dang them *influencers*

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Parents Unite To Keep Military Recruiters From High Schoolers

Some Say 'Opt-Out' Option Not Being Publicized

June 17, 2005

 

PHILADELPHIA -- Nancy Carroll didn't know schools were

giving military recruiters her family's contact information

until a recruiter called her 17-year-old granddaughter.

 

That didn't sit well with Carroll, who believes recruiters

unfairly target minority students. So she joined activists

across the country who are urging families to notify schools

that they don't want their children's contact information

given out.

 

" People of color who go into the military are put on the

front line, " said the 67-year-old Carroll, who is black.

 

A provision of President George W. Bush's No Child Left

Behind Act requires school districts to provide military

recruiters with student phone numbers and addresses or risk

losing millions in federal education funding. Parents or

students 18 and over can " opt out " by submitting a written

request to keep the information private.

 

But critics say schools do not always convey that message.

In New Mexico, the American Civil Liberties Union chapter

sued the Albuquerque Public School District last month,

charging it does not adequately inform parents of the

opt-out provision.

 

Some critics oppose the federal law on privacy grounds, but

others say it provides an unfair opportunity for the

military to sway young minds -- especially in economically

depressed communities.

 

" They're not going to all the schools. They're going to the

schools where they figure the kids will have less chance to

go to college, " said U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. " It's

an insidious kind of draft, quite frankly. "

 

Carroll, who is raising three grandchildren in a

working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia, agrees that the

practice is unfair. " I wouldn't want them to join " the

military, she said of her grandchildren.

 

But Pentagon officials say the military deserves the same

access to students that schools give to colleges and employers.

 

" In the past, it was all too common for a school district to

make student directory information readily available to

vendors, prospective employers and post-secondary

institutions while intentionally excluding the services, "

Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman,

said in an e-mail.

 

As military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on, the

Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are having trouble

attracting recruits to their reserve forces, though only the

Army is falling short in attracting people for its

active-duty ranks.

 

Andrew Rinaldi, a senior at Edison High School in Edison,

N.J., filed an opt-out letter with his school but said he

was contacted by a recruiter anyway. He said the recruiter

mocked his pacifist views. " They're becoming more

aggressive, " he said.

 

None of the nation's approximately 22,600 high schools has

failed to comply with the military provision of No Child

Left Behind, and just one is " finalizing its compliance, "

Krenke said. None has lost funding.

 

" They're going to the schools where they figure the kids

will have less chance to go to college. "

- U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.

 

Before No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002,

about 12 percent of the nation's schools refused to turn

over student records to military recruiters, Pentagon

officials said. U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who sponsored

the recruitment provision, called the actions of those

schools " offensive. "

 

In left-leaning Montclair, N.J., more than 80 percent of

Montclair High School students have opted out since a

student-led effort began last year.

 

" It's a place where military recruiters are not likely to

have a ton of success, anyway, partly because . . . a lot of

parents can assist their kids with going to college, " school

district spokeswoman Laura Federico said.

 

In the urban blight of North Philadelphia, Joshua Gordy said

the lure of college money led him to join the Army reserves

at age 17. Recruiters at his high school told him he could

earn $35,000 for college, he said.

 

That hasn't happened. Gordy, a 20-year-old reservist, said

he apparently failed to send in the right paperwork in time.

He hopes to enroll in community college this fall.

 

McDermott, a psychiatrist, faults the military for enticing

students with talk of patriotism, adventure and college

funds, instead of giving them a realistic view of combat.

 

McDermott is among those in Congress trying to change the

law so that students instead " opt-in " for recruitment.

 

" There's nothing dishonorable with serving in the military, "

said McDermott, a psychiatrist who served stateside during

Vietnam. " But it ought to be done with your eyes open. "

 

*****

 

WKYT

Army seeks to sway 'influencers' of young, would-be recruits

 

FORT MEADE, Md. -- Although the Army is struggling to

attract soldiers to its active-duty ranks, the commander in

charge of recruiting said Friday that the current generation

of eligible young people is eager to serve.

 

Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, based at Fort Knox, Ky., said

the problem is that recruiters are increasingly thwarted in

reaching potential recruits by parents, educators and other

" influencers, " who won't allow even a discussion about a

possible military career.

 

" They are magnificent men and women, and, by and large, they

are inclined to serve, " Rochelle, 55, said of the

" millennium generation " currently graduating high school.

" The challenge we are having is with those who influence

'millennials.' ... They listen and they generally heed the

advice of their advisers _ whether we're talking parents,

coaches, teachers, guidance counselors. "

 

That older, more skeptical, generation of Americans,

Rochelle said, has " unquestionably " contributed to recent

drops in recruits. In May, the Army fell short of its

recruiting goal for the fourth consecutive month.

 

After the Sept. 11 attacks, these influencers were likely to

recommend military service 22 percent of the time; now, Army

studies show that figure has dropped to 14 percent.

 

" It's getting harder because of the influencers who are

discouraging young people from simply acquiring information "

about the Army, he said. " Influencers not wanting recruiters

to call, not wanting recruiters to sit down and talk. "

 

Still, Rochelle was optimistic that recruiting would get a

lift from graduating seniors looking for a career this

summer. To make the job more attractive, officials are

exploring incentives, including a proposal to double the

Army's four-year enlistment bonus to $40,000.

 

Also, in an attempt to " influence the influencers, " Rochelle

said the Army will offer tours at military posts around the

country for high school guidance counselors, educators,

local politicians and other " opinion makers. "

 

Rochelle spoke after a change of guard ceremony for the

First Recruiting Brigade, based at Fort Meade, which

recruits from a high-population corridor along the East

Coast running from Maine to the Tidewater region of Virginia.

 

His comments followed a one-day suspension of recruiting

efforts May 20, after reported excesses by recruiters.

 

" There were some things that recruiters were doing that were

flying just below my fairly sharp radar, " Rochelle said,

including a Houston recruiter who allegedly threatened to

have a wavering would-be recruit arrested if he backed out.

That's an authority recruiters don't have.

 

Rochelle said that the recent suspension resulted in " some

very positive results " and allowed recruiters " to refocus on

our Army values. "

 

When asked about the possibility of a draft, Rochelle said

it wasn't a consideration because, in large part, of the

kinds of soldiers who were volunteering: " The quality of the

volunteer Army has proven itself over the last 32 years to

be absolutely, unmistakably, the best we've ever had. You

simply cannot account for the difference in discipline, the

lower rates of discipline. "

 

The Army, he said, despite the shortfall, still hopes to

recruit 80,000 active soldiers by the end of its fiscal year

Sept. 30. The Army is at 83 percent of that number, meaning

it would have to vastly exceed its summer-month goals to

reach the full-year target.

 

" We have some challenges, " Rochelle said. " It's going to be

high adventure for the summer. "

 

 

 

Those who control the past, control the future; Those who control the future,

control the present; Those who control the present, control the past.^