to Congress and get the money to double the program, moving from something like 1,500 schools, and increasing it up to 3,000 schools. It’s close to that mark today and it’s going to continue to grow. I have had meetings with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Army leadership to see what more we can do to increase the number of JROTC units that there are. . . . . [T]here is some resistance . . . in different parts of the country. But the resistance usually slips away when suddenly, 30 or 40 kids in the JROTC program start saying, “yes, ma’am,” “no ma’am,” “yes, sir,” “no, sir.” They clean up their act and they show a lot of discipline and patriotism. They show they are proud of themselves, and they look you in the eye. So, you give the program a chance to get started. You put some sergeants and a major in there with those kids and the most liberal group of educators will start to give it a second thought. —Interview with Retired General Colin Powell, August 20096 It should be no secret that the United States has the biggest, most efficiently organized, most effective system for recruiting child soldiers in the world. With uncharacteristic modesty, however, the Pentagon doesn’t call it that. Its term is “youth development program.” Pushed by multiple high-powered, highly paid public relations and advertising firms under contract to the Department of Defense, the program is a many splendored thing. Its major public face is the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps or JROTC.7

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On November 14, 2006, San Francisco’s Board of Education voted to end the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program in the city’s public high schools. Media coverage of the debates, protests, and passionate responses to the proposal to discontinue the ninety-year-old program focused largely on the value of JROTC in local high schools and the various ways that students benefited from participating in the program. Student cadets often referred to JROTC as family, a safe place where they could go. And in the days leading up to the Board of Education’s vote, hundreds of supporters protested in the streets and vowed, in the words of one young Latino cadet, to “fight this to the end.”8 Oped pieces, letters to the editor, and editorials in local San Francisco newspapers, as well as nationally, were unanimous in their support of JROTC and regarded opposition to the program as another example of “political correctness” and as “anti-military.”9 Three years later, following ongoing debates and protests, the Board of Education voted to reinstate the program, and since 2009 students have been allowed to take JROTC as an independent study course to satisfy their physical education requirement. Reflecting on the long, tumultuous struggle around JROTC, Rachel Norton, one of the elected school board members, explained why she ultimately decided to support JROTC, after her initial support to dismantle it. In her essay “Why I Support the JROTC,” she describes her ambivalence about JROTC, and how she was eventually persuaded by students’ pleading about the value of the program. She also raised concern about the failure of the school board to provide a viable alternative to replace JROTC despite its promises to do so. What is most striking about Norton’s position is her description of the tenor of the debates surrounding JROTC. She writes, “But it’s almost impossible to talk about JROTC in a nuanced way, or suggest anything approaching a compromise. Opponents shout down anything other than a complete end to the program—even if safeguards are put in place to make sure the class is purely voluntary. And proponents refuse to acknowledge the fact that an alternative is possible and that some of the military trappings of the program make some people uneasy.”10 This kind of impassioned response is also reflected in the views of prominent supporters of JROTC like General Colin Powell, who argue that the program can improve the lives of young people and their communities. This position is in contrast to those who oppose JROTC, like writer Ann

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Jones, who argue that school-based military programs are incompatible with the goals of public education and are merely sophisticated means of recruiting child soldiers for the U.S. military. Such fundamentally distinct opinions about JROTC are not new; indeed, they characterize the establishment of JROTC programs in the early twentieth century and provide an important lens through which to understand contemporary debates about the value and meaning of American public education. On June 3, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Defense Act, which, among many things, formally established the Reserve Officer Training Corps Program (ROTC) to provide formal training for army officers at designated colleges and universities.11 It also established the beginning of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program in American public high schools by authorizing active duty military personnel to work as high school instructors and by loaning military equipment to schools to support the program.12 The passage of this legislation and the development of these programs need to be understood in the historical context of the early twentieth century, when anxieties around high levels of immigration, labor unrest, and an increasingly vocal preparedness movement informed public debates about the role of public education in developing ideal American citizens. As a number of scholars have noted, military training was one of many ways that class, ethnic, and racial difference were managed in schools prior to World War I.13 Newly emerging institutions like public health boards also played a significant role in ordering and rationalizing social difference based on national origins, class, gender, and race in similar ways. As historian Natalie Molina has shown, the question of who is fit for citizenship rested on not only education but also on physical benchmarks deeply embedded in ideologies of race, gender, and class.14 So although the number of military schools and students involved in military education were quite small prior to 1916, youth-focused programs both inside and outside schools concerned themselves with moral discipline, physical fitness and good citizenship. According to Lesley Bartlett and Catherine Lutz, support for universal military training in public schools and universities increased beginning in 1914, in the early years of World War I in Europe, as U.S. civilian elites and some military personnel advanced the idea of military education as a way to address growing social ills. Bartlett and Lutz observe that these social problems included “a ‘moral rot’ that

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had become symbolically associated with the country’s growing wealth; the lack of a sense of duty or loyalty in the massive number of new immigrants; and the social disorder of strikes and other labor unrest.”15 Military training, it was believed, would provide much-needed moral and physical discipline for young people and ultimately instill in them the kind of citizenship that would best serve the nation. While American schoolchildren were of great concern to those advocating the benefits of military education, immigrants were the principal focus of Progressive Era reformers, preparedness movement advocates, public health officials, and military elites alike. Anti-immigrant sentiment converged with fears of social disorder, physical decline, and contamination and led to a number of intrusive public health campaigns that reinforced racial difference between native and immigrant communities. These concerns also led to restrictive immigration legislation and local ordinances affecting immigrant communities’ economic and social livelihood. And although powerful social movements increased educational opportunities for immigrants and their families during this time, from very early on these educational spaces were mired in debates about the alleged value of military training for immigrants in particular, and for national unity more broadly.16 Major General Leonard Wood was one of the most vocal proponents of including military training in schools. In a 1916 speech to the National Education Association, he made patriotic appeal for the value this kind of training would provide and how it would ultimately strengthen and serve the nation: What is needed is some kind of training which will put all classes which go to make up the mass which is bubbling in the American melting pot, shoulder to shoulder, living under exactly the same conditions, wearing the same uniform, and animated by a common purpose. . . . With this training will come a better physique, a greater degree of self-control, habits of regularity, promptness, thorones [sic], respect for law and the rights of others, and a sense of individual responsibility and obligation for service to the nation.17

For Wood, military training held the promise of meeting multiple goals: not only would it accelerate the assimilation of immigrants “bubbling in the American melting pot” (the title of his address to the NEA was

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“Heating Up the Melting Pot”), it would also instill values, a sense of purpose, and indebtedness to the nation.18 These visions clearly rested on ideas of class, race, and gender, with ideas of a reinvigorated masculinity being central to the success of the nation. In this way, Wood’s vision aligned itself with that of preparedness movement advocates, who sought to strengthen U.S. military power and who, according to Catherine Lutz, advanced the idea that military conscription and training would “solve the problem they saw of American manhood gone soft.”19 His comments also reflect what David Serlin has identified as a military culture that not only deemed certain body types as worthy of military investment, but, more importantly, illustrate how “normative concepts of male behavior and able-bodied activity [formed] the invisible threadwork that protect[ed] homosocial institutions like the military.”20 Although Wood and others were quite vocal in their support of military training, there was a great deal of opposition by those who not only regarded compulsory training as un-American but also believed that it was fundamentally contradictory to the ideals of public education as the cornerstone for a strong democracy.21 Even with the passage of the National Defense Act authorizing the creation of JROTC in 1916, skeptics doubted the value of military training for high school students. As Bartlett and Lutz note, “most regular army officers did not see high school drill as an important or effective element of military strategy. To a still professionalizing army, the idea that military skills could be easily picked up by schoolboys was somewhat noxious.”22 What was clear to many from the beginning, however, was the ideological power of programs like JROTC to potentially persuade the broader public about the need for a strong standing army, a sentiment that was not widely shared, and, in fact, was quite suspect through World War II. This ambivalence about and suspicion of a strong military is in sharp contrast to the contemporary moment in which JROTC enjoys unprecedented support and expansion across the political spectrum and where military solutions to domestic problems are not only accepted but are increasingly regarded as superior and preferred.

Expanding JROTC While the Army JROTC program was first implemented in 1916, it remained small and did not expand significantly until the ROTC

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Revitalization Act of 1964, which established JROTC programs for all branches of the military and increased funding for JROTC. From its beginnings, JROTC has responded to and been shaped by broader political discourse about the nature of the military and the American public’s relationship to it. It is, therefore, an important lens through which to observe shifting public sentiment about the military and its role in society. From its relatively obscure beginnings in 1916, JROTC refashioned itself in 1973 in response to the new all-volunteer force (AVF) and “incorporated recruiting incentives by offering advanced military pay grades to those who completed at least two years of JROTC.”23 By that time, the number of JROTC units had more doubled in the past decade, reaching 646 units and an enrollment of 110,839 students, up from 294 units and 74,421 participants in 1964.24 Today, JROTC is just one of many military programs focused on American youth. According to Heather Horsely, “Programs such as the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Teens, DoD STARBASE, National Guard Youth ChalleNGe, Naval Sea Cadet Corps, U.S. Army Cadet Corps, and Young Marines are youth development programs that operate outside of public schools.”25 And as many scholars, policy makers, military personnel, and activists have noted, although the expansion of these programs is clearly in response to the military’s attempts to augment its recruitment pool, ideological and pragmatic concerns justified unprecedented expansion of JROTC beginning in the 1990s amid growing concerns about inner-city youth, violence, and urban inequality. In October 1992, President George H. W. Bush and Congress raised the cap on the number of JROTC units to 3,500 from 1,600, thereby more than doubling the number of possible units in public and private high schools.26 In a campaign speech leading up to the National Defense Appropriations Act of 1993 authorizing this expansion, President Bush cited the need for federal programs like JROTC to reach out to young people and provide them with discipline, strong role models, and a sense of personal responsibility. Such programs were necessary, he maintained, in order to “open new markets, to create incentives, to restore our social fabric and to prepare our people to compete so that we can win.”27 The connection between improving the moral character of youth and our success as a nation was explicit, and military programs like JROTC were allegedly key to realizing these goals. President Bush announced:

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Now, we need to expand our existing efforts to teach high school kids about their opportunities in life, provide them strong role models, and encourage a sense of personal responsibility and discipline. And so also today I am also doubling the size of our Junior ROTC program. It is in almost 1,500 schools today; we’re going to expand it to 2,900 schools. And with a million a year in new funding, another 150,000 kids will get the benefit of what has been a great program that boosts high school competition, high school completion rates, reduces drug use, raises self-esteem, and gets these kids firmly on the right track.28

This emphasis on personal responsibility and discipline for American youth was a recurring theme in the wake of the Los Angeles uprising in April and May 1992. Indeed, many scholars, military officials, politicians, and writers argue that the events that spring were a watershed moment for JROTC that fueled its expansion and widespread support. Televised images of black and brown youth engaged in acts of violence in response to the acquittal of white police officers in the beating of African American motorist Rodney King reinforced the perception not only of lawlessness and chaos in urban areas but also of an everwidening cultural divide threating America’s social fabric. According to John Corbett and Arthur Coumbe, highly respected public officials such as General Colin Powell, who at that time was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, regarded JROTC as an important way to address the root causes of the LA riots. They write: While leaders like [Senator Sam] Nunn helped create a supportive environment, it was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell who focused [The Department of Defense’s] attention and resources on the expansion. Powell characterized JROTC as the “best opportunity for the Department of Defense to make a positive impact on the Nation’s youth.” He felt that junior programs would be particularly valuable in the inner cities, especially after the Los Angeles riots in April 1992. He visited the site of the disturbances and came away convinced that JROTC, with its emphasis on responsible citizenship and respect for authority, would help dissuade young people from destructive behavior and guide them along more productive paths.29

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General Powell’s belief that JROTC was the best way to make “a positive impact on the Nation’s youth” echoes the sentiments of those who first proposed JROTC and mandatory military training nearly eight decades before in the hope that it would provide discipline for immigrant youth. In this way, the common thread weaving these historical moments together is not only the fear of a fragmented society embedded in race and class-based differences but also the belief in military authority as a key mechanism for “disciplining social difference.”30 What distinguishes the 1990s, however, is what Ross Collin refers to as the “rancorous social and political debates,” which not only sought to uncover the “real” roots and, therefore, appropriate responses, to the Los Angeles riots but also sought to advance a socially conservative political agenda that characterized one side of the contentious culture wars.31 For social conservatives, the root causes of urban violence and social dislocation were largely framed as moral failings. JROTC held the promise of addressing these social ills in a number of ways. By targeting its expansion to “the less affluent large urban schools” with significant “atrisk” populations, the Department of Defense would provide resources to cash-strapped school districts.32 Through military drill and a focused educational curriculum, these new JROTC programs would instill in young people “the values of citizenship, service to the United States, and personal responsibility.”33 JROTC also promised to provide an important corrective by improving the self-esteem of “at risk” youth, a racially coded term to refer to poor and working-class youth of color. Finally, JROTC would encourage students to understand themselves as important members of their communities, as citizens responsible for their own moral character. As Collin notes, “JROTC expansion was able to stand as a ‘feasible’ initiative because such conceptualizations of ‘good citizenship’ were consonant with the values of powerful social conservatives who railed against what they perceived as the ‘indiscipline’ and ‘immorality’ of those who challenge systems of law and order.”34 As in the early twentieth century, today’s schools are the focus of these efforts to encourage social values, norms, and disciplining practices. But what is significantly different is the ascendant belief that the military can provide solutions to domestic problems. Support for the rapid expansion of JROTC therefore needs to be analyzed within this

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broader militarization of American public life, which increasingly defines and attempts to resolve domestic and foreign problems in military terms. Such an approach confirms sociologist C. Wright Mills’s warning of the increasing tendency for elites to adopt a “military metaphysic” where social and political problems are defined in military terms.35 JROTC expansion since 1992 has been dramatic. Between 1992 and 1996, the program grew by 60 percent.36 And given the American military’s global reach, its school-based military programs are global in scope as well. According to John Corbett and Arthur Coumbe, “JROTC stretches around the world. It is now offered in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and overseas in Department of Defense (DOD)-operated schools for military dependents.”37 JROTC expansion has continued well into the twentyfirst century, with approximately 557,000 students now participating in more than 3,400 units. Between 1992 and 2012, the program grew 43 percent, from 1,464 units and 211,041 students to more than 3,400 units and 557,000 students.38 The U.S. Army continues to sponsor the largest number of JROTC programs, with approximately 314,000 students participating in more than 1,700 schools.39 According to the Department of Defense, local and federal funding for JROTC programs is approximately $600 million annually.40 Because nearly 40 percent of JROTC programs operate in inner-city schools, it is not surprising that roughly half of all JROTC cadets are students of color. What is remarkable, however, is the increasing number of young women who participate in the program, with approximately 40 percent of JROTC cadets being women.41 The expansion of JROTC has been particularly significant in urban areas such as the city of Chicago, which, according to Heather Horsley, “is home to not only the largest JROTC program in the nation, but . . . also host to just over a third of all the stand-alone military-themed public high schools in the nation.” In 2013, Chicago had six public military academies and nearly eleven thousand students participating in a range of military programs at the high school and middle school levels making Chicago Public Schools the largest and most diverse JROTC program in the nation.42 JROTC expansion has occurred not only as a program that allows students to take it as an elective course but also as new JROTC career academies or schools within a school, operating “as separate from the larger school in which they are housed.”43 Despite many criticisms

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of the program, schools continue to look to JROTC programs for both federal dollars and extracurricular programing, and it is increasingly popular with school administrators, politicians, civic leaders, and community members. As Horsley observes, “The widespread and exponential growth of JROTC makes it the oldest and largest federally funded youth development program to date.”44 Despite JROTC’s widespread popularity, many scholars, activists, and educators have raised concerns about the program and its concomitant growth with conservative educational initiatives and zero-tolerance policies that have adversely affected poor and working-class youth of color in particular. These writers have highlighted the ways conservative educational initiatives beginning in 1990s have dramatically transformed the educational landscape by focusing on zero-tolerance policies that have created what many have aptly referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline and have a particularly adverse impact on young Latino and black men.45 In cities like Chicago, Pauline Lipman has called attention to the ways that the increasing number of JROTC programs and military academies are an important part of stratified educational programs that provide higher-quality magnet schools for white and middle-class students, and military, vocational and discipline-based education for CPS’s largely poor African American and Latino students.46 According to Kenneth Saltman it is not enough to acknowledge that American public schools “increasingly resemble the military and prisons.”47 Rather, we need to link these transformations in education to broader cultural logics of militarization in daily life: “This phenomenon needs to be understood as part of the militarization of civil society exemplified by the rise of militarized policing, increased police powers for search and seizure, antipublic gathering laws, ‘zero tolerance’ policies, and the transformation of welfare into punishing workfare programs.”48 Pedro Noguera’s extensive research in the areas of race and urban education supports these findings and emphasizes not only the ways public education is failing young men of color but, more importantly, the ways schools’ disciplinary tactics increasingly resemble those of the criminal justice system and contribute to the exceedingly high dropout rates of young black and Latino men from public schools. Although school reformers and policy makers justify zero-tolerance policies (as well as increasing emphasis on standardized tests) as a way to improve school performance, they do

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so at the expense of a more expansive approach that addresses poverty, violence, and social inequity in students’ communities.49 These transformations both inside and outside schools have contributed significantly to the differential success and failures of students. Michelle Fine and Jessica Ruglis raise concern about “the soft coercive migration of youth of color, especially poor youth of color, out of sites of public education and into militarized and carceral corners of the public sphere.”50 What is so pernicious about these changes in the educational landscape, they argue, is the way they mask the consequences of enduring economic and racial inequality by promoting ideas of individual merit, success, and responsibility at the expense of a structural analysis. Fine and Ruglis describe this process as the “circuits and consequences of dispossession.” In order to understand the geography of youth development and dispossession, they argue, we need to focus on the ways that “educational public policies move across sectors of economics, education, health and criminal justice, carving a racialized geography of youth development and dispossession that appears to be so natural.”51 These trends have disproportionately affected young, Latino men—a segment of the population whose particular challenges and obstacles are largely invisible in scholarly research—whose high dropout rates, increasing numbers in the criminal justice system, and overrepresentation in the low-wage labor market have a devastating impact on their own livelihoods, communities, and the broader American public.52 JROTC programs have flourished since the 1990s precisely because of conservative trends in education and social policy that have framed success and failure in schools, employment, and social mobility as the result of individual choices and personal achievement (or lack thereof). As David Harvey and many other scholars have noted, these political and economic processes are at the heart of neoliberalism, a set of beliefs and political economic policies that rest on the idea that individual liberty, freedom, initiative, and well-being are best achieved through free markets and limited government intervention in social programs.53 Thus, at the same moment in which policy makers have embraced personal responsibility (and not social policies such as welfare and food stamps) as a key mechanism for social transformation and have cut funding for social welfare programs dramatically, JROTC has enjoyed expansion, investment, and broad support across the political spectrum. Because

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JROTC holds the promise of turning allegedly troubled urban youth into “good citizens” by focusing on developing individual moral character and self-discipline, such youth are deemed worthy of government support in order to foster the development of a neoliberal citizen subject through self-disciplinary practices and behavior.54 Such insights about worthiness, citizenship, and JROTC’s ability to help create better citizens resonate with Luis Plascencia’s observation about the ways in which some policy makers and educators lament the need to instill good citizenship in youth. Because schools are regarded as playing a critical role in nurturing these ideals, teachers and school curricula are increasingly required to “take up the burden of citizenship education.”55 JROTC’s emphasis on citizenship and motivating students to become better citizens promises to address these concerns. Thus, the educational policies and trends that supported the proliferation of JROTC programs occur simultaneously with intense debates about citizenship and national membership. They also resonate with broader concerns about race, immigration, and national belonging that reached hysterical proportions and resulted in restrictive immigration legislation beginning in the 1990s and persisting today.

The New Nativism, 1990s–Present In 1994 California voters passed Proposition 187, legislation that aimed to curb undocumented immigration by denying social services, medical care, and education to undocumented immigrants and their children.56 As the culmination of a much larger anti-immigrant movement both in California and nationally, Proposition 187 represents an attempt by policy makers and nativist activists to delimit the meaning of citizenship and reveals concerns with citizenship that continue to the present. Although Proposition 187 emerges from a much longer history around fears about Latin American immigration—and specifically, Mexicans and Mexican immigration—its passage in the 1990s reflects vitriolic anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation that not only solidified racial hierarchies but also sought to exclude those residing in the United States from full social membership and rights allegedly reserved for American citizens. According to anthropologist Leo Chavez, such movements derive their power from what he has called the Latino Threat Narrative,

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a discourse that “characterizes Latinos as unable or unwilling to integrate into the social and cultural life of the United States.”57 According to this narrative, Latinas/os—as an invading force that allegedly refuses to learn English, persists with cultural beliefs antithetical to modernity such as pathologically high fertility rates, and seeks to reconquer lands that once belonged to them—pose a threat to the United States by “destroying the American way of life” and diluting “the privileges and rights of citizenship for legitimate members of society.”58 In short, the Latino Threat Narrative poses Latinas/os as a cultural, linguistic, and demographic threat to the nation. Despite the historically specific manifestations of anti-immigrant sentiment facing Latina/o communities in the 1990s, scholars have noted that American citizenship has a long history of exclusion and inclusion. According to Judith Shklar, “xeonophobia, racism, religious bigotry, and fear of alien conspiracies” are key to these histories of inclusion and exclusion.59 And as Mae Ngai has cogently argued, legal regimes of restriction have contributed to a discourse of illegality that has created categories of people—Latinas/os, Asian Americans—as outside the nation and is constitutive of racial difference.60 Even when the legal status of Latinas/os is not a question—for example, in the case of Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens—they are still regarded as what Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas has described as “deficient” in citizenship and, like other marginalized groups, feel they must engage in a “politics of worthiness” in order to prove their value and deservingness of U.S. citizenship.61 Such divergent experiences of citizenship reflect Hector Amaya’s astute observation of an enduring conundrum facing Latina/o communities. On the one hand, Amaya notes that “as a technology of power, citizenship has both positive and negative historical effects on Latinas/os.”62 Indeed, there are important historical examples of how race and citizenship converged in different historical moments to confer benefits to some Latinas/os. However, these benefits are “dwarfed by the significant damages this technology of power has brought to Latinos/as.”63 The persistence of the Latino Threat Narrative is an important example of this technology of power and its ability not only to define Latinas/os as an ever-present threat but also to require them—as well as working poor, African Americans, and other marginalized groups—to demonstrate their worthiness of full citizenship rights.64

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JROTC’s dramatic growth in the 1990s needs to be understood within a broader context of pervasive anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation, powerful conservative educational initiatives focusing on discipline and zero-tolerance policies in schools, and a rising criminalization of impoverished communities and in particular low-income youth of color.65 This simultaneous shift in educational policies, public sentiment around immigration, and criminalization has had a particularly adverse effect on Latina/o youth and their communities and has exacerbated what Latina/o Studies scholars, educators, and policy makers have identified as an education crisis.66 By sharpening its focus to establish JROTC programs in impoverished, urban school districts to service at risk youth, the Department of Defense has done its part to address this education crisis. In doing so, it has also managed to reach out in a meaningful and sustained way to Latina/o youth, the youngest and fastest growing demographic of American society. This is no coincidence. The Department of Defense regularly commissions studies and supports research analyzing shifting demographics and how region, race, and ethnicity intersect with employment opportunities, educational trends, attitudes toward the military, and enlistment and attrition rates. These data guide recruitment efforts. And while JROTC consistently maintains that it is not a recruiting tool for the military, it has justified federal investment in the program by demonstrating how JROTC creates favorable attitudes toward the military and results in 40 percent of its participants joining some branch of the military in the future.67 One study noted, for example, that cadets who participated in JROTC for four years were highly likely to join the military at some point after graduation.68 Moreover, students who participated in JROTC their junior or senior year were more likely than those who participated as freshmen and sophomores to pursue military service.69 The Department of Defense has been explicit in its recruitment of Latina/o youth in particular and has raised concern about their low enlistment numbers relative to the recruitment-aged population in all branches of the military except the marines, where Latinas/os are overrepresented. This targeted recruitment effort, the federally mandated presence of recruiters in public schools, and the growing number of JROTC programs in low-income schools have made the military and military programs a regular feature in urban school districts and communities where large numbers of Latina/o youth study and reside.70

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These trends alone, however, are not sufficient to explain the appeal of JROTC. Cadets from Fairview High School, for example, often explained how their own interest in JROTC grew because of their family’s relationship to the military. Having an uncle, aunt, father, or cousin who is a veteran or currently in the military increased the appeal of JROTC and even the possibility of military service after high school. In many ways, a family’s military history was more powerful than the highly visible recruiters in encouraging young people to consider the value of programs like JROTC in providing social status, economic security, and social capital for themselves and their families. These family histories and the realities of diminished economic opportunities prove to be fertile ground not only for encouraging students to participate in JROTC but also for the program’s ability to amass such strong and sustained support from students’ families and the broader community.

Family Traditions, Ethnic Traditions Carmen Pérez is a senior at Fairview High School and has participated in JROTC all four years. She was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and her family moved to Lorain when she was five years old; although they return to Puerto Rico often to visit extended family, she and her family plan to remain Lorain. Carmen is very active in JROTC and proudly carries the rank of major, which involves helping new cadets get oriented to the program and ensuring that Honor and Color Guards have all the supplies they need. She is also part of Headquarters, the early morning classes for the highest-ranked JROTC cadets that meet each day in the JROTC classroom before school officially begins. Carmen is very proud of being part of JROTC and enjoys having important responsibilities in the program since it provides her with the opportunity to be a leader and motivate herself and others in a positive way. In an interview with me, she explained how much she enjoyed the responsibilities she has in JROTC: “[I]t makes me see how far I can go. And I like it because it motivates me and pushes me to see what I can do. It’s challenging and I like it.” When I ask Carmen how she decided to join JROTC her freshman year, she responded quickly and proudly that her older sister had also been in JROTC all four years of high school. But what really motivated

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her was her family’s long and sustained relationship with the military. “What really got me to join [JROTC] though was that I had already been surrounded by army people all my life. . . . Both of my [grandfathers] were in the army and went to war. One of them was in Vietnam. One of them . . . I think [went to] Korea. . . . All five uncles [were in the military.] And I still have one that is active duty right now in Iraq.” She continued to explain that another uncle is in the army reserves and was recently called up and sent to Iraq. And a cousin’s husband is also in the army. When I respond with surprise at the number of military people in her family and ask whether this influences her to consider a similar path after she graduates, she smiles, saying, “It was a part of my life the whole time I was in Puerto Rico. I kind of drifted apart once I moved here, but it’s still with me. And thinking about joining [the military]? . . . I have. But with the war and stuff, not really.” Carmen and her family are concerned about her uncle and cousin-in-law who are currently deployed in Iraq, but she also believes they will be safe and is proud of what they are doing and what she sees as her role in maintaining a respected tradition of military service in her family by participating in JROTC. This, she explains, is the most important reason for choosing to be in JROTC. “[B] ecause I’ve known about the army so long, and then to be able to wear the uniform and represent my family and send them pictures and make them proud of me. It’s one of the things I liked [the most about JROTC]. They’re really into it, and knowing that just my sister and me have been the only two to join the program and keep on with the family tradition made us feel good. So, I like it.” Carmen is one of many students whose families have long, proud military histories and who see their participation in JROTC as part of an important family tradition. For Carmen the military has been a highly visible and important part of her life, and although she states she is not considering joining the military after high school, she sees a clear connection between her family’s tradition of military service and her and her sister’s participation in JROTC. What is interesting about Carmen’s sentiments is that although JROTC actively disavows its role as a recruiting tool for the military and attempts to highlight, instead, its importance as an academic and leadership program for youth, students themselves constantly make the connection between their interest in JROTC and the real possibility of either their own military service

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after high school or their families’ relationship with the military, past and present. Indeed, more than half of the thirty-two students I formally interviewed had family members who were either veterans or currently involved in some branch of the military. Most of the students’ families were either in the marines or the army, but some also had family members in the navy. Like other racial and ethnic minorities, Latinas/os have a long and fraught relationship with the U.S. military. For some, military service has been an important avenue of social and economic mobility that historically held the promise of serving as pathway for first class citizenship.71 Yet as Lorena Oropeza reminds us, the proud ethnic tradition of military service for many Mexican Americans is also intimately bound up with a tradition of protest and critique. Ana Yolanda RamosZayas makes a similar observation about the ways Puerto Rican youth and their families in Newark are also suspicious about the promises of military service.72 Indeed, military service and protest are intertwined realities for Latina/o communities in cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Juan, and Mayaguez. Students’ narratives of their own experiences in JROTC reflect many of these tensions. On the one hand, they are excited and proud of their participation in JROTC and are explicit about the positive associations they gain from being tied to the U.S, military. On the other, many are circumspect when discussing the possibility of joining the military after high school and raise concerns about the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is clear, however, is that for many their family’s military history cultivates interest and support for JROTC in Lorain. Like Carmen, sophomore Marisel Sánchez is actively involved in JROTC and became interested in the program because of her older sister, who participated for three years and encouraged her to join. Marisel has a profound admiration for her sister and describes her as an important role model: she was an honor roll student; received scholarships for college, and is now thriving at Ohio State University, where she has her own apartment and is majoring in engineering and Spanish. Marisel was so was impressed with her sister’s experience that she decided to join JROTC her freshman year. She explained, “[I saw] what she got out of [JROTC]. And it was like—she’s my role model. I look up to her. I pretty much try to follow in her footsteps.” Marisel also claimed that she likes JROTC because it is a program that does positive things for the com-

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munity and instills a sense of respect in kids. These are values she says she already possessed because many of her family members were in the army. In our interview she elaborates: I’ve actually always been pretty good about how respect goes and everything because that’s how I was raised. . . . I just learned more about army values and what it’s like because my uncle was in the army. My family kind of had a history with it. I wanted to just see more and more about it. Plus, it’s like, I like being involved with other kids. . . . We did this thing called Winning Colors. I’m a born relater. I don’t like being by myself. The more people the better. I love being around people. Being in this program has just brought me closer to everyone. It’s just a really, really good experience.

Like Carmen, Marisel emphasizes her family’s history with the military as an important reason for her to participate in JROTC. And she is clear about how her own values and sense of responsibility have been profoundly shaped by her family’s positive experiences with the military. Throughout her interview, Marisel emphasizes the importance of respect, self-discipline, hard work, and financial independence. These are values she believes have contributed to her family’s success. They are also important moral standards meant to guide and reinforce students’ personal development in JROTC. Marisel regards herself as fortunate for having this moral code guide her throughout her life even before JROTC, and she believes others can benefit from the program’s ability to instill the values of respect and discipline that are key to being successful. In JROTC, she explains, they “treat you with a lot of respect. And having that feeling makes you feel so good. Knowing that you have someone that respects you—that barely knows you, but has respect for you. You know? And just the discipline—it’s not just hardcore discipline [like just] pushups here and there. But it helps you. . . . It will keep you in line. It will keep you on track. And it will teach you a lot of valuable lessons and shows you what your moral values are and what they should be.” These principles of respect, keeping on track, and working hard are ones she and her family developed because of their positive relationship with the military. And they are largely responsible for shaping her aspirations and her sister’s success in high school and beyond.

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Unlike Marisel and Carmen, Vanessa Cruz joined JROTC late in high school, in her junior year. She was reluctant to join because she was unsure whether she would be able to respond well to people telling her what to do. Laughing, she explains, “I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle people, ’cause I don’t like people yelling at me good or telling me what to do. But it’s not really like that. They have respect for you. And if you’re doing wrong, you should know not to do it. So if you do what you’re supposed to do, you won’t get yelled at.” When I ask what finally made her decide to join she said that her uncle is a marine who is currently on his second deployment in Iraq. He also attended Fairview High School. And although their grandmother encouraged him to join JROTC, he refused to do so, and decided to enlist in the marines instead. “My grandma wanted [my uncle] to do [JROTC], but he wanted to do the real thing . . . so I was like, ‘I’ll do it.’ Just to make her happy.” When I ask whether this made her grandmother happy, she responded quickly and unequivocally that it did and explained that it makes both her grandmother and mother proud since she is doing something positive and staying focused on school. Unfortunately, this was not the experience with her older brothers. “My brothers didn’t finish high school. Like, my oldest brother did. He went to auto body college. But they both got in trouble with the law. I’m the only good one. [Giggles] So [my grandmother’s] proud that I’m not doing what they’re doing. She’s proud of me because I’m actually doing something positive.” Vanessa’s decision to join JROTC is influenced not only by her uncle being a marine but also by her grandmother’s insistence that being part of JROTC and the military is a positive influence in one’s life. Like Carmen and Marisel, Vanessa’s family’s military service influenced her to join JROTC; but it was also her brothers’ and uncle’s failure to participate in the program that also shaped her choice to join JROTC her junior year. Her short time in JROTC has been a positive one and she receives a great deal of support from her mother and grandmother who attend her drill competitions and are involved in the JROTC Booster Club. Their involvement, Vanessa suggests, is not only because they want to encourage her to continue in the program, but ultimately because they see the value of JROTC in keeping her focused and doing well in school and encouraging her to think about college and a career. In contrast to Marisel and Carmen, however, Vanessa is considering pursuing a career in the mili-

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tary beyond high school by applying to ROTC at Ohio State University. Considering ROTC and the military beyond high school is in part attributable to both her positive experiences in JROTC and to the cautionary tales of her brothers who struggled with school and the law, and her uncle, who faces the stress of multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. ROTC, she believed, would help pay for college, allow her to enter the military as an officer once she graduates from college, and provide her with more and better options than her brothers and uncles had. For Vanessa, Marisel, and Carmen, it is clear how their families’ experiences in the military have shaped their own decisions about JROTC and their hopes and aspirations beyond high school. Vanessa’s aspirations echo those of Sam Nuñez, a senior cadet major, who plans to attend the University of Akron on an ROTC scholarship in the fall. Sam joined JROTC his freshman year and was encouraged by his older sister, who participated in the program for three years. When I ask why he decided to join JROTC, he describes how he liked the way the cadets carried themselves with pride around the school. This is something he says distinguishes JROTC students from others. “I liked the way they walked around the school. . . . We just—we act different. We act as if we have a common sense and pride in what we do. We don’t act all foolish in the hallways and jump around. Or be loud and obnoxious. You can tell who’s a cadet in the classrooms because they’re always focused on their schoolwork and stuff.” Sam is a very serious student. He describes himself as “very decisive” and “argumentative.” “I’m very stern with what I say. My opinion is my opinion. And usually I fight for my opinion.” He takes pride in his accomplishments in JROTC and in making plans for the future and executing them. For example, he proudly tells me he has been employed at a local restaurant for two years and got the job just two days after he turned fifteen, the legal age to be formally employed in Ohio. He also proudly talks about his family’s extensive service in the U.S. Army and explains that it is because of their example that he is not afraid to join the military after college and possibly be deployed for war: “My dad went to Operation Iraqi Freedom. My uncle went. Both my uncles went. My grandfather served in the Vietnam War. My dad was in many wars in the nineties. I’m not scared to defend my country. That’s what I’ll be signing up for.” When I asked whether his family’s experiences in the military influenced his choices he read-

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ily agrees. “That was definitely in the back of my mind. Definitely, you know. And they seemed to be successful. So, I was like, well, the military gives you a plan and helps you attain your goals. And you get paid while you do it.” Many students were explicit in their admiration for family members they deemed successful and their belief that this success was intimately tied to their military service. For some, this provided a clear road map as they navigated different resources and institutions leading to what they dreamed would be their own successful lives. Angela Milano, for example, not only emphasized her father’s military service as an important influence in her hopes to join a naval ROTC program and be a military lawyer one day but also drew on a broader understanding of public service that included the military as well as law enforcement. “[I want to go into law] because that’s how I’ve grown up. My mom is a dispatcher for the Lorain Police Department. My grandfather was a correctional officer. My real father was in the military. My family has been very involved with the law and government. . . . I’ve thought about being a lawyer a lot. And since the navy pays for schooling . . . when I come out, I will [also] have a stable background to go into a job.” Many students have witnessed how military service translates into economically secure futures, provides a sense of purpose, and leads to stable jobs once they leave the military. They also believe that being in JROTC in high school can lead them on a similar path to success, either by preparing them for ROTC in college or for enlistment in the military after high school. This is a path that sophomore Jonathan Garcia hopes to pursue, and one that his uncles and cousins all took. “There’s my Uncle Jimmy, my cousin Adam, my cousin Timmy, and my cousin Victor. . . . [They were all in the] army, air force, and marines.” Jonathan is thinking of joining the marines, the branch he describes as “really hard and basic training is no joke.” But he is also considering the army after high school. Unlike Sam and Angela, however, Jonathan is not planning to pursue ROTC in college; he also seems a lot more pragmatic about the realities of being in the military and quite sobered by his families’ stories about the challenges he would face if he were to join. This does not dissuade him, but it aligns his thoughts about the future with students who praise their family’s military service, acknowledge its influence on their decision to be in JROTC, yet are ambivalent, at best, about joining the military after high school.

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Brenda and Briana Calderón also share this ambivalence. They are sisters who are very involved in JROTC’s extracurricular activities, hold leadership roles within their units, and whose mom is actively involved in the JROTC Booster Club. Brenda is the third of four children and is Briana’s older sister. She resembles many overextended and ambitious teenage girls doing everything she can to have a strong résumé and grades as she applies to college: she works part-time at a watch store at the local mall; she is on student council, is part of drama club, art club, and the school’s marching band; and she also volunteers for community service projects regularly with her youth group at the local Catholic church. As a sophomore, Briana is also involved in her church’s youth group, has participated in the school orchestra (although she stepped back from it this year since it conflicted with her drill practices), and is quickly earning leadership positions in JROTC. In separate interviews, both girls remarked about how they were proud of their two older brothers who are marines—one was recently honorably discharged and the other chose to reenlist and is now a recruiter in Maryland—as well as their grandfather and uncles. But they are also clear that they have other aspirations. Brenda, for example, plans to attend the University of Toledo in the fall and describes her frustration in being actively approached by recruiters at school. When she tells them her postgraduate plans, they respond aggressively with questions: “What are you going to do after college? How are you going to pay for it?” [She squints, trying to imitate a sly recruiter] But I get them away because [I tell them] my brother is a marine recruiter. . . . And they’re like, “You can’t just join the marines!” It would be wrong if I didn’t! [she laughs]. . . . My dad doesn’t want me to [join]. And I’m kind of like, “Uhhh!” [Raises her hands in frustration]. If I have to—if I need to, then I want to. But I think it’s more if I need to for college money.

Brenda explains further that unlike other young people, she is realistic about the challenges of the military and how different it is than JROTC. Joining right out of high school is a mistake she has seen her friends make and regret later. “I’ve seen too many people come out of ROTC and go straight into the military thinking, ‘It’s going to be just like high school ROTC.’ And it’s nothing like that. And when I was a fresh-

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man I knew that. . . . I’ve known three or four people who are trying to get out [of the military] right now because they went straight in after ROTC in high school.”73 Like many young women I met, Brenda is hopeful yet extremely practical, recognizing that joining the military in the future, either the reserves or ROTC, isn’t entirely out of the question if it means it will help her pay for college. Briana, on the other hand, is firm: she refuses to talk with recruiters and tells them she is not interested in joining the military. She gushes about JROTC—“I love ROTC! I like everything about it. I don’t regret ever joining it. I think it’s really amazing. . . . The people I’ve met . . . the drill teams. And the teachers, First Sergeant Milano and Major Wise are a-maz-ing!” But she sees her path as a very different one from her that of brothers. “They always tell me that they wouldn’t change it. My older brother’s out of it. He was discharged. And my other brother just stayed in it. He just keeps enlisting over and over again. He likes it.” And while her brothers often tease her saying she should be a marine like them, Briana describes herself as more like Brenda and also plans to go to a four-year university. Like Brenda, however, she always reserves the possibility of joining the military to pay for college. “I’ve thought about it. I really have. If I join anything, it would be the marines. . . . Maybe because my brothers talked about it so much that I’ve gotten into that more than anything else. I like the marines more than anything else.” But, she explains later, her real dream is to go to Ohio State University or Bowling Green University. Their mother, Norma, shares their aspirations, and as an active member of the Booster Club makes it a point to support her daughters in JROTC. But Norma is also proactive in making sure they do everything they can to prepare for college. After I attended my first JROTC Booster Club meeting one evening in September, Norma approached me to talk about my research and asked for my advice. Brenda was in the process of applying to the University of Toledo and her mother wanted to know if Brenda should take the ACT or the SAT. She had already taken the ACT once and hoped to take it again to get a higher score, but now her mother was wondering whether she should also take the SAT and was worried about the costs involved in taking multiple exams. I was sympathetic with Norma’s concerns about money and told her that she might qualify for a fee waiver for the exams and even for college application fees. She was surprised by

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this information, and when I suggested that she talk with the guidance counselor since they would have that information, she scoffed, saying, “That’s actually a question you should ask the students when you interview them. Ask them about how the counselors have helped them go to college. I bet they have a lot to say about that!” She then explained that there isn’t a lot of support for kids planning to go to college and that is one of the most frustrating things about their school. “They get lots of support and advice in JROTC, but it’s hard to get it in other places.” This was a sentiment shared by many I met throughout the year (and one that I explore further in subsequent chapters): not only does JROTC provide students with certain skills and values, the teachers themselves are an invaluable source of support, advice, insight, and connections that students and parents appreciate deeply. And while First Sergeant Milano and Major Wise are clear that they do support some students who are considering a career in the military, they also play a critical role in providing advice about college and writing letters of recommendations for their college applications. JROTC students were practically unanimous in their praise of First Sergeant and Major Wise, not only because of their guidance but also because they were approachable and accessible. This is one of the reasons many remain in JROTC or are encouraged to join in the first place. But neither this nor their families’ positive experiences with the military were able to convince some to consider the military beyond JROTC. As a freshman, Andy Rivera speaks highly of his experience in JROTC. His older brother is actively involved and encouraged Andy to join even though he was initially reluctant to do so. “My first impression was I didn’t like it. Because I thought that if you went to JROTC, then you had to go to the army. But then I found out that you didn’t have to go into the army, and you get your extra credits. So . . . [I joined] because of the credits. And it looks good on an application for school or if you want to get a job.” His aunt is a medic in the army and is currently deployed in Iraq. And his uncle is a marine also currently deployed abroad. Andy admires the sacrifices both his aunt and uncle make by being in the military and being away from their families for long periods of time. But this is precisely why he is not interested in enlisting after high school despite pressure from recruiters who approach him at school. Although Andy is only fourteen, he is has an athletic build and looks older than

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his age, which might explain why he elicits constant attention from recruiters. Despite their interest in him, he remains clear about why he is in JROTC and not a military career. “I’m not trying to go to the army or join them. . . . Because I have family in the army. . . . And you really don’t get to see much of your family. And if I have a family, I’m gonna try to see them as much as I can.” He describes his relationship with his family as very close and talks with his aunt and uncle about their experiences in the military. “Well, what they’ve told me—I mean, the marines, they’re supposedly the hardest, [the most] disciplined. But [my uncle] told me that it’s cool the experience you get to do. But you don’t really get to come home. You come home for a week and a half, and then you go right back. Or in the army, [my aunt]—she hasn’t come home for like, she’s been out there [in Iraq] for maybe a year and a half.” So while Andy sees great value in his JROTC experience and admires his aunt and uncle for their military service, he also sees the great price that they pay and is circumspect about the U.S.’s ongoing involvement in Iraq. “Saddam Hussein is dead, and they’re just over there for no reason. And George Bush should be bringing them back. But he just made a speech the other day that he’s not brining them back for another couple of years . . . so they’re gonna be out there for the next couple of years.” Andy is not alone in his awareness of the toll the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan placed on military personnel. Indeed, since many JROTC students have family members who are either veterans or currently in the military, they were keenly aware of the sacrifices their families endured and often worried about the wisdom or need for these wars and how the conflicts might end. Many young people spoke admiringly of their families’ choices and were clear about how they were inspired by them to join JROTC either as a family tradition, a sense of shared history, or even as a way of benefiting from what they saw as the good things the military could offer in a high school-based program. But students also registered concerns: Should we really be in Iraq and Afghanistan? When will our troops come back home? What are we really fighting for anyway? These were questions students raised in interviews, in their classroom discussions, and in conversations before and after school. And while there was no unanimity regarding the role the U.S. military should play abroad, it was clear that family traditions, ethnic pride, and military service together play a part in shaping students un-

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derstandings about JROTC. It is also clear that dreams of social and economic stability also influenced students’ dreams and aspirations. With limited employment opportunities and deteriorating conditions in their neighborhoods and schools, JROTC and military service become real, if overdetermined, options for young people seeking economic mobility, social standing, and improved living conditions for their families and their communities.

Lorain: The International and Deindustrialized City Located approximately thirty miles east of Cleveland along the shores of Lake Erie, the city of Lorain has a population of 64,097 and is the tenth-largest city in Ohio.74 According to the 2010 census, more than a quarter of the city’s population is Latina/o (25.2 percent) with African Americans (17.6 percent) and whites (55 percent) largely making up the remainder of the city’s population.75 Puerto Ricans are the largest Latina/o subgroup in Lorain, with nearly 13,000 currently living in the city. And although Mexican Americans, like Puerto Ricans, have a long history in the city, their numbers are smaller yet growing, with 2,900 Mexican-origin residents in Lorain in 2010. Lorain is popularly knows as the International City, a proud moniker that celebrates the city’s rich immigrant history. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Lorain’s population grew considerably as immigrants arrived, primarily from eastern and southern Europe, to work in local steel mills, shipyards, and manufacturing. The most dramatic expansion occurred between 1880 and 1920, the height of European labor migration throughout the East and Midwest, and continued through the 1970s. As Pablo Mitchell and Haley Pollack write, Mexican and Puerto Rican migrants were also an important, albeit smaller, source of this new migrant labor that contributed to the city’s sustained growth in the 1920s, with 1,300 ethnic Mexicans arriving from Texas and the U.S.-Mexico border region in 1923 and 1924 and Puerto Rican migrants arriving in significant numbers beginning in the 1940s as contracted laborers to work in the steel mills and other parts of the manufacturing sector.76 According to historian Eugenio Rivera, in the 1940s through the 1970s, Lorain’s robust economy was an important draw for thousands

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of Puerto Ricans, who migrated not only from the various island communities but also from rural and urban centers in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.77 According to one study of the Puerto Rican community in 1953, although 62 percent of Puerto Rican migrants at that time had migrated directly to Lorain from Puerto Rico, the remaining 38 percent arrived after working primarily in the mid-Atlantic region and the Midwest in seasonal agricultural work, as unskilled industrial workers, and on the railroads. This migration consisted largely of men seeking work in manufacturing, construction, and industrial sectors, although the arrival of women and families contributed to Lorain’s growth as well. Puerto Rican women also migrated to mainland communities like Lorain to work in light industry, as formally contacted domestic workers, and were often brought over by female kin or family friends to help with the reproductive labor in the household.78 Indeed, the years in which Lorain’s manufacturing and industrial base were strong were also the moments in which Puerto Rican communities in Lorain, particularly in South Lorain, grew and developed critical ethnic-based organizations and institutions, such as the Puerto Rican Home Club and Sacred Heart Chapel, which both mirrored those of European immigrants before them, and that remain and continue to be an important resources to Puerto Rican and other Latina/o residents in the city today.79 Like much of region, the city of Lorain has suffered from the consequences of deindustrialization in dramatic ways beginning in the 1970s. The consequences of this shift have had a dramatic impact in Lorain, particularly since the 1980s. Residents in the city suffer from high unemployment, with an approximately 16.2 percent unemployment rate compared to nearly 7.3 percent in Ohio and 9.5 percent nationally, according to the 2008–2012 American Community Survey.80 Because Lorain’s economy has historically rested on manufacturing, particularly in the steel industry, a significant number of those currently in the labor force are still employed in these areas. In 2010, for example, 20 percent of workers were employed in the manufacturing sector, 24 percent were located in the areas of educational services, health care, and social assistance, and 10.6 percent in retail. Nearly 30 percent of households in Lorain live below the poverty line, compared with 15.4 percent in Ohio and 14.9 percent nationally.81 Nearly 22 percent of Puerto Ricans in Lorain live in poverty. Puerto Rican residents also have lower educational

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attainment compared to other city residents, with 56 percent of Puerto Ricans attaining a high school degree or higher versus 74 percent for the population at large. The years from the mid-1990s to the present have been particularly challenging for residents in the region, with plant closings in the auto industry and other manufacturing limiting employment opportunities for well-paying jobs.82 JROTC students are acutely aware of the limited economic opportunities available to them and their families, and they often talk about the ways that participating in the program opens important possibilities that allow them to help meet their own and their families’ needs. When I first began my research in 2006, a number of students talked excitedly about their new jobs at a local Red Lobster restaurant. They were able to get these jobs, they explained, because of the strong recommendation from First Sergeant Milano, who put in a good word for a number of JROTC cadets to work there and at other local businesses. Kristie Czermak, a sophomore member of the Honor Guard, worked there as a hostess and said that her manager hired her because he knew she would be responsible and reliable since she was in JROTC. In their interviews with me, students frequently provided very practical reasons for their involvement in JROTC: it would look good on their résumé; it might help them enter the military with rank if they decided to enlist after high school; it would make their college applications stronger; and it would provide them with discipline, a value they believed would serve them well later in life. Like their parents, students juggled multiple jobs in the formal and informal economy, working in grocery stores, restaurants, babysitting, lawn care, and department stores. Students did this while also remaining in school, and they emphasized how JROTC sometimes either helped them to get these jobs or provided them with skills that helped them work successfully. Participating in JROTC also provided them with a level of respect from their peers and adults that they believed contributed to the positive image others had of them and opened employment options that might not otherwise be available to them. In this way, students described concrete ways JROTC helped them get jobs they needed to help pay for clothes, school supplies, and books for themselves and to help their families, whose modest incomes are insufficient to meet their basic needs. They also conveyed their profound understanding of their

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families’ tenuous material conditions and how that will constrain their ability to help pay for college. Participating in the program, therefore, not only provides one way to meet immediate and long-term financial needs but also gives students the added benefits of social prestige, dignity, and respect they also value.

Conclusion: The Enduring Appeal of JROTC Since its inception, JROTC has been a controversial program. In the early twentieth century, it was regarded by some as playing a critical role in revitalizing American military power by focusing on enhancing the moral values of American civilians and supporting the assimilation of immigrant youth into proper citizenship. For others, military programs in high schools seemed inherently at odds with the fundamental values guiding democratic public education and with national ideals of being wary of standing armies and military power. Over the course of the last thirty years, however, a number of political, economic, social, and cultural factors have eclipsed the concerns limiting the growth of JROTC and have, instead, facilitated the program’s expansion as a way to promote discipline, self-esteem, and citizenship in American youth deemed to be “at risk.” Given that the discourse of risk is a deeply gendered and racialized one, it is not surprising that JROTC’s expansion has occurred precisely in urban school districts largely serving poor and working class youth of color.83 Both historically and in the present, supporters of JROTC have pinned their hopes on the rehabilitative power of military discipline to mold, reform, and create young citizens who adhere to notions of personal responsibility and uplift as a way to address social upheaval in the midst of intense social and political transformation as well as growing economic and social inequality. Thus, in order for us to really understand the reasons for and consequences of JROTC expansion beginning in the 1990s, we need to think of it as not only a school program but also as part of a broader cultural shift in education, public policy, demands for racial and ethnic equality, and public discourse about race, citizenship, and belonging. Latina/o youth and their families are central to these debates. Not only are they the ones who are filling the seats in JROTC classrooms, they are increasingly targeted by military recruiters eager to meet the demands of an all-volunteer military.

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As this chapter demonstrates, for many Latina/o families a long, proud ethnic tradition of military service provides ideological support for their children’s participation in JROTC. Latina/o youth are also savvy as they see the benefits they and their families gain through their participation in JROTC. These are important themes that I explore further in the chapters that follow by focusing on students’ narratives of the important social and cultural capital they develop as a result of their participation in JROTC. As I have shown, these economic and social gains are no small matter and have influenced young people’s attitudes about the military and their relationship to it, both past and present.

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“What Are These Kids Doing in Uniforms?” Discipline, Dignity, and JROTC Exceptionalism I actually got interested in ROTC because my older stepbrother was in it. When I was in seventh or eighth grade, I went and saw a drill meet. And I liked the armed exhibition team. I liked the twirling of the rifles and everything else so far. And I wanted to join it. —Twelfth-grader Yahaira DeLuca At first I just wanted to go in [JROTC] for the credit. But then, after a few weeks, I was like, “Wow! You really get involved and start helping the community and stuff like that.” And then being in Honor and in Color Guard too. And then after a while I was like, “Man, this is a really good choice. Being in the ROTC program.” —Eleventh-grader Sara Ortiz I think it was sixth or seventh grade and my brother was just beginning to get into Fairview and he would talk about the pickle patrol. And I heard it was about the military. So I said, “OK, cool.” So I looked more into it, and every year as I progressed up to high school, we heard more and more about Fairview JROTC going here and winning this. And when I finally came to have a field trip here my eighth-grade year, they were showing us around. And they carried themselves highly. They didn’t think badly of themselves. And I wanted the suit. . . . I wanted the suit because it shows authority. It shows that you want to be respected and you will be respected. —Ninth-grader Marvin Blanco

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Yahaira, Sara, and Marvin are all active in Fairview’s JROTC program. Sara is a junior who is a member of the unit’s Honor and Color Guards. As a senior, Yahaira has been involved in the drill team, the armed and unarmed exhibition teams and is an S3, just below battalion commander and executive officer. And Marvin is a freshman who has eagerly joined the armed and unarmed Infantry Drill Regulation (IDR) teams and armed exhibition his first year in the program. Like almost everyone in JROTC, they have clear recollections of how they first learned about the program, how they became interested in joining, and what keeps them engaged over time. And like almost all the other students I met, their stories about their first encounters with JROTC involve personal relationships with older cadets, encouragement from trusted family and friends, and elements of fascination with the cadet uniform. It is useful to examine the influence of these stories of first encounters with JROTC and the various ways JROTC becomes a visible part of their lives in school and beyond. As the preceding chapter demonstrated, many young people involved in JROTC form their ideas about the program from a very early age as a result of their families’ military histories. They make meaningful connections between their proud participation in JROTC and their high regard for their families’ military service. While some students draw on powerful family and ethnic traditions within the military to support their decision to be a part of JROTC, they share with others the experience of being introduced to the program in an intentional way by siblings, friends, teachers, and community members beginning in middle school. From early on students develop opinions about the program—some of them correct, others not—and interact with nonJROTC students who also develop opinions about the program—some of them positive and others not. Fundamental to everyone’s perception of the program, however, is what Marvin refers to as “the suit”: the cadet uniform, the object of fascination, derision, respect, and pride. Drawing on insights from formal interviews, observations, and conversations with students, teachers, school staff and administrators, parents, and community members in a range of different contexts enables us to explore three interrelated questions: How do students first learn about JROTC? What happens to them once they join? And why do they remain in the program? Answering these questions requires careful attention to the ways that race, gender, and class shape students’ social

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networks as well as their aspirations for school and their broader social worlds. It also demands an analysis of the meaning of the cadet uniform for students required to wear them, for noncadets who encounter them in school and in public spaces, and adults inside and outside school who draw various understandings of youth in uniform. The cadet uniform is a useful optic for understanding issues of visibility, respect, and dignity for students seeking to do well in school, find employment, and develop the skills, relationships, and financial security necessary to succeed once they graduate from high school. If JROTC is essential in helping students develop important social and cultural capital that will benefit them both inside and outside school, the uniform provides them with the more elusive yet equally important dignity they also seek. In this way, students’ fascination with the cadet uniform reveals the way their aspirations are forged in ideologies of personal accountability, uplift, success, and respect that resonate with neoliberal visions of citizenship that rest on what Leo Chavez describes as “the assumption of personal responsibility as the key to individual freedom and economic competitiveness.”1 For young Latinas/os and working-class youth who are often regarded as dangerous, unworthy, and/or unwilling to be respectable members of society, membership in JROTC and wearing the cadet uniform offers an alternative narrative that highlights their positive social contributions, as well as their ability to develop the kind of self-discipline required to fulfill their aspirations for economically secure lives. The irony, of course, is that students accomplish this as part of a well-funded and popularly supported federal program that invests money, time, and training in order for them to succeed. JROTC students do their best to make good use of these resources as they simultaneously cultivate a sense of “personal responsibility for social and economic conditions beyond their control.”2

Learning about JROTC For many students, their first significant interaction with JROTC occurs in the middle school years. Some were impressed with a presentation by Fairview’s drill team or unarmed exhibition team during a school assembly and started asking questions about the programs; others began talking with friends, siblings, cousins, and parents in eighth grade as

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they started to consider what kinds of courses they should take when they entered high school the following year. Regardless of how they first learned about JROTC, almost all the students had a clear memory about that first moment when they became interested, and they were eager to share those stories. In what follows, I explore students’ varied points of entry into JROTC, including friendship networks, the influence their siblings and extended family play, and the role of parents and teachers in exposing high school students to the program.

“It’s Going to Be Fun” Alana Ramos, JROTC’s executive officer and a member of the Honor Guard, was unusually nervous as we began our recorded interview six months after I first arrived to learn about Fairview’s JROTC. By this time, I had a good relationship with Alana as well as with her parents, since I saw her on a regular basis at school. I also interacted often with her parents who were one of the most actively involved couples in the JROTC Booster Club, and our families also attended the same Sunday mass at Sacred Heart Chapel in Lorain. As a senior who has been involved in JROTC since her sophomore year, Alana is extremely poised and confident and has a warm smile. She has worked in a number of retail jobs, is active in community service, and recalls that one of her greatest accomplishments was being a princess in Lorain’s annual International Festival. She is well liked and admired by others in the program, and her ambitions for college were also the subject of conversation among students and teachers alike. Alana had a 3.65 GPA, comes from a solidly middle-class family, and had the great fortune to visit a number of colleges and universities in the fall with her father in order to make an informed decision about where she wanted to go to school after high school. She applied to the Air Force Academy as well as a number of schools in Ohio and in Indiana and ultimately decided to take a full four-year ROTC scholarship at one of Ohio’s public universities. Alana was a little circumspect as we continued to talk about her experiences in JROTC—she has had a positive experience in the program and speaks very highly about what it has done for her and for other students. But she also explained that there were “ups and downs,” and that the gossip and interpersonal dynamics were sometimes challenging. But Alana

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chose to focus more on the positive aspects of the program. And she became particularly animated and giggly when she recalled how she first became interested in JROTC. Well, that’s a funny story. When I was at Whitman Middle School up the street, I had heard about JROTC and a lot of my friends were telling me they were doing it. I didn’t know any people in the program. I was just like, “Oh, my friends are doing it. It sounds like fun. I’ll try it.” That and my cousin Maria was the battalion commander a couple of years back and they visited our school my eighth-grade year, and they did Color Guard a couple of times and they gave demonstrations of . . . unarmed exhibition, and it kind of sparked my interest. Like, wow. I want to see what this program is about. So my freshman year I made sure it was on my schedule, but my schedule was lost . . . and there were no openings in ROTC, so I couldn’t take that class. . . . So the next year my best friend . . . I convinced her to go into the program and I was like, “Hmmm. I’m gonna find a way to get in there.” I eventually did, after a lot of work. And I joined ROTC. And that’s pretty much it.

Like Alana, many students have stories about how mistakes in their schedules either failed to enroll them in the program or put them in JROTC by mistake. Sometimes this meant students who really wanted to be in JROTC had to do extra work to make it happen, while other students who originally didn’t want to join the program ended up staying in. Eleventh-grader George Holmes, for example, talked about how his friends became interested in joining after seeing the armed and unarmed exhibition teams perform at an assembly in eighth grade. His friends’ excitement made a deep impression on him, especially since he was originally unimpressed and thought the program was corny, but it wasn’t enough to get him to sign up for the program. He explained: The funny thing was I wasn’t really interested in it. . . . First Sergeant Milano made [the Battalion Commander Lisa Alvarez] do push-ups for the heck of it. And I was like, “I don’t think I can do this! Push-ups for the heck of it? No way! I’m not doing this. This is corny.” And the funny thing was . . . me and my other two friends. They saw it and they were like, “Yeah, man. I want to do that rifle tossing stuff . . . exhibition.” They

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were like, “I want to do that.” And they both signed up for it when we were making our schedules for our first year. I didn’t sign up for it. But somehow I got put into it, and they didn’t. . . . So they kind of mixed our schedules up. . . . So what ended up happening was that I ended up being in ROTC and doing all this stuff.

Even though George didn’t plan to do JROTC, now as a junior he is glad that he did and believes he has benefited from being in the program. What is striking about George and Alana’s narratives—as well as so many other students’ stories—is the visual impression JROTC made on them during middle school assemblies. The precision of the drill teams and exhibition teams, the physical strength, and the unity JROTC students exhibited often left middle school students wanting to know more. Their conversations with their friends after these assemblies and leading up to enrolling in high school also played an important role in determining whether a student joined JROTC. Laura Méndez is in tenth grade and described how she liked watching the drill team during an eighth-grade assembly and how, as an athlete, this part of the program appealed to her. “They came to Whitman and talked about it and they did a whole bunch of drills for us and all that. That was pretty cool. . . . Everybody was like, ‘You gonna do it?’ And my friends were like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do it. It’s just for fun.’ They said it was a cool class, easy credit.” Laura’s friends’ enthusiasm about JROTC after the assembly was an important reason for her to join. But like Sara Ortiz in the opening epigraph, she was also intrigued by the possibility that the class would be “easy credit,” another popular reason for many kids to join—and remain—in JROTC. For other students, having a good friend in JROTC was an important reason for joining. Brenda Calderón, for example, already knew about JROTC and had positive associations with the program since both her brothers are marines and encouraged her to join the program and consider the military after high school. But it was her best friend who had a decisive impact in joining JROTC. When Brenda was in eighth grade, her friend would tell her stories about JROTC and ask her to help her prepare for her drill competitions. “One of my best friends was in [JROTC]. She’s a year older than me. And she was always like, ‘Help me march.’ So, we always just practiced marching together just because we were bored. And then I came to some of the events at school and I liked

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them.” Brenda joined her freshman year in high school and now as a senior, leads the armed and unarmed drill teams. Like Brenda, eleventhgrader Yamila Montés joined JROTC after watching her friend prepare for drill competitions. “I saw her doing armed exhibition [she laughs]. And I asked her about it and she said, ‘Oh, it’s this program at school.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, it looked cool.’ My freshman year I thought about it, but then I was like, ‘No, I just want to see what else they do afterwards.’ And then when I started to ask her more and see what kinds of stuff they did, I liked it and I joined it.” Eleventh-grader Dante Miller also explained how a good friend convinced him to try out JROTC. Like Yamila, he trusted his friend’s advice that he should join because it would be fun. “My friend Nelson, he said, ‘Join it. It’s going to be fun.’ He said they traveled a lot. And we do a lot of events and functions. So I joined it. I was doing my schedule in eighth grade and I said put me down for it. So, that’s why I joined.” While friends certainly play a significant role in how students decide to join JROTC, others describe being deeply moved by seeing young people in uniforms and were more private in their decision to join. Marvin Blanco, for example, disregarded his older brother’s jokes about the “pickle patrol” parading about school in their uniforms. Instead, he was inspired by the way the cadets carried themselves—“they carried themselves highly. They didn’t think badly of themselves”—and decided that he wanted to be a part of a group that not only showed they wanted respect but that also received it. As a freshman he is proud of the positive reputation Fairview’s JROTC program has and believes it was that confidence that drew him into the program and has the potential to interest others as well. Like Marvin, senior Amanda Bonilla was familiar with JROTC as a middle school student. But it was seeing the students in uniform that led her to join. “At first they came into [the gym] and I’m like, ‘What are these kids doing in uniforms?’ You know, like I’ve never seen anything like that before. And they talked a bit, and then their armed and unarmed exhibition teams came out and I’m like, ‘That looks like fun. Educational too.’ So I wanted to try it. . . . So I tried it my freshman year, and I fell in love with it.” Middle school presentations are an important way to first introduce students to JROTC. Although some students recall seeing cadets in public venues like the Memorial Day or Fourth of July parades, middle school assemblies and visits from JROTC

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cadets have the advantage of talking with students about how the program can be fun; they demonstrate one way nervous middle-schoolers can belong to something cool once they enter the unfamiliar and intimidating world of high school. And conversations among friends circulate information about how the class can be an easy credit and offer opportunities to travel and do things they might not be able to do otherwise. Like the rest of the U.S. military, JROTC leaders are keenly aware of the influence friends and family can play in shaping students’ decisions to participate in JROTC, and they reward cadets who are successful in recruiting others into the program by awarding them recruiting ribbons, for example, which they can then proudly wear on their cadet uniforms. As I discuss later in this chapter, the ribbons, medals, and patches students earn in JROTC are visible displays of their achievement and success, and the cadets take a great deal of pride in them. They motivate students to participate in a range of JROTC activities so they can earn more awards, and their prominence on a cadet uniform often entices noncadets to consider joining JROTC and being part of something so visibly positive and respected by others.

“Wow! That Program Is Amazing!” While friends have significant influence on students’ opinions about JROTC, siblings, cousins, uncles, and even parents who participated in JROTC when they were young also have a great deal of power in motivating students to consider JROTC. As I discussed in the preceding chapter, families’ military service provides fertile ground for cultivating early interest in military programs like JROTC. But it is often the positive experiences of siblings and extended family members in JROTC that ultimately lead students to join once they enter high school. Marisel Sánchez, for example, is very proud of her uncle who was in the army and describes her family as having a history with the military. But it was her older sister’s positive experiences in JROTC that convinced her to join. Her sister loved JROTC and would invite her to some of the activities at school: I used to come to the school every now and then, whenever she had a banquet or a competition. I came to a few of her competitions. And just seeing how the program was, and how everyone was so close. I was like,

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“Wow! That program is amazing!” It was just so cool. And my mom loves Major Wise and First Sergeant. It’s real cool.

Marisel’s older sister encouraged her to join JROTC when she entered high school. But more importantly, by being invited to extracurricular activities and events, Marisel was exposed at an early age to the kind of camaraderie that inspires students to join and participate at such high levels. Because Marisel also attributes some of her sister’s success in college to the skills and relationships she developed in JROTC, she sees a value in the program that motivates her to participate and encourage others to join. Like Marisel, Sam Nuñez was predisposed to having a positive image of JROTC because of his family’s proud military service. His older sister was actively involved in JROTC until her junior year, when she decided that the early morning Headquarters class for cadet leaders was more than she was willing to do. Sam, on the other hand, took his increasing leadership role in JROTC even more seriously and has remained committed to JROTC leadership all four years. Although his sister definitely influenced his decision to join, he takes great pride in being someone who has a plan and sets goals that he works hard to achieve. During his freshman year, for example, he wanted to earn the Cadet of the Year Award. “I actually got my goal. Freshman year I was awarded Cadet of the year by the command sergeant major. At the time I thought that was really cool. So I wanted to get that and sure enough I got it.” Sam admires his sister’s participation in JROTC, and he is also pleased with how he was able to carve out a space for himself and achieve his goals to hold leadership roles in the unit and ultimately pay for college through an ROTC scholarship at the University of Akron. Thus, while siblings and cousins can often plant the seeds to join JROTC, students’ relationship to the program frequently takes on a life of its own. Students who have had siblings and cousins in the program often find ways to distinguish themselves from their family members. Yahaira DeLuca, for example, first became interested in JROTC by attending her stepbrother’s drill meets. As she noted in an earlier quotation, she enjoyed watching the armed exhibition team and joined JROTC her freshman year, participating in the armed exhibition team. After a while, though, she decided to leave drill behind in order to take on leader-

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ship roles as an S3 and to be more involved in the community service component of JROTC. As her younger brother prepares for high school, she has recommended that he join, since it might help to provide what she sees as much-needed focus for him. But, she says, in a disappointed voice, he is not interested. When I ask why, she replies: I don’t know. He’s just not—my twelve-year-old brother, he’s actually ADHD so he’s not as interested in a lot of things that I am. I mean, so I could tell him, military is a way to go, probably, if you work hard and get the grades. You could probably get an ROTC scholarship, which would benefit him a lot. But I told him, if you don’t have the grades, you’re not going to be whatever you want to be.

Because she benefited from her older stepbrother’s advice to join JROTC, Yahaira hoped to do the same for her younger brother. She attributes her success in high school to the skills, relationships, and opportunities she has developed in JROTC. And as she begins to look to her life in college (at the time she was still deciding between the University of Akron and the University of Toledo), she is both excited and wistful as she considers the possibilities for her younger brother. Both Peter Sokolowski and Tina Silva talked about how their cousins encouraged them to join JROTC. While Tina has four cousins who have successfully participated in Fairview’s program (her older cousin Lisa Alvarez was the popular battalion commander that year), Peter’s cousins were involved in a Naval ROTC program from a nearby high school. Both were inspired to join because they saw their cousins’ positive experiences, yet Peter took great pride in the fact that he was part of Fairview’s JROTC program, which he believed to be superior. “I think we do a lot more community service. And of course our drilling is a lot better,” he remarked during our interview. As a senior who recently enlisted in the Ohio National Guard at the age of seventeen, Peter also talked about how his experiences in Boy Scouts and at Buckeye Boys State support the work and sense of mission he feels in JROTC. He values the community service aspect of JROTC and the Boy Scouts, and the weeklong Buckeye Boys State camp not only emphasized the value of public service but also provided him with an opportunity to work closely with the Ohio National Guard staff and recruiters; it is where he

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became particularly interested in enlisting as soon as he was able to do so. Family members first introduced and inspired Peter, like so many other students in JROTC, to join the program. What his experience demonstrates, however, is that while he and others can follow a similar path, their experiences can often lead them to new and surprising places that exceed the expectations of family, friends, and teachers.

“They’ll Teach You a Lot of Stuff ” Parents and teachers play a distinctive role in introducing their children or students to JROTC. Ninth-grader Amina Teller, for example, grew up hearing stories from her mother about her own experiences in JROTC in another town in Northeast Ohio. “She said it was great and that it was a lot of fun. And so that’s why I wanted to join when I came to high school.” When I asked Amina what her mother enjoyed most about her experience in JROTC, she replied, “She just said that it was a lot of fun . . . all the competitions and stuff like that.” Amina’s experience echoes her mother’s, and even though she is only a freshman, she attends drill meets and enjoys participating in the different community service projects in JROTC. Freshman José Montés was reluctant to admit that it was ultimately his mother who convinced him to join JROTC. His older sister, Yamila, attends drill competitions, and he acknowledged that he loved watching armed exhibition and that he had a feeling that JROTC would be fun. But he was also hesitant because of the uniform. His mother, on the other hand, was adamant. My mom convinced me to get in. . . . I don’t know, I got a little scared [of JROTC] because I knew [the uniform] would be too hot. The heavy cloth . . . would weigh you down. [sighs] Now I know what it feels like [he laughs]. . . . [My mom] wanted me to do something for after school, ’cause I didn’t do nothing. I didn’t do no sports, and I’m trying to get into sports, at least football. So, she told me I had to do something after school, at least join a club. And I was like, “All right, I’ll join JROTC.”

Although José resigned himself to joining JROTC—and his worst fears about the uniform were quickly confirmed during the hot, muggy days in the fall—he sees the value in his mother pushing him to do something

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he didn’t want to do but that in the end was for his own good. José is shy, slightly awkward, and self-conscious about his weight. Joining JROTC changed him—it made him more outgoing and confident, and he now encourages his other friends to join, especially those he believes would benefit from the structure the program provides. Robby Marquette’s mother also played an important role in his decision to join JROTC. Although his brother was in the program and he has many friends who joined the military after high school, it was really his mother who influenced him to join. “She’s like, ‘Mike, if you want to get ahead in life, they’ll teach you a lot of stuff. So you can be successful in life.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll join.’” Because Robby’s brother was in JROTC, he was familiar with the extracurricular programs and was eager to join the armed exhibition team. He also believed that the structured environment would fit well with his desire for discipline and his appreciation for the camaraderie JROTC provides. He was reluctant to try something new and potentially uncomfortable, but he heeded his mother’s advice to join JROTC. Both Robby’s and José’s mothers were familiar with the program because of their older children. This experience led them to conclude that JROTC would provide certain skills that would be useful for their children and help them succeed in school and in life. But there is also an unspoken subtext that often became explicit during casual conversations in school, at drill competitions, and different JROTC events: parents and other adults believed JROTC would keep their children focused in school and out of trouble. This was certainly the reason Vanessa Cruz joined JROTC: it would please her grandmother, who had wanted her uncles to join and who lamented the trouble her brothers had with the law. Vanessa describes herself as “the only good one” in her family and describes the relief her grandmother feels in seeing her granddaughter participate in something so positive and surrounding herself with friends who stay out of trouble. Parents’ efforts to get students to join JROTC are often conveniently bolstered by the encouragement teachers provide as well. Danny Rodriguez, for example, first started thinking about JROTC after seeing a middle school presentation and heard that he could take JROTC in lieu of P.E. (physical education) class. “I thought Major Wise said JROTC would count as a gym credit and you wouldn’t have to take gym. And [he said] it was really fun and if you want to learn leadership, or some-

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thing like that, then you should join. And earlier that week, my mom was arguing with me saying I need to become more respectful. So I said, ‘Fine, whatever.’ So I joined. But it turned out that it didn’t really take away a gym credit, so I had to take gym anyway.” His mother was thrilled that he joined JROTC and said that she began to notice changes in his behavior immediately. “My mom is really proud of me I guess now because she’s always talking to her friends about me. . . . It’s kind of embarrassing.” Eleventh-grader Jacob Barry also talks about how his mother encouraged him to join JROTC. But it was ultimately First Sergeant Milano who convinced him to enroll in JROTC. Because Jacob’s sister was in JROTC, he met First Sergeant at the Military Ball when Jacob was in eighth grade. He recalls that First Sergeant approached him that night at the dance: “First Sergeant talked a lot about me [and JROTC]. . . . He said I looked good [and strong] and that he wanted me on his team, blah, blah, blah. And well, I was so proud of myself and I decided to try to do well in JROTC. And that’s how I really got interested.” Jacob participated in all the different drill teams and is the only boy on the Honor Guard team, something he is quite proud of. He has been surprised by how much he enjoys the program and the friends he has made and explains that this has helped him stay focused in school. His mother is extremely supportive and enthusiastic about his involvement in JROTC, a sentiment shared by many parents who see the immediate and long-term advantages JROTC provides. Junior Yarimir Cepeda also talked about how a teacher influenced her to join JROTC with his stories of his own military career. When she arrived at Fairview High School her freshman year after living in Florida for five years, she immediately tried to join JROTC and was enthusiastically supported by her parents: They were so happy. They were like, “Oh my goodness, this is good.” And my dad’s thinking about the engineering stuff about it. And my mom’s over here, “Oh my God! You’re gonna go places and you’re gonna do so many things.” And I’m like, I get all this support so that’s what really pushed me to join JROTC.

Like their children and students, parents and teachers have varying levels of understanding of what JROTC entails and what it provides young

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people. It is not uncommon for students and their families to have misinformation or outsized ideas about the program, and sometimes people are disappointed once the reality of the program sets in and the initial fascination fades. Students often talk excitedly about their first experiences with the program, but they are much more sober and measured when they discuss what their experiences in the program have been and what keeps them involved. The allure of the drill competitions and the cadet uniform continue to be meaningful to them since these are some of the ways their participation is most visible to others. But as the reality of the coursework, drill practice, service requirements, and expectations from their teachers and other students set in, many are surprised by what JROTC entails. Some students leave after a year or two, although many stay for all four years. There are a number of reasons why students persist with their long-term relationship with JROTC. Some are aligned with the program’s explicit goals. Yet others are unexpected and highlight the ways students actively fashion JROTC to meet their immediate needs, goals for the future, and aspirations for success beyond high school.

Joining JROTC On a warm August morning the JROTC classroom is bustling with activity. Since the school year has just begun, there is a great deal of movement and excitement in the classroom as students reconnect with each other and with First Sergeant and Major Wise, and potential cadets talk with older students to figure out whether they will take JROTC this year. Many are still finalizing their schedules and look somewhat confused not only because of the novelty of JROTC but also because being a freshman requires figuring out a new set of norms, rules, and expectations that can be intimidating. Older cadets sit in the small office at the back of the medium-size classroom and chat easily as they do their assigned jobs. This usually involves completing lots of paperwork, creating spreadsheets, taking attendance, documenting supply inventories, and keeping track of community service opportunities and student hours. On this particular morning, the office is filled with the young Latinas who hold the highest positions in JROTC, the majority of the leadership roles, and who are the unit’s majority. The large number of

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Latinas in JROTC certainly reflects Fairview High School’s demographic composition—forty percent of the school is Latina/o—but it also speaks to the program’s appeal to young Latinas/os. Approximately twenty-five students fill all the available seats in the classroom behind long tables that face a chalkboard and screen at the front of the classroom. Around the classroom are glossy posters with bright and bold lettering and photographs of JROTC cadets looking serious and impeccable in their cadet uniforms. The posters proclaim key tenets guiding the JROTC program. One announces, “Being a good citizen takes practice.” Another reads, “Mission: To motivate young people to be better citizens.” Large trophies lie beneath these posters and are a testament to what many students say appealed to them about JROTC: Fairview’s JROTC is a winning unit, earning multiple trophies in drill competitions throughout the region. The American flag is at the front of the classroom, as are photographs of (then) President Bush, (then) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and other Department of Defense and Pentagon officials, with the words “Chain of Command” underneath. As students move between the JROTC office, main classroom, and adjacent space used for storing supplies, drilling and a smaller class meetings for older cadets, Major Wise stands in front of the new students, providing them with a history of JROTC, explaining its goals, and motivating them to be involved in the extracurriculars the program has to offer as well as the community service opportunities. He invites a young Latina, a junior, to come to the front of the classroom to demonstrate some unarmed regulation drills. In a booming voice, he shouts commands, and she moves with precision, head held high and her body straight and tall. After a few drills, he instructs her to be at ease, and she smiles and returns to the back of the classroom as Major Wise explains the importance of learning discipline and respect in JROTC, recurring themes he and First Sergeant return to throughout the course of the year: through drill, JROTC instructions, daily practice, students will learn to be disciplined students and cadets. And these skills will benefit them both in program and beyond. Each of the four classes in those early days of the school year followed a similar format and focused largely on introducing students to the history of JROTC as well as the program’s goals and values. Major Wise and First Sergeant co-teach these courses and take turns lectur-

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ing, having students read from the Leadership Education and Training (LET) workbooks JROTC students receive upon enrolling in the class, facilitating small-group discussions, and leading students in drills. According to the Army JROTC website, the JROTC curriculum is “based on the principles of performance-based, learner-centered education and promotes development of core abilities: capacity for life-long learning, communication, responsibility for actions and choices, good citizenship, respectful treatment of others, and critical thinking techniques.” JROTC coursework includes a focus on leadership, civics, U.S. history, health and wellness, geography, global studies, and life skills.3 The emphasis on leadership, character building, ethics, and civic responsibility is described as the core of the program. And the timeline of JROTC’s history designates 2013 as a moment in which JROTC “evolved from a source of enlisted recruits and officer candidates to a citizenship program devoted to the moral, physical and educational uplift of American youth.”4 As a leadership and citizenship program, JROTC invites students into a deeper sense of self-discovery by encouraging them to get involved, take risks, and develop the leadership skills that will not only ensure success in the program but also be applicable to life beyond JROTC. These principles certainly guide the instruction and conversations in Fairview’s JROTC classes. In the early days of the semester, in accordance with LET 1’s first three units, students are presented with the foundations of JROTC, reasons and ways they can get involved, what it means to be a leader, and Socrates’ exhortation to know oneself.5 “We’re teaching you to be better citizens. To do things in your community,” First Sergeant explained to students in Delta Company one afternoon early in the semester. And being a better citizen requires leadership, being responsible, teamwork, commitment, and discipline. JROTC, he continued, will “teach you how to be a team player. Working together is cooperative action for a common good.” It will also teach students how to conduct themselves honorably in order to bring pride to themselves, their school, and the Army JROTC program both on campus and in the larger community. First Sergeant, for example, noted that he knows lots of people in the community, especially veterans who will let him know if they witness bad conduct on the part of cadets outside school. “So don’t think you can get away with bad conduct just because you’re out of school,” he warned students. As they giggled nervously, First Sergeant

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Milano continued emphasizing the importance of conduct and courtesy: “Courtesy is defined as ‘good manners and consideration of people.’ This is important because if you show respect for others, they will respect you. If you show respect, it can rub off on others. Treat others well. You need to earn respect and show it too.” Respect, teamwork, and personal conduct were repeatedly emphasized throughout the first few weeks of school, especially to the freshmen still learning about the purpose and goals of the program. Although these themes also recurred in the curriculum for juniors and seniors, their curriculum and motivational discussions focused more on leadership—the qualities of a good leader, army core values, and the principles of leadership that will improve leadership abilities (see chapter 3). The curriculum for first- and second-year students, therefore, focuses primarily on character building and civic responsibility broadly defined: taking responsibility for one’s actions and choices; treating oneself and others with respect; and practicing good citizenship in school and the broader community. Thus, despite the different pathways and reasons leading students to JROTC, from the very beginning they are encouraged to reflect on who they are, what they want to be, and how to be responsible for themselves, while simultaneously understanding themselves as part of a team whose success and failure rest on each person’s ability to fulfill his or her duties and obligations. This understanding of themselves and their relationship with others resonates with some students, who described how they turned to JROTC in order to become more disciplined and/or because they admired how the program did positive things in and for the community. But for others the emphasis on personal responsibility and obligation to others was new and surprising, and they often describe their experience as profoundly transformative and employ narratives that evoke religious conversions and stories of redemption (see chapter 3). JROTC, therefore, is an extremely powerful ideological space that shapes young people’s aspirations, expectations of themselves and others, and sense of obligation. Through their coursework, drill instruction, competitions, and conversations inside and outside the JROTC classroom, students begin to see themselves as cultivating the personal responsibility and self-discipline necessary to be the kind of citizen JROTC values, and ultimately a successful person. In doing so, students in Fairview’s JROTC program share a great deal in

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common with other working-class youth of color whose schooling has led them to see themselves and their communities “in terms of a racialized and often gendered idiom of being at-risk and to associate selfreinvention and individual responsibility for risk with self-confidence and self-esteem.”6

“Discipline Molds You” Because many students first learn about JROTC by seeing one of the many drill teams perform either during a middle school assembly or by attending a drill competition or seeing students march in local parades, it is not surprising that most sign up for drill immediately upon enrolling in JROTC. While the range of drill teams varies across schools, JROTC programs typically have armed and unarmed exhibition drill teams, as well as armed and unarmed drill regulation teams; some students in JROTC might not choose to participate in any of the drill teams, but all are required to learn about the history of drill in the U.S. military, its importance, and to learn how to give and follow commands.7 Course readings, videos, lectures, and practicing during class time are all ways students learn about drilling. While freshmen and sophomores learn basic drills, older cadets on the Color or Honor Guards practice holding up the large, heavy flags as well as raising them and lowering them, while others work alongside them with demilitarized rifles. On the first day of class, Major Wise was emphatic that demilitarized rifles cannot be loaded or be fired. “But you should treat demilitarized weapons as real weapons. If I catch a student using it for play, they will be thrown out of drill.” Students listened silently as he continued to lay out other rules around drill. “Practice. Be on time. Read the schedule. Do not be late.” He also emphasized that while he is teaching drill in the morning and afternoon, no one should be hanging around and bothering or distracting the other students. Although Major Wise has an easygoing rapport with students, students take him seriously when he lays down orders and directives such as these. Drilling during class is just as focused and serious. Students watch videos of other JROTC units doing armed and unarmed routines. What is fascinating about these videos is that they lay bare the raced, classed, and gendered composition of JROTC as well as reveal in sharp relief

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the extreme racial segregation of American public schools. Just as in drill meets (see chapter 4), the racial composition of the JROTC units featured in the videos reflects the hypersegregation of urban and rural schools districts. As a group of largely male students watched a video by an armed exhibition team from Detroit one morning, I was struck by the fact that all the students in the video were Latina/o or black, reflecting the racial composition of Detroit city schools. After the video was done, four Latino young men smiled as they led the discussion about what they saw in the video, what they might incorporate in their own performance, and encouraged young women and men to join them either before or after school for practice. On another afternoon, Major Wise lectured about the importance of drill, explaining that such training was an important form of discipline and taught them how to work together and reach goals as a team. One of the advantages of drilling, he explained further, is that it “teaches you to react and respond without question. And that,” he paused dramatically, “is a question of life or death in battle.” To move in unison is not only about discipline but also about learning strategies necessary in a military situation. Students snickered as Major Wise finished his comments, a common reaction I observed when he and First Sergeant Milano would make direct comparisons between what students do in JROTC and what happens in the “real world.” On another occasion, for example, when First Sergeant talked to juniors and seniors about the importance of rank in JROTC and knowing what each person’s responsibility is, he gave the following example. “The XO [executive officer] is a very important person in the battalion because if the battalion commander is killed in combat, the XO takes charge.” Students tried to suppress their laughter, and some giggled as they looked at their JROTC XO and CO in the room, who had looks of feigned shocked on their faces. Although so much of JROTC is supposed to be like the military, it really is not. Students are often willing to suspend reality when commanding their squad, wearing their uniforms, or responding to each other according to rank, but discussions of battles and death seem so far removed from them that they laugh uncomfortably. This raises troubling questions about how students and so many others are able to disentangle and focus on select aspects of a military program like JROTC (honor, discipline, respect, duty) and ignore others (war, destruction, death).

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Observing students drill before, during, and after school highlighted the way that this particular practice is a kind of performance and embodied learning that requires students to enact values central to JROTC such as discipline, leadership, and followership. After they have read about certain commands in their textbooks, Major Wise often asks students to step outside to practice how to give and execute commands properly. The tone of voice and the sharpness of the command, as well as enunciating and being really loud, are practiced over and over, even as students seemed shy and giggled and seemed hesitant. Reluctance to bark out orders spanned gender, race, and ethnicity as Major Wise teased students, mimicked them to illustrate what not to do, demonstrated how to execute a command with his booming voice, and provided students with tips to help them improve. While pedagogically it was not clear how unquestioned obedience and compliance fit with JROTC’s stated goal to promote critical analysis, disciplined obedience and followership are values that are explicitly valorized in class lectures, discussions, and casual conversations with the instructors. When Major Wise explained to students at the beginning of the semester that JROTC would teach them discipline—a learned skill transferrable to other aspects of a student’s life—he emphasized as well that they would also learn important leadership skills that included appreciating the value of followership. Leadership—“the ability to influence others,” First Sergeant explained to students one morning—is closely tied to followership, the value of obeying and doing what you are told without questioning. Both qualities are important, valued, and the result of disciplined behavior. And both are reinforced daily through drill, the curriculum, the requirement to wear the uniform, and discussions about college and preparing for their future beyond high school. Discipline, JROTC students are reminded, makes for principled leaders and followers. There is a big difference between discipline and punishment, First Sergeant explained to a small group of juniors and seniors one afternoon. As part of his broader discussion of the eleven principles of leadership, First Sergeant emphasized the importance of discipline and how it is different from punishment. “Discipline is cheerful, willing obedience and learning. It’s different from punishment. Discipline molds you, strengthens you, and perfects you.” In formal interviews and casual conversations, students and parents are quite clear that one of the

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things they value most about JROTC is how it has helped the students become more disciplined. And although the JROTC instructors make a clear distinction between discipline and punishment, the two often go hand in hand in JROTC’s daily routine. One afternoon, for example, Major Wise was drilling with forty students, a regular after-school activity for those practicing to participate in the first drill meet later in the semester. At one point, however, Major Wise made the students to do ten push-ups, and when they finished and shouted, “Request to recover, sir,” he denied the request, kept them in their push-up position, and asked loudly, “Now, I want to know who was being disrespectful to the custodians after school the other day. I was told that it was students in JROTC, and I want someone to tell me who these students were.” No on responded. Slowly, other cadets who were drilling and being issued uniforms came outside to watch what was going to happen. “Isn’t anyone gonna tell me?” Major Wise asked. When his question was met with silence he boomed, “Okay, then ten more push-ups.” The students did ten more. When they were done, the major authoritatively announced, “I don’t want any of you hanging out around the vending machines after drill. You are all to go home. Do you understand me?” “Yes, Sir!” “And I don’t want any more reports about cadets in this program being disrespectful to custodial staff or anyone else. Is that clear?” “Yes, Sir!” Major Wise then let the students get up, and he continued, saying, “I don’t want to be stopped on my way home to enjoy an adult beverage . . .” He pauses dramatically, looks at the kids to see their reaction, and then continues with a smile. “Meaning, ice tea . . . I don’t want to be stopped and told that there is a problem with my cadets.” With that said, Major Wise continued drilling with the students while onlookers nodded their heads in approval. “This is good,” remarked senior Brenda Calderón. “Now it’s going back to the old ways, you know? These freshmen, they don’t know how to respect. And they have to learn that. This is how it used to be. And we got away from that for a while.” Other girls nearby nodded in agreement and provided other examples of how the freshmen were out of control, disrespectful, and needed to lean how to show respect. “Respect and rank are so important in JROTC,” Brenda and her younger sister explained to me later. This is a widely held senti-

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ment and explains why some students were initially attracted to JROTC: they admired the way cadets carried themselves with pride and commanded respect from others, and they hoped they would do the same as they earned rank and leadership positions in JROTC. Young Latinas, who held the majority of the leadership positions in JROTC, were particularly vocal about this aspect of the program. For them, the program provides visible positions of leadership, respect from boys and girls who, they admit, might not otherwise take them seriously, and is another way that they develop and hone the skills they believe are key for their success in high school, college, jobs, and life more generally. In this way, the hypermasculinized, hierarchical space of the military—like the patriarchal and hierarchical churches many of these young girls also belong to and hold leadership positions in—becomes a crucible for molding themselves into confident, independent, and successful young women.8 This is one of many insights young women gain early on in JROTC. And while this resonates with young men’s experiences in the program, how race, gender, and class distinctively shape educational experiences leads young men to experience JROTC in other ways as well. Respect, discipline, and teamwork, are shared by all, but how they are experienced is shaped by class, race, gender, and notions of masculinity.

“Just Get Up There and Have Fun” In addition to drill, there is a great deal of focus on public speaking and self-presentation in JROTC. These, too, are framed as important transferable skills that students will develop in the program. They are also examples of the kind of cultural capital students develop in JROTC. At the beginning of the semester, Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano lay out clearly the grading system and the different expectations they have for students in the class. Students’ final grades are based on their performance in six areas: inspections; current events; workbook assignments; attendance; community service; and two exams. “JROTC is the easiest class to get an A in,” Major Wise assured the students, who smiled and looked at each other with relieved expressions on their faces. Many students already had this impression of JROTC and cited it as a reason to take the course. “But it is also the easiest class to fail,” Major Wise cautioned. “Ten to twenty students fail in the first nine weeks. And the

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number-one cause for failing the class is the uniform.” Why do we do focus so much on inspections and the uniform, he asked rhetorically. “Because it is a military method to practice leadership and followership.” As in so many of his lectures, Major Wise provided explanations for the reasons students are asked to do the things they do. Typically, these reasons include their importance for building moral character and values. Sometimes they reflect the particular exigencies of military preparedness and battle. But often justifications for JROTC requirements rest on the value of the transferable skills and knowledge students gain. Thus, as I will discuss at length below, paying attention to the details of the cadet uniform is not only about leadership and followership. It is also fundamentally about nurturing the kind of cultural capital that commands respect, conveys pride in oneself and the group, and brings honor to the team, the school, and the community. The same is true for the emphasis JROTC places on public speaking. Beginning the third week of classes, students are required to research current events and present them in front of the class. This is part of the daily routine, following attendance and standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and reciting the Cadet’s Creed each class period. “The chain of command will demonstrate proper public speaking next week,” Major Wise announced. Then students, who are broken up into different squads and sit with their squads during each class period, will present the day’s current events, including international, national, and local news, weather, and sports. This assignment is designed not only to encourage young people to be aware of current events but also to provide students with an opportunity to speak formally and publicly on a regular basis and to be open to questions/critiques from their classmates. The first time I observed students present the news in class, there was a great deal of nervousness. Young men, in particular, appeared shy and nervous as they stood in front of the room and made their brief presentation. Students were required to talk about an article they found, state where they located it, and provide an explanation of the most important points in the article. Immediately following their presentations, students look up at their classmates and ask, “Are there any question?” If there are questions, the student answers them—which, again, is often the source of embarrassment—and if not, the entire class claps in unison and the next student proceeds. This format is followed by all of the day’s presenters,

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and at the very end, Major Brown provides time for critiques in which students make suggestions to each other about how to improve for their next presentation. These often include telling students to look up after they are done speaking; to speak more loudly or more slowly; to enunciate more clearly or not to look so nervous; they also tell each other to answer questions respectfully and not be defensive. This space for student feedback and constructive criticism is a common feature in a lot of the student-led discussions. In the 7:30 a.m. Headquarters class, an optional course for JROTC leaders, the energetic battalion leader, Lisa Alvarez, led a discussion about the service learning day they organized the previous April. The event involved bringing middle school students together to work on a community service project, and she wanted to discuss with the other JROTC leadership how they could make the event even better for this year. Lisa’s fellow students were confident when they spoke, and they offered concrete examples of what they believed were not successful events (critiques) and what they hoped might improve this year’s service learning day. Students often remark that one of the things that surprised them about JROTC is how much autonomy they have. “What I love most is that we run JROTC,” Brenda boasted one afternoon as she distributed uniforms to students. “We are the leaders and get to do things, you know.” For young women this was a nearly unanimous sentiment (and one I explore more in chapter 3). JROTC provides students with the opportunity to explore leadership positions and gendered autonomy in meaningful ways. It also encourages them to take risks, try new things, and discover their strengths and weaknesses. This approach in JROTC resonates with an ideology of self-discipline and self-improvement that is not unfamiliar to many working-class Latina/o and immigrant families, who are deeply enmeshed in discourses that demand performances of self-monitoring and self-engineering that assure the broader public of their social value and worthiness.9 So, too, are JROTC students constantly involved in a process of self-betterment. They are offered concrete examples of how they might improve their performances, their presentation style, and how they carry themselves; and they are provided with specific reasons why this attention to self-improvement is so important. In response to students’ complaints about doing the daily current events, First Sergeant stepped to the front of the classroom and calmly explained why this is a required part of the course.

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We’re trying to train you to be better students. Don’t worry if you are nervous and not doing a good job now. You’ll be great. Just go up there and have fun. We are trying to teach you to communicate effectively in front of people. And that is something that you are going to be better prepared than other kids in the school. We prepare you to deal with the jitters and nervousness. You will be a better communicator, not afraid and more relaxed the more of these reports you do. That’s what makes you better prepared in this class.

Being an effective public speaker is a skill obviously valued beyond JROTC. It is a competency that we measure during curricular assessments in colleges and universities, for example. And certainly student clubs, civic organizations, business seminars, academic courses, and other resources exist in order to support and train people to be polished public speakers. The emphasis on public speaking in JROTC, therefore, recognizes the critical cultural capital students gain by honing this skill, but it is also highlighted as a way that sets JROTC students apart from others. In a public school context in which there are limited resources and great need, JROTC offers the possibility of being a part of something that not only provides you with training and marketable skills, but also is regarded positively and respected by students, teachers, administrators, and the broader public. Public speaking is certainly important, but it is only one part of a broader focus on self-presentation promoted in JROTC. How students talk, dress, and carry themselves is particularly visible—and the object of fascination, derision, and reverence—while wearing the cadet uniform.

“The Uniform Is Really a Suit” On a warm afternoon in September, the energy in the JROTC classrooms is higher than usual as students line up in front a small office where Brenda Calderón sits with a large spreadsheet in front of her and three other female cadets (two Latina and one African American) at her side as she issues uniforms for the year. Students are giddy, talking to each other and holding up mirrors to inspect and admire the uniforms they receive. For older cadets, this is a familiar routine. But for others the novelty incites excitement for most and, for a handful of students,

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dread. Some students explained that joining JROTC was all about wearing the uniform, while others expressed ambivalence and concern about being perceived negatively by others or simply being uncomfortable in the heavy polyester material. What is clear both this day and throughout my experiences with JROTC, however, is that everyone has something to say about the cadet uniform. As Brenda distributes the uniforms, she is visibly invigorated and takes charge in an efficient yet not intimidating way, reassuring students whose items are missing that she will make sure they have everything they need before the first inspection later in the month. As I sit with Brenda and other cadets issuing uniforms, students come up to ask me why I am doing this research and what I am learning. When I explain that I am interested in understanding why students decide to join and participate in JROTC, Brenda turns to me and says, “I love JROTC. What I love most is that we run JROTC. We are leaders and get to do things, you know. I am in charge of all these uniforms. I have to know how many rifles we have. Last year we had an inspection, and we almost got a perfect score! The only thing I didn’t know was how many rifles we had. But I know now!” She smiles and returns her attention to the other students, who nod their heads in agreement. Brenda’s statement reflects a recurring theme about students’ excitement and pride in feeling empowered by taking on leadership roles and responsibilities through JROTC. Although they admit that they are sometimes in leadership roles in other organizations in school (sports, clubs, and band, for example) and in other non-school-related activities (such as their churches and Boys and Girls Club), they emphasize the distinctiveness of JROTC in their ability to be “in charge” and succeed in taking on significant responsibilities such as issuing uniforms, keeping track of JROTC inventory, developing, training and leading a squad in different drill competitions, and organizing a range of co-curricular activities. As Brenda continued to hand out uniforms that afternoon, she exuded confidence with each jacket, shirt, shoes, pair of pants, and cap she gave to students. New cadets talked with older ones about their experiences wearing the uniform and some of the older cadets laughed, saying they used to hate wearing it because they were embarrassed at first but assured the new ones they would quickly get used to it. They also reminded the younger cadets of the rules governing their behavior while wearing the uniform: You are not allowed to let other students

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wear any part of your uniform. If you act disrespectfully to anyone while in uniform, you will get in trouble. Respect the rank of others. And absolutely no PDA (public displays of affection). These rules were reinforced by First Sergeant Milano when students wore their uniform for the first time two weeks later. As I entered the classroom on the first uniform day late in September, the normally controlled-chaotic atmosphere of the classroom was quieter, more serious and subdued. All the students were in uniform, and they seemed to sit a little straighter and to be less squirmy in their seats. They looked impressive, and First Sergeant remarked on how good they looked as he also lectured them about the need to take care of and respect the uniform. The army spends thousands of dollars on you so you can have your uniforms. I don’t want to see any of you disrespecting your uniform. You don’t make each other do push-ups in your uniform. All your teachers, and even Professor Pérez back there, they all say how sharp you look. How proud you look. Don’t worry about what other kids say. Kids are always going to make fun of you. Don’t worry about that. You just be proud and don’t listen to those knuckleheads. You all look good.

Following First Sergeant’s remarks, students presented the news for the day, offered critiques and constructive feedback to each other, then followed him outside to the tennis courts for their first inspection. Squad leaders conduct an inspection of each cadet in their squads. Before they line up in straight lines, students walk around and consult each other and examine each other’s uniforms, which are mostly all the same, except for the different military decorations on some cadets’ uniforms and some of the girls, whose religious beliefs require them to wear military skirts rather than pants.10 As a student gains rank and participates in community service and other activities, s/he is awarded ribbons, medals, braids, and pins that adorn the uniform. New cadets, with little experience and opportunity to earn awards, looked admiringly at older cadets whose uniforms display rank and status in the school battalion. As students prepared for inspection, they looked at themselves in small handheld mirrors, straightened their pants and shirts, and helped each other with proper placement of ribbons, pins, and nametags. Cadets then

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began a ritual I observed on several occasions, sometimes near the tennis courts outside when weather permitted, and at other moments in the school cafeteria or auditorium. As students stand tall, straight, and motionless in a line, the company commander and the chain of command slowly walk in front of each cadet, stopping to see if s/he conforms to a checklist of proper uniform etiquette. Another cadet accompanies the squad leader with a checklist fastened on the clipboard, and together they inspect each student, one by one, and check off either an E, S, or NI (Excellent, Satisfactory, or Needs Improvement) for the different items on the uniform inspection card. Squad leaders pay attention to personal appearance, including hair length and general cleanliness; the condition and proper presentation of the uniform; placement of regalia; proper socks and shined shoes; military bearing; and even look to see if the brass belt buckle is properly shined. When I ask why they take time to do this, Major Wise and First Sergeant explain that this is a required part of the program: wearing of the uniform and inspection is required in all Army JROTC units and is another opportunity to reinforce discipline, attention to detail, and obedience in cadets. Students often seem nervous while being inspected, and many giggle when six inches away from the inspecting officer. When I ask students later about how they feel about inspections, a first year cadet, Carlos, exhales and describes the process as “hard, scary.” As he laughs nervously, girls standing nearby turn around and say that they don’t mind the inspections at all and that it isn’t a big deal. It take practice, attention to detail, and careful focus to make sure everything is in order, skills that students and teachers consistently remark are the strengths of the girls who hold leadership roles in JROTC. Wearing the cadet uniform and conducting inspections are valued rituals that cadets participate in on weekly basis. They are rich in symbolism, and, perhaps even more important, they are essential mechanisms of social control. In uniform, students are highly visible and are easily monitored by teachers, staff, and security guards who regularly report cadets’ model-worthy behavior and transgressions to the JROTC instructors. Students frequently correct and support each other in proper uniform etiquette, and they also engage in self-regulation and monitoring by carrying themselves differently than when they are not in uniform. They tend to be more serious, careful not to damage their uniform. They also remark on how their physical movements are slowed

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and restricted because the uniform is made of heavy polyester material. Students are also constrained by the clear rules that regulate student conduct when wearing the uniform. While public displays of affection are generally frowned upon in JROTC and in the school generally, they are forbidden while in uniform, and students often describe feeling anxious that their friends might tease them and try to take their hats from them while they are in uniform. Fulfilling the requirement to wear the uniform on a weekly basis and be inspected also reinforces the values of discipline, obedience, and pride in self and the unit that are central to JROTC and the military. Inspection of uniforms plays an additional role of reinforcing norms of not only doing what you are told to do, but how to do it properly—the army way, which was a frequently repeated refrain. First Sergeant reinforced this message to older cadets after the first inspection, saying that it was important for them to help younger students wear the uniform properly and to do things the right way. This was not only important so they would do well in the weekly inspections, it would also be developing important life skills critical for their success beyond high school. “It’s good practice for these kids to learn how to wear a suit and how to dress well so that when they get a job one day, they’ll know how to dress correctly. The uniform is really a suit. And this way they will know how to dress right. They will know how to dress correctly, appropriately.” This emphasis on the right way to dress, look, and carry oneself is regarded as an important transferable skill. It is also a vivid example of the kind of cultural capital students develop and acquire in JROTC. Dressing well, following directions, and abiding by the rules are simultaneously about discipline, but they are also about developing certain tastes and dispositions that are infused with raced, classed, and gendered notions of respect, success, and comportment.11 The kind of cultural capital students develop through their association with the military and JROTC fits with the aspirations of the majority, who discuss their hope to eventually find employment in law enforcement, the military, or the public sector. In this way, JROTC is successful in providing students with highly valued resources that can often have the unintended consequences of reproducing class- and race-based hierarchies and inequality. Finally, the uniform is also the most visible display of federal investment in JROTC cadets. Students are constantly reminded of how

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much money the government invests in them for their uniforms and their textbooks, and how parents, local community groups, and veterans organizations also invest in them through fund-raisers to help pay for travel to drill competitions and other special events. These exhortations are never negative or punitive. Rather they are meant to nurture a sense of gratitude—and perhaps indirectly indebtedness, obligation, and duty to JROTC, the military, and the government whose largesse makes these experiences possible. Reinforcing this positive investment the state makes in students through JROTC stands in sharp contrast with the ways working-class and the working poor, and especially impoverished communities of color, are stigmatized and denigrated for the federal resources they access to meet their needs. In formal interviews, students whose parents struggled with underemployment and unemployment, received social security benefits for mental illness and physical disabilities, or experienced residential insecurity often expressed shame and concern and sometimes framed their own decisions to participate in JROTC as one way to address economic insecurity and demonstrate their worthiness of this financial and moral investment in them and their families. These strategies resemble those of other economically and socially marginalized groups whose reliance on services from nonprofits, public welfare agencies, and other institutions involves confronting powerful ideologies and strategies of self-improvement that, according to Aimee Cox, are often “disconnected from the structural obstacles” in people’s lives.12 Thus, while sociologist Victor Rios is correct in directing scholars’ analytic attention to the ways the state is deeply embedded in the lives of the poor—usually through systems of punitive social control—studying the experiences of Latina/o and working-class youth provides additional insight in the ways the state operates in their daily lives that many regard to be positive and well-deserved.13 As military officials and proponents of JROTC have repeatedly argued and empirically demonstrated, one intended consequence of JROTC is to create favorable attitudes toward the military with the hope that this investment in youth will generate enduring returns.14 As I discussed in chapter 1, positive associations with the military can be shared across generations as well as across geographic space, not only creating favorable associations with military programs in public educations but also with military service in general. The cadet uniform—students’ feelings

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while they wear it, the positive responses they receive in school and in their communities—is an important mechanism for reproducing these positive attitudes and associations with the military in our daily lives; it is also an invaluable vehicle for gaining the kind of dignity students seek for themselves and their families.

“It’s Like Serious Mode” In formal interviews students had a great deal to say about their uniforms. Some described how they really dreaded wearing them because they were physically uncomfortable to wear: they felt hot, restricted in their movement, they didn’t like the way they fit their bodies or the unwanted attention they drew from non-JROTC students. Robby Marquette, for example, even though he generally has only positive things to say about JROTC, doesn’t like the way the cadet uniform is so fitted and restricts his movement. Amina Teller echoes this response saying that although there are things she enjoys about wearing the cadet uniform, “it gets you hot. It’s way too hot, especially during the summer.” Brenda Calderón concurs that the uniform is uncomfortable, and she also bristled at the idea of dressing like others in the school. “At first I hated it because I hate matching people. Because it’s really annoying—all of us in the same outfit at once. . . . It’s kind of uncomfortable sometimes.” But like most students, she eventually saw concrete benefits to wearing the uniform. Some girls, for instance, focused on how being required to wear the uniform once a week made getting dressed in the morning easier. Brenda continued, “I don’t mind it so much now. . . . It’s once a week. It’s one less outfit to plan. It’s not that bad.” Junior Tina Silva agreed, “[Wearing the cadet uniform] is okay. It’s uncomfortable sometimes. You don’t want to wear it. But overall it’s real nice ’cause then you don’t have to find nothing to wear in the morning [she laughs].” Kristie Czermak concurred, “I didn’t like it my freshman year because I was like, ‘Ugh! This is uncomfortable.’ . . . . But now I’m used to it. I kind of like how we wear it once a week because it takes away an outfit [chuckling]. So you’re like, ‘I don’t care about Wednesdays.’” While the uniform was sometimes uncomfortable, students also depicted in vivid detail the way it made them feel, how students and adults, inside and outside school, responded to them while in uniform, and how

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they regarded it as a symbol of something transcendent. Some, for example, spoke of how they comported themselves in a very different way while in uniform, attributing to it a surprising kind of transformative power. Carmen Pérez, like so many other students, recalled being deeply moved seeing the cadet uniform while in middle school. She also conveyed a profound sense of transformation in how she feels and acts while wearing it, as well as how her friends, other adults, and coworkers treat her in uniform. Carmen: I’ve actually seen people show a lot more respect when I’m in uniform than when I’m not. When I’m in regular clothes [my friends] just joke around, have more fun. When I’m in uniform they notice the difference. They’re like, “This is uniform day. It’s respect.” They respect me more. Just for this day they’re like, “Hey, Carmen! How you doing?” They don’t really clown ’cause they know I’m very, very, very strict with my uniform. Gina: Are you really? Carmen: Uh-huh. I used to clown a lot, like so much. But as soon as I put on my uniform, it’s like serious mode. They laugh and they’re like, “You wear your uniform and you’re so serious. You hardly move, you hardly talk, you hardly joke.” So they started to say, “We’ll just keep that day reserved for you.” [We both laugh.] Which is kind of cool. Gina: How about when you wear it out of school? Carmen: Well, I have a lot of people who look and are like, “Wow!” They think I’m in the service or something, but I’m not. I have gone into stores. Like sometimes I don’t get to change, and I go with my mom shopping or something. And I do have people who come up to me and they’re like, “Are you in the army?” I tell them no and I explain to them what the program is about and they’re like, “Oh, okay. You look nice in your uniform.” It’s funny, I’ve gone to my job some of the times and they know about it and they’ll be like, “Oh, here comes Carmen in her uniform.” They’ll make fun of me and be like, “Serious mode. Come on now!” [She laughs again.] It’s pretty cool. You see the different kinds of way people treat you when you’re in and out of uniform, which is pretty cool.

As a high school senior, Carmen is easygoing, well-liked among her peers, and as someone who has been “surrounded by army people all my

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life,” she feels at ease with JROTC and the military. The kind of personal transformation she describes when putting on her cadet uniform— switching into her “serious mode”—reflects both her personality as someone who seems to manage seamlessly so many different kinds of responsibilities (her responsibilities in JROTC, her job at Wendy’s, her volunteer activities with Boys and Girls Club and through her Catholic parish) and a shared experience of being a different kind of person when wearing the uniform. She becomes serious, modifies her physical comportment, and exudes a kind of weightiness that elicits understanding and respect from her friends. This physical and behavioral transformation certainly has a great deal to do with the rules that are vigorously reinforced by JROTC instructors, fellow students, and school staff, but students also describe this conversion as deeply personal and profound, with consequences that unexpectedly seep into other areas of their lives. Marvin Blanco, for example, described how he wanted to wear “the suit” because of the authority it conveyed and how the students who wore it radiated self-confidence in the way they carried themselves. When I asked him to explain how students convey this self-respect to others he elaborated, “By the way you carry yourself. By the way you think of yourself, the way you act. While other people are cursing and doing whatever in the hall, you can restrain yourself from that and just carry through your day.” He was also quick to explain that one reason students did this was because of the clearly defined rules and expectations governing conduct while in uniform. Marvin: We had an extensive talk at the beginning of the year when we first get issued our uniforms. Gina: What kinds of things do they tell you when they issue it? Marvin: No PDA. [Laughs nervously] No cursing. No foul language. No provocative acts. Gina: Do people pretty much follow the rules when they’re wearing their uniform? Marvin: Most of them. . . . Yeah, everyone—mostly everyone gets more serious during the school day. But after school, when we’re at practice of something, we’ll kinda unwind, you know. The jackets come off, the ties come off, and we all just go back to our normal selves. But we still don’t curse or do anything.

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Gina: You’re good kids. Marvin: Yeah.

While the rules certainly shape students’ behavior while in uniform, Marvin and others also convey a transformation that is much more profound. It is hard not to be struck by the way students’ narratives mimic tales about superheroes like Spiderman or Superman whose physical changes reflect the ways they are fundamentally different from others around them. Students can take off their jackets, loosen their ties, and go back to their former selves, but the uniform symbolizes an elemental change that governs their behavior even when they are out of uniform. José Montés described his awe seeing his sister in her cadet uniform for the first time and his respect for how wearing the uniform and being in JROTC changed him and has the potential to change others. “[When] I saw her with the uniform, I was like, ‘Whoa! That’s a whole different thing right there!’ . . . I’ve seen some kids from the street join JROTC. They were bad in middle school . . . and they came here and they changed. In ROTC they changed how they dressed, they changed how they act. It’s just their whole appearance that changed.” Students frequently commented on the ways JROTC “changes you.” They shared clear examples of their own personal transformations and those of others. The uniform is a crucial aspect of students’ transformations, both in terms of how they have modified their own behavior and how they have witnessed positive alterations in their friends’ lives as well. Thus, while there is certainly a performative aspect about wearing the uniform—the positive (and negative) attention they gain from students, teachers, staff, and other adults— they also emphasize a profound shift in how they feel about themselves while wearing the uniform and the residual changes it produces.

Gandules, Pickle Patrol, and Being a Good Person The more circumspect reflections about the transformative power of the cadet uniform is complemented with wry observations about how nonJROTC students respond to cadets in uniform. Like the broader public, non-JROTC students responded in a variety of ways to seeing the cadets in uniform. Yamila Montés described feeling good in uniform and how it provided a sense of belonging, even as students teased them.

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Yamila: They call us gandules.15 They call us pickles. They call us all kinds of names. But to some people, they think it’s cool and they ask us a lot of questions. Like I’ve heard a lot of friends of mine that are not involved in ROTC have asked me about my ribbons and, you know, my rope and all that kind of stuff. And it feels good. It makes you feel like you’re something. Gina: Really? What does that mean, it makes you feel like you’re something? Yamila: It feels like—’cause sometimes you feel like an outcast, because you’re not involved in anything—like other people play football and they get to wear a football jersey. And they’re in softball, and they get to wear a softball shirt. And if you’re in ROTC, you get to wear a uniform, and it feels pretty good.

George and José concurred, saying that in the hallways students often call them the “pickle patrol” or “pickle squad,” “because we’re wearing all green and everything.” George continued saying “But I don’t really care. I think I look nice in it. I like the way I look and my family loves the way I look.” José added, “That’s just the thing they do. And then they say ‘General Doofus’ and all that stuff. I don’t really care. I don’t pay attention to them.” As students describe the way they are teased while in uniform, they usually laugh, roll their eyes, and provide other examples of how they are the objects of some students’ jokes. Tina Silva, for example, laughed when she explained how non-JROTC students salute her in the hallway, and Robby Marquette rolled his eyes when he described how some tried to imitate them as they marched down the hallway. “They mainly say we look nice, but when we’re marching down the hallways, they make fun of us. They go, ‘Left! Left!’ It’s really stupid because they have no idea what the program’s about.” Not knowing a lot about JROTC is often identified as a reason why cadets are teased while wearing the uniform, but others mention the fascination students often exhibit when looking at their uniforms, especially when they have multiple ribbons, bars, pins, and patches. As Yamila noted, students often ask them about their ribbons and what they mean. Alana laughs when she recalls how some students approach her. “It’s kind of funny when kids come up to you and they’re like, ‘Oh, wow! You have a lot of ribbons, you have a lot of medals.’ It’s just like—

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it’s funny. I don’t know.” Sam remarks similarly and conveys his pride when non-JROTC students approach him. “I like the fact that everybody looks at you when you’re walking down the hallway, and people stop you and ask, ‘Hey, what’s that mean’ or ‘What does this mean?’ And I’m proud to say, ‘Hey, this is for Color Guard. This is drill team.’ You know, I’m proud of that stuff.” Carmen also describes feeling proud when she wears her uniform, not only because it visibly displays her various accomplishments but also because it elicits respect from her peers. “I’ve actually seen people show a lot more respect when I’m in uniform than when I’m not.” This respect occurs both in school and in the broader public and reinforces her high regard for the uniform as an important symbol that represents her family’s proud military history. Peter shares similar sentiments and emphasizes how wearing the uniform can inspire students while simultaneously provoking regret. “You walk down the hall and they know you’re in ROTC. You kind of get that feeling that they know you’re there and they kind of look up to you. . . . It feels good. The kids that are looing up to you like, ‘Man, I should have joined ROTC maybe.’” While I never had the opportunity to talk with non-JROTC students to see whether they regret their decision not to join the program, Peter’s sentiments are prescient, offering insight into the tangible benefits derived from JROTC. Kristie Czermak, for example, notes that while she enjoys students’ attention when they ask about her medals and ribbons, she is particularly thrilled by the way teachers treat her and other cadets. “A lot of teachers cut you slack sometimes. ‘Oh, you’re in JROTC,’ because they know we do a lot.” This positive association is particularly useful to new students who haven’t yet established a positive impression or reputation with their teachers. Angela explains, For teachers and staff, in the beginning of the year, when people don’t know me as much, [wearing the uniform] just kind of shows off your responsibility and that you’re a well-rounded and good person. Like, some of the kids make fun of it and are like, “Hah, hah! You have to wear a uniform.” But they don’t get the real meaning behind it. And for the people that wear it, you can choose to wear your uniform or not to wear it, and for most people that do choose to wear the uniform on a weekly basis, they love the program and love what it does for you. And wearing your

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uniform is a part of that. And it just kind of shows off that you are a good person, and that you are a good cadet, and you deserve this and that you’ve done so much and worked so hard for what you have.

Wearing the uniform can make a good initial impression on teachers and staff—it can convey to them that you are responsible, disciplined, a good person, and someone who is worthy of the benefit of the doubt. Security guards often described JROTC cadets in these terms, making a clear distinction between JROTC students, who are disciplined (and who can easily be identified and punished if they transgress the rules) and have instructors who effectively manage and discipline their students, and non-JROTC students, who are not only so unruly that are beyond the teachers’ control, but whose teachers are often regarded as employing inferior mechanisms of control and punishment. As I was escorted to the JROTC classroom by one of the African American security guards one afternoon, he complained that some teachers simply give students who make trouble in their classes hall passes and that they spend the day wandering around the hallway, which makes his job more difficult. “This is just crazy,” he said as he shook his head and expressed weariness and stress. JROTC students are regarded in starkly different ways: their poor behavior is punished and their visibility in uniform makes them easily recognizable and subject to the security guards’ surveillance. This kind of control is rarely needed, however. The consensus among teachers, staff, school principals, security guards, and the JROTC instructors themselves is that their students are exceptional and distinctive, and that although they are not perfect, their visibility makes them subject to regular disciplinary regimes and values.

Thank You for Your Service Perhaps one of the most remarkable and surprising responses students get while wearing their uniform is being mistaken for enlisted military personnel and being thanked for their service. As a number of writers have recently noted, public recognition and praise for the U.S. military has become a ubiquitous feature of sporting events, public parades and ceremonies. Andrew Bacevich has noted that although they are well intentioned, these highly visible performances of patriotism—which

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often include extremely emotional reunions between deployed soldiers and their families in staged moments of surprise—betray a profound and ever-growing gulf between the civilians and military personnel. Soldiers are constantly praised and thanked for their service, and as Bacevich notes, such moments offer civilians, far removed from the realities of military service, an opportunity to thank soldiers and show their gratitude.16 Such performances of patriotism often erroneously involve JROTC cadets, who are embarrassed by such open displays of gratitude but bask in the glow of such positive public recognition. Michelle Rivera provides one account familiar to many cadets who wear their uniforms in public. Michelle: It’s actually funny because I was walking through Marc’s [supermarket] with my abuela getting her medicine and some random lady comes up to me and she grabs my arm and she’s like, “Can you tell me what the price is?” And I was in uniform, and I’m like, “Sixty-nine cents.” And she’s like, “Oh, ok.” And I look back and this little old lady is running and I’m like, “Oh my God! She’s going to fall!” And she grabs my arm and is like, “Thank you for everything you’ve done.” And I think she thought I was in the real army. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to be like, “Oh no, I’m not.” So I was like, “Oh, you’re welcome.” And she was like, “You guys are wonderful. Thank you so much. God bless you.” It was really nice. Gina: How did that make you feel? Michelle: It made me feel amazing. It was a really good feeling.

Young people who are praised effusively by adults describe such encounters as both uncomfortable and incredibly gratifying. Danny Rodriguez enjoys when adults approach him outside of school and look as if they are proud of him. “They look up to you. They’re—it just seems that they’re proud of you. Some actually mistake me for a real person in the army, and they say, ‘Good luck out there.’ I say ‘Thanks,’ even though I should probably tell them I’m in JROTC.” Tina Silva also describes being approached by a stranger who asked her excitedly if she was in the army. And Robby Marquette simply responds humbly when people thank him for his service. “They look at me and are like, ‘Wow. That’s really nice,’ and everything. And I’m just like, ‘Thank you.’”

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Being thanked by strangers and other adults is no small matter for many young people, who are rarely praised publicly and are often regarded as troubled, undisciplined, and lost. Thus, these positive encounters stand in sharp contrast with the more familiar negative portrayals and suspicion young Latina/o youth in particular face. Brenda, for example, described how it was really nice to be thanked by adults when she is in uniform. “When you’re outside of [school] everybody’s like, ‘Hello! Hello! Hello, Sir. Hello, Ma’am’. . . . They’re just really nice to you.” When I ask her why she thinks this is the case, she repeats a familiar refrain: it’s because they are doing something positive in JROTC. And as we continue our conversation about the high numbers of Latinas/os participating in JROTC compared to others in the school, she explains. “I don’t know, [I think they] want to do something positive, because we don’t have such a good reputation. . . . And you know, you’re kind of like, ‘No.’ and you prove them wrong and you do something positive . . . [and show] I can do this too. I can do whatever I want. Stay positive.” Staying positive is not always easy. Students often describe negative people in their lives, models of friends and family “messing up” and getting into trouble. In this way, the uniform is not only a powerful symbol to the broader public that they are positive and doing something good: it almost seems that it reminds, enables, and reinforces for students the good they can and hope to do. Yamila also described how people respond to her positively when they see her in uniform. Unlike her friends, she has often explained carefully that she is actually in JROTC rather than the army, which seems to excite adults even more. As she considers further the positive ways adults respond to her while in uniform, she connects those experiences with what she has gained personally as a result of being in JROTC: Yeah, it’s given me a lot of opportunities, because before I wanted to go to college, but I wasn’t like—it was just like, “Ok. I’m going to college. Whatever.” But now—I don’t know, I have more enthusiasm. It’s taught me, yeah, you need to go to college to make a living. Because there’s a lot of people right now who don’t have a degree. And it’s really hard to find a job, a good job out there and get paid really good. And you’re gonna be ok, and you’re gonna have good status, you know. It’s really hard to find one without going to college. So [JROTC] taught me, going to college is important. We have to get out there.

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Yamila describes a sense of direction, purpose, and enthusiasm that was developed and honed through JROTC. And this enthusiasm is sustained not only through the camaraderie students feel in the program but perhaps more importantly through their shared sense of purpose, accomplishment, and pride in doing something worthy of respect and praise from others. Sam Nuñez likened the uniform to possessing the power to create an aura that conveys to others that they are good kids. It helps students who wear it to stand out and be recognized for their accomplishments. Yahaira DeLuca elaborates: Wearing the uniform distinguishes Fairview from everybody else and makes me feel proud. . . . A lot of our accomplishments that we display as well as our ribbons and so forth—it really makes us stand out. And for some reason, you see that we did this. We are not the type that goes in and rubs it in people’s face. The way we do it is on the drill floor. Marching sharp, just that feeling knowing that you are better, but not saying it. But showing it. It makes it feel a lot better because you don’t have to come out and say it. People say it for you. And just the way you stand—you stand straight up. The way you walk, you walk straight up. And you walk proud. Putting on the uniform make it even more firm, a stable foundation for us.

The uniform distinguishes cadets from noncadets. It also provides a visible sign of their various accomplishments. In this way, the uniform is a powerful symbol of achievement, an especially important symbol for youth of color, and in particular young women of color, who do not take such opportunities for granted. Carmen explains, for example, why she is proud of her uniform: “There are some people that wear it and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s just uniform day.’ There are other people who wear it and are like, ‘Yeah, my uniform, my decorations, my ribbons. This is what I work for. It’s all decorated because of all the hard work I’ve done.’ So I’m very proud of walking around all my medals and my ribbons. It makes me feel good.” This sentiment of feeling proud about the ribbons and medals on one’s uniform was universally shared, but young women had a particular investment in the attention they received. Kristie, for example, explains how veterans are particularly vocal in their praise when

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they see her as part of Fairview’s Honor Guard and how they take these opportunities to talk up joining the military after graduation. Kristie describes how she politely deflects these recruitment pitches and concedes that she appreciates the attention. “It’s nice to get a lot of attention and stuff like that. Especially because we are young. I think part of it is that a lot of us are females and we’re always in uniform. People probably look at us and are like, ‘There’s a group of females in army uniforms.’” Many young women talk at length about the pride they feel in being recognized for their accomplishments and how wearing the uniform displaying their achievement is an honor. “After you’ve done so many things in the program, you really learn to take pride for everything that is on your uniform. And wearing it is an honor,” Alana explained during our interview. When I asked why this was the case, she elaborated: It’s because you know that you put so much hard work into it. From being on time to class. From trying to achieve perfect attendance. There are so many things that you tried so hard to attain, and you finally did. And it’s like wearing it is a relief. Like, I achieved those goals I made . . . and it’s an even greater experience when you have politicians or people that are close to you and say, “Wow! What did you do that you have this?” And to be able to explain yourself and all of your goals—it is an easy way to let people know that what you’ve done is good and that you’re not doing wrong things. And you also represent yourself, school, country. It’s just an awesome feeling.

Young women like Alana see the uniform as an important mechanism for demonstrating their achievement and eliciting positive and supportive feedback from others. Just as the racialized context of stigmatization and criminalization is an important context for understanding Latina/o youth’s embrace of the uniform and the accolades it elicits from adults, for young Latinas who are often enmeshed in discourses of hypersexuality, praise that focuses on their accomplishments challenges what Lorena Garcia identifies as powerful narratives that stigmatize young Latinas as “at risk” and likely to fail.17 Young Latinas are praised for what they have accomplished—their attendance, their leadership positions, their discipline, and hard work. And although they earn praise in the context of the hypermasculinized institutions of JROTC and the U.S. military more

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broadly, this celebration of Latinas’ accomplishments affirms their investment in academic achievement as a mechanism for leading successful lives and for “contesting gendered-racial stereotypes about them.”18 Like their male counterparts, young Latinas are quick to connect their personal success and status to the uplift of their communities. Michelle, for example, explained that she feels proud when she is out with her mother and people look at her favorably in her uniform. “Everyone’s looking at you and then when you walk by, they just kind of give you a little smile and nod their head and it make you feel like they’re noticing you, and noticing that you’re wearing a uniform that represents a lot, not only to yourself, but to other people. And it makes you feel proud of what you’re doing.” For Michelle and other Latina/o youth, this sense that the pride and honor that adults project onto them reflect positively on others close to them is widely shared. Some, like Amanda Bonilla, focus on the pride the uniform and her accomplishments bring to both her and her school community. “People just look at me like, ‘Wow! . . . Look at her. She looks sharp, you know. Look at her. She’s wearing that uniform, taking pride in it.’ . . . It makes me feel real good. It makes me feel honored and appreciated, you know. And respected.” This reflects positively not only on Amanda, but on Fairview High School. “We represent Fairview. We represent our school, you know? We hold a lot of respect for our school. And who doesn’t want to be part of a winning team?” By linking personal success with collective pride, Amanda and other students allude not only to the perception that they personally are often not the objects of pride and esteem but that neither are their communities or their schools. Receiving such praise is a way to counter these stigmatizing narratives and offer an opportunity to lay claim to their school, local, and national communities in a concrete and positive way and, in doing so, to be part of something bigger than themselves.19

Conclusion: A Symbol of Something Positive In my interview with Andy Rivera, he succinctly captured a sentiment shared by many who wear the cadet uniform. When he wears it, he proclaimed, “I feel like I represent my country. And I feel good that I wear my uniform.” As a ninth-grader with an uncle and aunt currently deployed in the wars overseas and as a young man trying to sort out his

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own views about the war and his future, Andy is unequivocal about how the uniform makes him feel like he is part of something bigger than himself. It is a symbol of national belonging and pride; it is also a way to show people that he is responsible and worthy of respect, a sentiment eloquently shared by Angela: With all your ribbons, it shows what you’ve done, what you’ve accomplished. It gives you a sense of pride and responsibility. And, I don’t know, I just like . . . being in uniform. It makes you feel like part of the group. And it makes you feel like you belong to something bigger than you. And that’s a really big thing. And ROTC means so much to me. It’s a symbol of something in my life that means something to me. The uniform is a kind of symbol.

The uniform is a symbol of something positive; it denotes membership, discipline, honor, and pride. The cadet uniform is the object of derision, yet it also is a source of fascination. Students clearly have a complex relationship with the uniform and all that it symbolizes and represents. And they also understand its symbolic power to imbue them with the status, respect, and pride that they seek for themselves and their families. But what is equally clear is the real material value of the uniform and the ways it can translate into material gains. Thus, although the uniform and the values and tastes students cultivate in JROTC illustrate the important cultural capital they gain in the program, students’ narratives also highlight the critical social capital they develop through their association with JROTC. Students are acutely aware that JROTC translates into real jobs, recommendations for employment and college applications, and rank for those who enlist in the military and in university ROTC programs. Consequently, students who enroll in JROTC are immediately enmeshed in disciplinary regimes and norms that cultivate the kind of cultural and social capital needed to succeed, and they often persist in the program because of the concrete material gains it potentially confers on them.

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“JROTC Today, Leaders Tomorrow” Leadership, Social Capital, and Stories of Redemption

For the past decade, JROTC has marketed itself as a premier leadership and citizenship education program. According to the Army JROTC website, the top two reasons why a teenager should join JROTC are to appreciate the ethical values and principles that underlie good citizenship and to develop leadership potential while living and working cooperatively with others.1 As we have seen, from very early on JROTC students are encouraged to think of themselves as ethical, principled cadets whose discipline has molded them to be good followers and, ultimately, exemplary leaders worthy of the investment myriad adults have made in them and deserving of respect in school and in the broader community. This principled and disciplined behavior in school also holds the promise of opening different opportunities beyond the classroom—employment, educational and social status, and prestige— that might otherwise not be available to students. In short, what happens in JROTC should not stay in JROTC. This message is clearly conveyed in a five-minute video titled, “JROTC Today, Leaders Tomorrow,” on the Army JROTC website.2 The video begins with images of teenagers in familiar high school spaces: at a basketball game, walking in hallways lined with lockers, entering and exiting classrooms, sitting around seminar tables in conversation. As these images fade, the eager face of a young African American boy in a cadet uniform raising a flag at a basketball game fills the screen and is followed by multiple images of brown, black, white, and Asian youth—girls and boys—wearing the cadet uniform in classrooms, drill competitions, engaged in community service, performing in ceremonial presentations, conversing with military personnel, receiving awards, and being praised by civilian and military personnel. An authoritative male voice matter-of-factly identifies what students desire most from their 103

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high school experiences and then another chronicles the hopes JROTC has for them. These descriptions crescendo to the rhetorical questions posed to the viewer: What single high school activity today is responsible for dramatically changing the lives of so many young people? Where are high school students learning valuable lessons in leadership, integrity, honesty, commitment, citizenship and respect? And where are instructors using dynamic methods of teaching, focusing on the way students learn and applying these skills in and out of the classroom? The answer: Army Junior ROTC.3 (Emphasis in original)

Throughout the video, JROTC is praised as a program that focuses on character building that provides students with personal development and leadership skills valuable for success inside the classroom and beyond. “JROTC,” the narrator explains, “is about belonging—belonging to a group of students, instructors, and parents committed to excellence in teaching and learning skills that will last a lifetime.” These sentiments are exemplified in a number of testimonies by student and instructors who describe how they value the opportunity to lead and be in charge in the program, and not just listen to lectures, as one young cadet noted. JROTC is about developing leadership skills and developing relationships that will last a lifetime. Students in Fairview’s JROTC program shared these sentiments. In fact, I was struck by how much of what I heard in the video was exactly what students shared with me in interviews and in casual conversations and was conveyed by teachers, parents, school staff, and administrators. The consensus is that one of the most valuable features of JROTC is precisely what it can do for its students in the broader society. It cultivates responsibility, respect, leadership, and integrity in young people that mold them into productive and respectable citizens. Fairview cadets share these assessments of the program. Indeed, they are quite clear about how JROTC provides them with invaluable resources they trust will open up new opportunities for them: travel, mentorship, recommendations for jobs and college applications, and the opportunity to lead and enhance their leadership skills. Students come to understand the concrete benefits of JROTC based on their own experiences as well

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those of friends and family members, yet they are also reminded on a regular basis by JROTC instructors, parents, and other authority figures of how much they can gain through JROTC. Focusing on these experiences enables us to explore how students describe the material and symbolic ways they benefit from being in JROTC. Students can point to concrete advantages they have enjoyed by participating in the program, but they also construct narratives of redemption and/or conversion that emphasize a personal journey from being lost and without direction to being focused, motivated, and part of something distinctive and worthy of emulation. These stories of redemption echo those told by older friends and family, as well as military recruiters, who describe how JROTC and/or the military saved them. They are cautionary tales emphasizing personal achievement and the ability to overcome adversity. They are also inspiring stories of personal uplift meant not only to describe how they achieved the leadership positions and skills they have developed over the years but also to serve as hopeful models for younger cadets. In this way, cadets’ experiences and the stories they tell draw from and reinforce neoliberal ideologies of personal responsibility and accountability while simultaneously reinforcing a notion of JROTC exceptionalism. It is useful to focus on the important social capital students develop in JROTC, the narratives celebrating their accomplishments, and their gendered understandings of leadership and success. Although JROTC certainly does provide students with access to invaluable networks and resources, it does so within a context of unequal power relations that is shaped by race, gender, and class. Young Latinas in particular are eager to share their stories of success in JROTC and provide myriad examples of exercising their autonomy and honing traits that they value and regard as critical for their future success. It is important to focus analytical attention to the gendered experiences of Latina/o youth in JROTC in order to illuminate the context in which they strategize and navigate limited resources and the material and symbolic gains they derive from their relationship to JROTC and the military more broadly. As we will see, there is some truth to the phrase, “JROTC today, leadership tomorrow.” But careful attention to political economy, race, and gender raise important questions about what kind of leadership roles young Latina/o youth are being prepared for and how their aspirations are shaped through JROTC.

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JROTC as Social Capital It is impossible to overstate how much Fairview cadets talk about money, jobs, and their plans for the future. So many of their stories are punctuated with concerns about their families’ financial situation, their aspirations for employment and college education, and their worries about how to manage their obligations to their families while also thinking about how to establish and reach goals beyond high school. My field notes are filled with instances in which students refer to a parent receiving disability payments from the government because of diabetes, job-related injuries, and mental health problems. Students also remark, in passing, on extended family moving in temporarily because of lost jobs, fires in their homes, or just to save money. And they also reveal, perhaps inadvertently, the strain this often puts on them and how it informs their thoughts about college, jobs, and the military. But they are also incredibly optimistic and energetic, and see themselves as committed and able to help support their families. Like their parents, they seek service-sector employment in Lorain and surrounding cities, working at Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, McDonald’s, and local supermarkets and convenience stores. Freshmen and sophomores work informally mowing lawns, babysitting, and helping male kin in auto body shops and female kin prepare food to sell, particularly around the holidays. They also work off the books with their parents in convenience and other local retail venues. Young people constantly describe their efforts to look for paid employment, not only because it helps their families, many of whom depend on them, but also because they enjoy being financially independent. Young Latinas were particularly vocal in their desire for financial independence and the pride they felt in being able to help their families and themselves. Sophomore Marisel Sánchez, for example, described how when she was thirteen, she worked with her mother at a nearby convenience store and how the money she earned not only helped her mother but also gave her a great sense of satisfaction: I worked there about two years. I was a stock girl. And then my mom went over to [another supermarket] because she had more benefits over there. And so, I couldn’t work there anymore because legally I couldn’t work or be there. But since we were struggling and everything, my mom’s

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boss let me work there. . . . I was able to get my own clothes and everything so my mom didn’t have to worry about that. I love being financially independent!

Marisel enjoyed those days working with her mother since it allowed her to help pay bills, and it also provided her with the financial independence she valued. At the time of our interview, however, Marisel was discouraged because she couldn’t find a job and her mobility was severely constrained because she and her mother had to share a car with Marisel’s grandmother after their own family car was severely damaged in an accident. This meant Marisel dropped some extracurricular activities, but she insisted on remaining in JROTC (even if that meant not participating in drill teams) and justified this decision as an important investment to meet her goals after observing (and admiring) the ways the program positively influenced her older sister. Her older sister’s success in the program and later with a full scholarship at Ohio State University attests to the important role JROTC can play in helping to keep teenagers like Marisel on track. Students largely attribute this success to the strong relationships they develop with JROTC instructors. Sometimes these relationships facilitated jobs in local stores and restaurants. It was not uncommon, for example, to hear kids talk about how JROTC helped them find jobs. Kristie Czermak, for example, was thrilled when she was hired at a local Red Lobster. “[JROTC] looks good on a job application,” she explained to me during our interview, because it makes you stand out from other applicants. “[T]hey know you’re involved, that you get involved with the community. They know that you have leadership positions and skills. And you’re over the top, you know. You like to get things done.” Kristie’s observations were supported by First Sergeant Milano on numerous occasions as he explained the importance of “looking sharp” and “carrying yourself in a proud and respectful way.” These qualities are not only important to the program but to their success in the real world. “If you learn these techniques,” he told his class one afternoon, “this will help you get jobs. Go to Red Lobster, and half of the young people who work there are in ROTC. They know what we teach you here. They know your manners, that you know how to respect and you are polite. I can’t tell you how many times I get calls from jobs, from employers like Red Lobster. Some of those people are vets—they know how

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good you are because you are in JROTC.” Immediately students began naming all their friends who worked at that Red Lobster and other local restaurants. “Those are good jobs,” First Sergeant continued. “And they get those jobs because of what they learn in JROTC.” They also get them because they use First Sergeant as a reference, a great source of pride for him not only because he is helping kids find jobs and be successful but also because it raises the profile of JROTC by placing exemplary students in the spaces where they will reflect well on the program and potentially boost public support for it. Thus, while JROTC instructors demonstrate a high level of commitment to their students by mentoring them, offering advice, writing letters of recommendation, and organizing visits to college campuses and with military recruiters, they are simultaneously involved in strengthening the program’s reputation and high regard. Requiring students to engage in community service and encouraging them to be involved in various fund-raisers and public ceremonies is “good public relations,” according to First Sergeant. The students maintain a high and positive profile for Fairview’s JROTC while developing new relationships, renewing existing networks, and deepening public support for the program, especially among veterans who constitute an invaluable base of support for JROTC and its students. Like Kristie, Yahaira DeLuca and Dante Miller valued the ways JROTC opened up opportunities for them. Yahaira, for example, was hired at a local grocery store because of a strong recommendation from Sam Nuñez, who already worked there and had developed a reputation for being a reliable, responsible, and serious worker. Similarly, Dante recounted his cousin’s experience finding a job because of his involvement in JROTC. “My cousin . . . went to apply for a job, and he got it because they liked the idea that he was in ROTC and he would be committed to what he was doing.” Dante definitely sees this as an important reason to remain in JROTC, especially as he begins to think about applying for college. “[ROTC] will [look] good on your college résumé,” he assured me smiling, a sentiment that was shared by almost everyone in JROTC. Like the largely white, middle-class students anthropologist Elsa Davidson worked with in Silicon Valley, working-class youth of color in Lorain actively strategized to build their résumés and engaged in activities they believed would help them gain admission to college, win academic scholarships, and get employment they desired.4 When asked whom

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they turned to for advice to help them prepare applications and navigate the range of options before them, Fairview students were unanimous in praising the support they received from JROTC instructors. “Our counselor isn’t very good,” Kristie explained when describing the important role Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano played in helping her think about her plans after high school. “She just gets our schedules and that’s it, really. She doesn’t talk to us about what we want to do or anything else like that. She gets frustrated with us easy.” Many students shared this grim assessment of their high school counselors, and some juniors and seniors couldn’t even name who their counselor was. Many of the kids were sympathetic about what seemed to them to be a difficult job for high school counselors and described them a “having their hands full,” being stretched too thin, and having too many students to work with effectively. Alana explained, “Our guidance counselors, they kind of guide when you ask for advice. And since they’re so many kids, they can’t go up to every student and be like, ‘Oh, have you done this?’ So, I mean, [my counselor] actually, she just joined us this year . . . and she actually helped me a lot through college [applications] and stuff like that. And being this is her first year, she’s done an awesome job with it.” Parents expressed deep frustration with the lack of guidance their children received from their counselors and were less sympathetic about the challenges they faced meeting the needs of so many students. They were emphatic about wanting more resources for their children so they would know about scholarship possibilities, testing dates, college admission requirements and get support for understanding the increasingly difficult process of applying for financial aid. And their disappointment with high school counselors was only matched by their gratitude for the role First Sergeant and Major Wise played in giving advice to their children. Given students’ perceptions of the strain on high school counselors—either because there are too many students or because they are new and just learning the job—it is not surprising that they turned to their JROTC instructors. “First Sergeant and Major Wise are my go-to guys,” Amanda laughed as we talked about her plans after high school. “I take advantage that I have them as my instructors,” she elaborated, and she was grateful for the advice they provided about applying to multiple colleges and universities and talking about the advantages and disadvantages of enlisting in the Army Reserves. Although Amanda had already

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been accepted at the University of Toledo she worried a great deal about how she would cover her college expenses. After multiple conversations with recruiters, her parents, and her JROTC instructors, Amanda enlisted in the Army Reserves, confident that she would not only be able to pay for college but would also proudly serve her country. Similarly, Sara Ortiz relied heavily on guidance from First Sergeant Milano in deciding to pursue a nursing program University of Akron. She and many other students in JROTC had visited the campus with First Sergeant in the fall of her junior year. This experience, as well as the fact that her sister is currently enrolled there, led her to seriously consider applying to the University of Akron and its ROTC program. First Sergeant Milano and Major Wise take seriously their multiple roles as instructors, guidance counselors, mentors, and role models. In this way they are not unlike other dedicated teachers who wear multiple hats to meet the needs of too many students with too few resources. They have a distinct advantage, however, in that they accrue a great deal of status and prestige as retired military personnel in a school where many teachers struggle to gain the respect of students and even a broader public in a punitive context that is quick to malign them as unprepared, ineffective, and responsible for the poor performance of large numbers of children in American public schools. They have an additional advantage in not being constrained in their teaching and work with the students by the increasing number of standardized tests and teacher evaluations that more and more determine teachers’ ability to remain in their jobs and are considered carefully in the performance evaluations of the schools. On countless occasions, Major Wise remarked at how incredibly fortunate he was to not have to “teach to a test” and how that freed him to employ a range of pedagogical styles and topics that he believed would enhance the learning and moral development of his students. Other teachers, unfortunately, did not have that luxury. And Major Wise and First Sergeant were aware of the strain this placed on teachers, as well as the impact that had on their students. For those reasons, they encouraged students to reach out to their teachers, to get to know them, and not wait for the teachers to reach out to them. This recognized both the ways teachers are precariously stretched and the need for students to be proactive in developing the social capital they need to be successful beyond high school.5

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One afternoon in March, First Sergeant alluded to these concerns as he addressed the members of the Honor Guard, some of whom were reportedly slipping up in some of their other classes. Not doing well in school, he somberly announced, disappointed him, and he was troubled by some of the reports from teachers. “JROTC will stay around. There is nothing you can do to damage the image of JROTC. But when you mess up, when you don’t go to class or are late or don’t do well, that damages your image for your teachers. And that disappoints me.” He implored them not to burn their bridges, reminded them that doing well in school and being good in JROTC are not only about honoring themselves and their school and their community but essentially their ticket out of Lorain and into a good college or even a military academy. They need to have good relationships with him and their teachers because they are the ones who will write letters for them; make calls on their behalf; and do all that they can to help get the kids good jobs and into college. As he continued his speech, he suddenly became emotional, choked up, stopped, and then declared emphatically, “I work six to seven days a week for the cadets. I am proud of you. I promote what you do. People see the difference you make in their lives, especially with the veterans. You bring a lot of emotion to the veterans when you do your performances. For that reason, you have to stay focused and make us all proud.” First Sergeant then used the example of a former cadet who graduated from Fairview many years before and who asked for a letter of recommendation to get a job as a substitute teacher in the Lorain public schools. He not only wrote a letter for her, he explained, he also got on the phone and called people and spoke to someone so this person could get the job. First Sergeant’s emotional appeal to students that afternoon was a prescient one that is not lost on the students he and Major Wise and the other teachers at Fairview High School work with. While these adults write letters of recommendations, draw on their networks to expose students to new experiences to expand their horizons, and provide advice and mentorship, the students themselves are planning, strategizing, and working hard to realize their own dreams for themselves and their families. Like many working-class youth, they concern themselves with planning for the future, take nothing for granted, and often convey a deep sense of anxiety about their ability to reach their goals while also

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maintaining a remarkably healthy sense of their own efficacy. Their propensity for planning resonates with the exhortations not only from the trusted adults in their schools but also from military recruiters, who are very aware of the material and social anxieties many working-class youth, especially working-class youth of color, experience. As at many urban and low-income high schools military recruiters are quite visible at Fairview high school, and they play a unique and troubling role in the daily routines of the school and the lives of many of its students.

“Who Has a More Important Job than Me? No One!”: Military Recruiters and Making a Plan Military recruiters are a ubiquitous feature of many low-income urban American high schools.6 Fairview High School is no exception. Throughout my time at Fairview, I would often see young men in camouflage (cammies) in the cafeteria or in the hallways talking with students, and cadets described differing levels of interaction of military recruiters in and out of school.7 Conversations with recruiters are facilitated in a number of ways: students who take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) are often contacted by recruiters following the exam. And a controversial provision of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act requires schools receiving certain federal funds to provide military recruiters access to student contact information (name, address, and telephone number) or risk losing those funds.8 Recruiters develop rapport with teenagers while in the schools, talking with them about their curricular and extracurricular accomplishments as well as their plans for the future. For some students, these interactions with recruiters are valuable opportunities to learn about what the military might offer them as they seriously evaluate their postgraduation plans. This is particularly true for students who described themselves as already inclined to thinking of joining the military after high school but trying to determine the best branch and option for them. Amanda Bonilla, for example, joined the Army Reserves in the spring of her senior year after years of seriously considering military service. She described how recruiters approached her both in and out of school, especially once she took her ASVAB, and she ultimately joined not only because of what she learned to value about the military through her experiences in JROTC

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but also because it would allow her an opportunity to serve her country proudly and, perhaps even more importantly, it would help her pay for college. She explains: Ever since I was a freshman—ROTC went to my middle school—I was really interested in it. And when I came [to Fairview] it was fascinating to me. And I’m like, “I gotta get into the army . . . I gotta do this for real. I don’t just want to do this during high school.” I know it’d be very different [but I still wanted to do it]. And then my second reason was because I needed a way to pay for college.

Amanda is very focused on going to college and is thrilled to be able to attend the University of Toledo. But despite her hopes for scholarships to pay for the costs of college, she worried that she would still need to find money to get her through school. Going into the Army Reserves, she assured me, allows her not only to earn money to pay for her college education but also means she doesn’t have to be far away from her family. When explaining how she had to convince her mother that this was the right choice for her, Amanda defended her decision to join the Army Reserves: “Ever since freshman year [my mom] was like, ‘No, no, no! You’re not going [into the military]. I don’t care.’ . . . And then everybody started talking to her, telling her that she’s gotta let me go and do this . . . and so finally she was like, ‘Okay, if you go, I want you to go to the reserves, not the army.’ Because that way I can come back. I don’t have to be gone for months at a time, out overseas.” This ability to be near home was a point that was reinforced by the recruiter she talked with as she decided between enlisting in the National Guard and the Army Reserves. She was proud of her decision to join the reserves, not only because of the money she had been told she would earn and because she could remain close to home but also because it would prepare her for life. “They train you in every aspect of life. . . . It’s like, if you want to learn more about life, learn how to be successful, that is the way to go because they teach you and train you in every aspect.” Like Amanda, Peter Sokolowski enlisted in the military his senior year, opting for the Ohio National Guard. And also like Amanda, he talked about how this would help him both pay for college (he also has plans to attend the University of Toledo) and because he is already en-

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listed, he has the advantage of earning money now. He described his decision to enlist in National Guard in the following way: Peter: I talked to the recruiter . . . and he was telling me all this stuff that I can get and JROTC can help. So, it kind of really turned me onto the college money. Gina: Is that the most important part of it? The college money? Peter: That—I mean, you know you work one weekend a month. Two weeks out of the year. So you get to have a job and you get to do other things. So you can go to school and further your education and everything. You don’t have to worry about going to work everyday. Gina: So how did you decide to choose the National Guard versus, like, the Army or something else? Peter: I guess it was, get paid now or get paid when you get back from basic. So I can start saving money now. Gina: The National Guard, they start giving you money now? Peter: Yeah. My one weekend a month, I get paid.

Paying for college—and even the allure of earning money now, while still in high school—weighed heavily on all students. They talked with each other and teachers about how they could find information about how to qualify for financial aid, scholarships, and employment to help them pay for college expenses. Many with siblings at the local community college and four-year public universities understood their families’ limits in helping them cover their expenses, and they were acutely aware of the rising costs of higher education in Ohio, a state with one of the fastest-growing tuition rates of public universities in the nation.9 And although Peter and Amanda spoke positively of their interaction with recruiters, others, like Robby Marquette, resented the attention they paid him. Although Robby took the ASVAB and is deeply grateful for all that he has gained through his participation in JROTC, he is not interested in joining the military after graduation. “They call my house way too much. They’re trying to get me to join, like, ‘Robby, come on. Join. Look at all these benefits.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t want to.’” When I ask why, Robby quickly responds, “I just don’t want to go overseas and take the risk of being killed or anything.” This is a decision his mother supports, even though he admits that she encouraged him to join JROTC. It’s one

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thing to learn discipline and leadership in JROTC, he explained to me, but it is another thing to be deployed overseas away from his mother and in a war. But even he begins to hedge later in the interview when he discusses his dreams to attend college to be a nurse. “If I don’t get any scholarships, I might join just to get scholarship money. Or for them to pay for school.” Many shared Robby’s ambivalence. Teenagers like Danny Rodriguez, for example, would often tell animated stories about what they hoped to study after high school, and then would often add, “But my second option is” or “If that doesn’t work, then,” and then list a branch of the military. According to Danny, “First I want to become— try to become a physical therapist, and if that doesn’t work, I want to either join the—well, just join the army.” Brenda Calderón and Sara Ortiz hedge their college plans in similar ways, being clear about where they want to go to school and the careers they hope to pursue. With a brother as a marine recruiter, Brenda is aware of—and has subtly experienced through her brother—the allure of military money to pay for college. And as the first person in her family to attend a four-year university, she is resolute in working with her parents to find scholarships and money to help her pay for college. But she also resigns herself to the possibility of joining the military to help pay for her to attend the University of Toledo in the fall. Brenda: [I think about joining the military] a lot. But my dad doesn’t want me to. And I’m kind of like, “Ugh!!!! If I have to, if I need to, I want to.” But I think it’s more I need to for college money. Gina: So, when you say, “If you had to,” it would be to pay for college? Brenda: Yeah. It’s something I don’t want to do. I’ve seen too many people come out of ROTC and go straight into the military thinking, “It’s going to be like high school ROTC.” And it’s nothing like that. When I was a freshman I knew that.

Like so many students, as Brenda plans for the future she tempers her aspirations and dreams with the need to be practical and develop a plan to help her realize her goals. It is remarkable that considering the military as a possible resource is an already overdetermined choice for them. Even when their aspirations and accomplishments suggest otherwise, the military option seeps into their narratives, drenching their ambi-

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tions and desires and sometimes extinguishing them altogether. Military recruiters are savvy, aware of young people’s dreams for economic success, travel, and respect, and they are acutely aware of the tenuousness of these dreams for working-class youth, especially low-income youth of color. Often this is because they themselves come from similar backgrounds and are intimately familiar with stories so similar to their own. They draw on this profound understanding of youth’s struggles, concerns, and anxieties and speak to them in a powerful way that resonates and inspires.10 Recruiters’ abilities to connect with young people were demonstrated one September morning when three arrived to talk with students about what a career in the military could offer them. I arrived at 9:45 to find two white men and a white woman dressed in cammies talking with First Sergeant Milano, who promptly introduced me to them. I watched as students came up to them to say hello. One male recruiter was greeted by students who knew him from around the cafeteria, as his female companion stood nearby talking and introduced herself to students as well. After shaking their hands, I had taken a seat at the back of the classroom to listen when the third recruiter, a captain who referred to himself as a hillbilly from West Virginia and introduced himself as head of the U.S. recruiting station in a nearby city, took a seat next to me to ask me some questions that I readily answered. When he found out I was a college professor, he asked glibly, “So, you’re here to see me try to brainwash the kids?” When I replied that this was not the case, he politely asked why I was there. I explained that I was doing a study about JROTC and why kids participate. He immediately replied, “You’re going to get a lot of cliché answers, like for the leadership and discipline and stuff like that. I actually think they do it because it is a clique. The battalion commander is the head cheerleader, you know, so kids are in this as part of their own clique. It’s their own way to fit in.” “Well,” I said, “that is what I am trying to figure out. I think there are lots of reasons why they participate in JROTC.” “So are you here just to prove your point about JROTC? Do you have an agenda you want to prove about the military?” he sneered leaning in closer to me. I answered, “Well, I have my own personal opinion, but I am a researcher and my job is to be objective and hear what these kids have to say.” He interrupted me saying, “Yeah, I have my own opinions too. Heck, I’m a liberal!” At that moment, First Sergeant Mi-

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lano called out to Captain Ewell, asking him to come to the front of the room. I tried to mask how unsettling the captain’s remarks were to me by sitting straight and directing my attention past him to the recruiters and First Sergeant standing in front of the class. Just as he was about to leave the seat next to me to join his colleagues in speaking to the class, he turned to me one last time and asked, “How old are you?” “I’m thirtyeight,” I replied. “How old are you?” “I’m thirty-six,” he answered, and then he leaned in again and scoffed, “You must think we are all crazy.” In a failed effort to divert him from his question about what I thought about him, I offered, “Oh, so you are my brother’s age. He’s a marine.” He immediately stood up and blurted, “Oh, so you know crazy. Marines. They’re crazy.” And with that he pushed his chair away from the table and walked to the front of the classroom. When First Sergeant Milano introduced the recruiters, he made a great effort to tell the kids that none of them could actually go into the military at this point because they are all too young. They are here because they care about you. They care about your education. They want you to finish high school because you can’t do anything productive in your life without a diploma. They also don’t take non-graduates. These recruiters are here to tell you about opportunities. They’re like college recruiters, telling you about college. But some of you can’t afford to go to college. So this is one way to get help to go to college without putting the burden on mom and dad or on yourself. Some students leave college with thirty to forty thousand dollars in student loans. A year. Can you imagine? College is important. We want you to go to college. We want you to advance your knowledge, because knowledge is power. The more you know, the more options you have. They’re not here to recruit you today, but to tell you about what the army has to offer.

First Sergeant paused and then motioned to me in the back saying quite genuinely, “Professor Pérez, here, she can learn also about what the army can offer. I showed her a magazine the other day about the top ten companies hiring people coming out of the military. Why do they do that? Why do you think these companies like to hire people coming out of the military?” A young Latino raised his hand, and when called on stood up and answered, “Because they know how to lead.” “Yes, that’s a good

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point. You leave the military ready to lead. Why else?” A Latina raised her hand and stood up when called on, “Because they know discipline.” First Sergeant agreed and then talked about his own experience and how after he retired he had all sorts of opportunities for work. “A small percentage don’t know what the armed forces do. They protect the nation. They protect the values we believe in. We can go to the mall because there are people who sacrifice so we can have all the things we have. It takes a lot of sacrifice to have what we have. Not all agree with the military. And that’s okay. But we protect the freedoms we all enjoy.” As First Sergeant ended his introduction Sergeant Jones and Sergeant Matthews stood up in front of the class and began to talk. Sergeant Jones—a twenty-five-year old Iraqi Freedom veteran from Northern California—began by asking how many had seen him walking in the hallways and cafeteria, and many students raised their hands. He then asked, “How many of you plan to go to college,” and every student in the class raised his/her hand. When he asked, “How many of you plan to go into the military, six boys raised their hands—Latino, black, and white—although they all seemed very young, too young to be juniors or seniors. He then began to talk about his experiences in the military—how he was in the infantry in Iraq 2003–2004 and is about to move with his wife and children to Alaska, where he will now be stationed. He then introduced his partner, Sergeant Matthews, who asked the kids what they had done over the summer, which got students talking about being bored, the jobs they had, and time spent with friends. Sergeant Matthews, who grew up in Lorain and graduated from a local high school in 1991, explained that she knew what the city was like and talked earnestly about her two dogs, her fourteen years in the army, her extensive travel, and her decision to return to Lorain to talk to young people about the opportunities the army could provide them. After graduating from high school she went to Kent State University. “My parents were my influencers, but I wasn’t ready,” she explained. Her parents spent ten thousand dollars for her to go to Kent State and she flunked out her first year. “My parents spent that money so I could go and party and come home and work at the same Burger King on Cooper Foster Road that I had worked at in high school.” That is when she decided to go into the army. She joined thinking she would want to become a secretary and was first sent to Fort Jackson for boot camp,

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then for advanced training in Germany and then Italy. She described with delight doing research to find her dad’s relatives in Italy and how she ultimately invited her parents there to visit her and share in one of the most powerful moments of their lives as a family. After Italy, she was stationed in San Antonio for two years and then sent to a recruiting center outside Cleveland, to work as a recruiter and have the opportunity to “talk to young people like you.” She has been in the military for fourteen years, and in six more years she can retire with a full pension and benefits; she can still work in something else if she wants to. It was a really compelling story that seemed to capture the students’ attention: a young local girl who gets to travel, sees so much, gives back to her family, has economic stability, and is also able to pursue something meaningful if she decides to retire from the military at a young age. Although my sense is that the significance of early retirement did not resonate with high school kids, Sergeant Matthews’s stories of travel, economic security, and doing something meaningful for her family certainly did. Thus, there were two compelling elements of her story that weave through narratives animating the dreams of so many of the kids in JROTC: her decision to join the military to pay for college and the possibility of travel and seeing the world, a desire many students identified as not only an appeal of military service but of joining JROTC as well. For so many working-class youth, traveling, especially international travel to places like Europe, is a luxury. In interviews and casual conversations, teenagers spoke excitedly about the places they had visited—usually to see family and friends—and where they hoped to visit in the future. Recruiters are aware of this—the lure of international travel is a key feature of military recruitment campaigns, and given the shared social location of recruiters and cadets, they understand these longings and focus a great deal on the places they have visited, answering students’ eager questions. When Captain Ewell spoke about his experiences abroad, one young African American man asked specifically about Korea—what did it look like, what did he see, and what was the food like? Sergeant Matthews followed up those questions with one of her own: How much did it cost her to spend a week in Italy? Students threw up their hands and shouted guesses: “Fifteen thousand dollars,” one student offered. Another suggested ten thousand, both estimates revealing how unreachable such travel is for them. And when she told

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them it cost her only two hundred dollars—because that is what she paid to rent mopeds to travel around the Italian countryside—the cadets were visibly moved and excited. For young people who rarely leave Northeast Ohio, except for occasional visits to family, such opportunities are incredibly appealing. Students often explained that one of the things they loved most about JROTC is the opportunity to travel to different places for competitions—Michigan and Indiana for drill meets, for example—and to stay in hotels and meet different people. The military offers promises of more travel to different places, and that is really important and compelling. In telling these stories, recruiters are tapping into something that is important and seductive to kids with limited opportunities to travel and have international experiences. When it was time for Captain Ewell to speak to the students, he strutted to the center of the room and turned to students, greeting them in a booming voice: “Good morning. How are you doing?” When the students responded anemically, he shook his head disapprovingly and bellowed, “This is the army! You can do better than that! When you’re asked a question, you respond, ‘Huah!’” He told the students to stand and he made them do ten push-ups. He then asked them again. “How are you doing today?” “Huah!” they yelled, while laughing. “That’s better,” he said approvingly and told them to take their seats. He introduced himself as the commander of a local recruiting company. “Am I here to recruit you? No, because you can’t join the army yet,” he said with a wry smile. “But I am here to talk with you about officership in the army.” He paused and continued with a series of questions: “What are your plans for the future? What do you want to do and where do you want to be when you are twenty-five years old? Take time to write out where you want to be at twenty-five. Do you have a plan to get there? Do you have good grades? How are you going to get money to pay for college? Do you have a plan? It’s time to do a self-assessment because at your age, the whole world is open to you.” He then told them they need to be intentional in their plans and their decisions. “Why are you in JROTC?” he asked them. He had already told me that students gave cliché answers, so I was not surprised that he would ask that question. One young Latino responded, “To become a better citizen. To learn how the army is.” Captain Ewell retorted, “Well, you can get that from books! Why are you really taking this class?” Another Latino young man replied, “To

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get credits.” The captain nodded his head and leaned into the class as if to share in a secret and then sneered, “It’s really to meet girls, isn’t it? Everything we do in God’s world is to meet girls.” The room was completely silent, until one Latina raised her hand saying, “I’m in JROTC because I want to be a better leader and not a follower.” He nodded his head, dismissing her comments, then immediately proceeded to ask the students to raise their hands if they wanted to go to college.11 Everyone raised their hands. “Do you have a plan? How many of you have a checking account? [One person raised his hand.] How many of you have bills to pay? [Two people raised their hands.] Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Captain Ewell then shared his own story of how he came to the army. He told the class that he was a hillbilly from West Virginia, and described his circuitous route to the army. “I went to college and partied. Why did I go to college? It was the thing to do. I had student loans. My parents spent a lot of money. And I went to college and then left college with nothing but debt. And debt is scary, let me tell you. Going to college and partying wasn’t worth twenty thousand dollars. So, I joined the navy.” He spent three years in the navy, decided he didn’t like it, then went into the army. He went to Korea, and hated it at first, but grew to love the country and the people. With the G.I. Bill he enrolled for free at Southern Illinois University, taking with him credits he had earned online for free through the University of Maryland. As a student he received $555 a month, “which is nothing compared to what I make now,” he noted, but it paid his bills while in college where he earned a BA in Latin and medieval history with a 3.97 GPA. “Why these majors? Because I wanted to do it. Why did I do so well? Because I had discipline. I had to learn it. Was it fun? I had a ball. I was a leader in the classes I took. I was usually older than the other students. I was a leader because I could stand up and talk.” Although Captain Ewell claims he values what he learned in college, it is his experiences in the army that have made him the successful man he is today. Returning to the topic of overseas travels, Captain Ewell remarked that he has seen amazing things in the world. He has also seen terrible things, including crushing poverty. We have poor people in this country, but they have TVs and cars, even if they are old and ugly. But I’ve been to countries where people live in huts. Where there are no jobs for people, and they have nothing to do.

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What I’m getting at is that there are opportunities in this country, but you have to have a plan to seize those opportunities. I’m not here to tell you clichés about not doing drugs, not drinking and driving and stuff like that, although you should not do that stuff. I want to talk with you about army values—loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage—and how they can make you a better person. How they can help you succeed in life. But you need a plan.

Captain Ewell paused, and then turned to the American flag behind him and asked, “Does anyone know why the stripes of the American flag are red? It represents the blood spilled to make this country what it is today.” The army can help in planning for the future, he continued. And it also instills in people the values that make this country great. “The army can make you great, by not only providing you with the tools you need to implement your plan for success, but more importantly by being an important part of an honorable institution with a noble purpose: to protect and serve our nation. That is what makes the Army great. Today, 2 percent of our country is incarcerated. In prisons. Only .5 percent wears a uniform and will serve this country. You should be angry about this. I know I am.” Certainly people can make more money than he and others make in the military, he continued. But money can’t buy the honor one feels serving one’s country. “Right now I make seventy-five thousand dollars a year. My buddies make more, but I do this for a reason. I look at my family and what I do and I hold my head high. I have an important job. And my friends believe they have important jobs. But I think: Who has a more important job than me? No one!” Part of what make his job important, he explains, is that he is part of a noble fight to protect the United States from future terrorist attacks. “Why are we in Iraq and Afghanistan? They started it, by coming here and flying planes into our buildings. And we’re not going to put up with that. We’re fighting people who destroyed the Pentagon, the World Trade Center. I can hold my head high because I am doing something. And it’s not about money. And I am proud.” But if you want to succeed, he reminded them, you need a plan. Maybe you don’t think the military is for you, that you want to go to college. But you still need a plan. “One in forty-nine people have a college degree in Ohio. The state is ranked thirty-eighth in college degrees.

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That’s not very good. You need discipline, a plan, and a way to pay for college. The military is one way. It provides discipline and a means to go to college.” After repeating the mantra of needing a plan, he concluded his presentation by saying that the army is filled with good, hardworking people, but it’s not for everyone. And there are always some bad apples. He referred to the recent scandal involving sexual harassment and abuse by military recruiters and reassured the students that that was an exception to rule of military personnel of upstanding moral character.12 “Part of being an officer is having integrity and not tolerating wrongdoing,” he proclaimed, and he was confident that this was going to be dealt with swiftly and is not the norm. Students didn’t appear familiar with the recent military scandal, and they followed his presentation with specific questions about what kind of GPA is required for entry into the military academies, the ways the G.I. Bill pays for college, and more about his travels with the army. As the recruiters left, students talked with each other quietly until the bell rang; then they quickly gathered their books to go to their next class. This was not the only encounter I observed between recruiters and students. As students noted, they are a ubiquitous presence in the school.13 Later that day, for example, navy recruiters talked easily with teachers and staff in the staff lunchroom, but they spent most of the day interacting with students in the cafeteria. All branches of the military recruit at Fairview High School as they do throughout American high schools and with a particular intensity in urban districts with large numbers of low-income students and students of color. And they all share an intimate understanding of students’ aspirations as well as the obstacles they face in attaining their goals. The military isn’t for everyone—this is a truism advanced by recruiters, career counselors and JROTC instructors. But as Captain Ewell insinuated, it is better than incarceration.14 And, even more importantly, it provides a concrete plan for young people who want to study, travel, and have economically secure futures. Captain Ewell and the recruiters are correct in their grim assessment of the crushing debt youth increasingly face as they graduate from college. And Ohio in particular has a dismal record of keeping higher education affordable in public universities.15 But what recruiters and others fail to appreciate is the fact that while they exhort young people to have a plan, many students in fact do have

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one. Indeed, they have many. They work in the formal and informal economies; they research scholarships, participate in clubs and extracurricular activities that will make them stand out on job and college admissions applications, and they associate themselves with programs like JROTC as part of their long-range planning. What they lack are not plans and strategies; rather they are woefully underresourced in implementing those plans, expanding their social networks to increase their knowledge of what is available and possible, and developing the relationships that can sustain and orient them when they face seemingly insurmountable obstacles that surprise them along the way. They also face the challenges of frequently being told that their plans are inadequate, unrealistic, and likely to fail. This is often the function recruiters’ narratives serve: they sow anxiety and reap resignation to a direction that is familiar, safe (in only some ways), and a reliable means to a desired end. Thus, while recruiters’ narratives focus on the benefits the military can provide—material, social, and moral—they are often framed as redemptive cautionary tales in which their lives are saved and redeemed through military service.16 These narratives resonate powerfully with the stories young people often tell about themselves—about how JROTC turned them around or saved a friend or family member. These redemption stories are highly seductive and reinforce not only the notion of JROTC exceptionalism but also students’ own efficacy in self-improvement, personal accountability, and overcoming adversity.

Redemption Stories As we have seen throughout JROTC’s long history in American public schools, supporters consistently emphasize its rehabilitative power in transforming youth into morally upright and desirable citizens. From the early twentieth century’s focus on Americanization campaigns and war preparedness, to the racialized fears of rioting and “at-risk” youth in the 1990s, to the current allegedly race- and class-neutral emphasis on youth leadership and citizenship development, support for JROTC has consistently rested on national anxieties about race, class, sexuality, gender, and citizenship. For those reasons it was not surprising for me to hear parents, teachers, and other adults extol the program’s ability to turn kids around. At the first JROTC Booster Club meeting I attended,

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parents shared heartfelt stories about how JROTC saved their kids and provided them with a sense of direction and purpose, and how grateful they are to the instructors and program for doing so. One mother said that she made an extra effort to attend the meeting because she wanted to know what JROTC was doing to turn her normally unenthusiastic son into someone excited about school. On another occasion, a woman described her struggles as a single mother trying to raise her daughters to stay focused and have direction. JROTC, she explained emphatically, helped her older daughter “come out of her shell” and get better grades. This inspired her younger sister to follow a similar path and has kept her “focused and disciplined,” and for those reasons, the mother works tirelessly on the program’s behalf as a way to show her gratitude and to give something back. What was astonishing to me were the ways student themselves described how they benefited from being part of JROTC and how they characterized themselves as being saved through the program. This was true across race, ethnicity, and gender, although for young Latinas the road from at-risk to model cadet entailed assuming the top leadership positions in JROTC. Brenda Calderón and Alana Ramos, two of the most respected and highest-ranking cadets in Fairview’s JROTC unit, exemplify these experiences. Near the end of my animated interview with Brenda—the supermotivated, enthusiastic, and responsible senior enrolled in the University of Toledo for the fall—she surprised me by saying that before JROTC she had been going nowhere. “I was really bad when I was a freshman,” she revealed, laughing. “I was crazy. I was like, ‘Ahh, let’s go!’ [to my friends]. And then we would go. I was kind of a leader.” When I asked what changed for her she replied at length: I saw I was going nowhere. . . . I used to skip class a lot and go out. Because I would see other people and how they were. . . . One of my best friends—well, he isn’t one of my best friends because he hates me now, I don’t know why. But he got expelled for having drugs, you know. Selling them. He wasn’t doing them, he was selling them at school and that’s not good. I have cousins who aren’t really doing anything. And my best friend, Cristina, is going to be in jail soon. So, I could see it’s going nowhere. . . . I almost got into a couple of fights and First Sergeant Milano and Major Wise talked to me, and I was like, “Oh, I can’t be doing this.”

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And I really like the drill teams and I really like going to competitions and I was like, “You know what? I’m going to stay out of trouble because I’m going to work hard at this.”

In addition to JROTC, Brenda has also served on the student council, been involved in Art Club, and is in the high school band. But JROTC is different. Like other students, she could see the value in other school activities and even sports teams, but the discipline, the camaraderie, and the distinctive opportunities JROTC offers sets the program apart and she believes these are key to her success. Part of what distinguishes the program from other classes and school activities is what she and others have identified as the opportunity to take on meaningful leadership roles in JROTC. As she noted to me the first afternoon she was distributing the new cadet uniforms to students, being able to lead and take charge are what make JROTC the most worthwhile. “What I love most is that we run JROTC. We are leaders and get to do things.” Although she acknowledges that she has worked very hard to earn rank and take on these leadership positions as a senior, this was not always the case and required what the program calls “followership,” as well as obedience and learning from others. “I learned a lot of leadership [in JROTC] because I used to be kind of goofy like, ‘Aahhh’ [she rolls her head and yells in a high-pitched voice]. Not like I am now. I learned to calm myself down and sit still and listen. And obey orders a lot.” When I ask why learning to obey orders is important she explains, “Yeah, because you don’t want to be like, ‘What do I got to do that for?’ [Being a leader means] I can listen and not be like, ‘I don’t think so! I’m not doing that.’ I can lead and say, ‘We’re going to do this and this and get the thing done.’ Because I know how to do it.” Brenda’s journey from being a freshman who skipped classes and was going nowhere to being a leader and model for others in JROTC and the school is largely attributed to the skills she has developed in JROTC. Like so many others, Brenda describes who she was before JROTC in ways diametrically opposed to the person she ultimately became. She is more confident, eager to take the lead, and able to make a plan and execute it successfully. Alana Ramos’s experiences echo Brenda’s. When asked the most important thing she has learned in JROTC, she responded in the following way:

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I think the biggest would be responsibility. My freshman year—I was always a decent student, you know. In middle school I got A’s and B’s. My freshman year I kind of started focusing on friends. You know the whole excitement of being in high school sort of took over me. I got some C’s and some B’s and some A’s. You know, not honor roll, merit roll type of thing. I was just an ok student. Not really great. But ROTC gave me a reason to come to school. In the mornings I knew, hey, I had practice. I get to do armed drill today. I get to command. Then right after that I would go to my first period class and I was like, “Hey, I’m in ROTC!” I was always on time for school. And my freshman year I wasn’t. Because I was in Spanish [for example, and it was like] oh, whatever. And I would come late. It didn’t really mean anything to me. The importance of timemanagement skills and being on time for things, along those lines it has helped me as well.

When I asked whether there are other activities at school that could have motivated her in the ways JROTC has, she responded thoughtfully. I’m sure, depending on your own special interests, whatever group . . . could have the same effect. It’s just me. I took to JROTC really quickly. Just marching and learning things about politics, democracy. That kind of pushed me. ROTC did. I know you’ve heard this before; it’s kind of like a family. You know, we all stick together. At lunch they call it the “ROTC table” . . . because we would have all of the ROTC people sit together. At breakfast, we all sit at the same section. Everything. We just all stick together. And it’s kind of nice. It’s really a nice, nice way to belong. When you come as a freshman, you really don’t know what to do. You need somewhere to belong. A lot of people join sports. But I think ROTC was actually my favorite thing.

Like Brenda, Alana describes not being particularly excited about school before ROTC. At other moments she also confided that she sometimes missed class and didn’t really try hard in her classes. Junior Dante Miller shared similar experiences and characterized this as a conversion from a “don’t-care attitude” to being more disciplined and staying out of trouble. For Alana and others, one reason for this transformation is the way the curricular and cocurricular are inextricably linked in JROTC. Alana

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refers to her excitement about politics and democracy, for example, in the same sentence in which she describes enjoying learning how to march and drill. Knowing that she is expected to arrive before school for drill practice gives her a sense of purpose and pride that she identifies as being key to changing how she approached her other classes. She learned to value being on time, working harder in her classes, setting goals and achieving them. Like her fellow cadets, Alana also sees how being part of JROTC nurtures a sense of belonging that is also important. Like players on sports teams, JROTC students spend a great deal of time practicing together, traveling together, and making sacrifices for a common goal, and they often refer to themselves as family. This is another key feature of students’ (as well as the recruiters’) conversion stories: they became better people for themselves but also for a greater good beyond themselves. They convey a deep sense of obligation to others and the need to do well not only for their own personal success but for others whose triumphs are bound up with their own.17 Students recognize concrete ways they have benefited from JROTC: they are more outgoing and no longer shy; they are willing to take risks without fearing the consequences of failure; they feel confident in new places and meeting new people; and they are able to advocate for themselves and speak up for themselves both in school and in jobs and other social situations. Freshman Marvin Blanco describes his experience in the following way: [E]very day you start to learn more about yourself. And people come in here thinking they know everything about themselves, and they don’t. They need someone else telling [and helping] them. . . . I’m actually part of something bigger now. At the beginning of the year, I kinda was a loner. I didn’t really talk to a lot of people. Now, you know, I can go into a group of people that I don’t know and introduce myself and not feel judged about it. I can go into or start a new project that I want to complete and know I will complete it before the time it needs to be done.

Not only does Marvin feel part of something bigger than himself now that he is in JROTC, he also sees how being part of the program created a space for self-discovery that allowed him to be a better student and person. Marisel Sanchez regards this as the most important feature of

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JROTC: the possibility for young people to change for the better and stay on track. She explains: I like the fact that there is a program in school that helps keep—if a kid wants to change something about them, if they want to keep themselves on track, there is a program for that. There are a lot of kids that I’ve known that their attitudes and stuff are pretty much a cry for help. And they’ve come through this program and completely turned around.

When I ask Marisel what it is about the program that can help turn kids around and keep them on track she responds: They actually treat you with a lot of respect. And having that feeling makes you feel so good. Knowing that you have someone that respects you, that barely knows you, you know? And just the discipline. It’s not really hardcore discipline or whatever. Just push-ups here and there. But it helps you. If you don’t really like doing push-ups or whatever, it will keep you in line. It will keep you on track. And it will teach you a lot of valuable lessons and show you what your moral values are and what they should be.

Even when teenagers don’t have a conversion story of their own to share, they are quick to point out the ways that JROTC can benefit others who are already in trouble or who could potentially go astray. In both instances, the values of discipline, obedience, and perseverance are ones that can be learned and nurtured and are critical for their own success as well as that of others in the program. These are also qualities of the kinds of leaders they and their instructors aspire for them to become. Like the recruiters whose redemption stories hinge on a Saul-like conversion from reckless and selfish youth to disciplined and respectable leaders, students identify both the ways their own journey to leadership entailed moments of being lost, misguided, undisciplined, and uninspired and the ways family members and friends can follow a similar path. In many ways they exemplify the phrase, “JROTC today, leaders tomorrow.” But what exactly does leadership mean? And how do gender, race, and class shape students’ leadership experiences? Students’ explanations about the meanings of leadership provide yet another opportunity to understand their aspirations and the obstacles they face in meeting them.

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Leadership, Gender, and Core Army Values In Fairview’s JROTC, girls outnumber boys by a slim margin. They also outnumber boys in top leadership positions. These trends mirror national ones whereby an increasing number of teenage girls are swelling the ranks of JROTC programs—in particular Army JROTC—and are increasingly outnumbering boys. In short, the face of Army JROTC is increasingly female and brown.18 When I ask students why so many girls participate and hold the highest ranks in JROTC, my question is unanimously met with nervous giggles and laughter. For many, demography is the simple answer: there are more girls enrolled at Fairview than boys, and since there is a slightly larger number of girls in JROTC, they are likely to assume leadership positions in higher numbers. Although these numbers are certainly true, students and staff also point to more nuanced and complex reasons accounting for young girls’ increasing numbers and visibility in JROTC. Girls are described as detailed-oriented, dedicated, hardworking, and willing to “step up to the plate.” These are not the only qualities necessary to be a good leader, but they are valued as being important for facilitating girls’ success and their willingness to take on leadership roles. First Sergeant Milano, for example, often remarked that some of his best cadets have been young girls. “They’re so dedicated and careful. They pay attention to detail. These girls are great.” These sentiments are echoed by Alana, who struggled to answer the question fairly: “I can’t really say anything. The girls, just through the years, show more dedication. I’m not sure. [Maybe] it’s just willingness to serve and community service. Or being on time to things. I just think girls have put more of an effort.” While she and others recognize these qualities as being important to their success, Alana also made a point of emphasizing that there is nothing special about girls behaving in this way. In fact she and others maintained that if they just tried harder, boys could develop these skills and be rewarded accordingly. The problem, they suggest, is that boys either lack the motivation to work harder or they are simply not as mature as girls in high school. Angela Milano elaborated: I don’t want to say girls are more cut out for [leadership roles], because I’m not that kind of stereotypical person. But I believe that most male

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people in high school are more laid back and less motivated. . . . Women kind of take charge in ROTC. . . . The guys have it as well, but they’re more lax. Some guys are lazy . . . because they’d rather have someone in charge of them rather than have to take charge of everybody and do it themselves. That’s just kind of how it is. . . . There are lots of guys who have the motivation, but they are more laid back. . . . So the women just kind of step up and take it, like, “I want to do it.”

The characterization of boys as more “laid back” (or lazy) and girls as willing (and wanting) to take charge was shared widely by students.19 Some attributed this to boys simply being shyer than girls. Peter, Marvin, and George all described themselves as shy and identified this as one of the biggest obstacles they had to overcome in order to become leaders in JROTC. “The guys . . . they’re shy. And you can’t be a shy leader,” Peter explained to me. By contrast girls take charge, are loud and unafraid. For him and others, their ability to take charge and be loud was about both race and gender: “They’re all Puerto Rican, so they’re all Puerto Rican loud,” he says laughing nervously. When I ask him to explain, he says, “Well, we’re in South Lorain!” Characterizing Puerto Rican girls as loud is a familiar stereotype often associated with race and low-class status. It is often regarded negatively and authorizes discipline and sanctions within schools. For the young Latinas at Fairview, however, being loud is a label they take on proudly.20 Being loud is about being assertive, not being afraid to take charge, and being willing to lead and take on responsibilities, defy stereotypes of the docile, submissive Latina.21 While scholars have rightly noted the way “loud” is a racialized label that for girls often connotes licentiousness, ignorance, bossiness, and being a troublemaker, they have also revealed the ways girls embrace their “loudness” as a way to assert their independence, challenge patriarchal norms of behaviors, and, in the case of JROTC, is a valued trait that demonstrates leadership.22 Indeed, being assertive and loud are behaviors Major Wise and First Sergeant train students to do repeatedly when they drill, do in-class presentations on current events, and when they respond to them and the chain of command. This assertive and loud tone is also reaffirmed when students interact with military personnel, such as recruiters, who chastise them for not responding loudly and with enthusiasm—“This is the army! You say ‘Huah!’”

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The aggressive and confident attitude that is cultivated in JROTC presents an interesting gendered conundrum. On the one hand, girls’ assertive behavior is seen as something positive, facilitating leadership positions and rewarded by gaining rank in JROTC. It is also positively associated with advocating for themselves in other areas of school: they are encouraged to seek out and develop relationships with teachers, counselors, and other adult mentors, who provide guidance, broaden girls’ social networks, and serve as role models for them. Such behaviors resonate with Lorena Garcia’s observations that adolescent Latinas in Chicago often refer to their assertive actions as “handling your business,” a claim that describes how girls “take charge of a specific task or an affair in need of attention such as confronting someone who had publicly offended you, addressing disagreements with others, or even setting your academic affairs in order.”23 According to Garcia, girls were particularly clear about the ways that “handling their business” was a way to navigate the good girl–bad girl dichotomy they face as they develop their sexual subjectivity, autonomy, and notions of respectability. A girl who “handles her business” is sexually responsible, respectable, and in control and therefore is able to lay claim to being a “good girl” who stands apart from those who are seen as sexually irresponsible and out of control.24 In JROTC girls who are assertive, confident, and loud are admired by others and rewarded with leadership positions in their unit and describe these skills as being ones they draw on beyond JROTC to help them succeed, for example, in academic life and with employment. Boys, on the other hand, are encouraged to be assertive and aggressive in sports and in JROTC, but they are also simultaneously enmeshed in a discourse of punitive enforcement that punishes aggressive behavior and regards them suspiciously and as in need of surveillance. This is particularly true for low-income boys of color whose experiences in schools are increasingly marked by zero-tolerance policies that involve “suspensions, expulsions, and maybe even police interventions” for violating school rules.25 While young boys and girls are both affected by such policies, researchers have noted that boys are particularly vulnerable and punished more harshly than girls, even for committing the same school infractions.26 Pedro Noguera’s observations about the experiences of African American boys in schools resonate with those of Latino youth as well. “The trouble with Black boys,” Noguera writes, “is that too often they are assumed to be at

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risk because they are too aggressive, too loud, too violent, too dumb, too hard to control, too streetwise, and too focused on sports.”27 Indeed, race, gender, and class shape the experiences of young boys and girls in school in distinctive ways; and in the context of a JROTC leadership model that values an assertive style, the behaviors of young boys and girls are read differently by the broader public and elicit different responses from teachers, security guards, and other adults in authority. Students frequently attribute the large number of girls in leadership roles to the fact that, at this stage in their lives, they are more mature than boys.28 And girls’ maturity is frequently linked to the gendered responsibilities they have outside of school, especially in their families. Although girls and boys often shared concerns about their families’ economic insecurity, girls were more likely to link those conversations to the kinds of responsibilities they took upon themselves—and were expected to assume—in their families. They were more likely to take care of younger siblings, prepare meals, look for employment to help pay for household expenses, and play an important role in doing the reproductive work (including cooking, cleaning, and caring for family members) critical for the economic well-being of their families and households. And although this is not an unfamiliar experience for working-class Latinas, who often feel a tremendous sense of responsibility and obligation to help meet their families’ needs, girls were also explicit about the pleasure and pride they took in being financially responsible.29 Thus, the take-charge attitude to which teenagers jokingly attributed girls’ success in JROTC is nurtured outside school, through culturally informed gendered expectations, their active efforts to address their families’ economic needs, and the valuable reproductive work they perform in their homes. All these skills translate into respect within the program. Like all the students I interviewed, Sofia Ortiz remarked that girls and boys are treated equally in JROTC, but she also noted that, unlike boys, girls like being in charge. “If you get good rank in JROTC, then you get to be in charge of everybody and you get to feel special about yourself and people have to respect you. Plus, boys are stubborn,” she laughs. Being a leader, therefore, is both about wanting to take charge and about being confident, responsive, and flexible in ways that play to girls’ strengths. This, according to Yahaira, is more developmental, and changes once boys mature. She explains:

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Yahaira: What I’ve seen in JROTC is girls hold higher positions and get more leadership skills because of the maturity level they are at. [When] guys move into the ROTC program in college, it’s more guys receiving higher positions, especially with leadership because guys seem to grow up and be more mature at that point in time. Gina: Do you think that girls and boys have the same reasons for participating in JROTC? . . . Are they treated the same in JROTC? Yahaira: I think for the most part . . . people get treated equally. There might be times when it’s not—when it might not feel that way. But then when you look at it, you really are getting treated mostly equally. Maybe you have to do a little more, participate a little more. [And you] might not get recognized for some of the things that you have to do. But if you just sit back and don’t do nothing, how are you ever going to get to display your motivation, your leadership skills, and that you’re capable of completing a task? . . . It’s just a matter of getting motivated and getting involved in JROTC. As far as ROTC in college, I’m not sure. Maybe guys are more motivated than females . . . I’m not sure.

Yahaira’s insights are not only shared widely throughout JROTC, they also reflect powerful meritocratic notions that sustain American Dream and neoliberal ideologies and, even more specifically, students’ steadfast commitment to JROTC: everyone is equally capable of achieving success; therefore if you work hard you will be recognized and rewarded accordingly. According to this logic, girls are simply better than boys at paying attention to detail, taking charge, following orders and completing tasks, and they are rewarded by ascending the ranks in JROTC commensurate with their accomplishments. Boys, on the other hand, are believed to be less willing to take initiative and work hard and therefore do not take on the same leadership roles as the girls. In both instances, students as well as teachers draw on biological deterministic arguments to explain what are socially conditioned phenomena in which girls and boys are rewarded and punished differently for similar behaviors.30 Such understandings about school-based performances are pervasive and seem to be so obvious that they need no further explanation. The problem with such accounts about girls’ and boys’ success is that they fail to capture the ways Latinas’ investment in academic achievement

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is bound up with their own constructions of femininity and success. Indeed, feminist scholars have identified how for many Latinas their academic and professional aspirations are shaped by the experiences of female kin who provide support and encouragement and often model the ways academic success can translate into economically and social successful futures.31 Similarly, young Latinas’ educational success is often bound up with their own sense of its impact on their own future as well as its effect on their families.32 These understandings and expectations fit within “a successful girls discourse” that, according to Lorena Garcia, “highlights girls’ academic achievements and advancements as evidence of the weakening of gender inequality and of girls’ ability to move beyond it” and reinvigorates neoliberal visions of femininity and success that rest on ideas of individual choice and capacity “grounded in disciplinary notions of meritocracy.”33 These assessments that regard girls’ hard work and motivation as key to their success certainly reflect Yahaira’s and others’ experiences in JROTC, but they do so by eliding an analysis of how gender, class, and race shape the different possibilities available to young men and women in JROTC and in school more generally. As a number of scholars have documented, girls’ and boys’ experiences in schools are often significantly different, leading to dramatically distinct outcomes. Nancy Lopez, for example, has focused on the ways race and gender shape the educational outcomes of Latina/o and West Indian youth in Brooklyn and makes a compelling argument for analyzing their success in school within their experiences in the home, workplace, and public sphere.34 Similarly, Pedro Noguera has emphasized how the contemporary crisis in American public education has a particularly devastating impact on young Latino and African American boys, who experience some of the highest dropout rates and lowest levels of educational attainment in the nation.35 In contrast to these young men, young Latinas—with their robust social networks in schools, among female kin, and in the workplace—tend to invest in education and believe in its ability to lead to success in pursuing higher education and secure employment. Young Latino men, on the other hand, are often unable to cultivate these same kinds of networks inside and outside school and often rely, instead, on other mechanisms for success. Curiously, as Yahaira’s comments suggest, girls’ success in JROTC doesn’t necessarily translate to leadership posi-

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tions in college-based ROTC programs. In fact, the disparity of men and women in university ROTC programs and the nation’s four prestigious military academies is significant, with men easily outnumbering women and thereby outpacing the training of women officers in the U.S. military in general.36 This raises interesting questions about gender, leadership, and power in JROTC and the meaning and significance of these leadership roles for girls and boys in high school. JROTC curriculum, recruiters, and instructors repeatedly emphasize the value of leadership as a transferrable skill that will translate into improved educational and employment options, but what exactly does leadership mean for JROTC cadets, and what kinds of skills do they believe they are developing and why are they important? According to the JROTC curriculum, leadership is a learned skill one develops by following the seven core army values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage (LDRSHIP). These values are visible on posters throughout the JROTC classroom, repeatedly emphasized in the JROTC curriculum, and referred to by instructors and recruiters alike. In all of these instances, students are told that these are not simply core army values; more important, they are values that will lead to personal success in life. From the moment students enter JROTC, they are told that the program will teach them to be leaders and better citizens. This takes time, however, and entails hard work, obedience, and followership. The rewards, they are told, are not only the pride in earning rank in your JROTC unit, but, even more, the respect and high regard cadets will receive from others. Major Wise emphasized this point to Delta Company one afternoon early in the year when he discussed at length the importance of leadership and followership. As leaders, he explained, they need to earn the confidence and respect of their fellow cadets. “If you are a good leader, they’ll follow you.” But you can only get to this point after being a good follower: obeying, conforming, executing commands, and meeting expectations. This point was underscored by First Sergeant’s comments later that same class period when he calmly he reassured these same students, “Good leaders. That is what you’re going to be.” I was not surprised by the program’s emphasis on leadership, but I was intrigued by how the students themselves talked about the importance of being a leader and the different meanings they attached to leadership. In formal interviews, I never asked them to de-

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fine leadership. Instead, I asked them what they thought was the greatest benefit from participating in JROTC. Although I anticipated a range of answers, I was not prepared for them to focus as extensively on leadership and citizenship as they did. Nor was I prepared for the nuanced and complex ways they talked about what this means for them in their lives. The core army values put forth integrity, duty, and personal courage as some of key elements of leadership; students focused more on self-discovery, being a good role model for others, and respect for themselves and others. In what follows I explore four distinct ways students discussed leadership and demonstrate the ways they both converge and potentially subvert the tenets of leadership advanced in JROTC.

Leadership as Self-Discovery Throughout the course of the year, JROTC students engage in a variety of activities dedicated to identifying their strengths, leadership styles, and personality types. Winning Colors is the most popular of these character assessment tools, and it was not uncommon for students to refer to their Winning Colors profile in their explanations of how they behave and why they do so.37 “I’m a born relater,” Marisel explained to me one day, referring to the blue profile card that represents her communication and leadership style. “I don’t like being by myself. The more people the better. I love being around people. Being in this program has just brought me closer to everyone. It’s just a really, really good experience. It is.” Young people were absolutely fascinated with these profiles and talked a great deal about how they were useful in helping them identify their strengths as leaders and led them to learn more about themselves more generally. For so many of the students, self-discovery was key to their understanding of leadership and was an insight they developed and valued through JROTC. Marvin Blanco, for example, explained that one of the things he appreciates most about JROTC is being able to learn more about himself. JROTC, he observed, helped him find “hidden talents I might not have seen before.” When I asked him to give me an example, he responded proudly, I’m very well hand-eye coordinated. I can run about five miles without stopping. At Orienteering, I pretty much sprinted the whole way with

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my commander. . . . I’m very self-dependent. And I never really noticed that before . . . I used to depend on others for making decisions for me. I would always go to them if I didn’t know how to pick between two things or three things. I would always ask someone else, no matter what I thought of they answer they picked and I would always pick what they picked. . . . [Since JROTC I’ve] been smarter. Haven’t been doing so many stupid things. Been thinking for myself. So, it’s been really helpful.

Being able to discover hidden talents and then develop them was a common theme shared by many in JROTC. Some teenagers were quite confident entering JROTC, but others remarked that being in the program not only revealed their strengths but also pushed them to do things they might not otherwise do. This was particularly the case for those who described themselves as shy, a characterization boys claimed more frequently than girls. Just as one noted that you can’t be shy and be a leader, students like seventeenyear-old George Holmes were quite clear about the ways that JROTC required them to confront and ultimately overcome their shyness. This, George explained, has been key to developing his leadership skills. When I asked in an interview to identify the most important things he has learned in JROTC, he immediately responded: George: Leadership. Oh, God. I would be the kind of person [before] where if you put me in a leadership position, I wouldn’t know what to do. You’d have to tell me what to do and I would figure it out. But now it’s like, you put me in a leadership position and I’ll figure it out in a couple of minutes. Gina: Wow. And you feel comfortable being in the leadership position? George: And before, I was always a shyer person. Didn’t really like meeting new people, talking to new people. You’ll see me talk to almost anybody even though I don’t know them. I’ll start a conversation up with somebody. And your first year here, you had to make a speech. You had to present it in front of the class. So that was a big step, which I really didn’t want to do. But I had to do it because if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t pass. . . . I had to do that and now I’m cool about it. . . . It’s made me more open and comfortable talking to people I don’t even know.

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Being able to speak in public was certainly one of the greatest skills students said they learned from JROTC. Their daily public presentations on the news, being required to ask questions, and provide critiques all provided a space for those who were originally terrified of public speaking to face their fears and, usually, rise above them. For Yahaira, this is definitely a key part of becoming a leader and one of the main reasons she decided to join JROTC. Yahaira: [I joined JROTC] for better leadership skills I would have to say. I knew that being in JROTC there’s a lot of benefits to it. Gina: Like what? Yahaira: There’s like—like now when I tell people that I’m in ROTC for a job interview or something, they look at you like, “Oh, she has leadership skills and so forth.” That’s why at [the supermarket where I work] I do lots of things there. And I can handle tasks. I learned a lot from ROTC itself that probably I would have never learned by myself and not being in the program. Gina: How does JROTC teach you leadership? Like what kinds of things? Yahaira: It gives you challenges based on little things here and there. And based upon if you step up and take control and successfully overcome the challenge. It shows that you stepped up and you pushed others to help you or you did it by yourself. And it shows the type of leadership you have.

The emphasis on the ways JROTC changes and pushes students to be different from how they were before infuses students’ conversion stories and is central to their understanding of themselves as leaders. Sometimes these changes are significant; often they are minimal. But in all cases young people describe them as profoundly transformative. They give concrete examples of how confronting their limitations ultimately allowed them to transcend them, and the lasting impact this had on themselves and on others. Sixteen-year-old Emma Koloff provided a final example of the central role self-discovery plays in her understanding of leadership, as well as the crucial role of others in helping to motivate and push her in productive ways.

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One thing ROTC does is it does motivate you because it pushes you to do a lot of things. Because you make friends in the class that push you to do things that you wouldn’t do. My freshman year, armed exhibition, I loved it, but I couldn’t do some of the stuff. And I couldn’t get a left twirl. I kept cutting my wrist, like here, and I kept hurting myself because I was doing it wrong. And one thing Adrian Ramos did was he didn’t quit. He wouldn’t let me quit. He was like, “You’ll get it right. You just have to try.” Even when I wanted to sit down because I was so upset and it was hurting me and I didn’t want to do it anymore, he basically pushed me and told me, “You can’t give up. Because that’s not you. You’ve never given up anything, so why are you just going to give up now?” So, I think what a lot of this says is that the people are here and they tell you that no matter what, they are going to push you to your limits because they know you can do better.

For Emma, self-discovery is an intersubjective process. It does not just require introspection to identify strengths, weaknesses, and fears; it involves others—peers, mentors, and teachers—to encourage and motivate students to take risks and ultimately succeed. Students talk admiringly of peers who served as important role models for them. Fellow students were not only key in pushing younger cadets to persevere; they also embodied the kind of leadership they hoped to emulate.

Leadership and Followership Leadership and followership were consistently invoked as key values in JROTC. Because followership—the ability to obey orders, show respect to the chain of command, and perform duties required of you—is so deeply embedded in JROTC curriculum, extracurricular activities and in the seven core army values, it is reasonable that students would discuss this in relation to the weightiness of leadership. In this way, being a role model is more than feeling good about having people look up to you (although this is a sentiment all cadets enjoyed): it is about helping others do their best because it elevates the entire unit and trains others in proper followership. Senior Sam Nuñez persuasively explained how followership and leadership are inextricably linked. “If you become a good leader, you will be successful in life. . . . [But] you have to be a follower

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first to be a leader. . . . I was a member of a squad before I got battalion sergeant major. And obviously I was a follower of my squad leader and a follower of my company commander and a follower of the battalion commander. So, I was a follower before I was a leader . . . I learned very early that you needed to be a follower before you become a leader. Because if not, you’re not going to be a successful leader.” Just as Emma poignantly described the ways an older cadet pushed her to understand and overcome her limits, Sam and others conveyed how being a leader is fundamentally about incorporating what you learned from those who were models for you and then becoming a good role model and encouraging others in turn. For fifteen-year-old Robert Gutierrez being a leader is an opportunity he wanted to take on through JROTC and that he believed was akin to his experiences in sports. I wanted to grab leadership skills [in JROTC]. You know, when I get older I want to have a family, hopefully have a wife. [I want to know] what to do and what not to do. . . . Because most people are followers and me, I’d rather be a leader than a follower. . . . Like if you’re on the [basketball] court, you have to tell people, like if somebody misses a shot or something and they feel like they’re missing a lot. Just tell them, “Keep your head in the game. Keep shooting. You’re going to do good. You’re a major part of this team and we need you.” So, that’s how I would be in real life, to a friend or something . . . I want to be a leader and help my teammates to win. And that’s what I like in JROTC. If someone falls, help them up.

John Campbell made similar observations about the importance of being positive with others who need encouragement. “[Leadership] helps tell you how people work and certain ways of talking to people so that you influence them in a positive way, and solving problems without violence and such. It all helps as a leader.” For John and Robert, being a positive role model is something they learned from older cadets, and they are reminded incessantly that once those cadets graduate, they will have large shoes to fill. Because students often explain that one of the things they enjoy most is the fact that they run JROTC—they have autonomy and power that they don’t have in other academic classes—they take this responsibility seriously and talk about what it means in sobering terms.

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Sam Nuñez made this point quite eloquently, returning once again to the analogy of leadership in sports. I think there is something special about [JROTC] because the fact that you’re given a chance to be a squad leader your freshman year. . . . When you’re running a squad compared to the battalion commander, you’re still in a leadership position. So the people under you look up to you. And having that sense of responsibility is something you get in JROTC. I’m not saying you can’t get it [other places]—because you can be a team captain on a varsity team, you know. But from the get-go, from the first year, you’re already in a leadership position, unlike on baseball teams or a football team.

Both JROTC and sports rely on teamwork, collective effort, and mutual support to succeed. They also share a sense of exceptionalism that can distinguish them from others in the school. In this case, the JROTC exceptionalism rhetoric lies in its ability to call on students to lead from early on, which not only elevates the meaning of followership—all leaders are simultaneously followers and must obey, be respectful, and demonstrate loyalty and duty—but also magnifies the significance of having what Sam and others described: others “look[ing] up to you.” Like Sam, Carmen Pérez is proud of the responsibilities she has in JROTC, but she is also clear about how intimidating (and thrilling) being a role model can be. When I asked her what some of the greatest benefits of being in JROTC were, she responded, “I would probably say motivation, leadership and a lot of skills and values I didn’t know I had.” When I asked her to elaborate she continued: Like being able to lead other people, being able to motivate other people or just tell them, “You know, you should try this,” and they try it and you see they are trying. It’s like—it’s rewarding. Then you see other people that look up to you and you’re like, “Oh, my God! I got to set the example.” It’s pretty fun though because you’re like, “Wow! They’re actually listening! They’re actually paying attention to what I’m doing.” It’s pretty cool.

When I asked Carmen whether these are skills she could have developed in other classes or sports, she considered this and disagreed, saying, “The

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leadership values? I don’t really think so. Not that much, because they’re not really into it. While you’re in the program with ROTC, you have a lot of leadership classes and stuff like that and they teach you so much more. Outside ROTC, I think, yeah, you’ll learn a little . . . but you don’t really put as much effort into it as you would in ROTC.” Carmen’s observation about the distinctiveness of JROTC as a place to be a role model and lead is a curious one that is shared widely. Indeed, although students held leadership positions on sports teams, cheerleading squads, band, church youth groups, and even in their places of employment, these didn’t seem to have the same weightiness as being a leader in JROTC. It is hard to account for these differences, although the hierarchical structure of rank, obedience, and the values of followership and leadership seem to distinguish leadership in JROTC significantly. It also seems that the very act of having people expect you to lead—either because of the rank prominently displayed on the cadet uniform or because they witnessed others doing so before them or because students are required to lead regardless of whether they believe they are ready to do so—drives students to put themselves forth as the person who will “step up.” This was certainly the case with Amanda Bonilla, who eloquently connected her desire to be a role model to her decision to play a prominent leadership role in JROTC. After being homeschooled for two years, Amanda returned to Fairview High School her senior year determined to help lead the unit into what she and others referred to as “how it used to be.” “I really wanted to be a leader because a lot of people were dropping out. They weren’t interested anymore. And I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ . . . You know what? I need to be that person to step up. So I did.” Amanda became a company commander and took extraordinary efforts to work with the younger cadets in her unit to prepare for drill competitions, study, have the uniforms perfect for inspection, and be the kind of role model she had had her freshman year. She was successful in a very short period of time and attributes this success to the following rules that guided her behavior as a leader: “Follow the rules. Don’t talk down to the cadets. Help them. Like, as far as being organized, have all your data ready. Wearing your uniform. Be an example.” Amanda readily identifies how her experiences in JROTC were helpful in other areas of her life and provided two clear examples. The first was her experience leading students during orienteering in the fall when she had to

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be a source of calm for urban kids unaccustomed to using compasses, maps, and GPS to navigate them through the woods. As her group hiked through the woods and struggled to find the path to the final meeting spot, she explained how she had to be a leader. “Somebody has to step up. . . . You know, when you’re lost and you have first-years and they are scared out of their minds. They’re like, ‘Oh, my God! We’re lost!’ You have to step up and be strong for them.” She described a similar situation in her Pentecostal youth group when she suddenly had to take the lead during one event. “The president of the youth [group] was like, ‘Oh my God! I don’t know what the heck to do!’ You know, they’re panicked and stuff. I’m able to say, ‘I learned this from ROTC. We can do this,’ you know. I know how to take charge in ROTC and get stuff done.” We have seen how young cadets attribute “stepping up” to young women whose leadership style is characterized as being assertive and “taking charge,” but it is striking that these are also the same qualities that young people say make them successful in their churches, jobs, and other areas of their lives. As we have seen previously, for many of the young girls, their willingness and ability to take on responsibilities in JROTC build on the ways they are already responsible for reproductive labor in their households. And as Sam Nuñez and others highlight, taking on more responsibilities is both a result and a reflection of good leadership.

Leadership as Responsibility As the first person in his family planning to attend a four-year university, Sam Nuñez is impressive in what he has successfully managed to juggle over the years: he has a 3.7 GPA, takes all the honors classes available at Fairview, has worked consistently while in school, first at a local banquet hall and later at a supermarket, holds important leadership positions in JROTC, and applied and was admitted to the University of Akron’s ROTC program on a full scholarship. When I asked him what his goals were when he joined JROTC he responded quickly: “I wanted to become a leader. I wanted to make sure I had a plan after college. I didn’t want to not know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I wanted to learn how to become a better citizen and become a better person. And a lot of the classes that you take your freshman and sophomore year [in JROTC] help you do that.” When I ask how JROTC does this, he

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provided a number of answers: “They give you scenarios,” he explained. “You read books and take tests and also just training others gives you leadership traits. So that’s how it helped me out a lot. . . . I know what I want and I’m real—what’s the word I’m looking for? I know what I want to say when I say it. I know how to make things happen.” Throughout the interview, Sam provided specific examples of when he was put in leadership positions and how they helped him grow. He was also thorough in his description of what made him a strong leader: responsibility and respect for others. Taking on responsibilities, he explained, “helps you to mature. Having Major Wise and First Sergeant always on your tail if you mess up helps you to mature. And you know, wearing a uniform— having that responsibility to wear the uniform and having it be looked at makes you want to mature [and be responsible].” Sam described a dialectical process that resonated with other cadets’ experiences in JROTC: students are given responsibilities in order to become leaders; as students gain rank and take on leadership positions, they take on more responsibilities. Thus, leaders clearly have greater responsibilities, but they only ascend the chain of command by successfully meeting the obligations put before them. This is both thrilling and terrifying, according to Sofia Ortiz. As a naturally shy person, Sofia joined JROTC hoping to learn more confidence and leadership skills. As a freshman she is the first-year Color Guard commander, which she takes pride in, but it is also intimidating because of the responsibility she takes on as the one in charge. If she fails to command and lead, she explained, “I get in trouble, and so it teaches me leadership. . . . If I don’t show up for practice, then everybody gets punished for it because they wouldn’t be allowed to practice [without me].” Although students are encouraged to take risks, the command structure and emphasis on teamwork also mean that a failure of leadership is not merely an occasion for individual punishment but a collective experience as well. Thus, taking responsibility and being responsible for oneself and for others is key to being a good leader. Jasmine Ortiz made a similar observation about the ways taking on responsibilities forges leadership. “[JROTC] always gives me the opportunity to be out there and do something,” she explained in an interview. In this way it is unlike any other organization she has belonged to. This was particularly challenging for her since she described herself as a quiet person, but it was also the aspect of JROTC she appreciated the most. Being

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able to take on these responsibilities successfully has not only allowed her to take on leadership roles she would have ben reluctant to take on otherwise, it has the added benefit of making her an ideal role model for her younger siblings. Watching Jasmine lead Color Guard inspired her brother and sister to consider JROTC when they enter high school. “My sister wants to do it. She’s only nine years old and she’s like, ‘I want to join!’ and I’m like, ‘Wow! They are really watching me. They really want to be and do what I’m doing.’” This is one of the greatest and most surprising benefits of being in JROTC, she explains: you are a role model, you are doing something positive, and you are recognized and rewarded for the responsibilities you take on. Yahaira echoed Sofia’s sentiments as she summed up the significance of JROTC for her: It’s exciting. It’s fun. You have to be involved [in JROTC]. You have to be. That’s probably the most important part of being in ROTC. If you’re not involved—it shouldn’t be just another class. If you’re going to join the program, you need to get involved. You need to get recognized for the accomplishments you’ve got. I know, because freshman year I kind of didn’t really do that much. Sophomore year came and I started doing more. And junior year I was really participating. I was doing the job I am now. . . . You have to complete every challenge that’s given to you. When the chance is there for you to step up and show that you have the leadership that you’re going to be given, or that you have been given, you have to do it. If not—then you’re just going to be another cadet.

Leadership as Respect and Dignity While there is certainly nothing wrong with being “just another cadet”— indeed, followership is valued in JROTC not only as a step toward being a leader but because it is essential to the successful functioning of JROTC— students were unanimous about the centrality of respect in leadership. Respect is a recurring theme throughout the JROTC curriculum— respect for authority, for the uniform, for veterans and enlisted military personnel, as well as respect for themselves. Respect also is an enduring desire for youth who reveal recurring instances in which they and their communities are not acknowledged in positive ways and are denied the

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dignity they believe the deserve. In this way, the deep regard for respect in JROTC is more than just about leadership in the program. It is about citizenship, dignity, and social standing. Although students had myriad stories about being disciplined by Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano, they always described being treated with respect by them and others in the program. This reality is often in sharp contrast to the perceptions outsiders have of JROTC. Some people don’t join JROTC, Vanessa Cruz explained, because they worry that they are going to be yelled at, degraded, and humiliated unnecessarily. This was her erroneous perception prior to joining the program: “I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle people yelling at me or telling me what to do. But JROTC is not really like that. They have respect for you. And if you’re doing wrong, you should know not to do it.” This kind of respect, she explains, has inspired her to stay focused in school and to become more involved in JROTC, making her mother and grandmother proud of her. Like Vanessa, Marisel Sanchez described the respect she feels in JROTC. “They actually treat you with a lot of respect. And having that feeling makes you feel so good, knowing that you have someone that respects you, that barely knows you but has respect for you.” Marisel explained that because her family has a long history with the military, she was raised to be deferential to authority and to be respectful, and she sees this as a key part of being a successful leader. For Marisel and Vanessa, as well as other young people in the program, respect infused discussions about JROTC, relationships with fellow cadets and noncadets in school, and reflections about how JROTC has transformed them and the perceptions outsiders have of them. For some scholars, Latina/o students’ emphasis on respect would not be surprising since it appears to fit neatly within presumed categories of respect and honor that are put forth as guiding the aggressive behavior of young Latino men seeking respect and honor. But Marisel and Vanessa’s observations speak to more nuanced meanings of respect that apply to their experiences in JROTC and beyond their school, such as the desire to be acknowledged, accepted, and treated with dignity by each other and by the broader community. Sociologist Victor Rios makes a similar observation, noting that Latino and African American youth whose behaviors and style are regarded as deviant and criminalized “demonstrated a yearning for being accepted by mainstream society and used the resources available

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to them in an attempt to do so.”38 JROTC is one of the few and effective resources Latina/o and working-class youth from South Lorain have to demonstrate they are good, positive leaders among their peers, and worthy of dignity.

Conclusion: Engendering Leadership Young people provided myriad descriptions of what constitutes good leadership and why becoming a leader was important to them; fundamental to these understandings is the belief that leaders inspire others to follow. How you do this is by showing your regard and respect for your fellow cadets. Doing so, according to Sam Nuñez, takes time but is the mark of enduring leadership. I got to know whoever was under me. My subordinates. I got to know who they were as a person. I got to know their strengths and weaknesses. I got to know what makes them mad and what they like to do. I made sure that whatever we did, we did it as a team. Made sure everybody was comfortable with what we did. And ultimately [I] trained them well enough to become good drillers, for example, when I was a drill team commander. . . . I knew what their strengths were, what their weaknesses were and then I developed them into a team. And we won trophies. This is one of my best leadership qualities.

Taking the time to know his fellow cadets is key to what Sam understands as good leadership. By showing respect—by drilling students, working with them, getting to know their strengths, and encouraging them—he acknowledged their humanity and earned their respect. Like Sam, other cadet leaders were admired for being supportive and encouraging, with young women being praised as well for their attention to detail and for their willingness to step up and take charge. For some students, these leadership skills seemed to be innate gendered qualities that distinguished young women and men; but others, like Sam, challenged these gendered categories to focus on their perception that leadership is a skill that can be learned, nurtured, and developed. Thus, while some students defined themselves as born leaders and have many examples of the ways they have been required to take charge of

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their lives outside school that facilitate doing so in JROTC, others have stories of conversion and redemption that reveal the ways JROTC saved them and molded them into leaders. For young people who are acutely aware of the often negative ways they are depicted in local and national media, being associated with something positive and admired by others is no small matter. Indeed, it is precisely these opportunities that provide them with the skills, confidence, and resources they believe enhance their success and allow them to engage in the kind of selfengineering they believe will ensure their own success and that of their families and communities.

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“Citizenship Takes Practice” Service, Personal Responsibility, and Representing What Is Good about America

“Everything you do in life makes a difference.” First Sergeant Milano was at the front of the large classroom, addressing students in Charlie Company on an icy, gray February morning. He was encouraging them to bring in donations—toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, lotions, trail mix, and other nonperishable snacks—to help support local veterans groups assembling care packages for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. First Sergeant managed to make this JROTC-sponsored event into a schoolwide service opportunity, with dozens of Fairview students stopping by the JROTC classroom to donate items to “support the troops.” Charlie Company, apparently, was lagging behind the other classes, and First Sergeant was trying to motivate them, encouraging them not only to participate, but also to lead the school by their own actions. In order to get something done, you need to lead. I’m asking you to lead this school. You. My own cadets. The best in the business. You are the best at community service. You go to nursing homes. You escort guests for school events, like the one tonight. You do something positive other students do not. You are generous and do so much. We do so many good things in the community because if we don’t care for our people, who will? So, please. Participate. Please. Get involved.

Students nodded attentively, certainly familiar with the ways they are compared favorably with others in the school and frequently reminded that they are exceptional and should lead others by their exemplary behavior. Impassioned speeches such as this were what endeared First Sergeant to many of the students, who would often roll their eyes and smile as he delivered sermonlike exhortations to get involved in their 151

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school and local communities; to lead by example; to be disciplined and work hard; and to recognize and appreciate the good they do through their participation in JROTC. His unwavering belief in them and in the program, as well as his and Major Wise’s mentorship and disciplinebased approach to school and life, were admired and appreciated by students, parents, and those who worked with JROTC both in the school and in the community. This morning’s appeal to participate and recognize the good each student can do created a space for First Sergeant to reflect on other examples in which people make a difference (both positively and negatively) in their communities. In the most recent election, for example, a levy to increase funding for a local school district failed to pass by a slim margin. According to First Sergeant, the levy lost by just one vote. If just one more person voted, then there would be money for sports, for buses, for teachers. Now they are going to have to cut many of these things if the absentee ballots don’t reverse the decision. One vote made the decision. Your participation in community life makes a difference. When you get involved, it makes a difference. It only takes a few to change the world. Just look at Reverend Martin Luther King. That’s one man. And he made a difference. You can and have made a difference too.

First Sergeant didn’t hide his disdain for the outcome of the local election, not only because he disagreed with the voters’ failure to pass a levy to support local schools but also because it demonstrated the kind of apathy and lack of engagement he indefatigably combated in his daily interactions with students. From the very first days in JROTC, students are encouraged to get involved through drill teams, community service, working with local veterans organizations, and fieldtrips. They are told that participating in extracurricular activities is not only good for them (it’s fun, it helps boost their résumé, and it provides important opportunities for them to learn and lead) but is also good for their communities. Like other students in the school, JROTC cadets are reminded of those who have made a difference in the lives of others—Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and military veterans, for example—and are invited to think of themselves as catalysts for making the world a better place. But what seems to distinguish JROTC students from others is the way the

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program consistently binds up “making a difference” with the duties and obligations of good citizenship. In other words, while they—like so many earnest Oberlin College students I work with, for instance— share the belief they can change the world, young people in JROTC are repeatedly encouraged to understand their conduct as enacting good citizenship.1 First Sergeant Milano’s comments that morning, therefore, were neither new nor surprising; indeed, they are recurring themes highlighting one of JROTC’s core tenets: citizenship takes practice. As JROTC increasingly markets itself as a premier leadership program focused on character education, student achievement, wellness, and diversity, it also promotes its ability to work with local high schools to “produce successful students and citizens.”2 As we have seen, the program’s emphasis on leadership, discipline, and ethical conduct is framed for participants and supporters alike as a transferable skillset made up of valuable pieces of cultural and social capital that will translate into improved educational and employment outcomes and, ultimately, economically secure futures for young people. According to the JROTC website, the program is a valuable one, “making substantial contributions to students, schools, and communities which benefit greatly from its presence.” By focusing on school attendance, graduation and dropout rates, school-based disciplinary actions, and GPAs, JROTC asserts that its cadets outperform other students on average, a finding that is supported by a number of studies comparing JROTC to non-JROTC high school students.3 These are clearly defined measures that many would agree are useful indicators for assessing students’ success. What is less clear, however, is how we measure, define, and assess the successful production of young citizens. What does citizenship mean to students in JROTC? How is citizenship defined and how is it promoted and encouraged through the program? If citizenship takes practice, what kinds of acts are supported and for what reasons? And perhaps most important, what does citizenship mean for working-class and impoverished Latinas/os, whose communities have long, fraught relationships with U.S. citizenship in the new millennium? Citizenship talk permeates all facets of JROTC. Large posters featuring an undulating American flag at dusk, with the words: “Mission Statement: To Motivate Young People To Be Better Citizens,” are displayed prominently in JROTC classrooms and drill competitions. The motto also appears in promotional literature, in

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JROTC workbooks and videos, and in bold red lettering at the top of each page of the Army JROTC website. In both formal interviews and casual conversations with students and JROTC staff, citizenship is often invoked to explain various behaviors and attitudes. Throughout my time working with students at Fairview High School and the many years I have read and researched JROTC, it is has become increasingly clear that talk about citizenship is like water: it gets in everywhere.4 The troubled waters of citizenship have ebbed and flowed in the U.S. for the past two decades. In the wake of September 11, writers from across the political spectrum have debated the meaning of citizenship and have struggled to define its contours. For some, citizenship is an urgent question about boundaries and edges, about who belongs and who is excluded. This vision of citizenship narrowly focuses on legal definitions of belonging and, as Linda Bosniak notes, “boundary-focused citizenship is understood to denote not only community belonging but also community exclusivity and closure.”5 Others, such as anthropologist Leo Chavez, have called for more inclusive notions of citizenship that acknowledge how social practices, culture, and transnational activities have transformed “what a sense of belonging and community membership mean today.”6 And writers such as Andrew Bacevich have called for Americans to return to a notion of citizenship in which “privileges entail responsibilities.”7 Given the range of meanings attached to citizenship, as well as the passionate debates that have continued unabated in recent years, careful attention to the ways young people learn, conceptualize, and enact citizenship in their daily lives is both timely and necessary. According to most of the young people I worked with, JROTC was the first and only place where they were actively invited to think of themselves as citizens.8 This raises important questions about what kind of citizenship they are imagining and participating in, as well as the ways they are enacting citizenship in their daily lives. For many, citizenship is grounded in a sense of duty and obligation to serve others in the community. Toy drives, fund-raisers, cleaning up parks, volunteering for community events, working with veterans organization, and collecting goods to send to deployed troops abroad are examples of the community service JROTC students perform. Yet, in addition to these activities, a number of young people conveyed more affective visions of citizenship that were bound up with a sense of duty to pro-

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mote collective betterment and community uplift.9 This was particularly true for Latina/o students, who are acutely aware of the challenges facing their neighborhoods and families. As sociologist Lorena Garcia and other Latina/o scholars remind us, Latina/o youth are acutely aware of the ways they are depicted and talked about in the broader society.10 This is certainly the case for Puerto Rican and Latina/o youth from Lorain, who often conveyed frustration, disappointment, and anger both about the problems facing their communities and the enduring stereotypes they believed failed to capture the complexity and pride of South Lorain. Focusing on these visions of citizenship helps to demonstrate the ways in which participating in JROTC provides an opportunity to transform a pernicious narrative of deviance, dependency, and disorganization to one of personal responsibility, self-improvement, and community uplift. JROTC explicitly connects citizenship to students’ sense of duties and obligations to serve others, and the cadets exceed these expectations not only by framing their service as an opportunity to “give back” to their families and communities but also by seeking out and taking pride in the ways that the public recognition they receive for their work honors and ameliorates narratives that stigmatize and denigrate their families and communities. If citizenship, indeed, takes practice, Latina/o youth in JROTC exhibit admirable tenacity in practicing good citizenship.

Citizenship in Theory and Practice According to political theorist Judith Shklar, “There is no notion more central in politics than citizenship, and none more variable in history, or contested in theory.”11 Recent debates about citizenship in the news media, political discourse, and literary and scholarly works attest to the accuracy of Shklar’s observation. Indeed, within Latina/o, American, and Ethnic Studies, as well as anthropology, history, sociology, and political science, scholars have exercised Herculean efforts to theorize the shifting meanings of citizenship past and present. Although citizenship was not one of the main questions that originally guided my research about Latina/o youth and JROTC, it became clear very early on, first in Chicago and then in Lorain, that citizenship was important to study. This is not simply because of JROTC’s motto and curriculum, which foreground citizenship education prominently. Rather, students and

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parents, as well as program staff and supporters, all invoked citizenship in surprising ways throughout the course of my research. Perhaps I was more attuned to the varieties of citizenship-speak throughout my fieldwork because of my teaching at Oberlin College, where questions about race, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, and belonging suffuse course offerings, readings, seminar discussions, lectures, and research agendas. Similarly, discussions in professional meetings, conferences and workshops about neoliberalism, inequality, nativism, the War on Terror, militarism, and the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation, particularly post-9/11, informed the ways I tried to make sense of the growing number of JROTC programs in American public high schools, as well as the dedication and passion so many young Latina/os exhibit for the program in Lorain, Chicago, and beyond. The convergence of these events—new and powerful intellectual currents in my professional associations and teaching intersecting with the ways I framed questions, listened, and analyzed ethnographic data—is not incidental. Rather they reflect the structure of feeling of a historical moment in which ideas about citizenship, power, and belonging collide.12 For scholars like Leo Chavez, these experiences are deeply troubling and represent what he characterizes as “the contemporary crisis in the meaning of citizenship.”13 Indeed, although citizenship usually refers to a sense of democratic belonging and inclusion that invokes a sense of equality and solidarity, Linda Bosniak observes that in practice, “this inclusion is usually premised on a conception of community that is bounded and exclusive . . . [that] can also represent an axis of subordination itself.”14 As many scholars have noted, in a post-9/11 world, citizenship-as-subordination has taken many forms, including virulent anti-immigrant legislation tendentiously justified by the need to secure U.S. borders in the name of national security.15 These policies have had a particularly devastating effect on Latina/o communities—most notoriously in places like Arizona—where race and class have been used as markers to identify and define some outside the nation and have reinvigorated what Leo Chavez has identified as the Latino Threat Narrative that characterizes Latinas/os as a destructive force undermining the “the privileges and rights of citizenship for legitimate members of society.”16 It is precisely this contradiction—egalitarian ideals of national solidarity and the reality of subordination bound up within notions of

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citizenship—that contributes to a palpable sense of unease and anxiety about the meaning of citizenship in contemporary American society. Perhaps this is why I was so surprised by the clarity and ease with which students, teachers, parents, and community members alike invoked the language of citizenship to refer to their activities, their identities, and their aspirations for themselves and their communities. In sharp contrast with political and academic discourse that questioned, challenged, and critiqued claims to citizenship, as well as long histories of ambivalence and struggle that characterize Puerto Rican, Chicana/o, and African American citizenship experiences, JROTC students embraced and deployed understandings of citizenship that were far more expansive, inclusive, and hopeful. And although there were instances in which students proposed unconventional ways of thinking about citizenship, their practice of expanding its definitions reflects Linda Bosniak’s observation: “Citizenship is a word of the greatest approbation. To designate institutions and practices and experiences in the language of citizenship is not merely to describe them, but also to accord them a kind of honor and political recognition.”17 Students described cleaning local parks, aiding disabled veterans, overcoming adversity, taking responsibility for oneself and improving the experiences and reputation of one’s community as examples of good citizenship, as emotionally resonant acts they were deeply invested in and were publicly honored and praised for doing. These actions were not taken lightly, nor were they random or episodic. Rather, they reflect habituated behaviors that exemplified not only students’ understandings of what citizenship is (solidarity and belonging) but also where it takes place (profoundly local) and who can be a citizen (anyone who chooses to actively participate).18 Social theorists have identified rights, legal status, political participation, and collective sentiment and identity as core concerns of citizenship, but JROTC cadets regard these last two categories— participation and collective sentiment/identity—as the most valued examples of citizenship that inform their behaviors and actions within JROTC and beyond.19 For Fairview’s youth, whose class, ethnic, racial, employment, and legal status have placed them and their families at various moments in time at the margins of society, the possibility of being positively associated with the most admired qualities and privileges of national member-

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ship is no small matter. Both in the past and in contemporary political discourse, for example, we witness how the ability to be freely employed and productive, earn money, and be financially independent is central to our understandings of full citizenship. Those who are unable to do so—the poor, those who rely on public aid, the “underclass,” or, borrowing from Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, the 47 percent—are “not quite citizens.”20 Similarly, because, as Lisa Cacho reminds us, “social value is assigned and denied on racial terms,” Puerto Ricans’, Chicano/Mexican Americans’, and African Americans’ long history of struggle for full citizenship rights has often rested on their military service, both as a mechanism for economic and racial justice and as proof of their “worthiness” and “deservingness of inclusion into the U.S. nation-state.”21 Finally, immigrants also face barriers to full inclusion in the nation, battling questions of alienage and belonging. Yet despite the vitriolic national debates about citizenship and belonging, painful histories of exclusion based on race, class, and sexuality, and powerful attempts to continue to define the poor, immigrants, and communities of color as outside the nation, the largely Latina/o, African American, immigrant, and low-income students who make up the bulk of Fairview’s JROTC program proudly embrace the label of citizenship to describe themselves and their actions. In doing so they simultaneously expand definitions of citizenship in order to challenge stigmatizing images and labels characterizing their communities.22 So, how do JROTC cadets come to think of themselves as citizens and identify many of their activities as citizenship acts? Three key features of JROTC instruction—the curriculum, public performances and competitions, and community service—are designed to provide citizenship education and to link these insights with embodied practice. From very early on in the JROTC curriculum, students are introduced through course readings, lectures, in-class video screenings, online video clips on the JROTC website, and promotional literature, posters, and invited speakers to extensive discussions about the origins, meaning, duties, and responsibilities bound up with citizenship. Ritualized practices, such as standing and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as well as the Cadet Creed each morning at the beginning of class, also reinforce a sense of citizenship and national belonging. The Cadet Creed is particularly important both because it invites students to identify with seven specific attributes

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that define them as an Army JROTC cadet and it invokes the language of citizenship, patriotism, loyalty, family, and nation. Cadet Creed I am an Army Junior ROTC Cadet I will always conduct myself to bring credit to my family, country, school and the Corps of Cadets I am loyal and patriotic I am the future of the United States of America I do not lie, cheat or steal and will always be accountable for my actions and deeds I will always practice good citizenship and patriotism I will work hard to improve my mind and strengthen my body I will seek the mantle of leadership and stand prepared to uphold the Constitution and the American way of life May God grant me the strength to always live by this creed.23

The Creed’s emphasis on acting in ways that “bring credit” to others and demonstrate that they are “accountable” for actions and deeds resonates with profoundly held notions of neoliberal citizenship emphasizing personal responsibility and reliability. Like weekly uniform inspections, reciting the Cadet Creed daily is a powerful example of how schools play a key role in ritualizing “the production of responsible, reliable student-citizens” through quotidian embodied practices.24 The JROTC curriculum on citizenship and American history further reinforces these ideas about citizenship and obligation to family, community, school, and nation and is an important site for understanding not only how cadets develop an understanding of citizenship that is about “giving back” and community uplift but how these ideas shape student aspirations and social reproduction.25 At the beginning of each academic year, JROTC cadets are provided with a Leadership, Education and Training (LET) workbook that provides readings, course objectives, key terms, and exercises that are the core of JROTC’s course of study. Although questions of citizenship suffuse all three LET instruction levels, it has an especially prominent role in LET II and LET III, with more than half of LET II’s curriculum dedi-

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cated to the unit titled “Citizenship in American History and Government.” Throughout this unit, students are presented with a history of the American political system, an extensive discussion of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and a brief discussion of the military justice system. Notably, the very beginning and ending of this long unit are dedicated to what the book describes as “citizenship skills” and “citizen roles.” Citizenship skills are described as the “basic human values the Founding Fathers envisioned when they drafted the Constitution,” and are derived directly from the Preamble of the United States Constitution. According to the text, “Individual values, which are also important to the success of our nation, are inferred from the Preamble,” and are the basis for these seven citizenship skills that define “what good citizenship should be.”26 These seven skills include cooperation, patience, fairness, respect, strength, self-improvement, and balance and are described as interdependent and in need of constant vigilance and practice.27 Each citizenship skill has an extensive and distinct explanation, both of its specific origin in the Preamble and as a skill one can enact on a daily basis; the ideas of practice and individual agency are recurring themes connecting the seven skills. This analysis and the review questions at the end of the lesson all reinforce the core tenets of JROTC: citizenship takes practice and requires self-improvement. The final chapter of LET II on citizen roles makes a similar point, emphasizing the ways students can be good citizens “in your school, community, country and the world.” It also makes explicit comparisons among American notions of citizenship (referencing the Founding Fathers, John Locke, and Alexis de Tocqueville) and delineates the differences between citizens in a constitutional democracy and those in totalitarian or dictatorial regimes. Because this final section explicitly locates U.S. citizenship within a broader global context, it also addresses questions about naturalization, alien residents, and the changing nature of citizenship in a multicultural and increasingly transnational world, and concludes with a discussion and questions about the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Like the previous discussion about citizenship skills, the lessons in this final section emphasize both the rights and the duties of citizens and highlight the imperative for citizens to be actively involved through, among other things, identifying problems (such as violence in urban and rural American) and promot-

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ing solutions to these problems on a local and broader level. “Citizens,” according to the workbook, “are made, not born.”28 People learn citizenship through their daily activities beginning at an early age. And while the lesson makes the important distinction between political and social action, many of the examples presented focus on social action and the ways one learns citizenship and enacts it at home, in classrooms, in communities, and in the nation. Again, these notions, while explicitly linked to concerns about the “common good” and the need to promote and support a collective sense of the common good, rest primarily on selfknowledge, balancing self-interest with service to others, and personal accountability. This tension between “enlightened self-interest” and promoting the “common good” is not an unfamiliar one. Indeed, as the text points out, it represents an enduring conundrum in American civic life that often (erroneously) pits discourses of natural rights against classical republican virtue. The ultimate lesson JROTC provides, however, is an opportunity to reflect on the possibility of reconciling these visions of citizenship while simultaneously encouraging students to engage in behaviors that enhance self-esteem, self-improvement, and accountability. Although JROTC clearly advances this vision of citizenship in its readings, videos, and lectures, it is perhaps no surprise that nowhere are these ideas of self-modification, improvement, and discipline for both personal and group success more visible than in the drill competitions and performances that JROTC cadets participate in throughout the year.

Performing Citizenship From the very first days of the school year, both new and seasoned cadets are encouraged to get involved in the many extracurricular activities the program provides. Both Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano were relentless in explaining how drill competitions, volunteering for local fund-raisers, cleaning parks, toy drives, and serving as ushers for school and other public events were not only fun but also good for students and their communities. “We’re encouraging you to be better citizens,” Major Wise explained to students on my first day with the program in late August 2006. “To do things in your community. To get involved.” JROTC, he continued, provides students with discipline to help develop themselves, and this requires constant vigilance and practice. “There are

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some things that you just don’t have naturally. You have to learn certain behaviors.” Discipline and citizenship are consistently identified as two skills that need to be learned, habituated, and enacted on a regular basis. And preparing for drill competitions is one of the key ways students are able to learn and develop both. Students drill early in the morning before school, after classes end in the afternoon, and during their JROTC class. They practice routines with demilitarized rifles, develop and repeat fast, complicated, and creative unarmed step routines, and practice marching and saluting with exacting precision over and over. Cadet leaders learn to execute commands loudly and with authority, while others learn to respond in precise unison. Like their fellow students who participate in sports, band, and theater, JROTC cadets invest countless hours to improve their own performance as well to ensure the collective success of their unit. Fairview’s cadets take great pride in the number of trophies they have won at drill competitions throughout Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana over the years. Medals, trophies, plaques, and certificates honoring the success of its JROTC program adorn the classroom walls and are prominently placed next to awards for sports teams in glass cases near the entrance of the school. When I would ask students what some of the greatest benefits of participating in JROTC are, they were nearly unanimous in identifying the important role extracurricular activities play in their initial and sustained interest in the program. Preparing and participating in drill competitions required a great deal of time, sacrifice, and commitment, students explained to me. But the rewards were invaluable. Drill competitions not only provided an opportunity for them to enjoy personal and collective success and public recognition but also offered the possibility of traveling to new places, meeting new people, and being in novel contexts that the students might not otherwise be able to experience. While band and sports also involve a significant investment of time, the opportunity to see new places and meet new people, and public recognition of success, JROTC’s reach is much broader. The program brings cadets in contact with a diverse range of students from rural and urban school districts, as well as retired military personnel, college students enrolled in local ROTC programs, and veterans, all of whom regularly attend and participate in these events in various capacities. This is one of the many ways talk about JROTC resembles the allure of the military: Both hold

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the promise of travel, positive public recognition, economic support and investment for personal and collective improvement, and enjoy broad support from family, friends, and community. From the very beginning of my fieldwork, students talked about and oriented most of their extracurricular activities around the first drill competition of the school year at the University of Toledo. While students drilled and ensured that they had all the proper equipment and uniforms for Toledo, parents involved in the JROTC Booster Club also prepared by planning fund-raisers, organizing rides for students and families, and coordinating food, drinks, and other supplies for the daylong event. Although I had believed the countless conversations I had with students, the JROTC instructors and family members, my observations of students drilling before, after, and during school, and my experiences watching Fairview’s Honor and Color Guards perform in various public venues prepared me well for what I would observe in Toledo, I was sadly mistaken. When I arrived at Fairview’s parking lot at five on a cold Saturday morning in early December, I was stunned to see dozens of cadets dressed impeccably in uniform, waiting in the gym and ready to travel in private cars and vans to Toledo, approximately ninety minutes away. Once in Toledo, students and their families met in a large building where hundreds of cadets, JROTC instructors, enlisted military personnel, college students, and families were arriving and preparing for the day’s events. As soon as we arrived, it was clear that competitions were beginning, with small squads performing before panels of judges in military uniforms seated behind long tables. Cadets waiting to perform either sat quietly with their school units in designated sites throughout the expansive space, or they practiced, prepared, and paced a small area prior to being called for their event. The atmosphere was chaotic and tense, but the excitement of the day was also palpable. As I sat with José Montés, his sister Yamila, and their parents, other Fairview cadets would walk by nervously, especially those who were attending the drill competition for the first time. Amina Teller, for example, was going to perform in the armed drill exhibition for the first time, and her nervousness led her to tears. She and other girls from the unarmed drill exhibition team hugged and tried unsuccessfully to calm each other down. When Major Wise observed their nervousness, he approached them reassuringly saying, “It’s going to be all right. Breathe through your nose and out your

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mouth.” Other, more seasoned, cadets, like Alana Ramos and Lisa Alvarez, sat with their parents and watched attentively as various JROTC performed in and prepared for the next group. Although the nervous energy and excitement of the day truly surprised me, I was even more struck by the ways the entire drill competition experience was profoundly shaped by race, class, and gender. Perhaps most striking was the visible display of the racial segregation of American public schools as well as stark class-based distinctions.29 JROTC units from two schools in Gary, Indiana, for example, were composed entirely of African American youth and competed against cadets from JROTC programs in rural Indiana and Ohio who were all white. Similarly, the majority of Fairview’s cadets were Puerto Rican and African American, although a number of white students also participated. But this kind of integration was the exception. While students from Fairview proudly wore a complete cadet uniform, many African American cadets from Detroit and Gary did not. Instead they wore the standard Army green uniform top (no name tag), dark pants and shoes, but didn’t have berets, hats, or gloves. The uniforms were also unadorned, without the ribbons, medals, and pins other cadets wore. This contrasted sharply not only with the Latina/o and African American cadets from Fairview but also with the all-white units from rural Indiana and Ohio, whose uniforms were complete with jackets, belts, name tags, and gloves, as well as rifles and sabers used for Armed Infantry Drill Regulation (IDR) and unarmed IDR. These differences in dress exemplified a comment First Sergeant Milano made early in the semester: although the army provides money for the essential elements of the cadet uniform, the rest is paid for by local programs through fund-raisers and donations from the Booster Club and local veterans organizations. Because of the financial investment from parents and the broader community in Lorain County, programs like Fairview are comparatively well resourced, reflecting important class-based differences among JROTC units. In addition to the race- and class-based differences distinguishing cadets, gender also shaped the drill performances and elicited some of the most vocal responses (some positive, many quite critical) from cadets, instructors, and visitors alike. Young Latina and African American girls predominate in the unarmed drill exhibitions, an original sequence of tightly coordinated and synchronized clapping, stepping,

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and spinning movements that resembles a long, distinguished history of African American step routines. Although unarmed drill exhibition includes male, female and coeducational teams, the girls’ routines are one of the most popular and anticipated events during the competition. Unlike the highly regulated Infantry Drill Regulation, which focuses on a student’s individual ability to stand and march with extreme precision with a rifle in accordance with the official military field manual and features more young men than women across race and ethnicity, armed and unarmed drill exhibitions provide a space for students to develop creative and highly stylized routines that reflect distinctive affective and cultural traditions that both delight and upset observers. An unarmed exhibition team from Detroit, for example, featured young African American girls in an energetic routine that included all of them wearing their hair loose and free and shaking their heads as part of their highly synchronized performance of stepping, clapping, and spinning. As I watched in amazement, one of the Fairview cadets whispered to me, “They are great to watch every year. But they never win.” Others, especially JROTC and ROTC instructors, were not as impressed, with one noting loudly at the end of the routine, “That’s just garbage. They do that every year.” Others noted derisively that the girls were not uniform in appearance, their hair was not regulation, they appeared unruly, and that it was antithetical to what the unarmed drill exhibition (and the entire drill meet in general) represents. Fairview’s female unarmed exhibition team soon followed, and given the program’s positive reputation at this meet, there was a great deal of attention and enthusiasm for their performance. As they moved to take their place at the center of the gym floor, observers remarked on their appearance. Each girl was dressed impeccably, with her hair pinned, gelled, and contained under a perfectly positioned green beret. All of them were focused, serious, and unsmiling. In contrast, the parents seemed nervous, anxious, and excited, aware of how much time, effort, and emotion the girls had invested in preparing for this moment. Like so many other teams, Fairview’s routine began quite solemnly, with the girls lining up and marching with incredible precision at the command of the platoon leader, Yamila Montés. Within a few moments, however, the routine transformed into a high-energy and complicated series of synchronized clapping, turning, and choreographed movements. At the

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end of each sequence, Yamila would call another command and the girls would respond with yet more complicated and stylized moves. Near the end of the routine, the drill team surprised the crowd with Yamila calling out to the group and with them responding, “Fairview Saints somos muy bonitas [we are very pretty],” which elicited enthusiastic laughter, cheers, and applause. When the routine ended, tearful girls hugged and held on to each other and their parents as onlookers applauded, nodding their heads in approval. Yamila’s brother, José, was standing near me and announced to his parents, grandmother, and all around him, “This made it worth waking up at 4 a.m.!” For Yamila and older cadets who have participated in previous drill competitions, this kind of response was exciting, but also familiar. They pride themselves on developing original and creative routines that are well received and win them trophies. But first-year students expressed exhilaration and were so overcome by emotion that they continued to cry and embrace their fellow cadets and parents. Older cadet leaders, like Alana and Lisa, made it a point to put their arms around the younger girls while holding their hands and congratulating them for their performance. And as everyone regained their composure, the Fairview cadets convened in the area of the gym where their Booster Club—including parents, grandparents, siblings, and parents of former cadets—had set up blankets, pillows, and chairs near coolers and tables filled with food and drinks they had brought for the kids to eat and snack on throughout the day. As cadets from different schools continued to perform, a diverse crowd talked, socialized, networked, and observed the events from the bleachers, hallway, and the perimeter of the gym. Graduates from Fairview’s program, many now in attendance at the University of Toledo and nearby Bowling Green State University, met up with friends and family from Lorain and shared their experiences of college life. Some were successfully enrolled in ROTC programs and talked excitedly about the scholarship money and support they received. They also emphasized how different JROTC was from ROTC. Others explained that although they weren’t currently enrolled in their university’s ROTC program, they came to the drill competition to support Fairview and talked about how JROTC had prepared them well for college. One student, a workingclass young white man currently attending Bowling Green, spoke to a smaller group of Fairview kids about how JROTC made it possible

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for him to succeed in ROTC and how if weren’t for the program—with scholarship money that paid for tuition, room, and board, as well as a monthly stipend for books—he would be attending Lorain County Community College and working in a Ford factory or a minimum wage job. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he quickly added. “My father works for Ford. But it’s just that the factory is now laying off people.” Everyone nodded knowingly and asked him questions about the difference between ROTC and JROTC. Another former Fairview cadet, a young white woman enrolled in the University of Toledo, was visibly moved to see everyone from Lorain and brought her reluctant boyfriend along to watch the competition. “Seeing them and being here feels like home,” she explained. When one of the cadets asked her why, after being a cadet leader at Fairview, she chose not to go into ROTC, she smiled saying, “JROTC is awesome! You guys were awesome! And no other school clubs do what JROTC does. Maybe Model UN, but really nothing else lets you get to do this. To travel here and to Indiana and Michigan. The recruiter tried so hard to get me to join, but I didn’t want to. I want to be a wedding planner. Do they have those in the military? I don’t think so,” she concluded, to much laughter. But JROTC, she reminded the students, is important. It motivates you and keeps you focused and that, she explained, is incredibly important to success in college. These interactions between Fairview JROTC alumni and current cadets are extremely meaningful and an important source of social capital. Students often develop plans and ideas for the future based on the experiences of siblings, uncles, aunts, and friends and recommendations from their JROTC instructors. Students’ loyalty to the program is forged out of years of friendship, working and traveling together, and a deeply held sense of shared purpose. Events of this kind strengthen the bonds between JROTC and its alumni and serve as important models of what is possible for Fairview graduates beyond high school. By attending drill competitions, as well as visiting the JROTC classroom when they are home in Lorain, successful alumni inspire and provide useful information about future trajectories. Like retired military personnel, military recruiters, and teachers, JROTC alumni are a critical source of information about how to plan for college and life beyond high school and are indefatigable supporters of an organization that not only helped them to succeed but also remind them of the pride they felt

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by associating themselves with both a successful JROTC program and the military more broadly. This point was further underscored in my conversations with enlisted military personnel, JROTC instructors, and others attending the day’s events. Thirty-one-year-old Monica Chambers, for example, is an African American army officer, who watched the performances with great interest. As we began to talk, she explained that she is a graduate student in special education at the University of Toledo, is involved in its ROTC program, and after years of being stationed in Korea, she married a Korean man and adopted a child before returning to the United States. When I asked her why she joined the military, she said she was motivated to do good in the world. When I responded saying that as a special education teacher she is doing a lot of good, she smiled and replied, “But with the army, with this kind of organization, you can do so much more good in the world. I can make a real difference.” The army’s global reach, as well as its reputation, resources, and the high regard in which it is held by many, provides a unique platform for making positive interventions in people’s lives. Being in the army not only allowed her to travel and come to know in a sustained way people she might not otherwise meet, it also provided her with a first-rate education and deepened her capacity, both emotionally and financially, to be a catalyst for good in the world. She is humble and proud of her and her husband’s decision to adopt their daughter from Korea, and as foster parents in the Toledo area, they are in the process of finalizing their adoption of a second child. Her sincere comments are widely shared among many in JROTC and the military more broadly and reflect what inspires people who anthropologist David Graeber has insightfully described as the “army of altruists,” those who join the military to be part of something bigger than themselves and to make the world a better place.30 This sense of purpose and the belief that one is called to use the army to do good in the world is not unlike the feelings motivating community activists, social workers, missionaries, and those whose religious and political epistemologies guide their thinking and practice. “I feel a sense of calling for JROTC,” retired Master Sergeant Reynolds explained to me later in the day. As a veteran of Desert Storm and with a son currently deployed in Iraq, he described how he feels personally fulfilled in his role as a JROTC instructor in a Dayton-area high school. “No one can deny

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the good JROTC does for these young people,” he asserted, looking out at all the students and their families around us. People might be critical of the military, but even the critics have to admit that JROTC is a positive influence on students’ lives. He continued, observing that even the principal of his school, a Harvard-educated African American woman who “hates the military,” has to admit the good JROTC can do. In fact, Reynolds noted that she reached out to him to lead the program, knowing that he would be an invaluable role model for African American young men in particular. “She knows it works. She’s no fool,” he laughed. “She knows it’s what kids need. And this is what I tell small business people when I am asking for money to support the program. Our kids are hungry for something positive. There is so little for them to do to be proud of. But this is one of them. We are making an investment in their lives. We are making a difference.” Listening respectfully to Master Sergeant Reynolds, Monica Chambers, and observing the energy, excitement, and fruits of months of individual and collective disciplined practice, it is nearly impossible to resist such persuasive arguments about the good the military can do for so many young people. It feels equally impossible to criticize a program that offers young people who are usually viewed with disappointment, suspicion, and fear an opportunity to be celebrated, admired, and regarded as role models who contribute in a meaningful way to their communities. Perhaps that is why when I say to Reynolds that I agree that JROTC can do good for kids but also ask what nonmilitary models we can develop with similar resources—federal support and money for an integrated program that includes extracurricular activities, travel, service learning, and broad community support—that can also make positive interventions in the lives of those who are in greatest need, my suggestion feels feeble and naïve. “Can’t we come up with other models for federally supported national programs for young people that are not tied to the military?” He smiles, shaking his head and patting my arm. What would those programs look like? What could they possibly be, he asks me? For him and so many others he knows who do this work, this is his vocation, his calling, and a proven way to make a positive change in young people’s lives. Students in JROTC receive these messages on a regular basis. In school, in their communities, and especially in emotionally charged events like drill competitions, they are constantly praised for their hard

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work and for being part of something positive that brings pride to them and to their families, schools, and communities. Drill meets are more than opportunities to win trophies: these highly ritualized events are opportunities to reinforce some of the key tenets of citizenship. Discipline, self-improvement, accountability to others, and working for the common good are essential elements for good citizenship and are reinforced through drill competitions and through other public performances. These events are also important because they strengthen group solidarity and belonging, not just to others in one’s unit or community but also to the military, whose ubiquitous presence is seen as a catalyst for good in their lives. If citizenship takes practice, drill meets serve as a critical site for habituating the virtues and actions required for enacting good in the world. They are also valued spaces where students and their supporters are publicly recognized for their efforts. This was the clear message Major Newsome, a tall, poised, middle-aged white woman, shared with all the cadets at the closing ceremony at the end of a long day. Standing before hundreds of cadets, alumni, parents, active and retired military personnel, and JROTC supporters she congratulated the students for all their hard work. “It may be that others make fun of you for being in JROTC. But today everyone looks at you with respect and envy. You have made people proud. And you are an example of what youth can do today.” On the ride back to Lorain later that evening, weary teens and their families talked about the day’s events—Fairview’s excellent performances, the trophies, the new friends people made, and especially the affirming interactions and comments by people like Major Newsome. Although none of the praise was new or surprising, José and Yamila basked in the glow of JROTC exceptionalism that is frequently offered by adults and is particularly meaningful coming from military personnel who, as Andrew Bacevich and others observe, “enjoy respect and high regard.”31 At a moment in which neoliberal governance has privatized service provision for the poor and socially marginalized and abdicated responsibility to the market, private interest, and the work of nonprofits, JROTC is a space where the state’s presence is highly visible, welcomed, and woven into the fabric of their daily lives. These very same students and their families are already familiar with the way the state embeds itself in their everyday lives, frequently through their experiences with

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punitive social control.32 Associating oneself with the military is both a corrective to these painful experiences and an opportunity to forge another kind of relationship to the state. In doing so, students not only draw on the language of citizenship to gain recognition and standing for what they do: they also deploy notions of citizenship, duty, and uplift to challenge stigmatizing labels and raise questions about the role of government in addressing the causes of enduring inequality facing their families and communities.

Locating Citizenship Practices As I have demonstrated in this chapter, the models of citizenship that students develop in JROTC are informed by the curriculum used in the classroom, different public performances (such as drill meets and public ceremonies such Veterans Day), and formal and informal conversations with adults, both in and out of school. These are important spaces in which students cultivate a sense of themselves as disciplined and selfreliant and embrace the idea that what they do matters and is valued by a broader community. These arenas are also crucial sites for engendering students’ sense of duty, obligation, and indebtedness that fit with the ways they imagine what citizenship is and where it can take place. Thus, while students develop a clear understanding of themselves as valued members of a community, their definitions of citizenship broaden more traditional exclusionary visions of belonging and offer instead a broader understanding of what citizenship is, who is a citizen, and where citizenship practices take place. In the discussion that follows, I explore what anthropologist Luis Plascencia describes as “everyday uses of citizenship” by focusing on the ways JROTC students describe the meaning of citizenship in their daily lives.33 It is clear that JROTC has been key in helping students foster self-perceptions, aspirations, and discipline that Elsa Davidson aptly characterizes as a “politics of citizenship emphasizing self government and personal responsibility . . . guided by neoliberal ideas and objectives.” 34 Yet it is equally evident that students’ lived experiences facilitate unexpected ruptures and opportunities to lay claim to full citizenship rights for themselves and their communities. In doing so, young Latinas/os and working-class youth still subscribe to notions of citizenship that rest on economic independence and personal

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responsibility, but they do so while also recognizing the humanity and intrinsic worth of those who are often regarded as deficient or unworthy of full recognition.

Citizenship as Productive Labor According to Suzanne Oboler, citizenship is not merely a legal status “but also a measure of the relative equality of the social actors as well as of the quality and practical implication of the common good.”35 As so many JROTC participants and supporters reminded me, the ability to work, earn money, and be financially independent is absolutely fundamental to their individual and collective well-being. As I discussed in previous chapters, Latina/o cadets and their families have long, complicated relationships with the U.S. military. This is particularly true for Puerto Ricans, whose current enlistment rates, according to Harry FranquiRivera, have surpassed those of the previous decade and who “are almost twice as likely to be in the military as the general population.”36 These experiences closely resemble those of African American communities, who, as Kimberley Phillips writes, “have historically enlisted and reenlisted at high rates, not because of any oversized sense of nationalism or patriotism, but because the military remains a steady job.”37 Indeed, as Franqui-Rivera argues, Puerto Ricans’ relationship to the military needs to be analyzed in relation to the critical ways military service has served as an “economic escape valve and path towards middle-class status for a disadvantaged population, and as a facilitator of spatial mobility.”38 The experiences of Puerto Rican, Latina/o, and working-class youth in JROTC, I would argue, also need to be analyzed in relation to their quest for economic security for themselves and their families. Just as military recruiters are acutely aware of the students’ concerns with money and use this as a seductive recruiting tool, JROTC instructors convey sincere concern over the limited economic possibilities facing youth in Lorain and are explicit in linking the ability to be a good citizen with economic independence. “We just want to help give the kids a good future,” First Sergeant explained to me one morning. “We want them to finish school, and we want them to learn skills that help them get good jobs when they graduate.” First Sergeant then pointed to the many photographs, letters, and certificates on his wall—what he called his “wall of honor,”—that

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showed graduates attending the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, smiling families, college graduation photos, and letters thanking him for his support over the years. All of these photographs and letters are a testament to the program’s success in providing teens with the tools and skills to succeed in school and go on to be productive and upstanding citizens. As we spoke, Major Wise entered the office and surprised me with a list of scholarly articles about JROTC that he hoped would be useful to me in my research. I offered my sincerest thanks and explained what I hoped to learn while working with the students throughout the year. When I described how I believed that the polarized debates about the value of JROTC often failed to consider the experiences and motivations of youth who participate in the program, both he and First Sergeant agreed with me. Major Wise then said solemnly, “Listen, I’m gonna be honest with you. For some kids, the military is a good alternative. What kinds of jobs are out there for kids graduating from high school? Can you really raise a family working at Walmart? For some kids, the military is a way to make money for school, which is not cheap. How much does it cost to go to Oberlin College?” He looked at me intently. “What? Twenty thousand? Thirty thousand?” “No,” I replied. “About forty thousand dollars.” “Exactly. The University of Akron—that’s a public school—one of our students who went on to study there came back to show us that it costs eighteen thousand dollars a year to go there. Now, you can get financial aid. You can get scholarships, but not everyone is going to get them. What happens if you have a 2.5 GPA? You can’t get a merit-based scholarship. And there are scholarships for minorities, but that doesn’t pay for everything. So, sometimes people will go into the military to pay for school.” We then discussed a recent report that found that Ohio’s colleges and universities are some of the most unaffordable in the nation and how it is hard to pay for college. “Let me tell you something,” Major Wise continued. “Kids coming out of JROTC have skills. They learn things. And maybe they go onto the military. But I don’t want all of these kids to go into the military. I want them to go to college. To get good-paying jobs, and to be productive citizens. I don’t want them not to have jobs and to have to go on welfare. That’s what this is about. And if JROTC can help kids do that, that’s what we’re about.” Like First Sergeant, Major Wise often remarks on the bleak

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economic landscape in Northeast Ohio. Students echo these concerns when they talk about the ways the recommendations and reputation of JROTC give them an advantage in getting jobs that help them pay for clothes, save for college, and contribute to their households. They are also remarkably frank about how their parents and extended family struggle to find jobs and stay in their homes, and the different strategies they use to make ends meet. What is striking about Major Wise’s comments, therefore, is not only the familiar sentiment that the military is a “good option” for some kids. Indeed, many of the kids and their parents have made similar remarks based on their positive experiences in the military or the ways military service has provided economic security, discipline, and social mobility for others. And for so many working-class and marginalized communities, the military has historically been and continues to be one of the few viable options. Instead, what is remarkable is the explicit way good citizenship is defined as being productive, independent, self-reliant, and having the economic ability to provide for a family. To be economically dependent—or, as Judith Shklar writes, to be a member of the “under-class”—is to fall short of full citizenship.39 Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano are acutely aware that many of their students come from homes that struggle economically and rely on a variety of government programs, and they also know the strain this puts on families and the broader community. Students also refer to these struggles and ground their understandings of citizenship in the ability of people to overcome and prevail in the face of adversity. George Holmes, for example, describes citizenship as trying and becoming a better person despite many challenges. Basically if you come to this classroom and you’re like—I don’t know, maybe you’ve had a rough life. You’ve been a bad kid, you stole and stuff like that. If you come in here and you actually put yourself to it and don’t think, “Oh, I’m not gonna do that,” but you actually try and do whatever somebody tells you. You will actually come out of here being a better student, being a more mature teenager and basically becoming a better citizen.

Like so many students’ narratives, George’s is filled with concerns about economic insecurity and his profound sense of wanting to help support

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his mother and be a good role model for his younger brother. He takes great pride in his job working for a landscaping business making seven dollars an hour and plans to be a mechanic since it is the kind of job he can easily secure through his family networks as well as a good reference from the auto body teacher at school. For George, being a good citizen is about being able to take care of himself and his family financially, as well the possibility for self-improvement. Such conceptualizations of citizenship—embracing self-esteem, independence, and private competition—reflect what Lisa Duggan describes as the roots of neoliberal models of citizenship that emphasize personal responsibility and regard dependency and public entitlements as sinister sources of broader social problems.40 Cadets (as I discuss later in the chapter) also deployed alternate narratives that defied the stigmatization of dependency. They behaved, strategized, and aspired in ways that not only “signaled their personal responsibility for an at-risk status.”41 They did so in ways that resonate with what Aiwa Ong and Leo Chavez describe as “self-engineering,” comporting themselves as “neoliberal citizens” who are disciplined, productive, and self-monitoring.42 JROTC plays a very important role in shaping students’ conceptualizations of citizenship. When I asked students, Major Brown, and First Sergeant Milano the other spaces in which to learn, reflect, and enact citizenship, they could identify very few alternatives. Some mentioned Model UN and the Kiwanis Club, and others mentioned the important role sports play in developing a sense of teamwork and discipline. Still others pointed to their religious communities as a source for learning about citizenship, obligation, and duty. But none of these organizations or institutions came close to providing the sustained engagement and practice of citizenship that JROTC did. Major Wise bemoaned this fact, but also emphasized how the dearth of alternative opportunities to instill such values enhanced the preciousness of what JROTC has to offer young people. “Look, for a lot of these kids, they need to learn things, and they don’t learn them at home. You have kids,” he correctly pointed out to me. “You teach them about respect and discipline, right? But what about these kids? Where do they get it if they don’t get it at home? For a lot of them, they get it here.” Major Wise continued explaining how this involvement not only helps the students themselves but is also critical for the school’s ability to meet state and federal requirements. “We have

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140 students in JROTC. And of these students, we have a 98 percent attendance rate. Now, when you have a 98 percent attendance rate for a 140 students in a school of about 1,200 students, that is significant. I tell people that all the time. We’re helping you out here. We’re bringing up your attendance percentages. And you need that to meet state requirements and standards.” He also noted that because teachers are under great pressure to teach to tests that are used to evaluate failing schools’ improvement and progress, teachers often do not have the time to counsel students they way he and First Sergeant are able to do. The close relationships they develop with students and their families help with retention, as does their ability to be creative with their curriculum. Major Wise continued: I really believe in the power of collaborative learning. If I let these kids learn for themselves, take on leadership roles in the classroom, make mistakes, and take some responsibility, then that makes them happy. It keeps them coming to school and keeps them involved. JROTC isn’t really about getting kids out of gangs, but some of these kids need direction. JROTC gives them that direction. So many kids these days, they’re just looking for something, some direction in life. We can do that for them here. And not necessarily getting them into the military after high school, but being productive citizens.

For Major Wise, citizenship is inextricably linked with the ability to foster values of discipline, responsibility, self-respect, and accountability, and JROTC has a special role in ensuring that students learn these values integral to good citizenship practice. Through the program, students remain in school, persevere, graduate, and have the potential to contribute something meaningful to society.43 JROTC instructors take very seriously their roles as positive models students can emulate and turn to for support and encouragement. And while students identified a range of adults they could turn to for advice and support—teachers, parents, older siblings, and clergy—military personnel hold a particularly revered status. In an all-volunteer-force moment when those who choose to serve are respected as brave, selfless altruists, soldiers possess a special kind of moral authority that distinguishes them from others commanding respect in American society.44 Indeed, as citizen

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soldiers they represent the pinnacle of American citizenship. JROTC cadets convey a profound sense of awe and humility when they meet veterans, especially those who have served in combat. They share this admiration for Major Wise and First Sergeant Milano as well, who not only exemplify admirable qualities of self-sacrifice and duty but demonstrate their loyalty to cadets and their families on a daily basis. As many scholars have shown, such role models are key in reinforcing the values of personal responsibility and gratitude that shape students’ hopes and aspirations, as well as their sense of duty and obligation to their communities. Such sentiments inspire, animate, and invigorate students’ desires to be involved in community service, an activity they unanimously identify as one of the most meaningful parts of their JROTC experience. Community service is also one of the most visible examples of what citizenship is, where it takes place, and how they come to an understanding of themselves as valued members of their school, their community, and the nation.

Citizenship as Service After many months of observing the ways conversations about citizenship occurred in classroom discussions, informal conversations, public performances, drill competitions, and ceremonies, I made it a point to ask students to define citizenship when I interviewed them beginning in the early spring. Often students initiated talking about citizenship before I asked them about it explicitly, and this frequently occurred as we talked about their goals when they joined the program or when I asked what they believed were the greatest benefits of being in JROTC. This is precisely what happened when I spoke with Peter Sokolowsi, who said one of the things he enjoyed most (and that he believed made Fairview’s JROTC program so distinctive) was the program’s emphasis on community service. When I asked why community service is emphasized in JROTC, he replied, “Because we are trying to give back to the community and we’re trying to teach the kids in the program how to be a good citizen.” “What does it mean to be a good citizen?” I asked in response. “I think to give back to the community. Do things that can help others. Not just looking out for yourself.” With this succinct reply, Peter captured the prevailing sentiment about the relationship between

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citizenship and service: they are inextricably linked. And while students identify the allure of travel, being part of a winning team, and the significant social capital they develop as important parts of JROC, community service is, by far, one of the most valued experiences in JROTC. “I think that community service is probably my favorite thing of ROTC,” Alana Ramos stated in her interview. As a young woman active in a range of diverse activities both in and out of school, Alana enjoys her encounters with veterans and the elderly, and working with younger kids, and she sees JROTC as an important way of contributing something positive to others in need. “At the end of the day, you know that you’ve impacted someone’s life in a positive way. Especially working with the elderly, because they don’t get to see a lot of people. Some of them, their families don’t come in and visit them. So when you have no visitors, life seems pointless. And when [the elderly] have people [visit] and talk to them for five minutes at a time, they have so much to say. And at the end of it, you see a smile on their face. And I don’t know. It touches you.” Like Alana, Marisel Sanchez explains that one of the main reasons she joined JROTC was because of its emphasis on community service. She particularly admired the different kinds of activities she has been involved in because of JROTC and how it connected her to the broader community. This is something particularly meaningful to her because of her family’s positive relationship with the U.S. Army. She explained: Well, I think another main reason why I joined . . . was the community service. I think that’s the main part of it—the community service and everything that they do. To go out of their way and help and everything else, you know. Like with the troops, doing Operation Care Package [to support them] and Clothe-a-Child and all the other kinds of things that they do to help out with the community. Fairview, you know, is Fairview. But having the ROTC program, it gets you more involved with not only the school, but with everything else in the community too. It’s not just a program at school. They do everything. With Color Guard, they go everywhere and do ceremonies and stuff. And I think that’s pretty amazing. They’re a class, but they’re also in the community and stuff too.

While students like Alana, Marisel, and others noted that there were other clubs at school that emphasized community service (Key Club,

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for instance) and acknowledged the ways their religious communities were also important vehicles for community involvement, they also recognized the distinctiveness of JROTC’s service opportunities. Their frequent and sustained interactions with veterans, for example, were facilitated through JROTC and made a profound impression on them. And given many of their families’ long-standing relationship with the military, students also valued their involvement in collecting items and organizing care packages for the troops overseas and regarded it as an important example of enacting citizenship. Cleaning parks, providing companionship to the elderly, and helping disabled veterans were recurring examples students pointed to that exemplified citizenship. “Being a good citizen,” Andy Rivera observed, “is helping out your community. Like doing community service, cleaning up the park or going to the lake and cleaning up around there. Helping the elderly. . . . Not too long ago, JROTC helped [a disabled veteran] . . . cleaning up his house.” Robert Gutiérrez concurred, saying that a good citizen “help[s] people, like being in Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. You do that stuff for your community and don’t just do stuff for yourself.” Similarly, Dante Miller reflected, “[Citizenship is] basically helping out more. Helping whenever you can, while making yourself believe you can be better than you are now. That’s what it is.” In all of these instances, Dante, Robert, and Andy, like so many of their peers, understood their community service activities as central to the meaning of citizenship. They enjoyed working and serving veterans in particular but were also were positive about their experiences cleaning parks and the lakefront, and being available when needed. Some of these efforts were publicly recognized in local media and public forums. Peter Sokoloski and other JROTC cadets, for example, were featured on the front page of the local newspaper, praising them for their efforts in helping the disabled veteran clean his home. As Andy Rivera noted, not only is this an example of citizenship, but it also made a profound impression on him and others, who proudly referred to the article many times throughout the year. Part of what makes community service so meaningful and central to their definitions of citizenship is that is offers students an opportunity to be part of something positive and to be publicly recognized for doing so. They not only saw this is a chance to do something good for others but believed it made them better people as well.

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Community service transformed students. Mundane activities that students clearly identify as unappealing become opportunities for them to practice citizenship and take on a particular meaning in the context of JROTC. Yamila Montés conveyed this sentiment clearly when she discussed why community involvement is central to her understanding of citizenship and how it is different from what she learns in her church. “A lot of times for me—like when [my church] asked me [to do community service], I was like, ‘Ughh! We have to go clean? It’s not my park. I didn’t throw anything there? Why should I have to go clean it?’ But afterward, when I got into ROTC, they showed me people throw stuff there because they don’t care. But someone has to care and pick up stuff and to be a role model.” As I demonstrated in earlier chapters, the discourse of JROTC exceptionalism has a powerful way of disciplining students behavior. It is also a key mechanism for engaging student in activities they might not otherwise want to perform. And although there are plenty of instances in which students reluctantly complied with requests put before them, others conveyed pride, gratitude, and a profound appreciation for the ways these citizenship acts personally transformed them in surprising ways. Sara Ortiz, for example, described citizenship as setting a good example for others that inspires admiration. “They can really look at us and be like, ‘Oh, that’s how an ROTC cadet is supposed to be.’ . . . Being involved with the community, not just in your own little world.” This vision of engagement is central to students’ notions of citizenship. It is outwardly focused, and it also depends on being personally transformed and is the result of being disciplined, selfless, and empathetic. Marina Kostov defines citizenship in the following way: In my opinion, ROTC teaches you that you can’t always—like you can fight and you can argue and you can try to get things to be your way. But I think ROTC . . . teaches you how to have respect for other people. It teaches you to know that there are things that you can and cannot do in life. Like you can’t get away with doing thing half-assed. . . . It teaches you self-discipline. To be a better citizen. The program just teaches you to be you, but in a way that’s not going to hurt anybody else.

Yahaira DeLuca shared many of Marina’s observations about the ways citizenship absolutely requires self-improvement and described this

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process as learning to see your community and its needs in a new way. “Community service and ROTC actually help you see the needs and wants of your community,” she explained. When asked how she would define the meaning of citizenship to, say, to her younger brother, she elaborated. [It’s] just about knowing the needs and wants of your community and seeing what’s out there. That there are struggling people that work every day. That there are still people out there that are homeless, that don’t have a lot of food or clothing. And it is just—in my opinion, being a better citizen is about character. You have to know that even though things may not go good for you, you still stand proud. . . . . [It is] about being involved. Getting background information. Don’t listen to the he-said-she-said advertisements. You know, if you want information, you find it out yourself. . . . That’s going to help bring out your community and fulfill your needs and wants.

The focus on character, self-discipline, listening, and seeing and trying to meet the needs of one’s community is profoundly connected to students’ understandings of citizenship. What is significant is not only the way in which these understandings rest on their personal transformation but also how they articulate a notion of citizenship that is profoundly local. For these students, local belonging has great value and meaning because it is simultaneously about self-improvement and fulfillment as well as collective betterment that can have far-ranging effects. In my interview with Marvin Blanco, he described this possibility as a “ripple effect” that would have a positive impact far beyond the local context. Marvin: Well, to me, a citizen is someone who is part of a nation. A better citizen is someone that makes that nation better. Gina: So, do you think you do things that make this nation better? Marvin: Maybe not the nation just yet, but definitely the school, the community and myself. Gina: What kind of things do you do to make your community better? Marvin: Like I said, community service, helping around. A lot of ROTC’s parents, when they hear “Fairview takes first place,” that really motivates them and makes them feel a lot better about themselves, their kids and the school. And then it’s kind of like a ripple

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effect. Because then they go into somewhere, and they feel a lot better. They treat someone better. That person feels better. And it just keeps going. . . . There are lots of positives to [JROTC]. But you can’t really gain those positives without sacrificing some of yourself. Like, you might want to go somewhere, but, you know, “Hey, I have a competition to go to and I need to wake up at five in the morning, four in the morning to get there.” So you lose out on being able to go out with your friends that night. But you can go into school the next morning, when no one else is here, and go to that competition and play your best and make sure Fairview is positively represented.

For Marvin and so many others, citizenship is not just about what you do for others, it is about what happens to you in the process. If citizenship, indeed, takes practice, doing so entails a great deal of personal transformation that is not necessarily anticipated but is critical in order to become and embody the other and outwardly centered activities required of good citizenship. Students were clear about the ways being a good citizen developed character, deepened their sense of goodness, and enhanced their capacity for self-sacrifice. In this way, they embody some of the very qualities they admire most in others: self-sacrifice and putting others’ needs before your own. But it is also about making them better people while making their communities stronger as well. Students talked about how much they enjoyed being part of something bigger than themselves. Like David Graeber’s “army of altruists,” JROTC cadets were provided with many opportunities to develop their skills of empathy and service in ways that they also developed in their religious communities. This focus on betterment—self-improvement and being an important vehicle for good in their communities—is central to the ways they believed they could be agents for positive change in their communities. It also provided them with the moral language and authority to challenge the ways they believed their communities were mischaracterized.

Citizenship as Community Uplift Throughout my fieldwork, students, parents, teachers, and administrators all expressed deep concern about the economic, social, and

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educational conditions in which residents of South Lorain—and in the county more broadly—lived and raised families. Local churches and civic groups as well as nonprofit organizations were particularly concerned with an alarming increase in youth violence. They worked with new organizations such as Reclaim Lorain to support listening sessions, community forums, and organizing efforts to come up with creative, community-based strategies to address these problems. They also organized and pressured local elected officials to provide financial support for community efforts to clean parks, remove gang symbols on public and private spaces, and develop new community centers to serve youth.45 Students reflected these concerns about crime, violence, and poverty in their interviews and linked them explicitly with their understanding of citizenship. Some framed citizenship in terms of patriotism and duty to the nation while simultaneously connecting these ideas with deeply local understandings of the challenges they faced daily. When I asked Sam Nuñez what citizenship means to him, for example, he provided an explanation that highlighted both a national and local sense of belonging and obligation: [Citizenship] is to be true to your country. You know, to be loyal and patriotic. And also to vote, because you are given that right to vote once you are eighteen. As long as whatever you do in life benefits your country that has given you so much, I think that you’re a better citizen. If you don’t become a statistic or you don’t go to jail or don’t sell drugs—you know, bad stuff that is diminishing this country, then I think you become a better citizen.

Sam’s explanation identifies important formal activities of a citizen—the right to vote—as well as sentiments and feelings of indebtedness to the nation. But he also contrasts this with what appears to be diametrically opposed to citizenship: someone who is a statistic, who doesn’t contribute, and who diminishes, rather than elevates the nation. Although he was certainly one of the students who was most explicit about this concern, he was certainly not alone. Students’ interviews are filled with observations about how they hoped to have experiences and lead lives that were different from those around them. This is certainly part of what animates the feelings of JROTC exceptionalism students, teachers

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and staff articulate and reproduce. But these sentiments also speak to a much more profound concern about the economic and social conditions in which they and their families live, their desire for something better, and their belief in their own efficacy in improving their individual and collective conditions. Students used the language of citizenship to convey their sense of duty and their obligation to change their political, economic, and social conditions at the same time that they expressed frustration with the negative characterizations of their school, communities, neighborhoods, and identities. Young women were particularly vocal in this regard, simultaneously challenging stigmatizing stereotypes and articulating a vision of citizenship that entailed community uplift. Angela Milano, for example, wanted to acknowledge how citizenship is fundamentally about one’s duties to one’s community and nation but was also careful not to criticize Lorain, even while she acknowledged what she believed were real problems residents struggled with on a daily basis. Well, a lot of—[I’m not] talking down the city, but a lot of people in Lorain do not . . . act the way just basic people should act. And being a good citizen is taking responsibility for yourself and more than just yourself. It’s pretty much just being a good person and having good morals and beliefs and living up to what you know is right. And a lot of people here in Lorain, a lot of kids especially in public school, are not taught what is basically right when they’re little. And that is a problem. And ROTC tries to bring those sorts of aspects into their lives. . . . Citizenship . . . is pretty much being a good person and being dedicated to your country, not so much in military forms, but just doing what you can to keep your community going and keeping it a good place to live. Citizenship is about your responsibility and giving back to your community and doing what you can. And ROTC really tries to reinforce that and how it is worth the time—it is worth doing this, maybe not just for your self-benefit, but for the benefit of the community. And that is something that Lorain really needs.

For Angela, citizenship is about responsibility—being personally responsible for being a good person and doing what is right, as well as having a sense of obligation to give back and enhance your broader community.

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She criticizes those who fail to live up to her ideas of how people should act, but she acknowledges that for some—particularly young people— these are not individual failures but the result of not having been “taught what is basically right since they’re little.” Angela’s remarks are not unique; indeed, many share her sentiments about the ways adults and the broader society have failed to provide the kind of support, values, and structure young people need. Yet, rather than pathologize these shortcomings, Angela, as well as many of her peers, articulates the ways that good citizenship requires stepping up to make Lorain “a good place to live.” In this way, Angela echoes the sentiments of other working-class Latina/o youth who take personal responsibility for their own “at–risk status,” as well as for their community’s well-being.46 But she also articulates a politics of worthiness—investing in these kids is “worth” their collective effort.47 It is worthy of our time and our efforts. Moreover, the well-being of communities in Lorain—and the city more broadly— rests on recognizing their worthiness, not merely as productive citizens, but as human beings who can contribute something positive and useful despite the adversity of their circumstances. By focusing on the imperative to give back to one’s community, young people also point to the generative effect this can have on not only changing the actual social conditions in which people live but, perhaps even more importantly, on the perceptions people have of their communities. Just as Marvin Blanco described the “ripple effect”—the ways that doing good makes others feel and want to do good—Brenda Calderón emphasized how doing seemingly minor citizenship acts to improve the community have far-reaching consequences. [Citizenship means] to help people. You know . . . do your own thing, but try not to hurt anyone else. Do what makes you happy and help. Community service. Motivate other people to help. Like if one person helps, it’s kind of like, “C’mon. Come do this with me. All right, let’s go paint [over] the graffiti under the bridge.” It’s something simple and it helps motivate other people [to think], “Oh, it’s not that bad here.”

These simple acts are not only important in changing people’s behavior by getting them to help in improving community problems, but, perhaps even more important in changing their perceptions of their communities

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by making them realize that the communities where they live are “not that bad.” Students were clear that negative evaluations were shared by both those outside of the community and members of the community. And although youth were clearly distressed by the apathy and feelings of helplessness their families and friends often expressed in the face of serious problems and challenges, they were even more concerned with the negative perceptions outsiders had of them. This, according to Brenda, is an important motivating factor for some Latina/o youth to be in JROTC in the first place. “Some [kids in JROTC] want to do something positive because we don’t have such a good reputation. . . . In some places we don’t. And you know, you’re kind of like, ‘No!’ and you prove them wrong and you do something [positive]. I can do this too. I can do whatever I want. Stay positive. I can do whatever I want.” Like so many other young people, Brenda focused a great deal on the need to be “positive.” Students often referred to liking JROTC because it is a “positive” program and allowed them to be surrounded by “positive people.” This is in sharp contrast with those who are described as “bad” or “negative” or “haters,” who have the potential to be otherwise but who often need to be persuaded to do so. That is a key element of citizenship: acting in a way that can persuade others to change their behaviors and to do “whatever I want,” rather than what broader society expects of you. Such sentiments resonate with the insights of other working-class, Latina/o youth, who are acutely aware of the ways they are stigmatized by the broader society and subject to powerful discourses of criminalization, sexualization, and illegality that severely circumscribe their lives.48 Vanessa Cruz’s discussion of citizenship succinctly speaks to this point, emphasizing the ways that as young people, they are particularly susceptible to negative stereotypes. “To be a good citizen is to help your community. If you see somebody in need of help, you don’t just walk away. You help them. Like if they have twenty bags, you can them or open the door for them and do stuff like that. ROTC instills that in you and makes you want to do it. It shows that kids do have manners, you know, and will help people out and stuff like that.” While Brenda and others are explicit about the ways that being Latina/o and from poor neighborhoods with high crime rates shapes people’ perceptions of them, Vanessa’s remarks speak to another powerful discourse that young people are acutely aware of, namely that their

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youth also make them suspect.49 As scholars have amply demonstrated, youth are often the targets of a great deal of accusation and are often regarded as having values and moral failings distinct from previous generations. This denigration of youth is particularly acute for marginalized young people, whose race, class, sexual, and legal status further marks them as suspicious. Fairview cadets are aware of these negative portrayals and use the language of citizenship to challenge these misperceptions and emphasize not only that they “do have manners” but also, as Vanessa affirms, that willingness to work to benefit your community reveals your character as well. This is precisely why community service is so meaningful and central to the notion of citizenship for working-class youth of color: it provides them with an opportunity to give back to their communities in a meaningful way but, even more importantly, to be publicly recognized for doing so, which, in turn, produces alternative narratives that challenge stigmatizing discourses that effect them, their families, and their communities. “Fairview is Fairview,” Marisel explained as we discussed citizenship and the role of JROTC in teaching citizenship to her and other students. “Having the ROTC program gets you more involved with not only the school but with everything else in the community too. It’s not just a program at school. They do everything. With the Color Guard, they go everywhere and do the ceremonies and stuff. And I think that’s pretty amazing. They’re a class, but they’re also into community and stuff too.” When I asked why this was important she responded solemnly: Well, because with the way everything is these days, you know. The community could really use that kind of thing. The older people are like, “Those kids that go to Fairview”—since Fairview is in South Lorain, it pretty much gets looked down on. But having a program like this like, it shows, “Oh, look at those kids! They’re from Fairview, but they’re actually doing something. They’re helping someone. And they’re actually reaching out.” It kind of just puts in a good word about Fairview. That not all the kids are like that. And there is no bad kid. It’s just that there’s always kids that have room for improvement and have room for help . . . . [But this shows] that there are kids that are willing to sit there and put the things . . . they would rather do on hold for something else that’s more positive and influential on everyone else.

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Students like Marisel recognize the challenges they and their communities face. As poor, working-class Latina/o residents in a deindustrialized city where well-paying jobs are diminishing, quality public education struggles, and rising crime rates and violence become the primary images associated with South Lorain, they recognize the challenges before them. But as their narratives reveal, they are also unwilling to succumb to these expectations; they use the language of citizenship not only to describe their involvement but also to highlight their indebtedness to others and their duty to be catalysts for positive change. In doing so, they challenge powerful, stigmatizing discourses that confer worthiness and dignity based on a community’s ability to be productive and conform to dominant ideas of success. In contrast, their visions of citizenship are more inclusive, embracing and valuing people for their humanity. And while their narratives also highlight their potential for change, self-improvement, and self-betterment—notions that resonate with neoliberal ideas of personal responsibility and accountability that often are bound up with punitive governance—they do so in ways that affirm their collective sense of solidarity and belonging.50 These visions of citizenship underscore what some Latino Studies scholars have referred to as cultural citizenship, “a broad range of activities of everyday life through which Latinos and other groups claim space in society and eventually claim rights.”51 According to William Flores and Rina Benmayor a key element of cultural citizenship is the radical challenge such a vision of membership offers by acknowledging the value of collective efforts in creating spaces where people feel “at home” and have a sense of belonging. Latina/o students’ narratives and actions affirm these ideas of citizenship and highlight a profound desire by young people to be recognized for the good they do and their commitments to affirming the intrinsic value of their families and community, and not simply for their productive potential. The importance of recognition—of striving to be what is good rather than judged as what is wrong with America—is what animates so many young people. It was certainly the prevailing sentiment among Fairview’s Honor Guard members, who had been invited to attend the annual Silver Helmet Awards in Washington, DC, in the spring of 2007. After countless occasions where they performed the POW/MIA ceremony to tearful audiences, eight students and their families were going

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to travel to the nation’s capital to be a part of a prestigious national event honoring military veterans. As the Honor Guard practiced, prepared, and attended numerous meetings with First Sergeant Milano and their families to discuss the itinerary, costs, food-sharing, dress code, and expectations for the trip, the students became increasingly excited and continued to invoke the notion of citizenship-as-community-uplift in describing their hopes for the event. “This is bigger than anything you have ever done,” First Sergeant Milano told the group at one of the meetings prior to the trip. “A lot of people have put a lot of money here so you can honor and represent your family, your community and your school. You will make us proud.” Students were familiar with First Sergeant’s reminders that others have invested a great deal in them and that they, in turn, will bring pride and honor to show their worthiness of this investment. But there was a distinctive gleefulness and anxiety around the DC trip. “I’m excited,” Alana giggled nervously at the end my interview with her when I asked her thoughts about the upcoming trip. “I was talking with my teachers about it today, actually. Just putting all your hard work into it, and it’s finally paying off, is all I can say. You get to show that your program is—well, that Fairview, little Lorain is doing something good. To go there and represent yourself, community and country, your family. . . . It’s a rewarding experience.”

What Is Good about America In late March 2007, nearly thirty people boarded a chartered bus in the parking lot of Fairview High School to travel to Washington, DC, to attend the annual Silver Helmet Awards, sponsored by the American Veterans (AMVETS), a national organization dedicated to a variety of activities and services for veterans and their families.52 The AMVETS organizers had invited Fairview High School’s Honor Guard to perform their solemn tribute in honor of POW/MIA during the Silver Helmet Awards ceremony. The ceremony consistently elicited powerful emotions from observers, who often cried and thanked the young cadets for their service and praised them for their hard work and dedication. Veterans from Ohio lobbied to have Fairview’s Honor Guard attend and perform the ceremony, and they, along with the JROTC Booster Club, and other program supporters, helped to raise money in order for the

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cadets and their families to travel to Washington for four days to attend the convention. Most of the students’ families were able to make the trip and were accompanied by an English teacher—an indefatigable supporter of JROTC and the mother of a marine—First Sergeant Milano, two local veterans and their wives, as well as me and my family. For most of the students and their families, this would be their first visit to Washington, DC, and they were eager to see the monuments and visit museums, and, of course, they were proud that to have been invited to perform their ceremony in front of a national audience. As everyone settled in for a long, lively seven-hour bus ride, one veteran took me aside to explain the significance of the event and his enormous admiration for what the young people had achieved. A soft-spoken, taciturn marine who served as a medic in Vietnam, he was unequivocal in his support for JROTC and explained how important it was for him and other veterans to support these kids because they do the kind of service and work that make this country great. He described a bumper sticker he recently saw that read, “My son is fighting in Iraq so your kid can party in college.” “That really captures how I feel,” he remarked solemnly. With so few participating in the military today, little is known of soldiers’ experiences and most people sacrifice very little and do not suffer from decisions to go to war. Like other veterans I met on that trip—as well as pundits, academics, and some politicians—he worried about the impact this had on American society, which seemed so disconnected from a republican sense of civic virtue that relies on sacrifice and service to nation.53 JROTC encourages young people to think beyond themselves to consider their responsibilities, duties, and obligations to community and nation, and it is, therefore, a program he and others were proud to support. Veterans organizations in Lorain County provided Fairview’s JROTC financial support, used their networks to arrange visits and travel for the Honor Guard and their families, helped with fund-raisers, and in this particular instance, accompanied the students and their families on an extraordinary journey to the nation’s capital to participate in the AMVETS’ national convention. The day after we arrived at our hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, the chartered bus picked everyone up to begin three busy days filled with visits to monuments, museums, meetings with elected officials, and tours of important buildings and sites. Our first stop was to a congressional hear-

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ing on the state of veterans and veterans’ affairs. While the students had the opportunity to sit in the stately Senate room to witness the proceedings, the majority of us sat in a nearby chamber watching the hearings on a small closed-circuit television. Immediately after the hearings, we were invited to meet with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Congresswoman Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), who greeted everyone warmly and took pictures with cadets and their families on a warm, sunlit afternoon in front of the Capitol. Everyone was thrilled to meet Senator Brown and Congresswoman Sutton and all were buzzing with excitement as we continued with a tour of the Capitol and another opportunity to listen to a debate while seated in the gallery of the House of Representatives. Students and parents alike remarked at how amazing it was to be able to see in person places and people they usually only read about in books and newspapers, and see on television. Each day, students wore sweatshirts emblazoned with the words “Fairview JROTC” in large red letters. Some parents wore these sweatshirts as well, while the veterans (the ones who rode with us and additional guests who joined us from the hotel) wore caps, hats, and jackets that identified them as proud veterans of their respective military branches. Back at the hotel, everyone gathered in the room Lisa Alvarez shared with her parents which was filled with soda, juice, and snacks, mainly for the kids, but available to all who traveled from Lorain. Everyone contributed something to help keep costs at a minimum, a strategy reminiscent of the drill competitions, where everyone contributed and pooled resources. During these evenings together, people reviewed the day’s events with enthusiasm and continued to express amazement that they were in Washington. Lisa and Alana’s parents were particularly vocal during these moments together, as they often talked nostalgically about how much they will miss having their daughters participate in JROTC once they graduate in May. When I jokingly asked them what they will do with all their free time once they are no longer deeply involved with the JROTC Booster Club, all of the parents immediately responded saying they intended to remain involved. When I asked why, Lisa’s mother, Carmen, explained her profound indebtedness to JROTC and to First Sergeant Milano and Major Wise in particular. As a single mother for many years, she worried a great deal about her older daughter (Lisa’s older sister), who had seemed lost and unmotivated in high school until

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she joined JROTC. “JROTC saved her life,” Carmen explained tearfully. Being a part of the Booster Club is one way for her to give something back to an organization that gave her and her daughters so much. Alana’s parents, Nelson and Maggie, agreed, saying that once Alana graduates they also intend to continue to support Fairview’s program. When I ask whether other school-based organizations have active booster clubs, they noted that they might exist. But none has the profile of the JROTC parents’ booster club. “When we wear our T-shirts or sweatshirts at drill competitions, parents stop us all the time and ask us about our group,” Maggie commented. Like Nelson, Carmen, and other parents, she expressed her gratitude for the program and takes great pride in the time, money, and effort she spends to support the kids. “We do it for the kids,” is a familiar refrain shared by parents, teachers, and volunteers when explaining their commitment to the program. And while this is certainly true, parents’ efforts can also be understood as their own ways of enacting citizenship. Like their children, they sacrifice, collaborate, and are part of broader efforts to serve others, and they do so as part of a shared vision of improving the lives not only of their children but also of their communities. In this way, parents not only benefit from their involvement with JROTC but also play a critical role in linking the accomplishments of the programs with community pride and uplift. The second day of the trip was just as frenzied as the first, with First Sergeant using the microphone on the bus to pose trivia questions about flags, capitals, politicians, and U.S. military history to us all. And while weary travelers often groaned playfully when he would rise from his seat at the front of the bus and face the group, microphone in hand, everyone also laughed and shouted out answers to his questions, like which is the only state that flies its own flag above the U.S. flag? (Texas) The group toured the White House in the morning, then traveled to the Naval Academy in Annapolis to see a former Fairview cadet currently in his second year, who organized a campus tour for the group. We returned to Washington to visit the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean Memorial and ended with a solemn moment at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (the Wall) at dusk. Perhaps it was the time of day, or maybe it was that all of the veterans accompanying the group—First Sergeant Milano included—had served in Vietnam, but this was the most somber and emotional moment of the trip. At the Wall, the normally garrulous

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group was silent, touching it, reading names, and walking along its long dark shadow. Visiting the monuments and memorials was exhausting but served to reinforce notions of citizenship familiar to the young people in the group, highlighting duty, patriotism, and military service. By visiting the war memorials, monuments, and museums that millions of tourists visit each year, our group shared in what Marita Sturken calls a cultural memory that is not only “produced through objects, images and representations” but also provides a space for people to “perceive themselves to be participants in the nation.”54 In preparation for the trip and throughout our travels on the chartered bus in the D.C. area, First Sergeant emphasized students’ service to their communities, reminding them of the difference they make in the lives of local veterans and how on this trip they were going to “bring honor and represent” their families, their communities, and their school. Visiting the monuments and memorials—with their emphasis on remembrance, honor, and sacrifice—was yet another way of enacting a notion of citizenship that resonated with the ideals advanced in the JROTC program. These sentiments were echoed in the powerful responses Fairview’s Honor Guard enjoyed following their special POW/MIA tribute, which solemnly reminded all who watched to remember those who are not with us today, those who gave of themselves—and some who gave their lives—for the good of the nation. Our final day in Washington included a trip to the Holocaust Museum in the morning and then an anxious afternoon preparing for the ball later that evening. Right before the event began, cadets, parents, and First Sergeant all took photographs in the stately ballroom and were all quite nervous, even though they had performed this ceremony many times before. The evening’s events began with a processional of the AMVETS national leaders, followed by the presentation of colors by the different branches of the U.S. military. Once the colors were posted at the front of the ballroom, all in attendance stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem, and finally an invocation by the national chaplain. Fairview’s POW/MIA ceremony followed the invocation. As the lights dimmed, our attention was directed to the round table, draped in white cloth with a single candle in the center and elegantly set for five. There were five empty chairs, also covered in white, each bearing a different seal representing the five branches of the military.

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As Alana Ramos, in dress uniform and a white beret, approached the podium near the table, the emotion and anticipation of all in the ballroom was palpable. As she began speaking, the Honor Guard, also in dress uniforms and white berets, marched solemnly into the room and toward the table. Each carried a service cap in their right hand, and a long, shiny saber hangs from their left side. As they approached the table, they moved slowly around the empty chairs until they formed a circle around the table, with a cadet standing tall and straight behind each chair. As the cadets began to perform the ritual they have enacted countless times before, I could sense the emotion and anticipation of the parents and all of the attendees around me. The five cadets stood at attention as Alana delivered her speech honoring the sacrifice of soldiers who have fought in wars throughout U.S. history, and once she concluded with the words, “Remember them, for they surely have not forgotten you,” the song “Soldiers of the Cloud” began playing as the five cadets paid tribute to the POWs/MIAs. With painstaking military precision, they slowly placed the service caps on the table, saluted the missing, raised their sabers to their hearts, and used them to salute once more before returning them to the saber guards at their side. The song was slow and haunting, with a poignant chorus about bearing witness to soldiers who must not be forgotten: “Tell the mothers that their sons are marching in the sky. Tell them that they’re soldiers of the clouds. Tell them, please tell them. Please tell them so they know.”55 Everyone in the banquet hall was visibly moved, with many people sniffing and wiping away tears. This has consistently been the response to this moving tribute. Immediately following the ceremony, dozens of people came to the table where the cadets and their parents sat, saying how moved they were by their performance, how much they appreciated what they had done, and congratulated the parents, saying how proud they must be of their children. The parents beamed with pride, and many of them cried. It was quite clear that the cadets were proud of their performance, and they basked in the myriad compliments and stories people shared with them, as well as promises of invitations for them to perform the ceremony elsewhere in the country. The cadets were soon followed by a long introduction to the night’s recipient of the AMVETS Silver Helmet Award for Americanism, Grammy Award winner Charlie Daniels.56 In the speech preceding

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the award, Charlie Daniels was praised for four decades of service to American troops, including touring with the USO performing for them most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for founding in 2005 Operation Heartstrings, a project dedicated to using music to help soldiers combat loneliness and depression overseas.57 As he took the stage, everyone stood while applauding to honor him. And once he took the microphone, he opened his remarks by acknowledging Fairview’s Honor Guard. These young people, he proclaimed in his booming voice, were inspirational and did something that was important for us all to recognize and admire. “What I want to know is, ‘where is the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post? Where is CNN? When so much of today’s media is focused on the negative that kids do, this is the kind of story that needs to be told. . . . These kids represent what is good about America and are an example for all us.” His comments, particularly his questioning of the media, were met with wild applause. In the short acceptance speech that followed, Charlie Daniels talked about the importance of supporting the troops, of his personal respect for those who serve in the military, and his profound admiration for all in the room who do all they can to boost the morale of America’s armed forces. After his acceptance speech, Alana’s father, Nelson, turned to me and said, “See what they did here tonight? There are people who are trying to get JROTC programs in their schools and they can’t. And I don’t know why they don’t have more of these programs. The pride, the hard work, the recognition. This is what it’s all about. And this is why we work so hard. We do it for the kids, and we are so proud of them tonight. I know this gives you a lot to write about, but this program, no matter what people say, it’s an important and good program. And it shows that if you raise your kids right, this is what they can do.” When I agreed, saying that one thing I learned through doing this research is that this program shows the remarkable things that can be done with federal resources, community support, and familial participation and can be a model for other kinds of programs beyond JROTC, Nelson nodded and emphasized how proud he was of his daughter, all the kids, and the program. Like Nelson, the students, their families, and their friends were quite emotional after their performance, and they all remarked how meaningful it was to see all their hard work had paid off, and what a privilege

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it was to be honored by a national audience. They also echoed Nelson’s sentiments about the unique role JROTC plays in providing young people with meaningful opportunities to learn discipline, bring honor to themselves, their families, and their communities, and be publicly recognized in the nation’s capital by one of the most trusted and respected American institutions for doing so. Although Alana, Lisa, and the other members of the Honor Guard—as well as many of their peers back in Lorain—do a great deal of admirable work in their communities by volunteering with their churches, other high school programs, and community organizations, JROTC’s military affiliation reinscribes notions of exceptional citizenship that cannot be underestimated. Writers like Andrew Bacevich warn of the dangers of a military/civilian divide that values military service and the citizen-soldier over civilian service to the nation. Similarly, feminist scholars such as Cynthia Enloe note that military service is often regarded as “the full path to full citizenship status,” and “first class citizenship,” which often rests on masculinist notions of duty, honor, and service that have historically excluded women.58 Fairview’s cadets and their families certainly benefit from their associations with a successful military program. Yet they are also active agents in refashioning the concept of citizenship they learn through their involvement in JROTC to make it more expansive, inclusive, and a space of affirmation for communities that are otherwise defined as deficient and as “takers” rather than “makers.”59 In doing so, Latina/o youth not only enact citizenship in their daily lives but they do in a meaningful way that affirms the humanity and dignity of themselves as well as their families and communities.

Conclusion: Citizenship and Belonging For Puerto Rican, Latina/o, African American, and working-class youth in Lorain, JROTC is an important vehicle for exercising citizenship rights. The program provides them with important social capital to gain recommendations for jobs and college; it instills skills such as leadership and discipline that they and the broader public value; and it also allows them to enjoy a certain amount of social prestige. Given that public opinion regards the military as the most trusted institution in the nation, Fairview cadets’ affiliation with it is of great significance. Participating

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in JROTC not only demonstrates that they are doing something positive in their schools and their communities but also shapes their sense of citizenship and national belonging by providing them with the opportunity to be the kind of reliable, responsible, and other-centered people they aspire to be. In doing so, they defy characterizations that stigmatize them, their families, and their communities and become, instead, models others should emulate. Indeed, they are publicly recognized as what is good about America.

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Whenever anyone asks me about my research, my explanation is typically met with lively responses. Some recall (usually positively) their own experiences in JROTC as high school students. Others sheepishly acknowledge that their schools didn’t have JROTC, but they knew of schools where the program was popular. A significant number of people immediately shake their heads, convinced that it is the worst kind of program that only preys on the false consciousness of the very young, while a nearly equal number commend me for finally proving that JROTC works for disadvantaged youth. With more than 500,000 kids in approximately 3,400 units with thousands of retired military personnel as instructors, JROTC is a familiar feature in American public schools.1 In casual conversations as well as Q & As following my presentations on the subject, people invariably ask: Is JROTC a positive program? Even though they state they do not recruit kids into the military, are they really a recruiting tool? If so many kids have such positive experiences in the program, why is there so much criticism? Are there viable alternatives to JROTC, and if so, what are they? Would you let your kids join JROTC? And, finally, why do so many Latinas/os, African American, and working-class kids participate in JROTC? These are some of the very questions I have wrestled with over the years, and this book is my attempt to try to engage them in a respectful and rigorous way. Rather than definitively proclaim that JROTC is either a good or bad program for young people, I have aimed to convey the complex motivations, experiences, and aspirations of teenagers who participate in JROTC and to demonstrate the ways they defy reductionist appraisals that demand to know whether JROTC is good or bad. As one of my insightful Latina college students once told me about her experiences in JROTC, “It was good; it was all right. It just was what it was.” These questions continue to swirl in my mind, even after a decade of reading, writing, and thinking about them. And they were precisely 199

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the questions that remained when I contacted First Sergeant Milano in May 2014 after reading in the local newspaper that he was about to retire after twenty years of service in the Lorain City Schools. As I walked into the school building to meet with him, I noticed the trophy case immediately to my right between the front doors and the large window of the school office. Peering inside I could see among the athletic awards JROTC trophies from drill competitions, as well as large framed photographs of Fairview’s JROTC Honor Guard and Color Guard with the words “Honor Unit With Distinction, 2006–2007,” the year I had accompanied the group. Seeing the familiar faces of Alana, Lisa, Sara, Yamila, Sam, and others—serious and impeccably dressed—made me smile as I signed in at the office, slipped the visitor’s badge over my head, and walked through the familiar bustling hallways toward the JROTC classroom. As I entered the room, I watched First Sergeant take attendance and note whether the cadets were dressed properly. He chastised one young Latino cadet for his failure to shave, telling him he would receive a zero for not following the correct uniform guidelines, but that if he arrived to class clean-shaven tomorrow, he would replace the grade with a higher one. The young man nodded and then, with the others, directed his attention to the front of the classroom where a young Latina led the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as well as the Cadet’s Creed. When they finished, First Sergeant greeted me and invited me into his office adjacent to the classroom while students worked on lessons for the day. I was nervous seeing First Sergeant after all these years, but he quickly put me at ease asking about my family, telling me about his own, and sharing his ambivalence about retiring. When he asked how my research was proceeding, I told him that I was finishing a book based on my work that year and handed him a copy of the table of contents as well as the book proposal. “I’m really interested in what you think,” I said to him. He expressed his surprise and enthusiasm, and after reading the title and table of contents, turned to me asking, “Did you know that earlier this year I was honored with a lifetime achievement award for my service with Hispanic youth?” He then pointed to a letter and a plaque from a local Hispanic/Latino leadership organization, recognizing his work with Latina/o youth in Lorain for the past twenty years. “I was really surprised and humbled by this award. You know, about seventy percent

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of the students in JROTC are Hispanic, and this award means so much to me.” He reiterated the themes he shared repeatedly over the year I worked with him and the students: that JROTC is a good program; it provides direction for kids; it offers structure and discipline; and it is a way to give something positive back to the community. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted with this job. To work with kids to do something positive. To help give them direction and realize their dreams. You know, some of them go into the military. But many don’t and that’s okay. What I want for them is to do something positive with their lives.” First Sergeant then showed me photographs and letters from students who have kept in touch with him over the years sharing news about graduations, weddings, commissioning ceremonies, deployments, and the birth of children. He updated me on students I knew, discussed his plans for his postretirement life, and we ended our visit with my promise to send him a copy of my book once it was published and his invitation to me and my husband to attend his retirement dinner later in the month. After leaving First Sergeant Milano, I reflected on the significance of the public recognition of his years of work and service with Latina/o youth in Lorain. I recalled his efforts to encourage students to get involved in extracurricular activities—to be a part of different drill teams, try out for Honor and Color Guard, and participate in community service activities. The predominantly Latina unarmed exhibition team not only performed (and won) at drill competitions but also delighted audiences at local churches, were featured during Lorain’s annual Hispanic/ Latino leadership conference, and demonstrated their precision at local schools and in parades. The Color Guard and Honor Guard were also visible throughout the community, posting colors before important civic events, ceremonies, and in various sports venues. And cadets played a prominent role in occasions honoring local veterans, moments featured approvingly in local media. The ubiquitous presence of Fairview cadets in civic life certainly reflects First Sergeant and Major Wise’s efforts over the years, but it also reveals the widespread public support JROTC enjoys across the political spectrum. Just as “supporting the troops” has become a kind of civic religion defining the post-Vietnam era, the public’s embrace of JROTC and its students can be regarded as profound gratitude for the ways it has provided direction, guidance, and discipline for young people who, more often than not, are the source of great concern

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and anxiety. Indeed, as a federally funded military program, JROTC represents in a visceral way the presence of the state in their daily lives that appears to be positive, generative, and welcomed.2 In a neoliberal moment in which government has increasingly ceded its role of providing services and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable to the private and corporate sectors, JROTC enjoys expansion, broad-based support, and praise for providing youth—especially those deemed “at risk”—with skills and values that will create better citizens. By participating in JROTC, young people and their families engage with the federal government on a daily basis, and these sustained interactions, more often than not, are positive ones. The program’s success affirms people’s trust in the state’s ability to provide them with the services, resources, programs, and policies that will benefit them individually and collectively. It also strengthens their positive associations with the military specifically, an institution that has historically served both as a pragmatic vehicle for economic and social mobility and as an indispensible avenue for laying claim to full citizenship rights. Through the curriculum, service opportunities, extracurricular activities, and public rituals, young people forge a sense of themselves as citizens not in an abstract or theoretical sense but in a concrete way that reflects their lived experiences as people who have benefited from significant investment from the government, teachers, their families, and broader communities, as well as their own profound sense of indebtedness and obligation to contribute something positive in return. None of this is particularly surprising. In fact, this is precisely what JROTC is designed to do: create favorable attitudes toward the military that will translate into public support and possible military careers and associations in the future.3 What is remarkable, however, is how these positive associations are in such sharp contrast with powerful examples of punitive governance that are quite familiar to many cadets, particularly low-income Latina/o youth and their families, who are often blamed, portrayed, and regarded as responsible for the very same social problems—crime, undocumented immigration, poverty—that they struggle to navigate and ameliorate on a daily basis. The rising number of Latinas/os in U.S. prisons and the juvenile justice system attests to one way the state plays a visible role in the lives of many poor and working-class communities. And although polls indicate that crime is a real concern for many Latina/o families, writers have

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also demonstrated the ways that the criminalization of Latina/o youth not only implicates those involved in delinquent acts but also functions to render all impoverished youth of color as criminalized and suspect. Indeed, as Victor Rios observes, “Young men who were not delinquent, but lived in poor neighborhoods also encountered patterns of punishment.”4 These patterns of punishment operate both in young people’s communities and in their schools and are a key mechanism in what Michelle Fine and Jessica Ruglis refer to as “the soft coercive migration” of impoverished youth of color “out of sites of public education and into militarized and carceral corners of the public sphere.”5 The parents of criminalized youth are enmeshed in a similar stigmatizing discourse that focuses not so much on their ability to adhere to laws as on their willingness to abide by social norms that emphasize the value of individuals and groups based on their “productive existence” rather than their “inherent self-worth and humanity.”6 This is particularly true for single mothers who rely on the state to meet their basic needs as well as those of their children. Many Fairview youth shared profound concern about their family’s ability to make ends meet and detailed the various ways they used government programs such as food stamps, unemployment benefits, disability payments, and other federal funds to provide for their families. They were also acutely aware of how their dependency on the state was denigrated and regarded as a moral failure they hoped to avoid themselves. If the poor are “not quite citizens,” then poor single mothers of color are especially suspect and do not evoke the kind of public sympathy required to justify federal largesse. On the contrary, as part of the alleged 47 percent who, according to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, “are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it,” they are regarded as the source of the nation’s problems.7 Concerns with dependency, hypersexuality, and criminality are often bound up with fears about Latina/o youth, immigration from Latin America, and the growing number of increasingly dispersed Latina/o communities throughout the United States. Indeed, these perceptions are at the core of what Leo Chavez refers to as the Latino Threat Narrative, a set of beliefs that suggests, “Latinos are unwilling or incapable of

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integrating, of becoming part of the national community. Rather, they are part of an invading force from south of the border that is bent on recovering this land . . . and destroying the American way of life.”8 While the Latino Threat Narrative largely focuses on Mexican immigration, its concerns with Latinas/os’ alleged refusal to assimilate (to learn English, for example), Latinas’ hypersexuality, their criminality, and their threat to national security implicate “immigrants from Latin American and U.S. born Latinos of Latin American descent.”9 Although anti-immigrant sentiment has a long history of creating and reproducing hierarchies of people and nationalities based on race and sexuality, the most recent debates about immigration have taken the form of virulent anti-immigrant legislation as well as scholarly and political discourse that have not only lamented the nation’s contemporary crisis in the meaning of citizenship but raised serious doubts whether Latinas/os could ever possibly be true and full participants in the nation. Political scientist Samuel Huntington was perhaps one of the most strident proponents of this position when he stated, “There is no Americano dream. There is only the American dream created by an Anglo-Protestant society. Mexican-Americans will share in that dream and in that society only if they dream in English.”10 Huntington’s position has been largely discredited by scholars, pundits, and politicians, but his sentiments speak to a prevailing concern that continues to inform public sentiment regarding immigration, social welfare policies, the role of government in our daily lives, and our understandings of citizenship. Not just any body can be a citizen, M. Jacqui Alexander reminded us many years ago.11 Marginalized groups’ long histories of struggle attest to this insight, and their efforts to lay claim to full citizenship rights have ranged from radical critique, coalitional activism and organizing to more accommodationist politics demanding full inclusion in the very institutions that have historically served to exacerbate social inequality. Indeed, as Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas and others have noted, racially marked groups engage daily in a politics of worthiness that require them to “continuously demonstrate their deservingness of inclusion in the U.S. nation-state.”12 One way they do so is by joining the military.13 Beginning in the late 1990s, the U.S. military has devoted significant resources to military recruitment and, more specifically, the recruitment of Latinas/os to increase its ranks. According to the U.S. Army

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Recruiting Command, Latinas/os are projected to constitute 25 percent of the U.S. population by 2025, and in order to capitalize on this expected growth, recruiters should focus their efforts on areas like Los Angles and San Antonio, which, given labor market conditions and the age of the local Latino population, should to be fertile ground for recruitment efforts.14 The Department of Defense has also enlisted the research efforts of organizations to identify trends conducive to successfully recruiting Latinas/os, including their youth, their positive attitudes toward the military compared to African American and white youth, and their higher “active duty propensity” compared to “non-Hispanic youth.”15 These trends are especially true in United States Marine Corps, where Latina/o recruits increasingly swell the ranks and are “more likely than recruits of other races and ethnicities to complete boot camp and the first term of service.”16 And although Latinas/os account for less than 10 percent of active-duty forces, Harry Franqui-Rivera has noted that Puerto Rican youth are currently enlisting in the military at higher rates than the previous decade, and “Puerto Ricans are almost twice as likely to be in the military as the general population.”17 For many immigrants, enlisting in the military after 9/11 was appealing precisely because it provided an avenue for expediting one’s citizenship status with President Bush issued Executive Order 13269 on July 3, 2002, granting all noncitizen soldiers serving in the “War on Terror” the ability to do so. For others, the military’s appeal lies in its promise of economically secure futures, access to money to pay for higher education, and the more elusive rewards of prestige and social status. Latinas/os who enlist are part of a rich tradition of proud military service that has also, in different historical moments, been an important catalyst for advancing social justice movements that, in some instances, have ultimately led to important critiques of the military and U.S. power. Other military leaders emphasize the ways that military values and culture resonate with those of Latina/o families. Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, for example, noted, “When I became a soldier the ethics and the value system of the military profession fit almost perfectly with my own heritage. It made it very easy for me to adapt to the military value system.”18 Love of one’s family, nation, self-sacrifice, and loyalty are the shared values binding Hispanic heritage and the military. Thus, when military leaders, politicians, and civic organizations appeal to Hispanic values and

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traditions as precisely the same values that characterize the U.S. military, the most respected American institution today, it is not surprising that many would feel proud and encourage such positive comparisons, especially given the anti-immigrant and racist political and social climate in which Latina/o families live, work, and raise their families.19 Indeed, as anthropologist Arlene Dávila observes, these favorable representations of Latina/o “communality, hard work, and family,” not only demonstrate that “Latinos are not a social liability,” but, in fact, celebrate their contributions and their embrace of values that “make them more American than ‘the Americans.’”20 My research supports these findings and exemplifies why many young Latinas/os turn to JROTC programs. Doing so not only provides the possibility for respectability but also enables them to access social capital otherwise unavailable to them. This, indeed, is familiar strategy employed by other marginalized youth seeking to be recognized and acknowledged for the good they and their families contribute. As Victor Rios notes in his work among criminalized black and Latino youth in Oakland, young people “utilized the resource available to them to show the system that they were worthy of being treated as young people with promise, as potentially good students, and as hardworking, honest employees.”21 Participation in JROTC is one way youth affirm they are worthy—of the state’s investment in them, and of the high regard, hope, and resources veterans groups, teachers, parents, and others have placed in them as well. And in this way, youth enact a vision of citizenship that emphasizes their self-reliance, responsibility, and self-discipline, which resonate deeply with neoliberal ideas of citizenship. Yet in doing so they also facilitate the creation of new models of citizenship and belonging rooted in a commitment to community uplift that challenge an emphasis on independence and productivity. If, as many writers have noted, the military is often embraced as a corrective measure for the deficient behavior of deviant youth, Fairview cadets also demonstrate the ways that their citizenship education has served to correct narrow definitions of national membership that stigmatize their families and communities and offer, instead, more expansive understandings that value them for their humanity and inherent self worth. Given the creative ways young people have been able to harness the resources from JROTC to develop the skills, networks, and insights criti-

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cal for them to successfully navigate their schooling, their obligations to their families and friends, and their aspirations for the future, is it reasonable to support continued investment in JROTC, particularly in a moment of federal disinvestment, dispossession and privatization in American public education?22 I believe we should be wary of such a proposition and consider the broader landscape of militarization in our daily lives that is new, insidious, and perhaps one of our greatest challenges. In his book Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country, Andrew Bacevich raises concern about the way war has become a normalized feature of our daily lives and the widening gap between the U.S. military and the civilian public. He argues that while the American public make statements honoring and thanking those who serve, we allow soldiers to be sent to war without having to shoulder the burdens of war ourselves. He further argues that our failure to uphold the tradition of the citizen-soldier has allowed for corruption, unfettered wars, and a tendency to seek military solutions rather than political ones. According to Bacevich, we have allowed military leaders to devise and promote “a model of the warrior professional as the citizen-soldier’s replacement” and have made militarized globalization the cornerstone of our foreign policy. This has been to our detriment, he argues, and we continue to do so at our peril. The solution, he insists, is to restore a sense of collective service and sacrifice that would oblige the American public to contribute more than “symbolic solidarity” and vacuous proclamations to “support the troops.” Bacevich writes, “Reinstate a military system that mandates shared sacrifice—people’s war—and you’ll have either fewer wars or the means to create a larger army.”23 Although Bacevich clearly believes that conscription of all able-bodied Americans is one way to address the military-civilian divide, he also advances the notion of a program of national service in which military service would be one option among many, including Peace Corps, Americorps, or other opportunities to serve those in need. “Some national service personnel might carry assault rifles; others would empty bed pans or pass out bed linens,” he proposes. But ultimately such a program would restore our sense of collective duty, sacrifice, and obligation and would make war less frequent and strengthen our nation.24 JROTC expansion needs to be analyzed within this context of new American militarism. Doing so allows us to identify trends and ask im-

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portant questions about the contemporary viability of the American Dream. Locating the proliferation of JROTC programs within debates about the contemporary crisis in American public education, for example, exemplifies the normalization of applying military solutions to nonmilitary problems. While a number of scholars have argued that the current education crisis is primarily a result of privatization and increasing demands for standardized testing that simultaneously diverts students and funding away from public schools as well as “crushes originality, innovation and creativity,” others have blamed teachers, their unions, and administrators for being complacent, unaccountable, and failing to prepare students properly.25 According to Pauline Lipman, a similar logic of identifying behavior, rather than political economic structures and policies, as the genesis of students’ failures in schools, has led to what she describes as “a cultural politics directed to regulating and containing African American and some Latina/o youth and their communities.”26 This pattern of regulation has particularly devastating effects on black and Latina/o youth, and especially young men who, as Pedro Noguera has repeatedly demonstrated, are some of the “neediest and most disadvantaged students” in public schools.27 JROTC is promoted as one way to address these behavioral challenges among students, with its promise to foster “a more constructive and disciplined learning environment” that appeals to school administrators, community members, and policy makers alike.28 This was certainly an explicit and key factor in JROTC’s pivotal expansion in 1992 when, in the wake of the Los Angeles riots, General Colin Powell, among others, identified JROTC as a way to instill discipline, order, and responsibility in impoverished youth of color. The original intent behind JROTC in the early twentieth century was also a rehabilitative one, designed to use military discipline to address alleged deficiencies in working-class and immigrant youth; it has since become the largest federally funded youth program designed to instill values of discipline, personal responsibility and citizenship.29 And while these are values embraced by a broader public, we also need to acknowledge the ways that military programs serve as mechanisms of social reproduction and exacerbate social inequalities by hardening hierarchies based on class, race, region, immigration status, gender, and sexuality. Just as Bacevich cautions us to resist the nostalgia, praise, and affection the American public tends to “shower down on the troops,” so, too,

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should we be circumspect about the enthusiasm and delight many adults enjoy when seeing young people in their cadet uniform.30 Indeed, some of Bacevich’s most scathing critiques are reserved for political commentators like New York Times columnist David Brooks who, according to Bacevich, exacerbate the military-civilian divide by romanticizing soldiers as “virtuous, idealists, and altruists” and civilians as “selfish, immoral and without virtue.”31 Such antinomies are never useful and obscure the more insidious ways that ascribing virtue and nobility to some absolves the broader public from ever asking how open-ended wars became normalized and why less than 1 percent of the American population shoulders this burden. This kind of romanticism also characterizes some of the public’s enthusiastic response to seeing teenagers in uniform. Cadets frequently remarked on their surprise and slight discomfort when well-meaning adults thank them for their service. But they also admit to enjoying the positive attention and feelings of pride these encounters engender. This is not surprising given media images that often portray working class, Latina/o, and black youth as dangerous, unruly, and delinquent; it explains, in part, the allure of the cadet uniform that elicits praise and respect from others. But it does raise important questions about why JROTC is of the few ways working-class and youth of color are publically recognized and valued as members of our society. In a neoliberal moment in which the state increasingly privatizes its duties and obligations and leaves them to be met by corporate interests, isn’t JROTC precisely the kind of federal involvement we should encourage—a targeted program to support the needs of low-income families and communities of color? Although I agree that federally funded programs designed to meet the specific needs of low income youth of color are needed, we also need to ask which kinds of programs are being developed, why they are being proposed at different historical moments, and whose interests they serve. These concerns are certainly some of the ones that animate antimilitarization activists who have organized and sometimes succeeded in challenging the proliferation of JROTC programs and military academies in diverse communities in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. At a moment in which Latinas/ os are the youngest and fastest-growing demographic, we need to be particularly concerned with the ways the educational crisis in American

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public schools, the increasing costs of higher education, and Latinas/os’ lower college completion rates converge with the proliferation of military schooling, weak labor markets, and our continued reliance on an all-volunteer-force military to ensure that a small and select group of underprivileged youth remain a key source for replenishing the ranks of the military. Such a position is neither radical nor cynical. Indeed, it is one that unites the political left and political right, with activists, anarchists, and military leaders asking the same question: Why does it appear that only poor kids are the ones willing to have skin in the game?32 Although it is true that patriotism, the love of one’s country, and a sense of duty truly inspire some to serve in the military, it is also the case that one’s material conditions inform the choices one makes. David Graeber argues that privileged youth are not unlike poor ones in their desires to do good in the world. What distinguishes the former is their ability to do so without having to worry about money. Poor and working-class kids don’t have that luxury. And military service offers the possibility of doing something they can be proud of while also ensuring their economic security. In his attempt to explain to largely middle-class peace and counter-recruitment activists why working-class youth join the military, Graeber reminds them that they are both inspired by similar ideals and like all young people, “they want to escape the world of tedious work and meaningless consumerism, to live a life of adventure and camaraderie in which they believe they are doing something genuinely noble. They join the army because they want to be like you.”33 Like the military, JROTC works precisely because it enjoys federal investment and community support and offers young people the opportunity to be a part of something that is meaningful, noble, and greater than themselves. And although other high school organizations can also provide this, they don’t enjoy the status, prestige, robust social networks or resources JROTC’s military affiliation provides. In a moment in which Latina/o youth and their families are faced with simultaneous experiences of inclusion and exclusion to full citizenship, they increasingly rely on military programs to provide them with the resources, social status, and social capital they seek in order to succeed. These are reasonable strategies, although they are reasonable strategies among a shrinking number of opportunities for all those who seek a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. For

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many working-class youth, reasonableness and pragmatism are familiar responses to adverse and uncertain circumstances. But so are dreaming and aspiring for something greater for themselves and their families. Perhaps that is why so many books—novels, autobiographies, scholarly works—documenting the myriad experiences of Latina/o life, as well as one of the most vibrant and visible social movements involving Latina/o youth today, allude to the power of dreams to animate, inspire, and transform.34 Throughout the course of my research and writing about JROTC, my intention has been to listen to and understand the dreams and aspirations of those whose options seem so constrained and foreclosed by forces beyond their control. What their stories demonstrate so powerfully are not only their pragmatic responses to adverse social and economic conditions but also their creative strategies to broaden concepts such as citizenship, duty, and obligation to encompass the mundane activities they and their families are involved in that are essential in sustaining their aspirations for a better future and affirming their worth and value to each other and the broader society. Their experiences also raise critical questions about our collective desires and hopes as a nation: What kinds of economic and social policies can we develop to expand opportunity for all young people? How do we create educational programs that engender meaningful civic engagement that do not rest solely on the prestige and high regard of the U.S. military? And how do we advocate for more inclusive notions of citizenship and belonging that do not require proving one’s worth and value to the nation? How we answer those questions has the potential to either affirm or deny the dreams of so many who believe, work, and organize collectively for better futures for themselves and for us all.

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1 Except for elected officials and publicly recognized people, all names in this book, as well as Fairview High School, are pseudonyms. 2 “Soldiers of the Cloud,” lyrics by Doc Gill, 1987. See http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=XCIYu1npadI, for a link to the song with lyrics, accessed February 19, 2014. 3 During my fieldwork, Fairview High School comprised three smaller schools or academies—Arts, Leadership and Pride—each with its own principal. 4 According to Coumbe and Harford, this mission statement was adopted in 1987 and originally stated JROTC’s mission was to create “good” citizens and was later changed to “better” citizens. They write, “This mission statement was intended, initially at least, as much to deflect political criticism as it was to express the actual purpose of the program. From the very inception of the JROTC, there had been critics who viewed it as little more than an attempt by the Army and the federal government to militarize American adolescents and loudly voiced this view. While the new mission statement may have worked to counteract the political sniping from that quarter, it exposed the program’s flanks to its enemies in the Pentagon, who began to question anew why the Army should support an undertaking which was not designed to put soldiers in its ranks” (1996, 269). 5 For insightful discussions of the impact of war on soldiers and their families after September 11, as well as analysis of the widening military-civilian divide, see Bacevich 2005, 2013; Maddow 2012; Finkel 2009, 2013; Laich 2013. 6 See Chavez 2008; Rosas 2012; Cacho 2012; Maira 2009. 7 Jorge Mariscal has written extensively on the military recruitment of Latina/o youth. See Mariscal 2004, 2005, 2010. See also González (2010) for the different ways Latina/o youth are increasingly militarized. Anthropologist Leo Chavez (2008) provides a thorough analysis of the ways Latinas/os are constructed as a threat to the American nation. See Huntington (2004a, 2004b) for an insidious example of the Latino Threat Narrative. 8 Mehay 2009; Pema and Mehay 2009, 2010; Funk 2002; Irizarry 2012; Monkman et al. 2005; Ríos-Aguilar and Deil-Amen 2012; Wells 2003; Ream 2005. 9 According to Jeffrey Jones, a 2011 Gallup poll reveals that, “Americans continue to express greater confidence in the military than in 15 other national institutions, with 78% saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in it.” Jeffrey Jones, “Americans Most Confident in Military, Least in Congress,” June 23, 2011.

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http://www.gallup.com/poll/148163/Americans-Confident-Military-Least-Congress. aspx, accessed October 23, 2014; See also Bacevich 2013. These numbers refer to participants in the largest JROTC programs, the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. Army JROTC is the largest of the programs nationally. Because Fairview has a long-standing Army JROTC program, my analysis focuses primarily on the experiences within Army JROTC. Army JROTC Unit Coordinator, phone call by Lyle Kash, October 21, 2013; Marine Corps JROTC Operations Manager Carmen Cole, phone call by Lyle Kash, October 21, 2013; “AFJROTC History,” Holm Center, lasthttp://holmcenter.com/index.php?menu=jrotc_history, accessed October 15, 2013; NJROTC Unit Viability and Scholarship Coordinator, Royal Connell, e-mail message, October 21, 2013. Mariscal 2004; Furumoto 2005; Galaviz et al. 2011. Hattiangadi et al. 2004; Asch et al. 2005; Pérez 2011. See Mariscal 1999; Oropeza 2005; Phillips 2012; Nicholson 2012; Belkin 2012; Nez and Schiess 2012. Craven and Davis 2013, 1. Ibid., 5. Tilton 2010. Studies exploring questions of youth, race, and citizenship include Davidson 2011; Maira 2009; Cacho 2012; Ramos-Zayas, 2012; Ríos 2011; Garcia 2012. Examples of this writing include Collins et al. 2008; Rosas 2012; Cacho 2012; Lancaster 2011; Maddow 2012; Bacevich 2005, 2013; Lutz 2006; Fine and Ruglis 2009; Maira 2009; Ríos 2011. Andrew Bacevich (2013) has been one of the most persistent writers raising concerns about the effects of a widening civilian-military divide. See also David Finkel’s writings (2009, 2013), which raise similar concerns. Other writers have also analyzed the consequences of our increasingly militarized lives in the United States. See Lutz 2001, 2006; Maskovsky and Susser 2009; Gutmann and Lutz 2010; González 2010; Vasquez 2009; Sutton and Novkov 2008. See, for example, Maskovsky and Susser 2009; Collins et al. 2008; Lutz 2001; Gonzalez 2010; Maira 2009. Davidson 2011; Tilton 2010; Cox 2013; Best 2007; Levinson 2014; Ochoa 2013; Noguera et al. 2011; Lipman 2003a, 2003b, 2011. Lorena Garcia’s work (2012) has been particularly useful in sharpening my analysis of gender, agency, and aspirations. See also Lopez 2003; Enloe 2000, 2007; Sutton and Novkov 2008; Eisenstein 2007; Puar 2007. See Cacho 2012; Ríos, 2011; Ramos-Zayas 2012; Amaya 2013; Plascencia 2012. See Pérez 2006 for a longer discussion about Chicago Public Schools and JROTC. Rivera 2005, 172. Colin Powell, My American Journey (1995), quoted in “Class Warfare,” Time, 4 March 2002, 50. Lutz (2006) makes similar arguments about the need for ethnographic approaches to the study of empire. See also the introduction and contributions to Christa

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Craven and Dána-Ain Davis’s edited collection (2013) reflecting on feminist ethnographic engagement and practice. 28 Pérez 2006. 29 http://ilrc.ode.state.oh.us/. Data on JROTC enrollment for 2006–2007 was provided by JROTC instructors.

Chapter 1. JROTC’s Enduring Appeal 1 2 3 4

5 6 7

8 9

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The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, June 14, 2011. See Pérez 2011. Bosniak 2006, 1. Historian Harry Franqui-Rivera makes a similar observation about the key role military service played for Puerto Ricans’ claims to full citizenship rights and selfdetermination in the early twentieth century, and how Puerto Rican elites regarded military service as “essential in advancing the political standing of their communities” (2015, 186). Bacevich 2005, 7. Powell quoted in Merisa Parson Davis, Bill Cosby Is Right. But What Should the Church Be Doing About It? XulonPress.com, 2010, 38. Ann Jones, “America’s Child Soldiers, JROTC and the Militarizing of America,” December 15, 2013http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175784/tomgram%3A_ann_ jones,_suffer_the_children, accessed December 18, 2013. Jill Tucker, “Students Rally to Save JROTC Program,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 14, 2006. See for example, Debra J. Saunders, “S.F. Unified—Love It or Leave It,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 19, 2006, G5; Jill Tucker, “School Board Votes to Dump JROTC Program,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 15, 2006, B1. Rachel Norton, “Why I Support the JROTC,” http://rachelnorton.com/issues/otherissues/jrotc, accessed December 18, 2013. According to Bill Boehm, “Although many land-grant schools included military education as part of their curriculum, the ROTC expanded officer training to other institutions of higher learning and improved the quality of military leadership throughout the ranks of the Army, and later within the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.” The NDA of 1916 was significant in a number of ways, including the ways that it provided federal supervision and pay for National Guard as well. Bohem, “Commentary: National Guard Milestone Law Was Signed June 3, 1916,” http:// www.nationalguard.mil/news/archives/2013/06/060313-milestone.aspx, accessed December 18, 2013. “Army JROTC History,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-history, accessed December 18, 2013. Bartlett and Lutz 1998, 120–122; Pearlman, 1984. Bartlett and Lutz (120–121) note, for example, struggles over the meaning and values of public education have a long history and often involve concerns with the goals of using education to promote national unity in the face of incredible diversity and heterogeneity. Attention to

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the range of educational schooling during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—including a focus on industrial education and IQ testing, as well as military training—reflect these concerns. Molina 2006. Bartlett and Lutz 1998, 122. See Anyon 2005, 10, for a discussion of Progressive Era social movements and for a broader discussion of the role of social movements in ameliorating educational inequality. Wood 1916, quoted in Bartlett and Lutz 1998, 123. Ibid. Lutz 2001, 33. Serlin 2003, 152. Bartlett and Lutz 1998, 123. Ibid., 124; see also Pearlman 1984. Pema and Mehay 2009, 5. Berlowitz and Long 2003, 166. Horsley 2013, 39. Collin 2008, 458; Berlowitz and Long 2003, 166. Cited in Collin 2008, 474. Cited in ibid., 475. Corbett and Coumbe 2001, 41. Lutz and Bartlett 1995. Collin 2008, 459; See also di Leonardo 1998 for an exhaustive discussion of the race, class, and gendered dimensions of the culture war debates of the 1990s. In Berlowitz and Long 2003, 167. Title 10 USC 2031, cited in Hanser and Robyn, 2000, 4, in Collin 2008, 457. Collin 2008, 467. Mills 1957. See also Lutz 2010, 54; Lutz and Bartlett 1995; Bacevich 2005. Coumbe and Harford 1996, 275. Corbett and Coumbe 2001, 1. Department of Defense estimates for JROTC total enrollments in January 2012 were over 3,000 units. “Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC),” Department of Defense, last modified January 20, 2012, https://kb.defense.gov/app/answers/ detail/a_id/513/~/junior-reserve-officer-training-corps-(jrotc). Research to compile data on national numbers for JROTC was daunting, and I offer profound gratitude to my research assistant, Lyle Kash, for making phone calls, searching websites, and compiling these data. As a result, he estimates 3,405 units and 557,643 students in all branches of JROTC. For more about the proliferation of JROTC programs, see Lutz and Bartlett 1995; Corbett and Coumbe 2001; Horsley 2013. “Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC),” Department of Defense, last modified January 20, 2012, https://kb.defense.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/513/~/ junior-reserve-officer-training-corps-(jrotc); Army JROTC Unit Coordinator, phone call by Lyle Kash, October 21, 2013.

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40 Pema and Mehay 2010, 229. 41 Pema and Mehay 2009, 534. 42 Horsley 2013, 20; See also Chicago Public Schools, “Service Leadership Programs,” http://www.chicagojrotc.com/index.jsp, accessed March 24, 2012. 43 Lutz and Bartlett 1995, 34. 44 Horsley 2013, 41. 45 Apple 2006; Lipman 2011; Noguera et al. 2011; Fine and Ruglis 2009. 46 Lipman 2003a; Lipman 2011. 47 Saltman, 2003, 2. 48 ibid. 49 Noguera 2003, 2009. 50 Fine and Ruglis 2009, 20. 51 Ibid. 52 See Fergus et al. 2014. 53 Harvey 2005. 54 For more examples of the ways neoliberalism shapes individual behavior and ideas of neoliberal citizenship and neoliberalization of consciousness, see Collins et al. 2008; Maskovsky and Susser 2009; Duggan 2003; Craven and Davis 2013. 55 Plascencia 2012, 56. See also Levinson 2014. 56 Chavez 2008, 72. See also Amaya 2013, 77; and Sanchez 1997. 57 Chavez 2008, 2. 58 Ibid., 177. 59 Shklar 1991, 4. 60 Ngai 2004, 7. 61 Ramos-Zayas 2006, 277. 62 Amaya 2013, 16. 63 Ibid., 17. 64 See Cacho 2012 for an extensive discussion of the power of media in constructing narratives of respectability and deservingness. 65 Apple 2006, in Collin, 458; see also Berlowtiz and Long 2003; Bartlett and Lutz, 1998. 66 Gándara and Contreras 2010; Noguera et al. 2011. Cammarota 2008 has a powerful discussion of how this criminalization of youth in the wake of proposition 187 negatively impacted Latina/o youth. 67 Linda D. Kozaryn, “Help Wanted: DoD Seeks JROTC Instructors, American Forces Press Service,” available at http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle. aspx?id=44939. 68 Pema and Mehay 2009. 69 Days and Ang 2004; Pema and Mehay 2009. 70 Furumoto 2005; Mariscal 2004; Aguirre and Johnson 2005; Galaviz et al. 2011. 71 See for example Franqui-Rivera 2014. 72 Oropeza 2005; Ramos-Zayas 2012.

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73 Students often refer to their JROTC program simply as ROTC, the college-based officer-training program. When students have referred to their high school programs in this way in interviews and informal conversations, I preserve their use of the term. 74 The United States Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder,” http://factfinder2.census. gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_5YR_DP03; Geonames, “Ohio-Largest Cities, http://www.geonames.org/US/OH/largest-citiesin-ohio.html. accessed January 8, 2014. 75 The United States Census Bureau, “State and County Quick Facts,” http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/39/3944856.html, accessed January 8, 2014. 76 Mitchell and Pollack 2011, 149. 77 Rivera 2005, 153. 78 See O’Brien 1954, 5–10. In his 1953 community survey, O’Brien notes that the only age group in which women exceeded men were the 15–19 age group and those over 60 years of age. This disparity might reflect what feminist migration scholars have documented in other cities where young Puerto Rican girls migrate to help meet the needs of reproductive labor in Puerto Rican households. See Toro-Morn 1995; Alicea 1997; Pérez 2004. 79 Rivera 2005. 80 The United States Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder,” http://factfinder2.census. gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_5YR_DP03, accessed January 8, 2014. 81 The United States Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder,” http://factfinder2.census. gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_5YR_DP03, accessed January 8, 2014. 82 The United States Census Bureau, “American Fact Finder,” http://factfinder. census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=ChangeGeoContext&geo_ id=16000US3944856&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=Lorain&_ cityTown=Lorain&_state=04000US39&_zip=&_lang=en&_ sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_ submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2005_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_ name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry, accessed January 8, 2014. 83 See Mariscal 2004; Berlowtiz and Long 2003; Lutz and Bartlett 1995; Lipman 2003; Saltman and Gabbard 2003.

Chapter 2. “What Are These Kids Doing in Uniforms?”

1 Chavez 2008, 175. 2 Elsa Davidson makes a similar observation about Latina/o students in Silicon Valley who are involved in citizenship formation that relies on cultivating personal responsibility for social and economic conditions beyond their control (2011, 20–21). 3 “The Army JROTC Curriculum,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-program/ jrotc-curriculum, accessed January 20, 2014.

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4 “The Army JROTC History,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-history, accessed January 20, 2014. 5 “The Army JROTC Curriculum,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-program/ jrotc-curriculum, accessed January 20, 2014. 6 Davidson 2011, 63. See also Cammarota 2008; Rios 2011; Cacho 2012. 7 Exhibition drill is distinguished from regulation drill in the former’s ability to be more creative and often highly stylized move sequences than regulation drill. See Chapter 4 for a discussion on gender and drill in JROTC drill competitions. 8 Pema and Mehay 2009, 2. 9 See Chavez 2008, 176; Ramos-Zayas 2012; Cacho 2012. 10 A small number of students in JROTC were from Pentecostal families whose families supported them in JROTC. Many of these students had also been homeschooled for a number of years, coming in and out of public schooling before entering high school. Questions of religion, public education, and military programs are beyond the scope of this research, but these experiences were noteworthy, especially given the high positions of leadership many of the young Pentecostal women in particular held in JROTC. 11 Deborah Paredez (2009) provides an insightful discussion about class, taste, and Latina/o affect in relation to the Tejana singer Selena that is instructive in thinking about cultural capital, Latina/o youth, and education in JROTC as well. 12 Cox 2013, 188. Dána-Ain Davis makes a similar point to the ways that women receiving public aid are constantly involved in strategies of “self-empowerment” and that involve “self-renovation projects [that are] practically compulsory” (2013, 29). 13 Responding to critiques of neoliberalism that identify the retreat of the state in the lives of the poor in the form of social welfare programs, for example, Rios’s work among poor black and Latino boys emphasizes the clear ways the state has “become deeply embedded in their everyday lives, through the auspices of punitive social control” (2011, 21). This echoes Aimee Cox’s observations in her research among impoverished young black women in Detroit confronting and subverting the “race and gender hierarchies that threaten their potential success” (2013, 181) and insights by Dána-Ain Davis and others who document the multiple ways the state plays a visible (and punitive) role in the lives of the poor and other stigmatized groups. See Davis 2013; Lancaster 2008, 2011. 14 Elliot et al. 2000; Mehay 2009. 15 Gandules are small green (or sometimes light brown) pigeon peas used in Puerto Rican and Caribbean cooking, especially in rice and stews. 16 Bacevich 2013. See also David Finkel 2013. 17 Garcia 2012, 70 and 73. 18 Garcia 2012, 73. See also Nancy Lopez 2003 for her important work on race-gender experiences in education among Latina/o and West Indian youth in New York City. 19 Garcia makes similar observations about educational achievement among Latinas in Chicago. She writes, “The weight [young Latinas] placed on their need to do well academically was significantly informed by their identities as second-generation

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Latinas. They saw their educational aspirations as having implications not only for them as individuals but their families, as well” (2012, 70). See also Davidson 2011 for her discussion of the ways that working-class youth in Silicon Valley internalize profound notions of “giving back” and indebtedness that informed their educational aspirations (190).

Chapter 3. “JROTC Today, Leaders Tomorrow”

1 “Why Join the Army JROTC Program,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-program, accessed January 30, 2014. The additional reasons to join are the following: • To be able to think logically and to communicate effectively with others, both orally and in writing. • To appreciate the importance of physical fitness in maintaining good health. • To understand the importance of high school graduation for a successful future, and learn about college and other advanced educational and employment opportunities. • To develop mental management abilities. • To become familiar with military history as it relates to America’s culture, and understand the history, purpose, and structure of military services. • To develop the skills necessary to work effectively as a member of a team. 2 “JROTC Videos,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-program/jrotc-videos, accessed January 30, 2014. 3 Ibid. 4 Davidson 2011, 51. 5 Rios-Aguilar and Deil-Amen (2012) observe that that although students may, indeed, be successful at developing the social capital to get into college, fewer are able to nurture ties necessary for success in college and beyond. 6 Galaviz et al. 2011; Tannock 2005; Anderson 2009; Furumoto 2005. 7 In my time at Fairview High School, I only met one woman working as a recruiter. She was one of three meeting with students and giving presentations in late September 2006 and did not seem to have a regular presence at the school. The young men and women that I had conversations with and interviewed only referred to interactions with male recruiters who approached them. 8 See Furumoto 2005 for a more detailed analysis of the impact of NCLB on military recruitment of low-income students of color. 9 See Ida Lieszkovszky, “Ohio is Home to Some of the Nation’s Costliest Public Universities,” http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2012/06/19/ohio-is-home-to-some-ofthe-nations-costliest-public-universities, June 19, 2012, accessed February 20, 2014. 10 A number of writers have drawn attention to the ways that poor and working-class youth are drawn to military service not simply because of a profound sense of patriotism but also because of economic imperatives and the possibilities the military provides to do something meaningful with their lives and as service for others. See Graeber 2007; Laich 2013; Phillips 2012; Oropeza 2005.

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11 Captain Ewell’s suggestion that people join the JROTC “really to meet girls” and his interaction with the young Latina who offered her reasons for joining is troubling on countless levels. His dismissive and explicitly sexist behavior was in sharp contrast with the more subtle ways that gender and sexuality shape interactions among students in the program. And although gender is often invoked to explain differences in leadership styles and success within JROTC, at Fairview High School sexuality and sexual desire are not invoked in explaining why kids should participate in JROTC. I have documented elsewhere, however, how politicians and other supporters of JROTC have cited fears of teenage pregnancy and female sexuality as a reason to support JROTC and specifically girls’ participation in the program (Pérez 2006). At Fairview, students are constantly reminded about the code of conduct governing their sexual behavior, particularly while in the cadet uniform, and how this allegedly sets them apart from noncadets at the school. Finally, while JROTC instructors highlight and encourage girls’ active participation and their value in JROTC, Captain Ewell’s comments effectively diminished their worth not only by reducing them to the sexual appeal they provide to entice young men into the program but also by emphasizing what feminist scholars, elected leaders, military officials, and civilians have noted, with alarm, about the military: that it is a hypermasculine space that fosters (at least until recently) the performance of compulsory heteronormativity, militarized patriarchy, and sexualized violence against women. Captain Ewell’s comments reflect what Cynthia Enloe has vigorously critiqued as the historic and contemporary tendency of the military and governments to utilize and “maneuver” women—through their productive labor, sexuality, and reproductive efforts—to advance military goals. See Enloe 2000. 12 For an example of news coverage about military recruiters’ sexual misconduct see Martha Mendoza, “AP Probe Looks at Recruiters’ Misconduct,” Washington Post, August 19, 2006, online edition, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ article/2006/08/19/AR2006081900285_pf.html, accessed October 28, 2014. 13 This is also a point scholars have noted that has been enhanced and supported by the 2001 passage of No Child Left Behind. See Furumoto 2005. 14 Scholars like Fine and Ruglis (2009) question this dichotomy of military enlistment vs. incarceration and argue that both are products of what they call “circuits and consequences of dispossession” that have devastating impacts on low-income youth of colors in public schools. They write, “new state formations are not simply dismantling public investments in low-income communities. To the contrary, massive infusions of public funds are today targeting poor schools and communities and circling back to private and/or carceral interests: in the form of standardized testing, military recruitment, abstinence-only-until-marriage, zero-tolerance, and subcontracted policing in schools and communities” (21). 15 See Richard Pérez-Peña’s article comparing Ohio to other states in terms of affordability and the new national conversation about higher education. “Student Debt Load Found to Vary by College and State,” New York Times, December 4, 2013.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/education/student-debt-load-varies-greatlyby-college-and-region.html, accessed February 20, 2014. See Ramos-Zayas 2012 for her discussion of the ways military service is framed as rehabilitation for Puerto Rican and African American youth in Newark. Hector Amaya (2013) makes a similar observation about the ways the public narratives about the death of noncitizen Latina/o soldiers in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are steeped in images of noble sacrifice that edify otherwise suspect lives of noncitizen Latinas/os. See also Lisa Cacho 2012 for a broader discussion of military service as a way to ascribe value to racialized groups who are otherwise devalued. Like the young Latinas Lorena Garcia (2012) worked with, young Latinas in JROTC linked their personal success and academic achievements to their commitments to improving the well-being of their families (70). This observation is supported by myriad photos of young Latina and African American girls whose accomplishments are prominently featured on the Army JROTC website. See http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/, accessed July 8, 2014. Gilda Ochoa’s work in a Los Angles High School (2013) also reveals similar characterizations of boys as “laid back” and “lazy” and girls as “hard workers” (32). See Ramos-Zayas 2012 for more about gender, race, and affect among Latinas and African American girls in high school in Newark. See Bettie’s (2003) important study about class, race and affect among Anglo and Mexican-American girls. See Hall and Brown-Thirston 2011, 77–79. Garcia 2012, 84. Garcia argues that this boundary creation allows girls to “set themselves apart from girls in their communities who they believed had not been sexually responsible and from young white women, whom they saw as sexually out of control” (ibid., 113). Ochoa 2013, 109. See also Noguera 2009, Rios 2011. Lopez observes, “Since young women were not seen as threatening, they were not disciplined as harshly as young men even when they engaged in the same type of school infractions” (2006, 88). Noguera 2009, xxi. See Ochoa (2013, 30–33) for a discussion of the ways sex, maturity, and gender identities are conflated and advanced as reasons for girls’ relative success vs. boys. Souza 2000; Pérez 2004; Lopez 2003. Ochoa 2013, 32. Lopez 2003. Garcia 2012, 70. Ibid., 74. Citing the work of feminist scholars such as Jessica Ringrose and others, Garcia draws on this notion of “successful girls discourse” to analyze the ways young Latinas construct gendered and racialized notions of respectability for themselves. Lopez 2003. Noguera 2009.

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36 See Lundquist 2008 and Lim et al. 2009 for a discussion of university-based ROTC programs and issues of gender and diversity. 37 Winning Colors is a personality assessment tool used by JROTC for character education, leadership training, and team building. Its goal is to help cadets identify “present behavioral strengths” for personality recognition, leadership development, and behavioral modification. See http://winningcolors.com/about-winning-colors/ for more about the mission and history of Winning Colors. And see http://winningcolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Communique4sort.pdf for specific instructions for how to administer the Winner Colors Assessment profile. The four color profiles are: Blue (Relater); Brown (Builder); Red (Adventurer); Green (Planner). 38 Rios 2011, 105.

Chapter 4. “Citizenship Takes Practice”

1 One of Oberlin’s beloved truisms is “Think one person can change the world? So do we.” 2 “JROTC Program Information,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-program/jrotcprogram-information, accessed May 20, 2014. 3 Ibid. 4 An evocative metaphor I borrow from a conversation with my friend, Tedra Osell, many, many years ago. 5 Bosniak 2006, 2. 6 Chavez 2008. 177. 7 Bacevich 2013, 190. 8 Levinson 2014, 31. Levinson discusses not only othe failure of public schools to engage students with civic education, citizenship, and histories of civic empowerment but also how their failure to do so contributes to what she calls a “civic empowerment gap.” 9 Lauren Berlant (1997 and 2011) has written extensively on the affective dimensions of citizenship. For the purposes of this research, I am interested in the feelings, attachments, and sentiments of indebtedness that citizenship evokes in young Latinas/os participating in JROTC. 10 Garcia 2012, 151. 11 Shklar 1991, 1. 12 See Raymond Williams 1977. 13 Chavez 2008, 4. 14 Bosniak 2006, 1. 15 See Hector Amaya’s (2013) discussion of citizenship excess for a more thorough analysis of the ethno-racial terms of these legal and political exclusions. 16 Chavez 2008, 177. 17 Bosniak 2006, 17. 18 Bosniak argues that questions about citizenship fall into three overlapping categories of what, where, and who: “the substance of citizenship (what citizenship is) . . . the domain of action or location (where citizenship takes place), and. . . . the class of citizenship’s subjects (who is a citizen)” (ibid.).

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19 Ibid., 35. Others whose scholarship has been extremely helpful in thinking through questions of citizenship include Shklar 1991; Chavez 2008; Oboler 2006; Ngai 2004; Amaya 2013; Ramos-Zayas 2012; Cacho 2012. 20 Shklar 1990, 22. 21 Cacho 2012, 4; Ramos-Zayas 2012, 116–117. See also Kimberley Phillips’s (2012) thorough analysis of African American military service and freedom struggles for a discussion of military service and race and economic justice. 22 Fairview students’ ability to take on a citizenship identity clearly reflects the demographic composition of the Latina/o population, which is largely Puerto Rican and second- and third-generation Mexican, with very few recent migrants from Mexico and Central America. This is changing, with robust community efforts to address the needs of a growing undocumented population. But at the time of this research, questions of legal status did not appear to be a significant issue for students or school administrators. 23 “An Overview of JROTC,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/overview-of-jrotc. The Cadet’s Creed follows the form and tenets of the Soldier’s Creed. See http://www. army.mil/values/soldiers.html, accessed October 29, 2014. 24 Davidson 2011, 51. 25 Ibid., 21. Davidson provides an excellent discussion of how the emphasis on presentation skills, physical comportment, and team building exercises is key in producing reliable and responsible student-citizens and how this is a key mechanism in social reproduction for working-class Latina/o youth. Cox (2013) makes a similar observation about self-presentation skills and comportment among low-income African American girls in Detroit. 26 LET II 2005, 158 and 166. 27 LET II, 159. The seven citizenship skills are: cooperation, patience, fairness, respect, strength, self-improvement, and balance. 28 Ibid, 335. 29 See Kozol 2006 and 2012 for his critique of the resegregation of American public schools. 30 Graeber 2007. 31 Bacevich 2013, 11. 32 Rios 2011, 21. 33 Plascencia writes, “In subtle and not so subtle ways everyday uses of citizenship underscore certain social ideas, such as gender hierarchies, asymmetric counterconcepts (i.e., citizen vs. alien/nonalien or taxpayer vs. nontaxpaer), class hierarchies, and modes of belonging” (2012, 47). 34 Davidson 2011, 64. 35 Oboler 2006, 5. 36 Franqui-Rivera 2014, 183. 37 Phillips 2012, 277. 38 Franqui-Rivera 2014, 184. 39 Shklar 1991, 22.

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Duggan 2003, 14. Davidson 2011, 63. Ong 2006, 6, in Chavez 2008, 175–176. Elliot et al. 2000; Mehay 2009 Bacevich 2013, 184. See also Maddow 2012 and Finkel 2013. Reclaim Lorain, a grassroots community organization funded by the Industrial Areas Foundation, also played a key role in voter registration drives leading up to the 2008 presidential elections and focused its efforts in particular on Latina/o, African American, poor, and homeless voters. The organization also provided transportation to election sites on Election Day and for early voting. According to its Facebook profile page, “Reclaim Lorain is a Non-Profit organization dedicated to listening to the citizens of Lorain County. Our primary goals are to develop local leadership and organized power to fight for social justice and to solve community and economic problems.” The organization continues to be involved in addressing ongoing concerns in Lorain. See “Lorain Reclaimed, Residents Rejoice,” for one example. http://www.morningjournal.com/general-news/20120617/lorain-isreclaimed-residents-rejoice, accessed June 24, 2014. See Davidson 2011, 63; Garcia 2012; Ríos 2011. See Ramos-Zayas 2006. See Rios 2011; Cacho 2012; Garcia 2012; Ramos-Zayas 2012. See Burgos and Guridy 2011 on race, class, age, and suspicion. These findings resonate with Davidson’s (2011) observations of Latina/os’ students engagement with both a politics of personal responsibility and a politics of collective responsibility (199). Flores and Benmayor 1997, 15. According to the American Veterans website, “The AMVETS Silver Helmet Award‚ a unique silver replica of the World War II GI helmet‚ has over the years acquired a well-deserved reputation as the most prestigious of all the awards given by veterans organizations and is now known as the ‘Veterans Oscar.’” See “Silver Helmet History,” http://www.amvets.org/events-information/silver-helmet/, accessed September 17, 2008. See, for example, Bob Herbert’s New York Times columns during this period, especially his column, “Sacrifice of the Few,” October 12, 2006, in which he raises the concern about the widening gap between those who serve and those who do not. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/opinion/12herbert.html, accessed June 24, 2014. See also Bacevich’s writings (especially 2013), in which he makes similar observations. Sturken 1997, 9, 13. “Soldiers of the Cloud,” lyrics by Doc Gill, 1987. See http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=XCIYu1npadI, accessed February 19, 2014, for a link to the song with lyrics. The Americanism Award is one of many conferred by the AMVETS at their annual national convention. “AMVETS’ most prestigious award, the Silver Helmet, is presented annually to distinguished Americans who have made significant con-

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tributions in the fields of Americanism, congressional service, civil service, peace, defense and rehabilitation. AMVETS’ own ‘AMVET of the Year’ is also awarded a Silver Helmet at the awards presentation.” http://www.amvets.org/events/silverhelmet-award-recipients, accessed June 25, 2014. 57 Numerous web sources have highlighted the private–corporate collaboration to provide soldiers with musical instruments they can use for recreation and religious services and to deal with depression. Epiphone’s website announced the launch of the project with a photo of Charlie Daniels, the CEO of Gibson Guitar, and military personnel from the Tennessee National Guard standing in front of a military transport vehicle filled with Gibson guitars and other instruments. “Operation Heartstrings is a campaign to mobilize corporate America in helping the dedicated men and women serving in the Armed Forces to combat the loneliness and isolation of service through music by supplying them with instruments, DVDs, CDs and DVD players.” http://www.epiphone.com/News-Features/News/2005/OperationHeartstrings-Kicks-Off-With-Charlie-Dani.aspx, accessed June 25, 2014. 58 Bacevich 2013; Enloe 2000, 245. 59 For a succinct discussion about the political rhetoric of “takers versus makers” see Catherine Rampell, “Takers vs. Makers: An Update.” New York Times, February 7, 2013, http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/makers-vs-takers-anupdate/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0, accessed October 28, 2014.

Conclusion

1 As I note previously, these numbers refer to levels of participation nationally across Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines JROTC units. In the Army JROTC, the largest of all programs, there are “more than 1731 JROTC programs, 314,000 Cadets, 4,000 Instructors, and thousands of supporters.” See “Army JROTC,” http://www. usarmyjrotc.com/, accessed June 26, 2014. 2 Although JROTC has enjoyed expansion and been well resourced through the 1990s, Major Wise and First Sergeant frequently raised concerns about the precariousness of their funding. According to Major Wise, “With the War on Terror, we are now at the bottom of the food chain.” Thus, while the Department of Defense continues to provide funding for uniforms, textbooks, and other essentials, JROTC units increasingly rely on fund-raisers, donations, and local support for the extracurricular activities (travel, drill competitions, Military Ball), which have enormous appeal to the students. 3 See Days and Ang 2004. 4 Rios 2011, 19. See also Cacho 2012 and Ramos-Zayas 2012. 5 Fine and Ruglis 2009, 20. 6 Ramos-Zayas 2012, 6. 7 http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/mitt-romney-47-percent-denial, accessed June 26, 2014. 8 Chavez 2008, 2. 9 Ibid.

Notes

10 11 12 13

14 15

16 17

18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

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Huntington 2004a, 2004b. Alexander 1994. Ramos-Zayas 2012, 116–11 7. Given the varied experiences of economically and social marginalized groups in the military and military programs, including the concrete ways people have benefited from their involvement with these institutions, it becomes clear why ethnography and careful attention to people’s lived experiences in historically specific times and political economic contexts are absolutely essential, not necessarily to decide whether these choices are good or bad but, rather, why these might be reasonable strategies in any given moment. U.S. Army Recruiting Command’s “Strategic Partnership Plan for 2002–2007,” cited in Mariscal 2005, 46. Studies by the RAND Corporation and the Center for Naval Analysis have identified the following factors: the youth of the U.S. Latina/o population (Latinas/os currently make up 12 percent of the general U.S. population, but nearly 18 percent of the eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old population); Latinas/os’ positive attitudes toward the military compared to African American and white youth; and their higher “active duty propensity (i.e., they say they are interested in joining the military) than non-Hispanic youth.” See Hattiangadi et al. 2004; and Asch et al. 2005. Hattiangadi et al 2004. According to the Hattiangadi report, Hispanic recruits in the Marine Corps have outnumbered African American recruits since 2000. Franqui-Rivera, 2014, 183; Linda Bilmes, “Uncle Sam Really Wants Usted,” Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2005 (for 10 percent statistic); “Hispanics in the Military,” Fact Sheet, Pew Hispanic Center, March 27, 2003. According to other studies, the military will need to address serious challenges in the areas of education, language fluency, and citizenship status if they hope to increase the number of Latina/o recruits in the years to come. See Hattiangadi et al., 2; Asch et al. 2005. Quoted in Mark Holston, “Soldier of Fortune,” Hispanic, December 2003, 16 (12): 45. See also Mariscal 2005, 46. See also Pérez 2011. See Pérez 2011. Dávila 2008, 61, 63. According to Dávila, these favorable representations of U.S. Latinas/os obscure myriad obstacles they face daily and are used to elevate U.S. Latinas/os at the expense of African Americans and other marginalized groups. Dávila refers to this dynamic as “Latino spin,” a process that functions to sanitize, whiten, and distinguish between “good” and “bad” Latinas/os in order to make them more “marketable” to the American public (6–7). Rios 2011, 105. Fine and Ruglis 2009, 21. See also Harvey 2005. Bacevich 2013, 136, 137. Ibid., 175. Diane Ravitch, 2011, “American Schools in Crisis,” Saturday Evening Post, http:// www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/08/16/in-the-magazine/trends-and-opinions/ american-schools-crisis.html, accessed June 27, 2014. See also Diane Ravitch, Reign

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26 27

28 29 30 31 32

33 34

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of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013). Lipman 2003b, 84. See also Lipman 2011. Noguera 2009, 114. Scholars like Pedro Noguera (2009) have written extensively on the achievement gap between white and black and Latino youth, and boys in particular. According to Fergus et al. (2014), black and Latino boys index some of the highest dropout rates, lowest test scores, are underrepresented in honors and gifted programs, and are more likely to be classified as learning disabled than other students. “JROTC Program Information,” http://www.usarmyjrotc.com/jrotc-program/jrotcprogram-information, accessed June 27, 2014. Horsley 2013. Bacevich 2013,14. Ibid., 144. See Major General Dennis Laich’s book Skin in the Game: Poor Kids and Patriots (2013) for his critique of the all-volunteer military and his concern with the one percent of poor and middle-class youth who comprise today’s military. Graeber 2007, 38. Some examples include Ernesto Quiñones’ novel Bodega Dreams (New York: Vintage, 2000) and Cristina Garcia’s novel Dreaming in Cuban (New York: Ballatine Books, 1993); Congressman Luis Gutierrez’s autobiography Still Dreaming: My Journey from the Barrio to Capitol Hill (New York: W. W. Norton, 2013); Arlene Dávila’s Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos and the Neoliberal City (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004); Helen Marrow’s New Destination Dreaming: Immigration, Race, and Legal Status in the Rural American South (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011); and, of course, the vibrant social justice movement, United We Dream, “the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation,” composed of millions of DREAMer activists. See http://unitedwedream.org/about/ourmissions-goals/, accessed November 2, 2014.

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Index

Achievements, 144–45, 200–201; displays of, 66; education and Latinas’, 105, 126, 219n12, 219n19; gap, 228n27; girls’ pride and, 99–100, 105, 126, 219n12, 219n19; JROTC uniforms visually displaying, 98; narratives of, 105 “Active duty propensity,” 8, 205 African Americans, 7, 13, 34, 40, 95, 135, 199; attitude toward military and, 205; citizenship and, 157–58, 196; criminalization of, 147; drill competition and uniforms, 165–66; educational crisis and, 132, 135, 208; educational segregation and, 164; Latino Spin and, 227n20; male role models for, 169; military and military service, 158, 172 Agency, 6–8 Air Force Academy, 17, 62 Air Force Combat Action Medal, 25 Alexander, M. Jacqui, 204 All-volunteer force (AVF), 7, 33, 176, 210, 213n7 Amaya, Hector, 40 American Dream, 10–11, 26, 134, 204, 208 American Veterans (AMVETS), 23; convention of, 188–96, 225n56, 225nn52–53; silver Helmet Award for Americanism, 194; silver Helmet Awards, 188–89 Americorps, 207 Armed forces, 17, 118, 122, 192, 195 Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), 12, 112–14 Army, U.S., 1, 12–13, 66, 74, 130–37, 204–5; global reach of, 168–69; JROTC and,

28, 30, 32–33, 36, 43–45, 47, 51–52; noble purpose of, 122 “Army of altruists,” 168, 182 Army Recruiting Command, 204–5 Army Reserves, 113 Asian Americans, 40 Aspirations: and citizenship, 157, 159; cultural capital, 87; economic stability and, 53, 115, 211; educational, 10, 21; gender and, 11, 61, 135; JROTC and, 15, 21, 28, 45, 47, 75, 105, 171 ASVAB. See Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Autonomy, 82, 141 AVF. See All-volunteer force Bacevich, Andrew, 24, 27, 95–96, 154, 170, 196, 207–9 Bartlett, Lesley, 30–32, 215n13 Belonging, 127–28, 137, 181, 183–84, 196–97 Benmayor, Rina, 188 Berlant, Lauren, 223n9 Big Brothers/Big Sisters programs, 179 Boehm, Bill, 215n11 Bosniak, Linda, 154, 156–57, 223n18 Boy Scouts, 68–69 Boys/young men, 32, 37–38, 77, 100, 106; characterization of females and, 131–32; harsh punishment of, 131–33; JROTC cadet experiences of, 51–53; JROTC females outnumbering, 6, 16, 20, 130, 218n78; maturity of, 130, 133–34, 145, 174; role models for African Americans, 169; ROTC girls outnumbered by, 136

239

240

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Index

Brooks, David, 209 Brown, Sherrod, 191 Buckeye Boys State camp, 68–69 Bush, George, 18, 52, 73, 205 Bush, George H. W., 28, 33–34 Cacho, Lisa, 158 Cadet of the Year, 67 Cadet’s Creed, 81, 158–59, 200 Caldera, Louis, 25 Camaraderie, 67, 70, 210 Cammarota, Julio, 217n66 CAP Teens. See Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Teens Career, military, 47–48 Castillo, Juan, 25 Character, 104–5, 182 Chavez, Leo, 39–40, 61, 154, 156, 175, 203–4 Chicago Public Schools, 36–37 Chicanos/as. See Mexican Americans Children, 28, 30, 112, 178 “Circuits and consequences of dispossession,” 38, 221n14 Citizens, 158, 203; JROTC and turning urban youth into good, 39; JROTC as producing successful, 153; LET and roles of, 160; neoliberal, 175 Citizenship, 21, 23–24, 103–5, 153–55, 211, 218n2, 220n1; affective dimensions of, 223n9; African Americans and, 157–58; belonging and, 183–84, 196–97; community service as, 157, 177–82; as community uplift, 182–89; cultural, 188; curriculum on, 39, 158–60, 202; everyday uses of, 171–72; formation and aspirations of Latinas/os, 9–10; as helping, 179; as improvement despite of challenges, 174–75; inclusion and exclusion, 40, 157–58; JROTC students’ meaning of, 23–24, 154–55; Latinas/ os and, 5–6, 9–10, 224n22; locating practices and performances of, 161–63, 171–72, 193; military service and, 31,

35, 196; military training for instilling, 31, 35; neoliberal models of, 174, 175, 180–81; as not merely legal status, 172; as productive labor, 172–77; as requiring self-improvement, 180–81; rights and obligations of, 5–6, 40, 183–84, 196–97; soldiers as pinnacles of, 177; as subordination, 156–57; in theory and practice, 155–61; under-class as falling short of, 158, 174, 203; values and skills of, 160, 176, 190, 224n27; visiting monuments and notions of, 193; youth of color and, 187 Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Teens, 38 Civilian-military divide, 10, 196, 207, 209, 213n5, 214n19, 225n53 Class, 8, 10, 27, 76–77, 80, 105, 133–35, 174; drill competitions and, 164; workingclass youth and, 5, 8, 10–12, 15, 22, 24, 186–88 College education: applications and, 50–51; debt and, 123; enlistment and finances for, 110, 113–15, 117, 119, 123, 173–74; and JROTC, 69–72, 97, 106 Collin, Ross, 35 Colón-López, Ramon, 25 Color Guard, 3–4, 76, 146, 163–71, 178, 193–94, 201 Commands, execution of, 73, 76, 78, 136, 162, 219n7 Community: giving back to, 177–78, 184; JROTC and Puerto Rican, 6; JROTC cadets as investments for, 88–89, 210; JROTC involvement in, 19, 68, 152, 181; JROTC service commitment to, 4–5, 68, 72; Latinas/os and uplifting of, 100, 182–89; negative evaluations and, 186 Community service, 158; awards for, 85; citizenship and, 157, 177–82; elderly and, 178; as giving back to community, 151, 155, 177–78, 184; JROTC sponsored events as, 151; students transformed by, 180; veterans and, 178; volunteers for,

Index

49, 72; youth valuing of, 4–5, 68, 69, 72, 179, 187 Conduct: cadets witnessed for bad, 74–75, 79; JROTC uniform, rules and, 84–85, 91–92; JROTC uniforms’ transformative power and, 90–92 Confidence, 132–33 Congressional hearings, 190–91 Corbett, John, 34, 36 Core Army values, 122, 130–37 Coumbe, Arthur T., 34, 36, 213n4 Counselors, high school, 109–10, 176 Cox, Aimee, 88, 219nn12–13, 224n25 Criminality, 203–4, 206 Criminalization: of communities, 41; of youth, 41, 99, 186, 203, 217n66 Criminal justice system, 37 Cultural citizenship, 188 Daniels, Charlie, 194–95, 226n57 Davidson, Elsa, 171, 218n2, 219n19 Dávila, Arlene, 206, 227n20 Davis, Dána-Ain, 219nn12–13 Debt, 121, 123, 221n15 Democracy, 127–28 Department of Defense (DOD), 28, 35–36, 41, 205 Desert Storm, 168 Dignity, 22, 43, 59–61, 65, 89, 101, 146–48 Discipline, 6, 42–45, 55, 73, 87, 127, 129, 162; at-risk youth and JROTC, 7, 28, 34–35, 41, 56, 99–100, 125; criminal justice system tactics as, 37–38; JROTC and, 76–80, 149, 201; punishment and difference from, 78–79; self-discipline and youth agency, 6–7, 42–45, 55 Dispossession, 38 Distinctiveness, of JROTC, 4, 143, 179 Diversity, 1, 36–37, 209 DOD. See Department of Defense Drill competitions, 152, 158; contrasting female teams at, 165–66; precision demonstrated at, 165–66; pride

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and enthusiasm at, 166; race, class, and gender shaped in, 164; tenets of citizenship reinforced at, 170; unarmed exhibitions, 165; vision of citizenship and, 161–71 Drill exhibitions, 18–20, 60, 63–64, 70, 72, 219n7 Drill team, 78–79; importance of, 77; JROTC exhibitions of, 18–20, 60, 63– 64, 70; videos, 76–77 Dropouts, 37–38, 143, 153 Duggan, Lisa, 175 Duncan, Arne, 28 Duty, 8, 30, 122–23, 130–37, 205. See also Obligation Education, 31; Board of, 29; citizenship, 39; credits for physical, 19, 29, 70–71; DOD addressing crisis in, 41; Latinas’ achievements in, 105, 126, 219n12, 219n19; LET in, 74, 159–60. See also College education Empowerment, 141–42; Selfempowerment, 126, 219n12 Encouragement, 141–42 Enloe, Cynthia, 196, 214n22, 221n11 Ethics, 9–15, 205–6 Ethnographic practice, 9–15 Executive officer, 17, 20, 60, 62, 77 Executive Order 13269, 205 Families, 193, 202, 211; joining JROTC influenced by friends and, 47, 64–71; JROTC and support of, 73; JROTC Booster Club and involvement of, 61– 62, 163–64, 166, 189–92; military and Latina/o cadets’, 172; military service histories and interest of, 42–53, 60; military service traditions and, 42–53, 57, 147, 199 Feminist: ethnography, 9, 215n27; scholars and scholarship, 9, 11, 135, 196, 218n78, 221n11, 222n33

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Fergus, Edward, 228n27 Finances: cadets’ concerns about, 106, 133; enlistment and addressing college, 110, 113–15, 117, 119, 123, 173–74 Financial aid, 173 Financial independence, 45, 48, 106–7, 158, 171–72 Fine, Michelle, 38, 203, 221n14 Flores, William, 188 Followership, 140–44, 146–47 Foltin, Craig, 1 Franqui-Rivera, Harry, 172, 205, 215n4 Gándara, Patricia, 217n66 Garcia, Lorena, 155, 219n19 Gender, 8, 10, 27, 76–77, 80; aggressiveness and conundrum of, 132–33; core army values, leadership and, 130–37; drill competitions and, 164; schooling experiences shaped by, 133, 135; unequal power relations shaped by, 105 G.I. Bill, 121, 123 Gill, Doc, 3, 194, 213n2 Girls/young women, 11; achievements and pride of, 99–100, 105, 126, 219n12, 219n19; characterization of boys and, 131–32; dedication in JROTC, 17–18, 42–51, 66–67; drill competitions and contrasts of, 165–66; empowerment and achievement of, 126, 219n12, 219n19; JROTC and increasing number of, 36, 130; JROTC males outnumbered by, 6, 16, 20, 130, 218n78; leadership roles and Latinas, 23, 42–43, 49, 72–73, 86, 126; as more mature than boys, 133–34; praising of, 148; ROTC males outnumbering, 136; as willing to step up to plate, 130 “Give back,” 155 Globalization, militarized, 207 “Good option,” 174 Governance, 170–71 Government, 160; high schools and meeting requirements of, 175–76; JROTC as

family engagement with, 202; JROTC cadets as investments of, 87–88, 210; JROTC uniforms displaying investment of, 87–88, 210; programs, 203; students and programs of, 174 Graeber, David, 138, 182, 210 Gratitude, 88–89 Guidance counselors, 51 Gulf War, 12 Harford, Lee S., 213n4 Harvey, David, 38 Headquarters classroom, 42, 67, 81–82 Herbert, Bob, 225n53 High schools, 39; counselors in, 109–10, 116; JROTC as positive representation of, 65, 94, 97, 100–101, 197; meeting government requirements for, 175–76; presence of military in, 13; recruiters and low-income, urban, 112–24, 220n7, 220n10; setting for JROTC study at, 19–21; staying focused in, 46–47 Hispanic/Latino Leadership Conference, 200–201 Hispanics, 25–26, 200–201, 205–6; active duty propensity, 205, 227n15; as great soldiers, 25; and military, 26, 205–6; values and culture like military, 24, 26 Holocaust Museum, 193 Honor Guard, 3–4, 76, 99, 163–71, 188–89, 193–94, 200–201 “Honor Unit With Distinction,” 200 Horsely, Heather, 33, 36–37 Huntington, Samuel, 204 Hussein, Saddam, 52 Immigrants, 31, 39, 53, 156, 158, 204, 208 Immigration, 204 Industrial Areas Foundation, 225n45 Infantry Drill Regulation (IDR), 20, 60, 164, 165 Inspections, 81, 85–86

Index

JROTC Booster Club, 6, 19–20, 46, 49–50; fund-raisers, 161, 164, 169, 189–90, 226n2; parents’ involvement in, 61–62, 163–64, 166, 189–92; stories shared by, 124–25; travel funds raised by veterans and, 189–90 JROTC cadets: assigned jobs of, 72–73; cadet of the year award and, 67; Cadet’s Creed and, 81, 158–59, 200; as community and government investments, 87, 88–89, 210; display of discipline and patriotism by, 28; females’ dedication to, 17–18, 42–51, 66–67; financial concerns of, 106, 133; gathering and pooling of resources by, 191; interactions of present and former, 166–67; Latina/o military families and, 172; nurturing sense of gratitude in, 88– 89; success stories of, 17, 76, 80, 126; thanked for military service, 95–100, 209; uniforms’ meaning to, 22, 43, 59– 61, 65, 81, 90, 94, 101; veterans honored by, 1–3, 7, 14, 162, 194; veterans vocally praising, 98–99 JROTC curriculum, 18, 67, 72–75, 200, 202; and appeal of extracurricular, 67; and citizenship education, 39, 74, 155– 56, 158–60, 202; community service and, 4, 17, 19, 23, 68, 73, 80, 108, 158; credits, 19, 29, 51, 59, 64, 70–71, 121; grading system, 80–81; Headquarters, 42, 67, 81–82 JROTC instructors, 70–71, 91; advantaged over teachers, 110; disappointments expressed by, 111; recommendations and references of, 108–9, 111; as role models, 176; students’ strong relationships with, 107 “JROTC Today, Leaders Tomorrow,” 103–4 JROTC uniforms, 69–70, 145; achievements visually displayed by, 98; allure of, 72, 209; authority conveyed in, 91;

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cadets and meaning of, 22, 43, 59–61, 65, 81, 90, 94, 101; cadets and teasing while in, 93–94; conduct and transformative power of, 90–92; discipline, obedience, and pride with, 87; as display of government investment, 87–88, 210; gandules, 93; inspections and etiquette, 81, 85–86; non-JROTC responding to cadets in, 92–95; outsiders’ reactions to, 89–90; pickle patrol, 59, 65, 92–93; recognition and pride in, 22, 43, 59–61, 65, 81, 90, 94, 101; rules governing conduct while in, 84–85, 91–92; seriousness associated with, 89– 92; students mistaken for servicemen in, 90; students visible for monitoring in, 86; as uncomfortable, 84, 86–87, 89; wearing and required respect of, 85–87 Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC): active duty military instructors in, 30; Army and, 28, 30, 32–33, 36, 43–45, 47, 51–52; at-risk youth and discipline of, 7, 28, 34–35, 41, 56, 99–100, 125; belief in positive impact of, 34–35, 97, 197; camaraderie in, 18, 67, 70, 98, 126; citizenship and aspirations in, 8–11; college and learning opportunities in, 69–72, 97, 106; as controversial program, 26–27, 56; creating favorable attitudes of military, 88–89; criticized as recruiting tool, 7–8, 12, 15, 43, 199, 213n7; discipline molded by, 76–80, 149, 201; distinctiveness of, 4, 143, 179; enduring appeal of, 28, 30, 32–33, 36, 43–45, 47, 51–52, 56–57; establishment of, 30, 215n11; exceptionalism, 105, 124, 142, 170, 180, 183; exemplary leadership of, 80, 103–5, 146–48; expansion of, 7, 24, 27–28, 32–39, 41, 56, 214n10, 216n38; family’s role in, 47, 64–71, 73, 202; as federally funded youth development program, 37, 61; female cadets dedication to, 17–18, 42–51, 66–67;

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Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (cont.): followership valued in, 146–47; friends and family as influence for joining, 64–71; fun aspect of, 62–66, 69; and funding, 33, 37, 61, 203, 226n2; girls numbers increasing in, 36, 130; girls outnumbering males in, 6, 16, 20, 130, 218n78; high school and positive representation of, 65, 94, 97, 100–101, 197; history and background of, 7, 21– 22, 28–32, 73; Honor and Color Guard performances, 163–71, 193–94, 201; as hypermasculinized, 99–100; importance of learning discipline and respect in, 73; importance of rank in, 77; for improving moral character of youth, 33–34; to join, 46; mission/mission statement of, 5, 18, 68, 73–74, 213n4; mothers’ influence and joining, 69–70; national debate about, 15, 24, 26–27, 56, 199; non-JROTC students and, 94–95; opposition to, 26–27, 29, 32, 56; positive reputation of, 65, 94, 97, 100–101, 197; positivity and challenges of, 62–63, 97, 197, 209; pride and praise for, 3–4, 6, 14, 47; as producing successful citizens, 153; as providing direction, 98, 125–26, 187, 201; reasons for joining, 72–76, 103, 120–21, 220n1, 221n11; as social capital, 106–12; stories of redemption in, 124–29; students’ benefiting from, 105, 227n13; student’s empowerment in, 84, 141–42; students kept on track by, 129; teachers’ influence on joining, 70–71; teachings for leadership in, 22–23, 43, 74; traveling and, 19, 65, 88, 128, 162–63, 167, 169, 188–93; treated with respect in, 45–46; as vehicle for exercising citizenship, 196–97; veterans honored by, 1–3, 7, 14, 162, 194 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 152 King, Rodney, 34

Kiwanis Club, 175 Korean Memorial, 192 Latinas/os, 17, 155, 228n27; achievements in education by Latinas, 105, 126, 219n12, 219n19; anti-immigrant sentiment faced by, 40; citizenship and, 9– 10, 56, 224n22; citizenship and JROTC obligations of, 5–6; citizenship formation and aspirations of, 9–10; concerns and fears about, 203–4; doubts of full participation by, 204; financial independence of, 106–7; JROTC programs and roles of, 13; leadership of Latinas, 23, 42–43, 49, 72–73, 86, 126; male dropout rates of Blacks and, 37–38; military recruitment of, 7–8, 12, 15, 213n7; military resources and, 204–5; and military service, 8, 13, 22, 24–25, 43, 52, 60; overrepresentation of in military, 38, 41; prisons’ rising numbers of, 202–3; uplifting of community and, 100 “Latino Spin,” 227n20 Latino Threat Narrative, 39–40, 156, 203–4 Law enforcement, 48 Leadership, 16, 220n1; abilities of, 78; core army values, gender and, 130–37; defining selves as born leaders and, 148– 49; engendering, 148–49; followership and, 140–44; girls in positions of, 23, 42–43, 49, 72–73, 86, 126; JROTC cadets’ improvements on, 139–40; JROTC exemplary, 80, 103–5, 146–48; JROTC provision of respect and, 80; JROTC teachings for, 22–23, 43, 74; Latinas in, 23, 42–43, 49, 72–73, 86, 126; respect and dignity with, 146–48; as responsibility, 144–46; self-discovery and, 137–40 Leadership Academy, 16 Leadership Education and Training (LET), 74, 159–60

Index

Legal status, 172, 224n22 Lifetime Achievement Award, 200–201 Lipman, Pauline, 208 Lorain, Ohio: ethnic population of, 53; families holding multiple jobs in, 55; as International and deindustrialized city, 53–56; Reclaim Lorain and, 183, 225n45; unemployment rates of, 54–55 “Loudness,” 47, 78–79, 82, 131–33, 162, 165 Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage (LDRSHIP), 122–23, 130–37 Lutz, Catherine, 30–32, 215n13 Marine Corps., U.S., 205 Marines, 33, 41, 44, 46, 48–50, 52 Mariscal, Jorge, 213n7 Medals, 66, 85, 93–94 Mexican Americans, 13, 25, 44, 157–58, 204 Mexican immigrants, 39, 204 MIA. See Missing in action Migrant workers, 53–54 Militarization, 10–11, 156, 207–8; of American Daily Life (course), xii, 36; Bacevich and new American militarism, 24, 27, 207; and education, 20; feminist scholars and, 11; and militarism, 6, 10, 22, 156 Military, U.S., 211; African Americans and, 172; African Americans’ attitude towards, 205; allure of, 162–63; anti-, 29; benefits of, 8, 13, 15, 57, 116–24, 227n13; confidence in, 7, 213n9; criticism and non-, 169; decision to join/ enlist, 26, 41, 48, 110, 113–15, 119, 123, 172–74; high schools and presence of, 13; JROTC criticized as recruiting tool for, 7–8, 12, 15, 43, 199, 213n7; JROTC for creating favorable attitudes of, 88– 89; Latinas/os recruitment of, 7–8, 12, 15, 213n7; positive relationships with, 45–46; Puerto Ricans and, 25–26, 158,

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172, 205, 215n4; recruiters’ presentation of benefits in, 116–24; whites’ attitude towards, 205; youth targeted by recruiters of, 7–8, 12, 15, 41, 56, 213n7 Military-civilian divide, 10, 196, 207, 209, 213n5, 214n19, 225n53 “Military metaphysic,” 36 Military recruiters. See Recruiters Military service: awareness of challenges in, 49–50; backgrounds of those in, 168–69; cadets enjoying praise of, 96–97, 209; cadets not all expected for, 173–74; career of, 47; for economic and social mobility, 8; familiarity and recruitment into, 7–8, 12, 15, 213n7; family and ethnic traditions and, 42–53, 57, 60, 147, 199; framed as rehabilitation, 222n16; full path to citizenship status by, 196; as good option, 174; instead of prison, 221n14; JROTC cadets thanked for, 95–100; Latinas/os appeal of, 13, 24–25; protest and critique of, 44; resources and benefits of, 8, 13, 15, 57, 116–24, 227n13; soldiers thanked for, 96; as steady job, 172; travels and, 119– 21, 123, 167 Military training: for instilling citizenship, 31, 35; proponents and value of, 31–32; as solution for softness in males, 32; World War I and, 30–32 Mills, C. Wright, 36 Missing in action (MIA), 2–3, 7, 188–96, 193 Mitchell, Pablo, 53 Model UN, 167, 175 Molina, Natalie, 30 “Moral rot,” 30–31 My American Journey (Powell), 15, 214n26 National Defense Act of 1916, 30, 32 National Defense Appropriations Act of 1993, 33 National Education Association, 31

246

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Index

National Guard, 113–14 National Security, 204 Nativism, 39–42; and anti-immigrant sentiment/legislation, 5, 27, 31, 39–41, 151, 156, 204, 206; new nativism, 39 Naturalization, 160 Naval Academy, U.S., 17, 173, 192 “Neoliberal citizens,” 175 Neoliberalism, 9–11, 38, 134, 217n54; citizen/citizenship, 159, 175, 206, 217n54; critique of, 219n13; ideologies, 134–35, 171; inequality, 156; and personal responsibility, 10, 188; privatized services, 170–71, 202 209; and punitive governance, 10, 188, 202; and selfimprovement/engineering, 82, 149, 175, 180–81, 188 “New American militarism,” 27 Ngai, Mae M., 40 9/11, 5, 10, 154, 156, 213n5 No Child Left Behind Act, 112 Noguera, Pedro, 37, 208, 217n66, 228n27 Norton, Rachel, 29 Nunn, Sam, 34 Obama, Barack, 25–26 Obedience, 129, 140, 143 Obligation, 75, 183–84, 211 Oboler, Suzanne, 172 O’Brien, Robert W., 218n78 Ohio National Guard, 68–69 Ong, Aiwa, 175 Operation Care Package, 178 Operation Desert Storm, 2, 12 Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan, 2, 5 Operation Heartstrings, 195, 226n57 Operation Iraqi Freedom, 1–2, 5, 47, 118 Orienteering, 143–44 Oropeza, Lorena, 44 Patriotism, 28, 31 Peace Corps, 207

Pearlman, Michael, 215n13 Pentagon, 18, 28, 122 Phillips, Kimberly, 172 Physical education, 19, 29, 70–71 “Pickle patrol,” 59, 92–93 Plascencia, Luis, 39, 171 Pledge of Allegiance, 19, 81, 158, 193, 200 Political economy, 8–9, 13, 15, 26, 105 Pollack, Haley, 53 Powell, Colin, 15, 28–30, 34–35, 208, 214n26 Pride, 87; drill competitions’ enthusiasm and, 166; females’ achievements and, 99–100, 105, 126, 219n12, 219n19; JROTC praise and, 3–4, 6, 14, 47; JROTC uniform offering dignity and, 22, 43, 59–61, 65, 81, 90, 94, 101 Prisoners of war (POW), 2–3, 7, 188–96, 193 Prisons, 122–23, 202–3, 221n14 Proposition 187, 39, 217n66 Public health campaigns, 31 Puerto Rican Home Club, 54 Puerto Ricans, 6, 12–14, 16, 131, 155, 215n4; Americanness and loyalty of, 25; citizenship and, 157–58; military and, 26–27, 158, 172, 205, 215n4 Punishment, 78–79, 95, 132, 134, 222n26 Race/ethnicity, 8, 10, 21, 27, 31, 76–77, 80; aspiration formation and, 9, 11; citizenship experiences and youth, 147–48, 157–58, 187, 214n17; drill competitions and, 164, 165; ethnic whites, 13; experiences shaped by, 133, 135; hierarchies, 30, 35, 39–40, 204, 208; Lorain’s population by, 53; and national belonging, 21, 27, 39, 56, 156, 158; and schooling, 37, 80, 105, 133, 135; tradition of military service and, 42–53, 57, 199; unequal power relations shaped by, 105

Index

Ramos-Zayas, Ana Yolanda, 40, 44, 204, 222n16 Rank, 77–79, 85, 126, 143 Reclaim Lorain, 183, 225n45 Recruiters, 211; abuse, sexual harassment and, 123, 221n12; backgrounds of, 118–21; function of narratives by, 116–17, 124; low-income, urban high schools and, 112–24, 220n7, 220n10; military benefits’ presentation by, 116– 24; military service and function of, 116–24; planning and, 112–24; students’ economic concerns as tool for, 172; ubiquitous presence of, 123; value of interactions with, 112–13; youths targeted by military, 7–8, 12, 15, 41, 56, 213n7 Recruitment: attempts to augment pool for, 33; frustration when approached for, 49; incentives, 33; Latinas/os and military service, 7–8, 12, 15, 213n7; targeting efforts of, 7–8, 12, 15, 41, 56, 213n7 Religion, 12–13, 85, 144, 179, 219n12 Republicans, 158, 203 Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC): JROTC and differences compared to, 166–67; JROTC term interchanged with, 218n73; males outnumbering females in, 136 Respect, 45–46, 56, 73, 75; freshmen as having to learn, 79; JROTC exemplary leadership worthy of, 80, 103–5, 146–48; JROTC performance invoking envy and, 170; JROTC uniforms associated with recognition and, 22, 43, 59–61, 65, 81, 90, 94, 101; JROTC uniforms worn with required, 85–87; LDRSHIP and, 122–23, 130–37, 136; military personnel as enjoying, 170 Responsibility, 61, 75, 91, 100–101, 127, 154; good citizenship as taking, 184–85; leadership as, 144–46

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Revitalization Act, 33 Ringrose, Jessica, 222n33 Rios, Victor, 88, 147–48, 203, 206, 219n13 “Ripple effect,” 181, 185 Rivera, Eugenio, 16, 53–54 Romney, Mitt, 158, 203 ROTC. See Reserve Officers Training Corps Ruglis, Jessica, 38, 203, 221n14 Rumsfeld, Donald, 18, 73 Sacred Heart Chapel, 13, 20, 54, 62 Sanchez, Ricardo, 25 School-to-prison pipeline, 37 Security guards, 95 Serlin, David, 32 Sexual harassment, 123, 221n12 Sexuality, 8, 10, 27, 158, 203–4 Shklar, Judith, 40, 155, 174 Social capital, 11, 21–22, 32, 42, 51, 101, 105–12 Soldiers, 207; children recruited as, 28, 30; concerns of wars and service of, 52, 56; Hispanics praised as great, 25–26; as pinnacles of citizenship, 177; romanticizing, 209; thanked for military service, 96 “Soldiers of the Cloud,” 3, 194, 213n2 Solidarity, 156–57 “Stepping up,” 130, 143–44, 185 Stigmatization, 99–100, 158, 197, 203 Stories of redemption, 105, 124–29 Sturken, Marita, 193 Subordination, 156–57 Success, 135, 149, 153; JROTC as keeping you focused for, 167; beyond JROTC classroom, 104; strategizing for dreams of, 111–13, 115; “success stories,” 17, 76, 80, 126 “Successful girls discourse,” 135, 222n33 Sutton, Betty, 191

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Index

Traditions, 42–53, 57, 147, 199 Travels: allure of, 119, 178; drill competitions and, 161–71; International, 119– 22; JROTC and, 19, 65, 88, 128, 162–63, 167, 169, 188–93; military service and, 119–21, 123, 167 “Under-class,” 174 Unemployment rates, 54–55 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 160 Veterans, 111, 164, 168–69, 192–93; AMVETS Silver Helmet Awards, 188–96, 225n56, 225nn52–53; cadets’ military precision honoring, 1–3, 7, 14, 162, 194; cadets vocally praised by, 98–99; community service and, 178; JROTC honoring, 1–3, 7, 14, 162, 194; military diversity reflected in, 1; significance of ceremony for, 2–3; support of local, 151–52; travel funds raised by Booster Club and, 189–90 Veterans Day Assembly, 1–2, 4–5, 213n1 Vietnam Veterans Memorial (the Wall), 192–93 Vietnam War, 47 Voting, 152, 183, 225n45 The Wall (Vietnam Veterans Memorial), 192–93 “Wall of honor,” 172–73

War on Terror, 156, 205, 226n2 West Point Military Academy, U.S., 17, 173 White House, 192 Wilson, Woodrow, 30 Winning Colors, 137, 223n37 Working-class youth, 5, 8, 10–12, 15, 22, 24, 186–88 World Trade Center, 122 World War I, 30–32 World War II, 32 Worthiness, 185, 206; demonstrating, 40, 82, 88, 158; militarized notions of, 7, 25, 39; race and politics of, 40, 185, 188–89, 204 XO. See Executive officer Youth of color, 76, 103–4, 130, 147, 203, 222n16; citizenship and, 187; concerns about soft coercive migration of, 38, 56 Youths, 147–48, 187; good citizens and JROTC, 39; JROTC and image of, 9; JROTC discipline and at-risk, 7, 28, 34–35, 41, 56, 99–100, 125; JROTC for improving moral character of, 33–34; military recruiters targeting, 7–8, 12, 15, 41, 56, 213n7; narratives and working-class, 10; Proposition 187 and criminalization of, 217n66 Zero-tolerance policies, 37, 41, 132

About the Author

Gina M. Pérez is a cultural anthropologist and Professor in the Comparative American Studies Program at Oberlin College. She is the author of the book The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement and Puerto Rican Families, winner of the Delmos Jones and Jagna Scharff Memorial Prize for the Critical Study of North America, and co-editor, with Frank Guridy and Adrian Burgos Jr., of Beyond El Barrio: Everyday Life in Latino América.

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