Protestors Oppose Each Other at Health Expo

By Broadside Asst. News Editor Rebecca Fulton
Photo by Asst. Photography Editor Laura Foltz

Amongst the booths and activities at this year’s George Mason University Health Expo, there was a protestor opposing the military recruitment occurring and additional protestors defending those recruiters. The protesting began after Mason student and former member of the United States military Tariq Khan spotted military recruiters talking to students in front of the Health Expo’s rock climbing wall.

Once Khan noticed the recruiters, he proceeded to make a poster that read “Militarism is terrorism, recruiters lie.” Khan explained that during his time in the military, along with personal accounts from friends in the military, he realized that recruiters were misleading people into enlisting.

“Don’t trust recruiters. I was listening to them talk to one person and they said that the military fixes people. So if you have problems, the military will fix them, just presto chango, but that’s not the way it is; if anything my problems got worse while I was in the military,” Khan said. “I think it’s really important not to deceive people.”

Khan explained that during a time that is meant to be fun, such as the Health Expo, he wants to remind people of what he believes the military to be.

“If they’re going to be out here with these fun and games, I would like to be out here keeping this in people’s minds,” Khan said.

Two Mason students, Ryan Jindra and William Tryon, who are both management majors, saw Khan in protest and decided to counter-protest in honor of the military. The counter-protest consisted of a poster that read “liar” and displayed an arrow pointing in Khan’s direction.

“We found him to be very offensive and wanted to say that you’re [Khan is] a liar,” Tryon said.

Tryon explained that he supports the troops because he believes that the war is necessary. Jindra added that the troops were deserving of support.

“No war is a good war. I mean we’re not doing this for shits and giggles,” Tryon said.

“We support our troops because our troops support us,” Jindra said.

Khan explained that his goal was not to oppose the individual soldiers, but to oppose those in high level leadership positions.

“I’m not opposing individual soldiers, I’m opposing the system. There’s a difference between the individual enlisted and the people at the top,” Khan said.

Khan suggested that people who are interested in enlisting should listen to soldiers telling their own stories instead of recruiters telling their stories for them. Khan also referenced Dave Airhart, who is known for attending a recruiting event and hanging an anti-military banner from a climbing wall in 2005.

“If he [Airhart] can do something, so can I,” Khan said.