L.A. parents, students and teachers at war with junior ROTC program

The L.A. Times, via Steve Gilliard:

FIRST SGT. OTTO HARRINGTON -- tall, muscular, his head cleanshaven -- has soldiered through battles in Bosnia, Kuwait and Somalia. He has patrolled Korea's DMZ.

None of that prepared him, though, for the attacks he has faced as senior teacher in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, where students and teachers have launched a crusade against military recruiting and JROTC.

Boyle Heights is what's known as "the inner city." I used to do an outreach program teaching L.A. kids about trade and international relations, and we had students from Roosevelt. What struck me about them is that despite the fact that they had had very little exposure to most of the subjects we were covering, their sense of fair play usually led them to what I considered to be the "right" conclusion.

Harrington blames their campaign for cutting the number of cadets at Roosevelt by 43% in four years, from 286 to 162. Some teachers urge students not to sign up for JROTC, he said, and have worked to end involuntarily placement in the program.

"They seem to think I'm some evil, horrible soldier down here trying to sacrifice our kids to Iraq," Harrington said in describing the increasing tensions on the Eastside campus.