Liberal org calls for schools to dump US Army JROTC program: Take 'war machine' out of schools

Liberal activist group Code Pink is pushing to "stop war in our schools." One suggestion that the group is peddling is to eradicate the U.S. Army's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps from schools.

What are the details?

One of the organization's latest campaign calls for the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees — Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — to end the JROTC program in schools.

The website also says that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass killer "was an expert marksman because he was trained by the U.S. Army JROTC program."

"The school shooting in FL has once again highlighted the role of the military in our lives and in our schools," the website says. "It’s time to stop the militarization of our children and end the JROTC program. The Parkland high school JROTC program taught [the mass killer] to shoot an AR-15 and was funded by the NRA. Our schools should be filled with trained educators, not a proving ground for military-style assault rifles."

A petition on the organization's website calls for Thornberry and McCain to "take the war machine out of our schools."

The organization tweeted about its movement Wednesday, writing, "Congressional hearing about Parkland shooting, guns and school safety happening now @SenFeinstein says there is nothing we can do except say 'sorry.' Yes there is. We must pass gun laws, get JROTC and NRA out of our schools and #DivestFromWar."

Congressional hearing about Parkland shooting, guns and school safety happening now @SenFeinstein says there is nothing we can do except say "sorry". Yes there is. We must pass gun laws, get JROTC and NRA out of our schools and #DivestFromWar pic.twitter.com/kHGI0kgaZZ

— CODEPINK (@codepink) March 14, 2018

Anything else?

Three JROTC students were among the dead in the Parkland, Florida, mass killing.

Fifteen-year-old Peter Wang, one of those JROTC students, was reportedly shot repeatedly and killed while holding the door open for other students to escape to safety.

West Point posthumously admitted Wang to its ranks in February for his "heroic actions on Feb. 14, 2018" after learning that the student's lifelong goal was to attend the prestigious school.

Wang was buried in his JROTC uniform, according to NBC News.

The U.S. Army awarded Medals of Heroism to all three of the JROTC students whose lives were taken Feb. 14.

Martin Duque, 14, and Alaina Petty, 14, were the other two JROTC students who died that day.

The Army has awarded Medals of Heroism, the service’s highest medal awarded for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets, to the three JROTC students killed defending their classmates last week https://t.co/T7YPN93Tj0 pic.twitter.com/veAmD0U0Lh

— Task & Purpose (@TaskandPurpose) February 20, 2018