Letter I received (regarding my daughter)

[Horse with no Name]

This was accompanied by an invitation to her personally.

Dear Parent,
It gives me great pleasure to inform you that in the next few days, your daughter will receive official notification of her nomination to attend a session of the 2005 National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence, and Diplomacy to be held this Fall in Washington, DC.
Allow me to offer my personal congratulations on your child's achievements. You certainly must be very proud.
The NYLF first became aware of your child through the Student Search Service sponsored by the College Board.
While academic promise is the first consideration in choosing scholars for the Forum, we also seek scholars who will contribute to the special strength and character of the Forum.
We expect to enroll a group of outstanding young men and women from a variety of backgrounds and with a broad range of interests and goals. We hope your daughter will choose to join these highly motivated and accomplished high school scholars from across America.
I know you must have a number of questions regarding the Forum. Safety, supervision and finances are always important considerations. You will find detailed information regarding these and many other issues in the letter to be received shortly.
As a former Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, I am convinced of the value and importance of the Forum for young persons of special talent and ability who are interested in pursuing a career in defense, intelligence or diplomacy.
In six intense days, scholars will be challenged, motivated and inspired in a way unlike any other.
I highly recommend this extraordinary program to you.
Sincerely,
Daniel W. Christman
Lt. General
US Army (Ret)

Okay....now... a couple points. My daughter scored high on the ASVAB.
She also carries a 3.9 GPA and is planning on obtaining a degree in Political Science.
What exactly is the "Student Search Service" and how did her name end up on it?
Are the colleges and universities that she is making application to giving her name and interests to these types of organizations?
Is taking the ACT and SAT putting her name out there?
Is it NCLB? Hard to know I suppose.
I am also wondering if this is how they are trying to recruit the kids at the top of the class, while sending recruiters to get the kids that are not ranked as high?
Whatever it is...in the climate we have today...there isn't any way in hell she will go to this--I don't care how nice the stationary is.

[Rainscents]

1. Sounds like to me, it's another way of drafting your child!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. When I took the ASVAB they got my name too .

Don't worry about it , if you don't want her to go - don't let her go . If you don't want recruiters to call , just hang up on them .

[whistle]

3. Army recruiters looking for the best and the brightest...

...your daughter must be younger than 18, otherwise the army would have sent the letter directly to her.

[alfredo]

4. They are having a hard time retaining officers.

I would be very wary of this group. Do a lot research. Do opt out. If you do, recruiters won't bother you or your kids..

[acmejack]

5. Here it is

It is trademarked name so this must be it

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/reg/sss.html

[yella_dawg]

6. Sounds like

a no expenses paid junket to a high pressure recruiting session. Good way to bag officer candidates. Skyrocketing unemployment will bring in grunts, but it's harder to find officers.

[johnaries]

7. ASVAB is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.

It's administered by the Armed Services, so of course they had her info. I took it in high school just to get out of class. When the Marine in dress blues handed me my results,he took one look at my General Technical score and said it was high enough to qualify for Military Intelligence and asked if I was interested. I said "isn't Military Intelligence an oxymoron?" (thank you George Carlin!) and walked off.

[JRob]

22. i love that line...

[Ms. Toad]

39. Hated that test in HS,

But it was mandatory - and I'd already pushed the limits with my refusal to participate in a variety of other things (dissection of living frogs, for example) so I decided it wasn't an important battle to fight. Of course it triggered the inevitable flood of military garbage. Fortunately, being a female back in the dark ages (Vietnam era) had its advantages and the flood trickled pretty quickly.

[uppityperson]

8. We got one also, think it was from PSAT scores

I think PSAT gives out score to some list. We got one of there also and snorted when we read it. Right now 3.0gpa, OK PSAT score but nothing wonderful. I think it is basic recruitment, combination compliment and hoping you won't notice who they are or what they are doing.

[rodeodance]

9. National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence, and Diplomacy

too bad diplomacy seems to be tacked on the end--like and afterthought?

[prvet]

10. General Christman endorsed Kerry

last year.
Don't know too much about him but sounds like a good guy.

[uppityperson]

11. He may be a good guy but the whole thing looks shady.

Especially having my child be very active in TeenPeace programs. Welcome to DU!

[SlavesandBulldozers]

12. the ASVAB is hilarious

everybody is always so proud of their ASVAB scores. everybody gets that schpiel "oh wow look how good you've done on the test, we need to get you in right away, we can make you a pilot son you're going places now!"

have you ever heard of anybody not doing spectacularly on the ASVAB?

[BlueStateGirl]

15. Yes. My ex boyfriend. He wanted to be an aircraft mechanic, but

his ASVAb was too low.

He ended up working in aviation supply.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

17. i stand corrected. I have now heard one story of somebody

scoring too low on the ASVAB.

I was wrong.

[BlueStateGirl]

18. Well, you asked. BUt in essence you are still correct. He scored well

enough to be enducted, just not well enough for the job he wanted.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

19. i was serious not being sarcastic

this is the first ive heard of that

[Enraged_Ape]

21. Here is an actual ASVAB question...

from the time that I took the test. You have 10 seconds. Choose your answer carefully.

1) Which of the following items is a screwdriver?






I swear that this was an actual question that I had on my ASVAB.

[Nikia]

30. That was one in that section that I got right

I seriously had no clue about tools and stuff like that. I scored in the 30th percentile in that section. I only knew a few answers and guessed on the rest in that section.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

37. omfg

that's classic

[Nikia]

29. Most of my high school class took it

Trust me, there were people who didn't do all that well. The bottom end of test takers is definitely lower than the bottom end of ACT or SAT takers because some people wish to enter the armed forces as an alternative to college, which they might not be cut out for and know it. There are people who are limited in which careers that they can enter in the military because of low ASVAB scores. I personally scored very well in everything except the Auto and Shop section and could have qualified for any military career if I would have wished to enter. Except for the National Guard Recruiter, all the other recruiters encouraged me to apply for the service academies or ROTC. Fortunately, I failed to get accepted to West Point and did not go to an ROTC school.

[Skwmom]

31. Yes. e/o/m

[JanMichael]

33. I got a 98th percentile while both hung over and depressed back in 1995.

Fortunately I chose a different path.

[tanyev]

13. Tell them you think a trip to Washington DC is too dangerous

as long as George Bush is in the White House.

[China_cat]

14. Military recruiters. They pulled this on my niece.

[BlueStateGirl]

16. Here is the website for the National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense,

Intelligence and Dipolomacy.

http://www.nylf.org/did/faq.cfm


The nylf also has forums for nursing and technology and a few other career fields.

[etherealtruth]

20. I'm curious ... why did she take the ASVAB?

My eldest took the ACT, PSAT and SAT ------ He had zero interest in taking the ASVAB and did not.

I ask because a friends child was discussing this and indicated that the test was given in school (during school hours) and that the test was given in an extended "homeroom" time block. The kids were allowed to refuse the test but had to sit quietly while others took the test...

[MountainLaurel]

25. In some schools

From what I've heard on this topic from some DUers, EVERYONE has to take the ASVAB.

And then some people take it, perhaps not realizing what it is and what their scores will be used for (i.e., to earn themselves their very own stalker in uniform), because it'll get them out of class for a few hours.

[etherealtruth]

27. I wonder ...

... if / how "they" (the schools) can make this mandatory (?) in some schools. The district my children attend seem to avoid this ... However, the kid I referred to, in my 1st post, states that the "military recruiter" pops in on the PE classes ... I have been really disturbed since hearing about this.

[LiberalFighter]

35. I would spread the word that the recruiter is a pedophile since...

he has such a strong interest in seeing kids in pe clothes that show more skin.

[LiberalFighter]

34. It was also mentioned to do any of the following:

Mark the answers wrong
Give a fake name and address
ie GW Bush

[Horse with no Name]

26. They didn't have a choice

They were all taken to the auditorium and took the test.

[etherealtruth]

28. I was afraid that would be the answer.

I have no doubt that it was presented to your child as mandatory, but I wonder what schools are actually mandated to do???

My son graduated from high school (a couple of years ago----I don't think the military recruiting was so desperate then)... I have a daughter in middle and an other son in elementary school ----- I am concerned about what the pressures will be (from the military)

[Ms. Toad]

41. Make sure when she enters 9th grade

(or whatever the beginning of your high school is) that you refuse to permit the school to release your child's information to the military. NCLB does mandate that schools release contact information for all high school students UNLESS the parent (or child when s/he reaches 18) opts out of releasing the information.

My school's counselor volunteered the information - and an opt out form. Most schools, from what I hear, do not.

[etherealtruth]

42. Thanks (good advice!) n/t

[Ms. Toad]

40. It's not always voluntary. n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

23. Associations like those are helpful when applying for scholarships.

I think s/he should attend, it should be no harm in it. As long as they don't sign any papers.

[Horse with no Name]

36. I wouldn't send my 17-yr old

to be alone with the high pressured tactics of a desperate military.
Who knows what type of "persuasion" they will attempt.

[MountainLaurel]

38. Here's an example of their "persuasion"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3839380

[JRob]

24. ...totally spooks. military, corporate, is there a difference?

CIA, NSA, FBI etc. They all need warm bodies and the younger they get them the better.

The Book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" hits on this...

[boohootwo]

32. The student can check a box on the SAT to be contacted.