The ideology of empire is not just within the state itself, but maintained through a subtler hum of the machine within education, making it a critical site for the resistance of imperialism.

After several years living abroad, I returned to Southern California in late 2003. One afternoon, I was stuck in traffic behind a pickup truck and seeing little else from my compact car but the back of the truck, a black and white bumper sticker defiantly asked me, “Got War?” I stared at that bumper sticker modeled after a 90s “Got Milk?” ad for the next 16 miles and thought of little else. Got War? I was curious, what is this bumper sticker trying to tell me? What message is it trying to send? Do we not already have war? Do we need war? The original milk advertisement was silly, grown adults with childish milk mustaches staring into the camera. Is war as frivolous as a milk mustache? Something to be consumed and enjoyed? Something nostalgic even? This bumper sticker was stuck to the back of that pickup truck at the height of the Iraq War, and undoubtedly the USA was a nation at war, but then as it is now, the USA is also a nation of war. Hardt and Negri (2004) argue that we have entered an era of “perpetual war” where militarized aggression and war are no longer the exception, but rather the “normal state of affairs” (21). The USA has engaged in some type of military action for over 80% of its total history (Torreon 2015). The USA is not only the largest global arms exporter (SIPRI 2016), but it also leads the world in military expenditures ($596 billion in 2015); is responsible for 36% of the total world military spending (Perlo-Freeman et al. 2016); and spends almost three times more than the next biggest spender China ($215 billion) B. Johnson (*) Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL, USA 66 and more than the next top seven countries combined (Perlo-Freeman et al. 2016). The US military employs 3.5 million people and is the single largest employer of US youth (Dickinson 2012) and the single largest general employer in the USA (Department of Defense 2014) and astoundingly the world (Taylor 2015). Such statistics are easy to point out, clear examples of the influence and power of the US military globally and domestically, but what about the subtler, quieter hum of the military machine? Camouflage popping up in children’s clothing? Boot camp fitness classes at the gym? Humvees on grocery runs in the suburbs? Retired military personnel running schools? Flyovers at football games? “Got War?” bumper stickers? The reach of military influence is vast and varied, quietly infiltrating the minutia of our everyday lives. In fact, the culture of militarism seeps into so many different aspects of our lives that it is taken for granted and largely unnoticed (Finley 2012; Lutz 2012). The “step-by-step process by which a person or a thinking gradually comes to be controlled by the military or comes to depend for its well-being on militaristic ideas” is militarization (Enloe 2000, 3). It is a process of aligning cultural, institutional, economic, and social processes with militaristic values, beliefs, and practices. The more inline a society is with militaristic values and practices, the more accepted military action and the process of militarization itself becomes to the point where militarization is ordinary and even blandly normal (Enloe 2000). Militarization becomes as normal as a milk mustache and as easy as attaching a “Got War?” tagline. In a militarized society, a solution to any number of social problems is militarized including inner-city crime and violence, troubled youth, national security, and even struggling public schools. Military personnel are viewed as wielding the smart weapons of discipline and leadership to right any tilting ship. High-ranking military personnel are sent to negotiate international alliances in place of seasoned diplomats. Bravery is not diplomacy, compromise, or compassion, but martial aggression. Video games, children’s toys, films, and television programs glorify the military and martial ideals, and militaristic violence is another form of Friday night entertainment (Lenoir and Lowood 2000; Stahl 2010; Vavrus 2013). Military recruiters freely roam the halls of public schools argued to be important role models for “at risk” youth (read working class or poor kids of color). For example, The Troops to Teachers program pushes military personnel through the teacher credentialing process placing these teachers in “high need” schools. Military personnel are placed atop corporations and large organizations regardless of experience or expertise.1 B. Johnson 67 Militarization is more than just the dominance of military values across different aspects of civil society; it is also nestled within social inequalities. Domestic militarization is found in the violence focused on and against people of color, such as militarized policing (Gilmore 2000). It is “seen in the rise of the prison-industrial complex, the passing of retrograde legislation that targets immigrants, the appearance of gated communities, the widespread use of racial profiling by the police and the ongoing attacks on the welfare state” (Giroux 2003, 39). Militarization is situational and bound by social context. The militarization of children is normalized within the USA (JROTC and Boy and Girl Scout programs), but criticized heavily when it occurs abroad, especially in non-Western countries such as Somalia or Uganda (Macmillan 2011). The organized violence of military service by young people is respected, valued, and constructed in direct opposition to the disorganized violence of youth gangs or social justice groups—viewed as dangerous especially if these groups comprise poor and working-class youth of color (Basham 2011). But the militarization of public education is complicated. On the one hand, schools in the USA are locations of intense militarization pushing uncritical nationalism and blind obedience, both of which buttress militarization and permanent war (Elmore 2012). Schools are also one of the most important institutional sites for resistance of militarization and the simultaneous fostering of democracy as schools can provide the necessary skills for a critically conscious citizenry. It is important then to understand how public education is militarized as well as how militarization can be and is resisted. This chapter focuses on the justifications and implications of the militarization of public education in the USA, specifically in the Kindergarten to 12th-grade levels. There are two major periods of intensification of militarization in public education. Militarization increased dramatically beginning in the 1970s alongside the growing influence of neoliberalism and again after the events of 9/11 as fear and disdain for critical inquiry and dissent took hold of national subjectivity. This chapter illustrates how militarization works in tandem with neoliberalism and a culture of fear to discipline, control, and produce militarized consent through education policies, programs, and institutions.