Up against the wall-Army uses chicanery to get student info (Counter recr)

[fed-up]

http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2005-11-03/news.asp

Lead News
Up against the wall
Army uses chicanery to get student info
By Tom Gascoyne

"Susan Sullivan says the U.S. Army tried to pull a fast one on Chico High students last week when it erected a rock climbing wall on campus and then asked those who wanted to participate to sign a waiver and hand over a little personal information.

The school administration agrees--the Army was in the wrong and deceptive about its motives.

Sullivan, whose son Sean is a 17-year-old high school senior, knew that the recruiters would be on campus, Thursday, Oct. 27 as part of the anti-drug Red Ribbon Week activities. Last May, she said, Marine recruiters were on campus for Career Day using an inflatable fun house to attract student information. Under President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, the school must provide the military with student information or risk losing federal funding. That is, unless the parent has signed an opt-out form, which the school must provide....

...This time around, Sullivan, a single mom with one child, was ready to take on the Army. She went to campus at about noon and saw the wall, an information booth and a line of students wanting to climb the wall. She said she told the next student in line that he didn't have to sign the form before he could climb on the wall....

the article contiunes with full story. I think they did a very complete and accurate job writing the story!!!

I also went to our local school board meeting last night, told my complete story, and gave the board a copy of the waivers (one from the military and one from the marines), a copy of the "Opt-Out" form and the two pages on false recruiting info that that I found on http://www.leavemychildalone.org

Parents must step in where necessary to protect these kids from the predatory recruiting practices of the military!

[davepc]

1. deleted, cause i read the whole post again

:)

[liberal N proud]

2. Anytime we get mail for our kid from the military

we return it with "NOT MY CHILD" across the form inside.

[halobeam]

3. They did this at the air show at Jones Beach, LI, NY this past summer

They offer to take pictures of them too. Disgusting.

[drb]

4. The people I really feel sorry for in this deal are the poor recruiters...

.... I seem to remember that some of them have even committed suicide over this. Can you imagine being an Army recruiter right now?

"Hey kid! You wanna go die for Cheney's oil? Sign here!"

They're each supposed to sign like two kids a month, and they get demoted or worse if they don't. Talk about a thankless fuckin' job....

[No Exit]

5. They're employed, and they don't have to go to Iraq.

I've seen many, many cases in which police interrogated teenagers.

Teenagers, even the streetsmart ones, are (big surprise) the most gullible people on earth. Teenagers IMO are even more liable to be tricked than are pre-teens--because unlike pre-teens, teenagers possess just enough knowledge to make them think they know it all.

So it should be easy for recruiters to hook them in, even with all the negative publicity about Iraq. Most teenagers aren't reading ANY of these websites we read--the ones that contain serious discussion of the realities of the war.

I don't feel all that sorry for the recruiters, except for the fact that they have the shame of working for the U.S. government during a period in which it is being run by criminals.

[CStrick20]

6. I almost joined the navy a year ago

Its sad to see the tactics that the recruiters use "you wont go to iraq", "you can just get money for college, and if they need you they may call you up", "think about how much college costs", and so forth, and alot of people buy it. When i went to sign up for the navy at fort dix (which i did but i pulled out because i know the rules) I was in a room before the physical with 40 other people, most signing up for the Army or Marines, most of them did poorly (50 asvab or below) and most of them were from low income areas. It was sad.

(The only reason i was even considering joining was that i scored a 97 on my asvab and my job would have been rather safe considering i would have been in the nuclear engineering program which would have meant that i would only have worked on Subs or ACC's, i dropped out once bush got re-elected)

[newyawker99]

7. Hi CStrick20!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: