Iran Military Forum

I posted a thread similar to this one which generated some good responses.

One thing which many Iranians want to deny is the use of child soldiers during the Iran Iraq war. Children were used to clear minefields during the Iran Iraq war, my cousin was a child soldier and he saw it with his own eyes. He lost both his legs, his left arm and his right eye clearing a minefield.

 Yes, it is true that children were not forced to fight in the front and in some battalions some of the officers refused to send the child volunteers over the top BUT, children were still used in the great defence. It is naive to argue the point that a child of 10 years old can make his own logical decision. Children of that age are easy influenced and manipulated.

I come from a family who sacrificed two members on the front and more than 10 in bombings in Kurdistan by the Iraqis. When my father was a teacher he remembers clearly when members of the Basij came to his school to recruit children to the front promising them heaven if they became shaheed. My father went up to one of the Basijis and asked him; "do you have any children?" The Basiji replied; "Yes I do, I have 3 sons and 1 daughter". My father then asked him; "How old is the oldest one?" The Basiji replied "11" and my father asked him "do you think you're 11 year old son is responsible enough for you to let him out of your house, for him to fend for himself, to find work, feed himself, pay his rent, pay his bills and be safe all by himself?" The Basij replied "Of course not! He is only 11!" My father then asked him "How would you feel if they just announced that your son had been captured by the Iraqis and was getting raped, tortured and was then killed? The Basiji went white in the face and couldn't reply. My father told him "Just the thought of these happening to your child is killing you. How can you expect your 11 year old son to make his own logical decision to fight at the front? You yourself cannot stomach your own son going to the front, so why are you here trying to recruit my students to fight for the front. Stop recruiting, you are of strong mental and physical state to volunteer yourself to go to the front. You have completed 2 years of military training in the Shah's army, why are you not there at the front?" The Basij didn't reply and left the school.

The next day my father was arrested for anti-IRI activities, because he dissuaded the Basiji from brainwashing children to fight in our sacred war.

13 year old Iranian fights against Saddam in the Iran-Iraq War	Small | Large

Iranians' Patriotism During Iran- Iraq War	Small | Large

14 year old Iranian soldier ([url=http://www.IranNegah.com]www.IranNegah.com	Small | Large

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A child begging to volunteer for the front and being dissuaded by fellow Iranians who had enough sense that the front line was not the place of a child;

Iranian Child Begging to Volunteer in Iran-Iraq War	Small | Large

I was there for 2 years and there was not one child in the front lines.
Where there were childern involved in the fighting was in the towns and villages close to borders were they would get involved in the fighting without anyone "brain washing" them.

For anyone to say there was systomatic brain washing to bring the kids in to the war is a load of bull.

Barberry, I do not have an agenda, I have given you evidence filmed by IRI (so please look at the youtube videos) that there were child soldiers on the front line.

My own cousin was a child soldier who cleared some mines.

Some people gave their gas masks to those with wives and children, but most of the chemical gas masks we bought were from North Korea which were not designed for Middle Easterners and did not fit properly. Also because many of our brave soldiers wore beards, the masks did not fit well against the skin and the small areas exposed led the to gas masks being useless.

My own dai was victim of nerve gas in Mosiyan Susangerd and my amoo, which you can see the posted picture, died from shrapnel.

I am telling the truth and I have shown evidence.

Barberry, I do not have an agenda, I have given you evidence filmed by IRI (so please look at the youtube videos) that there were child soldiers on the front line.

Yes. By choice! Matter of fact they would even run away to join the front lines!

Yeah that mine clearing theory is just BS propaganda. I was commenting on generally the ordinariness for use of children in war when a army have manpower issues.

lol, its weird i know. When did survival become a crime, right?

"It must be flattering Iran, standing alone, is held to such high standards that other nations would scoff at, if applied to them. "

Good point.

Women and children have fought in many different wars in the world !  From Vietnam to the Arab- Usraeli war to WWII to Iran-Iraq war to Afghan war to Iraq civil war ................

AryanFire: Some are saying that you are exaggerating the subject to measures usually used as propaganda. Some others have been there themselves and say you are exaggerating, being selective and taking things out of context. Others say you have an agenda. Pick your choice...

Obviously this is BS generated in the West to demonise the IRI in the eyes of the world. They now using Green Farts to spread this propaganda.

Iranians should organize to disseminate truth about Iran on other internet fora.

The internet allows you to reach out to whole populations, even one comment, in response to a recent bit of misinformation posted somewhere in some relatively-frequently visited forum, if the comment is well researched, properly sourced, that corrects the misconception that is being propagated, can enlighten many people. Just one such comment.

We, ourselves, can correct misconceptions on Iran and Hezbollah. Maybe even make friends of foreign cultures online. Over the internet, we don't require some inherited control over news medias like the Jewish communities in the west. Iranians can spread truth wherever lies are found.

Anyone who fought in the war deserves the utmost respect, and honor, no matter what their age. They defended Iran,and that takes priority in this issue.