Pentagon: Don't Militarize Christmas

The Boston Globe reports:

'As Santa streaks through the sky this Christmas Eve, Rudolph merrily guiding the way, he will be flanked by some new and unusual companions: a jet-fighter escort, bristling with missiles.

That is the twist that — to the dismay of at least some child advocates — the US military has chosen to put on this year’s version of its traditional animated tracking of the yuletide journey.

The popular program, without the jet escort, reached 22 million people last year and generated tens of thousands of phone calls from kids and their parents around the country. The mock mission allows families, either by calling or logging on, to get “real-time” updates on Old St. Nick’s global trip to bring holiday cheer to girls and boys.

This year’s updated segment, now previewing on the military’s website, depicts Santa soaring over snow-capped peaks with military aircraft keeping pace on either side.
[...]
But as the word gets out, the plan is taking flak. Some say the Pentagon appears to have lost its way by introducing destructive weaponry to the otherwise jolly image of Santa setting out from the North Pole. Up to now, the most threatening aspect of Santa’s flight had been lumps of coal.

“Children associate Santa with gifts and fun and everything else that is positive about Christmas,” said Allen Kanner, a California child and family psychologist and cofounder of the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. “They are associating this with the military in children’s minds. It is completely out of line.”'
[...]
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/12/02/pentagon-tracking-santa-with-new-twist-armed-jet-fighters/aFYyrQhOjNlZw9OnsKSWQM/story.html

Urge Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to cancel Pentagon plans to give Santa a military escort of armed fighter jets. Christmas should be a time of peace. The Pentagon shouldn't use Christmas to recruit children for war.