as families more and their loved ones there, calling on authorities to improve safety standards in industrial areas. lena barclays, alicia zito, a founder of the italian football club. napoli. we'll have to wait a few more days to celebrate the 1st league title 33 years, all to being held to a surprise home draw by saline tawna. hundreds of thousands of pounds flooded the center of the city, expecting the home when they needed to seal the ties in record time only for their side to concede a late equalizer. napoli need just one more point from their remaining 6 games, a loss to kill the title when diego mara donna was in the team. ah, this is al jazeera these, your top stories. she dawn's army in the power military rock and support forces of agreed to a 3 day extension on a shake. he sees fire despite the truce fighting continued in an around the capital

cartoon. one sunday, hip morgan is in the capitol. well, people here in the capital, hard to him have not reacted much to this new announcement overseas. fired both by the rapid support forces and the sudanese army because they've seen how the previous these fires have played out. they've seen the repeated airstrikes by the sunni's army. the artillery strikes by the rapid support forces and the continued presence of troops from both sides in parts of the capitol, hot tomb. so many of them say that this cease fire is likely to end just like the other previous cease fires, and that shows of how much faith these people here have. the wealthy program is warning that the conflict could plunge the entire east african region into humanitarian crisis with food shortages and prices. soaring aid work as a warning. they do not have enough food to help the new wave of refugees. thousands of cities have been streaming across the border into countries like charge in such of safety. the united states is accusing china of harassment and intimidation of

philippine vessels in the south. china sea comes ahead of a meeting between the u. s. and philippine presidents. china claims, most of the south china sea as it so yes. regulate is a rushing to find a rescue to buy the troubled fuss, republic bank before asian markets open on monday. several major financial institutions have reportedly been awesome. make beds 1st. republic shows plunge last week on to reveal the customers had withdrawn a $100000000000.00 and deposits in march, paraguay, conservative ruling policy. candidate, santiago pena is leading in the presidential election with over 75 percent of the votes tallied, sent to left opposition. rival, a frame allegra is trailing behind by huge margin. the rule in colorado, colorado policy spending power for most of the last 75 years. okay, those are you headlines up front is next. frank assessments justice means to give

them the basic human rights. not only in the camp, but also inside the me, and map informed opinions by the ministration are very concerned about this development especially, or what it means for china's power on the world stage. critical debate is dark only bo illegal roof or door. they see the property in depth analysis of the days headlines inside story on al jazeera, the u. s. military is facing its greatest recruitment crisis in 50 years. military leaders say they are struggling to hit their enlistment targets because most potential recruits simply do not meet the military's eligibility standards. while data shows that over half of young people simply do not see a future in the armed forces. many attribute this to information about the military's internal culture being more readily available in this day and age, including reports of racism and sexual harassment and fears of lack of adequate

care and support for veterans. others argue that the decline in recruitment has more to do with how young people view the military and a shift and personal beliefs when it comes to war. so what is behind this decline? and are we witnessing a change in americans relationship to the military? that's our conversation this week, and it up front special. ah, joining us is minissha rios veteran of the u. s. army and member of truth in recruitment, a non profit group, educating young people on the consequences of a military career. richard berkshire is a u. s. army veteran and co founder of the black veterans project and caitlin constantine is u. s. marine corps veteran and founding member of gamers for peace. a group dedicated to speaking truth to war in digital spaces, in order to counter military recruitment. i want to thank you all for joining me on up front, caitlin, i'm going to start with you. 20. $22.00 was the worst year for military recruitment

as the us draft ended in 1973. with the army in particular, struggling to meet its goals. military officials appointed to the fact that just 23 percent of young people ages 17 to 2324, excuse me. meet the military's health and fitness and academic standards. you counsel young people about recruitment. what would you say are the main factors that keep prospective recruits from joining? i think they're correct and that a lot of the immigration would not qualify for military service in the 1st place. additionally, i do think that kenzie the generation after us. i do think that they are much more skeptical of military service. there is a study from the military family advisory network that saw an 11 percent decrease in service members who would recommend military service to their families as of at the, i believe 2022. so there is a shift in a, in the perception of military service in addition to

a lot of systemic problems like lack of education and lack of access to a, to decent food and poverty that is making a lot of the population not very suitable for military service when he said there is a survey in 2019 a by the center for american progress in this study found out that a majority of gin z, respondents ages $17.00 to $24.00, agreed that quote, the wars in the middle east in afghanistan were a waste of time lives and tax payer money and they did nothing to make us safer at home. that's a quote. do you see an ideological shift in how young people are perceiving the u. s. military and if so, what are the ways it, it's changed? absolutely, and i think if we start with how the u. s. was created to begin with, we know that the u. s. was born out of exploitation slavery, the theft of land and the u. s. military was born out of that same character. and

so our generations now have had way more access to information and have been challenged in ways that have grown them up, unlike previous generations where those generations were taught not to question a, the us government and not to question why we're going to war. but that it your duties ago, and if you're a good citizen, then you'll go. but now our, our use are, are not being fooled by these narratives and climate change i think has a lot to do with that. and you have access to information on the front lines of resistance, sort of violence against the land. like you have standing rock, you have missing a murdered indigenous women. you have the hypocrisies and contradictions of the u. s. right in our faces. and we're able to talk about it now in ways that we weren't able to talk about it before, especially after the trump era. and so with the u. s being the largest polluter in the world,

the largest holder of real estate in the world with more than 4800 defense sites, everywhere on all continents. in more than 160 countries. i think jen z, it's really connected with what the impacts of that are and, and as you said in that, in that quote, i mean, absolutely, it was a complete waste of life for all parties concerned to go to war and for what, today with the internet young people have all kinds of access to the realities of war, the violence, the bodies, the harm, the soldiers suffer. and also the harm that soldiers cause. do you think that those things are not only changing people's perception of war, which i think is we could agree on, but isn't making people less likely to want to enlist kaitlin? would you agree with that? i would agree with that. i think that with the rise of the digital age and greater access to all of this information we, we have

a box that literally contains almost all of the information in the world in our pocket. most of the time and gen z grew up with that. i really do think that having that access and having at ready you can just google us military war crime and have a list right in front of you within seconds. so i do think that that is having a very real effect on people's desire to unless it's, it's definitely being viewed as a more of a rigid decision or a rigid decision making process rather than oh, my dad did this. so i can do this type of the deal. i want to insert that. what, what's often missing from this conversation is that military services, intergenerational, they're, they're usually through things that indicate very well whether someone will join the military, whether they come from a military family. they grew up near military base and in socioeconomic status. right. and i think we're what, what's, what's happening is that you have general generations of veterans that have gone through unjust wars. you also generations of veterans who've been fighting to get

access because they have to live in deplorable conditions outside of just war. right. you have, you have bases that are rife with, with mold i, i, when i was a combat medic, i worked in an 8 station on a base in germany, been condemned by the german government and that was our medical center. oh, so you know, i think that that like the extent to which these problems exacerbate themselves when you, when you get out and you don't, you can't get access to basic health care or disability compensation. and it is affecting the generations that are growing up, watching their fathers or their grandfathers or grandmothers. they're on their sisters not struggle with access. we just had our country past the biggest veterans bill in history to try to, to try to address that issue because that is the real issue is that people have been locked out and sometimes it, depending on the color skin generationally, from benefits. right. and so the appeal on that the military has the that the, the lie that they can sometimes propagate, that you'll be better off if you, sir,

like the veneer of that is so diluted now and marry that with the information that you can so readily find online it's no surprise that young people can kind of see right through. it is well documented that military recruiters target young people from low income neighborhoods. over 80 percent of people who enlist, come from households with lower incomes. recruits are offered attractive signing bonuses, offers to pay for education and recruitment materials. emphasize the career opportunities of joining the military. keeping in mind that you as poverty is steadily growing in terms of the poverty rate over the last few years. has this actually become a full fledged poverty direct? yeah, i believe so. and listen to that. that does not negate that if you are able to go into the military, have a full career actually gain access to your benefits that you can't be better off. but so many folks is specifically marginalized. people from marginalized communities are the ones let holding the bag of falling through the cracks, struggling to obtain access and,

and malware kind of focuses as explicitly on the black community. and if the effects there, well, i mean, that's a great point because black folk are over represented in the military, we make up over 17 percent of active duty members. for now, for con, next week we make up wells and a half to 13 percent of the us population dependent on the year. so, you know, there's a 2019 survey of active duty service members that found that more than half of minority service member say they have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism of ideological driven racism within the rank. one of the other, given the high number of reports of racism, why are we still joining so heavy? because there's a, there's a illusion of lack of oper. no, not, not just an illusion. it or it's actually a lack of absolutely. in a lot of these neighborhoods that, that black youth are being pulled from and that's been the case for decades now. and, and yes, what you get out of the military, even if you serve 20 years, are likely returning to those poor resource pork neighborhoods where your family

reside. right. so, oh yeah, no that, that absolutely has when i want to hit it for 4 minutes, the department of defense estimates that in 2021 close 236000 active duty service members experienced unwanted sexual contact. more than half of them women a 3rd who reported i want to stress that were discharged within one year. the military has claimed that they're making significant reforms. they wanna address the culture that enables sexual violence in the military. but those same 2021 department of defense statistics show some of the highest estimates for unwanted sexual contact since they started keeping records back in 2004. i guess my question is simply, is that what does the military doing really prevent sexual violence? they're not really trying to prevent it, rape as a weapon of war. it's sanctioned. it's accept that said more about that. explain

what you mean when you say that. so i've said it a lot and i always get a, an angry response. but it's true if we actually take the time to listen to the populations that we are invading and with our words of conquests and mores of choice. and when we actually take a look at their data that they're presenting about the sex crimes that occur from military personnel on to their community is on to their children on to their young women. then you can actually see the whole picture. and when you look at historically, the lack of adjudication that's occurred inside the military with military sexual violence because of the good character defense. because of all the reasons why maintaining good order and discipline all the excuses that leadership maintains, in order to perpetuate the youth and acceptance of this weapon of war. then it makes sense to anyone. ah, well,

to me that we share perpetrators. how am i going to believe as a person who went through this myself, who witnessed it constantly, every duty station that i was at i was wearing the teams uniform. it happened to me. so of course, it's gonna happen where, where people are stationed, where we're occupying, where we're taught to dehumanize those people. so if order and discipline and structure and rules are part of what makes the military the military, then why is it so hard to get justice? when you say something about it, why is in belgium for getting discharges? why are stuck with this number? a 3rd of those were who reported would discharge that. a 3rd. people accused a feller to people who said, i got assaulted. i got touched, i got the harm done to me. a 3rd of those people are born within 12 months. how? because it keeps you quiet. because it takes you or moves you, you become the problem if you're the one who speaks up,

if you report that's why there's retaliation. and there's a lot of talking about preventing it about stopping it, about supporting people if they report. but that doesn't actually happen. caitlin, i see you nodding. i agree with moneisha. i mean one thing is she saying where it's not just within the ranks, it is also where service members are stationed. it doesn't just have to be an act of war. we have bases in what, over 80 countries and pick any one of them. you can definitely see that effects. i also experience as while i was active duty in the marine corps wearing the same uniform. and one thing that i noticed all of these briefs about prevention, all of these briefs about what to do if it happens and how to report it, it is framed as how not to get in trouble. it's low, be careful if you have a beer and this other person also has a beer. you need to be careful. it's not i, it's not based on in respect. it's always i remember this one very like we're turning point for me. it was during a brief end, it was, i think of bull,

i believe a gunnery sergeant was giving the sapir brief, which is a sexual assault, sexual assault prevention and response program. and he asks, why is this such a bad thing? and the 1st person to raise their hand said because it affects unit cohesion. and now i'm not saying that that person is wrong, but that wouldn't be my 1st. it wouldn't be my birthday. is that? yeah, exactly. it's a bad thing to do, should be the 1st answer, right. and because it takes away bodily autonomy abuses your power, all of these different things, but it was always framed in how not to get trouble, egg get in trouble and how it affects your unit as opposed to basic respect for human bodily autonomy, right? that's why it doesn't go away when you report. that's why the person who report it goes away. that's why i experience mild read of, you know, definitely not to the level of some people but mild retaliation because i was the problem by making waves iraq of the boat. and so they want that to go away because that means they don't have to deal with the core of it, which is so much of this is happening to women in some, i'm curious to know as

a man who served in the military. what do you see, do you see that discourse of their talking about the, how not to ask, what do you see the harm? do you see what julia? gov and it doesn't just affect women? i mean, i think the statistics around actual saw other around a male sexual assault in the military are, are horrendous as well. and the unit cohesion argument, i'm glad that you brought that up because i served under don't ask themselves as good as a, as a gay soldier. so i understand the harms and, and the excuse that they can make about including inclusion or the dangers of inclusion. because how it might affect unit cohesion, but it's also the same argument that they used against black people, 75 years ago, this year is a 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the military. and they talked about how and in world war 2, when they were doing surveys, when they were preparing for after world war 2, up to 940, to desegregate the vast majority of people, the military were against it because they felt it would disrupt unit cohesion. right, so i think that that, that, that, that's a, that's a common response. it's

a disturbing response. kaitlin. a, i've been seeing a lot of a recruitment efforts in digital entertainment spaces. now, a big boom in it, frankly, especially video games. the military's had a hand in the creation of somebody's video games for decades, but now all 6 branches of the u. s. military have electronic sports teams for competitive video gaming and partnerships with popular video game players on platforms like youtube and twitch. you work with gamers for peace as we're going you on this a group that, of course, is dedicated, as you say, to speaking truth, to war in digital spaces, in order to counter military recruitment. can you explain how digital recruitment, with video games works and, and what we should do about it? so sure, well you already have a gate 1st person shooter games like c o, d 1st person shooter games like america's army, that's literally sanctioned by,

by the, by the u. s. army is now been decommission, but it was a long running free to play game. and, and all of these other games that have military themes, and i'm not telling you not to play these games, is not the point of this, but they do serve a propaganda purpose, just like military movies do it is similar only in video games. you as a player, have a hand in how all of that goes, and a lot of them have pretty simplistic story lines right, where the protagonist a is trying his best to defeat the enemy. what, you know, whatever the particular enemy for that game story light is and is generally in a good versus evil, sorta paradigm. and so when you couple that with these e sports games that are run by, they're not recruiters, but they are recruiters because they're serving a recruiting purpose, no matter what they say. even though the navy, in order to get that job you, they have to go through the same recruiting, trading that a navy recruiter would have to go through. so you couple that together there you

have people being able to form a paras social relationship that you would with any other twitch dreamer while they're playing these very over simplified game if i'd versions of war. and so you have this effective, simultaneously trivializing war and military service, while also talking to someone who is actively in that military service, talking it up and getting people to either support it or looked upon it positively like a recruiter would. and so you have this on twitch with a very, a very young audience excuse very, very young. and, and it's kind of a gold mine for recruiters because it's huge, very young, excuse, very male too. and so you kind of have this double edge sword, of like the perfect storm of recruiting for this is very few regulations involved. there's not, there's not a lot of safeguards would you call for regulation of this? would you call for them to be completely banned out, or what would you call for in respond, i mean, my ideal to be completely band. but right now the regulations are coming from which

they're not coming from the government. like for example, the u. s. army i got told by twice that they had to stop. they had those thesis immediately because they used a fake x box controller. give away that when you clicked on it was actually a recruiting website. you said data my and information. oh, my god, people clicking on it. right. hm. and this was not the government saying you can't do that. let's, let's switch saying, hey, this goes against our guidelines, please on. wow, what a corporation heard was that into corporations, that was a, this is too far for us. right? that's what i, that's what i get really nervous. research suggest that players of violent videogames view, their opponents, ah, as less human. this is concerning to me because we consider that military video game plots are often constructed in ways that mirror real life conflicts around the globe. a 2016 study looking at a 1st person shooter video game found that some of the most common enemies a multiple games. in fact, they say they study that some of the most common enemies were russian ultra

nationalists. then latin american and middle eastern terrorists. when the military's invested in these types of games doesn't run the risk of making potential soldiers ah view. other people, the other are as less human. i notice you will have caliber eyes are also seen when he said, nodding tubes. i gotta ask you it. what would you say? yes, and i, i really want to encourage people to critically examine the role of the american psychological association and all of this, particularly the division of military psychology. because when we go back to the beginning of military recruitment, even during the draft during world war 2, and after the draft, when we moved into the poverty draft, when they had to get creative on how to build their force and create a more lethal force. when they couldn't legally mandate you to be in there force, it goes all the way back to there and going through military training. the

objective is for you to dehumanize the manufactured enemy on command. it's to, to, to build your own capacity to the humanize another, a person where, regardless of whether or not you know that because of a story that's told to you. so that's exactly what hollywood does. that's exactly what video games do. especially with the move toward a cyber warfare drawn warfare and all of these, you know, as, as the military technology advances. so to must, the training technology. and how convenient for the military for the u. s. government use of the military to have that training already integrated into its recruitment propaganda. wow. which video games are perfect for that? they're absolutely perfect for that. richard, according to the recently launched veterans justice commission, many veterans struggle with mental health challenges, substance abuse, homelessness criminality. all these things, after leaving the military,

roughly one 3rd of veterans report having been arrested or booked into jail after leaving the military, at least once in their lives. we often hear about the highly complex process veterans are forced to navigate in order to access adequate care for injuries for illnesses and especially for post traumatic stress disorder, p t. s d a. how much does knowing what we know now about p t as the another emotional, emotional, psychological issues suffer by veterans and the struggle to access adequate care for them. how much does that play in that people not wanting to enlist? like are people like, you know what this is going to in for me that yeah, let, i guess let me pay a human story with this. so i'm glad you brought up p t s d. so we are like hundreds project partner with the a law school to do a study of the last 20 years of disability compensation by, by the a. and we're able to show statistically significant disparities specifically around ptc, a 29 percent disparity. and in our rates that black that's face writes,

when you think about that, the disparities when it comes to poverty, that black, that's a face are twice as likely they represent a full 3rd of the homeless veteran population in the country. and in the list can go on and on. but conley monk essentially is taking that data. he is a found a suit is a vietnam that who found a suit brielle and in federal court in um, in this past november. and so calmly story, i think it is, is emblematic because he joined up as a volunteer in the late the late sixty's went to vietnam, did 2 tours as, as a marine there got got into an altercation when someone called him a racial epithet. and next thing, you know, he was on the other side of a dishonorable discharge. it took him 40 years of fighting to get access to via health care or disability compensation to get he wasn't able to use his g. i bill to buy home for, for, for, for decades he wasn't able to gain access education benefits and he is sewing up

for back pay for what the b a should have been giving him the whole time. but he's also suing on behalf of his deceased father, who was a world war to veteran and return. it didn't get access to the g. i bill. and i think a carly story, this is one. this is common, this is common. intergenerational goes back to the composition about intergenerational. ah, the intergenerational impact on families, collies, both of cali sons did not join the military. right. they, they became law enforcement off. right. but they were, they, they didn't join up there on my age. so i, they, in, and i, and i highly doubt that, that, that, that generations that proceed them. well, we'll probably have a very, a very direct conversation about the real consequences of joining. but also the struggles of the families had intergenerational lee of going off serving in america's wars, having to face all untold levels of, of discrimination. and then to come back and not even have equitable access to the benefits that the government has promised. recently joined in 1st place. right and

for the black community, you're talking about compounded in these statistics, tens of billions of dollars siphoned out of the black community because the government had made good on its promise to black veterans who served absolutely lanesha caitlin. ah, richard, thank you so much for joining me on up front. everyone that is our show up front. we'll be back next week with ah ah

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paraguayan whirling party declared victory in the presidential election. an u. s. regulate as rushed.