An article in the March 22, 2018 New York Times, “Patriotic Youth Army Takes Russians Back to the Future,” describes the Youth Army as a “militarized throwback to the Young Pioneers of the Soviet Era.” They are a “hybrid version of the scouts and a reserve officers training program, with an emphasis on patriotism and national service.” There are 190,000 children ages 8 to 18, spread over all 85 regions of Russia. Members get to play video games such as simulated tank driving and learn to handle a gun.
Organizers say it is apolitical. But, at a recent national forum, military videos played, and many members consider the Youth Army to be a glide to the military as a career. Still, the organization’s leader, Dmitry Trunenkov, rejects the idea that the Youth Army is excessively militaristic.
The overtone of the article is dark, with references to the the Pioneers of the Soviet era. It is written as if it seems creepy predatory to have kids be so militaristic. It seems to be vastly critical of Russia, and a bit holier-than-thou, an insinuation that the USA would never stoop so low as to militarize children.
But the USA has been in the militarizing student business far longer than the Russian Youth Army or the Soviet Young Pioneers. It has the Junior Officer Training Corps, the JROTC, which was started with the National Defense Act in 1916 and now has at 565,000 students signed up, some mandatorially. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines each has its own cadet program, ostensibly for high school students, but related military-run clubs cater to middle school and younger students , with a mix of nationalism, patriotism, and christianity.
As in the Russian Youth Army, there are guns: the Civilian Marksmanship Program runs the marksmanship section of JROTC, often with funding from the National Rifle Association The gun training aspect of JROTC recently came to the fore with the Parkland school murders, as gunman Nikolas Cruz was trained to use guns in the JROTC program at Parkland, a training he would use to kill fellow JROTC and other high school students. Oddly, this has gather little attention in the USA, where the JROTC, like the Russian Youth Army, is seen as apolitical and even more strangely, as unmilitary, with its use as a recruiting tool frequently denied.