Child Soldiers in the USA

By Matthew Rinaldi, NLG Military Law Task Force
The United States remains one of the few nations which recruits and enlists minors into the military.

Popular U.S. culture thinks of child soldiers as fighting in Africa. A Long Way Gone,  the memoir of Ismael Beah, covers the civil war in Sierra Leone, and the chilling depiction of child soldiers in the movie Blood Diamond draws on Beah’s writings. Boko Haram in Nigeria currently reinforces this image. Yet African nations have made great strides in outlawing child soldiers. The widely accepted U.N. sponsored Cape Town Principles establishes 18 as the minimum age for military recruitment. However, the United States has refused to sign. The  Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), codified as federal law at 10 U.S.C., allows the recruitment of 17-year-old children. All 50 states provide “minority” legal status and protection for persons under 18. In response, 10 U.S.C. 505 provides that no person under the age of eighteen years of age may be enlisted “without the written consent of his/her parent or guardian.”

Army regulations provide for the discharge for minors on a discretionary basis and for “void” enlistments which violate 10 U.S.C. 505. But even if a parent or guardian never gave  written consent, Army Regulation 601-270, Section VI imposes a 90-day window on objection, after which the defect in the enlistment contract is waived. Current law holds that
even a child improperly enlisting when underage can be held in the military after he or she turns 17 on the grounds that voluntary continuation on active duty beyond the statutory age
requirement “waives any such defect” resulting in “constructive enlistment.” [Blassingame v. Secretary of Navy (E.D.N.Y. 1985) 626 F. Supp. 632 at 638, citing United States v. Harrison, 5 M.J. 476.]

Current U.S. military law violates a growing consensus that minors below the clear bright line of age 18 require special protection. The U.S. Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons
(2005) 543 U.S. 551 struck down the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18, noting at 566: “…as any parent knows, and as the scientific and sociological studies respondent
and his amici cite tend to confirm, ‘a lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults….These qualities often result in
impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions.’” Most young people currently enlist in the hope of gaining job training; some enlist to obtain citizenship. Many want a discharge once they experience life in uniform, but the military is one job you cannot quit.

The NLG Military Law Task Force has been working on behalf of U.S. child soldiers. To date, every soldier who has signed a “disaffirmation” of the enlistment contract has been discharged. No portion of the UCMJ makes such a discharge mandatory, but no commander has yet to deny a discharge when faced with the prospect of a federal habeas petition.

The MLTF seeks to litigate this issue. ■

11 Comments

  1. If I was a child soldier of Bill Clinton’s who would I talk to about receiving benefits?:

  2. More specifically, if I served in Bosnia during its great ‘ethnic cleansing’ and holocaust- which I did. Was then forced to have sex with several “American” women during the early two thousand and 2010’s at the behest of the United States government. Parents who I always thought were ‘normal’ end up having to molest several teenagers during this time.. what do I do, how do I go about living my life?

  3. I would say try to get past it and put it behind you, unless your suffering mentally because of it and then you should try to get help.

  4. A veteran service officer VSO found at the va medical facilities and veteran organizations like VFW have VSO reps.

  5. I have the same question i was a “paper boy” in the space programs dark forest program i was wondering whom i talk to as well

  6. Mr. Flynt,
    I’m not a professional, so this is just my opinion.
    I think you should find someone, a Dr. a psychiatrist, even just a counselor, (make sure that they have excellent reviews, and are highly recommended) you definitely need to talk to someone. If even just to realize, NONE of the things that happened are your fault!!
    You also need to contact a high profile lawyer and sue the shit out of the United States and anyone else that you can name!!
    They need to pay for your trauma and your pain, and I’m sure just the struggle that you’ve lived with since this happened.
    You don’t know me, but I am so sorry!! Noone had the right to put you through any of the things you were forced to do.
    Keep your chin and, and if you believe in God, call on him whenever you are feeling lost or alone, I promise it will help.
    God bless you and keep you safe!
    Sending lots of prayers for peace and love.
    Sincerely,
    Marie Bennett

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