Best memorial would be to bring our troops home.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Carol Van Houten For The Register-Guard

Memorial Day is a time when Americans remember and honor the fallen. I urge citizens to honor the troops in Iraq by raising an uproar. The men and women in military service need our support and care now.

The burden is great - and for those injured in body and mind and for the families of the dead, it is too great. It is time to speak up, to save our youth and to get out of Iraq.

Why are so few people expressing opposition to the Bush administration's war on Iraq? There are a variety of reasons, but one is that few Americans directly and personally feel the burden of the war.

One group of Americans currently carrying a heavy burden of war are the members of the armed forces, especially the Army, Marines and National Guard. These are young people who have volunteered to serve - young people who may have seen few options for establishing a career and building a life except for the alternative of enlisting in the military.

Today, Army, Marine and National Guard recruiters are unable to sign up enough young people, despite having been found to mislead potential recruits and violate recruiting rules. Recruiters avoid talking about the real mission of the military. Instead, recruiters sell military service to vulnerable youth by promising money for college, offering job training and speaking of the military life as one of challenge, excitement and travel. These are sales gimmicks designed to divert attention from the real mission.

Parents, other mentors and friends of young people are recruiters' new targets. Potential recruits can expect to be increasingly subjected to a barrage of the latest advertising tactics: gifts (T-shirts, etc.), money such as bonuses and money for college. Recruits are offered several friendly ways to enlist - such as with a buddy, or with a promise of a shorter time on active duty.

However, any bonuses must be paid back if the enlistment contract is not completed. And recruiters' targets should not forget all those reserve and National Guard troops in Iraq.

They thought they were enlisting to help out in emergencies, but now make up almost half of the fighting force in Iraq. They are serving multiple, long tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The recruiting shortfall - combined with the growing number of injuries, deaths, desertions and refusals to obey orders among the regular military as well as the reserves and National Guard - may mean that the Bush administration will have no choice but to ask Congress to authorize the beginning of a military draft. Now, that would get the public's attention, because the burden of military service would fall more equally upon Americans of every class and privilege. But still, mainly 20-year-old males would be affected, according to the regulations written by the Selective Service.

To get the troops out of Iraq is an obvious solution. Americans want the war to be over, and many want it to be over now. Some agree with the adage, "You break it, you fix it," and conclude that our troops must stay in Iraq. Yet it is clear that the U.S. military presence is a destabilizing force in Iraq. Wouldn't it make more sense to finance a new Iraq, designed by Iraqis, instead of spending money on a military presence there?

Carol Van Houten is coordinator of the Community Alliance of Lane County's Draft and Conscientious Objection Counseling Program. She is also co-coordinator of the Committee for Countering Military Recruitment, which is a joint project of CALC and Eugene PeaceWorks.