Although polls show Americans’ support for the war in Iraq is slipping, the public is not of one mind. Some oppose the war, some support it; many have mixed feelings. Just as soldiers in combat fight for each other and not for an ideology or a political position, there are issues on the home front that transcend the politics of the Iraq war.

One of those issues is military recruiting. There have been several stories in the media recently about aggressive efforts by military recruiters to sign young men and women into the armed forces and parents’ rights to be involved in that process.

A particular concern is the depth to which recruiters have penetrated high schools. The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act (Section 9528(a)(1)) says, “each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.”

Based on that clause, recruiters have been calling teenagers at home, inviting them to events like chin-up contests and Xbox giveaways. In schools, recruiters insinuate themselves into the daily routine, perhaps leading calisthenics in phys ed class or running drills at football practice.

By the time parents are even aware their child is talking to a recruiter, he or she may be well down the road toward signing up for a hitch in the service. The Seattle Times reported that one mother had to drag her son out of the recruiting center even as military personnel tried to spirit him down a different hallway. Of course, a parent can undo the unconsented enlistment of an underage child, but few parents would be happy to know recruiters are baiting their children and springing the trap on the child’s 18th birthday.

These tactics, plus $20,000 recruitment bonuses, may be working. The Army filled its enlistment quota for June, the month of high school graduation, after four months of falling short.

To be sure parents stay in the process and recruiters aren’t “softening up” underage teens behind their backs, they can invoke a subsequent provision of No Child Left Behind (Section 9528(a)(2)), which allows parents to have their child’s personal information withheld from recruiters by the school. It says, “A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.”

Whatever your feelings about the Iraq war, if you don’t want your son or daughter speaking with recruiters behind your back, send, by return receipt mail, a letter to her or his principal, asking that your child’s information be withheld from recruiters.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. The Pentagon is mining other databases to find the names and contact information for 30 million people between the ages of 16 and 25. Theoretically, people can have their own (or their underage child’s) information placed on a “suppression list” by sending the person’s name, address and social security number to the Pentagon’s Joint Advertising and Marketing Research & Studies Office. The Pentagon reserves the right to share data on its recruiting database (and suppression list) with law enforcement and state tax authorities. Be advised.

Is it hypocritical for a parent to be a vocal booster for the war and then take action to shield his or her child from recruiters? If people support this war, shouldn’t they want their children to fight it? Maybe, but I don’t want to think that because I failed to take an action – even one that might open the door to hypocrisy – a young person I know might wind up dead or maimed or psychologically scarred.

If you’re the parent of a teenager, think seriously about whom your child might be talking to. If you know the parents of teens, send them a copy of this commentary, along with the links below. Better safe than sorry.

© Mark Floegel, 2005

http://www.leavemychildalone.org/?mktcode=mmob

http://www.militaryfreezone.org/

http://www.rcnv.org/counterrecruit/optout/