Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents (NYT)

[huckleberry]

By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: June 3, 2005

Rachel Rogers, a single mother of four in upstate New York, did not worry about the presence of National Guard recruiters at her son's high school until she learned that they taught students how to throw hand grenades, using baseballs as stand-ins. For the last month she has been insisting that administrators limit recruiters' access to children.

snip

Two years into the war in Iraq, as the Army and Marines struggle to refill their ranks, parents have become boulders of opposition that recruiters cannot move.

Mothers and fathers around the country said they are terrified that their child will have to be killed - or kill - in a war that many see as unnecessary and without end.

Around the dinner table, many parents said, they are discouraging their children from serving.

more at
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/nyregion/03recruit.html?hp&ex=1117771200&en=4d3a061a843432a6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Unity]

1. Listen to your parents...

Family values ya know :)

[AspenRose]

28. "I am my kid's mom"

so take THAT, Dr."conservative family values" Laura!

Hell, no, he won't go.

[Solly Mack]

2. Good!

[havocmom]

3. Reminder: parents have to be proactive to keep schools from giving info

for contacting kids to military recruiters. As part of NCLB, schools HAVE TO provide contact info for students UNLESS parents fill out and turn over forms denying the release of their children's info.

DO IT! The recruiters know adolescents normally have tense times with parents. They are courting kids quietly then having them sign on the line when they turn 18. This happens too often without the parents knowledge.

Recruiters are prowling schools, taking kids out of class to work on them, test them, razzle dazzle them. Find out how your schools are dealing with it. Some schools are enacting limits on recruiters. Some are allowing them access during class time. Find out and make your schools keep kids in class when they should be there!

And sign those forms to block the schools from releasing your kids' info to a bunch of swaggering recruiters.

[bballny]

4. two girls

I know two girls who can help the recruiters meet their goals.

[wakeme2008]

5. And they are out of Work too

:)

[oasis]

13. That would make for a great Bush photo op at the White House.

:woohoo:

[Rainscents]

19. Hi Bballny... Welcome to DU!!!

:hi:

[Pachamama]

6. The MMOB (Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush) are organizing groups all across US

for a campaign called "Leave my Child Alone"....I suggest everyone contact the MMOB at http://www.themmob.org (or at http://www.leavemychildalone.org/?mktcode=mmob) and see if there is a local chapter operating and work with them in organizing this effort in your community.

It seems that the Military is accessing the info from the data on our kids through "No Child Left Behind" for recruiting purposes.

The founder of the MMOB, Megan Matson (friend of mine) is organizing "Opt out forms" for parents in communities to prohibit this info from being shared with the military and to contacting their child.

Hey, if they ever start drafting my friends or relative's kids, I'm running kids out of the country up to Canada....It will be the Pachamama Underground.... :hi:

[ovidsen]

7. This is downright poetic!

From the NY Times article:

Some of that opportunity (to resist recriters) was provoked by the very law that was supposed to make it easier for recruiters to reach students more directly. No Child Left Behind, which was passed by Congress in 2001, requires schools to turn over students' home phone numbers and addresses unless parents opt out. That is often the spark that ignites parental resistance.

Recruiters, in interviews over the past six months, said that opposition can be fierce. Three years ago, perhaps 1 or 2 of 10 parents would hang up immediately on a cold call to a potential recruit's home, said a recruiter in New York who, like most others interviewed, insisted on anonymity to protect his career. "Now," he said, "in the past year or two, people hang up all the time. "

Several recruiters said they had even been threatened with violence.

Let's hear it for the parents!

I hope the draft IS reinstated. I hope the Bush twins are the first to go. We'll be out of Iraq so fast...

[leesa]

14. Are you sure he would care if they went?

[bluestateguy]

8. Good for them

I hope the recruiters fail and fail and fail to meet their quotas. No more fuel for the war machine.

[ckramer]

11. And how are they going to spend those billion?

Money talks, man!

[jwirr]

9. The day we invaded Iraq my daughter

told her son that if the draft was instituted she would personally drive him to Canada. Keep it up parents - your children are not merely cannon fodder.

[TahitiNut]

10. Maybe they'll repeal parental consent for enlistment ...

... at the same time they require it for abortion?

That's your "culture of life" folks! :eyes:

[funkybutt]

12. when nobody is signing up for the military, nobody trusts their government

it's clear...

[catzies]

25. That's a great line and should be shouted from the rooftops!!!!!!!

"WHEN NOBODY IS SIGNING UP FOR THE MILITARY, NOBODY TRUSTS THEIR GOVERNMENT."

[hvn_nbr_2]

15. For the Fristians: Honor thy father and thy mother.

:-) :think: :toast:

[Seabiscuit]

23. Well put - a big CONGRATS to all these parents rolling a "boulder" in the

way of military recruiters at their childrens' schools.

:patriot::applause::woohoo:

[Mizmoon]

16. kick

[chelsea0011]

17. What else is in No Child Left Behind?

To receive federal funding for No Child Left Behind, schools are mandated to turn over students' addresses and telephone numbers to the military which they can use as cold calls to children for recruiting purposes. This is part of education? I think not. Also, in the NYT article, a Col. David Slotwinski laments the fact that parents are getting between the military and their children. "They don't realize that they have a role in helping make the all-volunteer force successful". I'm sorry. All parents are very aware. We know this war is a crock of sh*t lies and children, men and women are being killed for lies.

[Supersedeas]

18. Family Values anyone?

[Cocoa]

29. yep

:bounce:

[Roland99]

20. I wonder how many of these parents voted for * and supported the war?

[bloom]

21. One of my rabidly Republican

siblings won't let his kids think about enlisting - I'm sure they shield their sons from recruiting propaganda - (it seems like a disconnect how authoritarian he is about not letting his son make a decision to join the authoritarian military.)

Of another rabidly Republican sibling - the kids are totally into the macho-ness of it all (influenced by their father) - a second son is beginning military training next week - I think the kids decided for themselves - not necessarily with encouragement. But it wasn't like the parents were trying to say they couldn't go, either.


____

It was an interesting article.

[Toots]

22. If we were truly at War I would be the first in line to enlist and I am 60

I already spent six years in the military back in the sixties but if we truly were to go to a real war I would not hesitate and I feel most healthy Americans would feel the same way and that is very telling about how Americans feel about this "war" we are now involved in. People just aren't buying it as saving America from immanent attack.

[Seabiscuit]

24. This article made my day!!!

[drm604]

26. This is so different from the Vietnam era.

Parents fighting recruiters; kids sneaking behind their parent's backs in order to enlist; talk about through the looking glass!
A draft in this country would most likely result in massive civil disobedience, but this time it won't be just the kids. Imagine parents and grandparents burning draft cards. "HELL NO, THEY WON'T GO!"

[cyberpj]

27. Here's my jingoistic ribbon for them -