Question for High School students and teachers....

[Craig3410]

Is it just me, or are people from the Army/Navy/Air Force/National Guard et al. showing up waay more often than what seems like normal?

At my school, at least every two weeks (usually more often), we get someone from the military here and they set up a little table trying to recruit people.

And today, we were FORCED to go to a "career training" thing in English today sponsored by---you guessed it---The National Guard!

It's strange; they gave everyone a book called "The YOU CAN Guide to financing for College" (Howzat for subliminal messages?) and it's pretty amazing how they made the military jobs look a lot more appealing than the "civilian" jobs.

They also gave a link to a web site about career training; I'm not even looking at it, just linking it:
http://www.careertrain.com">http://www.careertrain.com/

And I won't even mention that last year, I took this test called the "ASVAB", did brilliantly on it (like how I do on all other standardized tests :D) and gotten at least 40+ phone calls trying to recruit me for the Army EVEN THOUGH I'M DIABETIC AND I'VE TOLD THEM THAT EVERY TIME.


Ugh.

[AllegroRondo]

1. Tell the Army recruiter you already signed on with the Navy

that will make him stop calling.

[concord]

3. Do they cross-reference that info ... yet?

I'm assuming they will in the future - just wondering if they've got the databases connected yet.

[AllegroRondo]

5. Most recruiters are too overworked to check anyway

I dont think they cross reference, yet anyway. And recruiters are under a lot of pressure to deliver, if they think theres no way of getting you they will move on.

[concord]

6. Good to know

Thank you. We're going to be facing this in a few months. It helps to know what we're up against.

[HughBeaumont]

2. Military recruiters are almost as honest as used car salesmen

They make it sound like you're going to be the next Jason Bourne or through them, a nuclear physicist. Most of my friends in the military say it's not a damned thing at all like the glossy brochures or Jerry Bruckheimer-ish videos they show you.

[walldude]

14. Hehe.. yeah when my brother in law

joined the Navy he had no idea that 70% of his time would be spent cleaning, mopping and scraping barnacles

[ArkDem]

4. OH, The HUMANITY!!!!

[uppityperson]

7. Our HS has a essay contest "what is an american" $500 prize, by Army

bah. My son is getting stuff from colleges and military
after doing PSAT. Where in the country are you?

[Craig3410]

8. NW Arkansas.

I keep getting stuff in the mail from the Army, too.

[uppityperson]

9. Must be tough

Did you sign the paper telling the HS to not release your information to the military? (I'm assuming you are talking public HS) I don't know that there is a do-not-release part to the PSAT/SAT, but there is one for high schools. Tell them you are a Conscientious objecting quadriplegic with ADD.

[ArkDem]

10. Wouldn't it be easier to just tell the truth? Say "I'm not interested" and

throw the mail away. How hard is that?

[MountainLaurel]

12. Doesn't work

They keep calling over and over -- search the DU archives for reports from many parents with teens who have been stalked by military recruiters.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. My brother was

still in school and graduated in 2003 and they used to call here all the time and for no reason either. :shrug: Finally my mother got fed up and told them to stop calling or she'd report them to their supervisor and they hadn't called back since. :shrug:

[MountainLaurel]

18. good for your mom

Like someone said, these folks are at about the same level as used car salesmen: Fahrenheit 9-11 shows them at their "finest."

Although it could be worse: a DUer posted last week that there was an assembly by military recruiters at her school. Except, it seems that only the African American students were pulled from class to attend. She was teaching gifted kids, who were well aware of the score.

[walldude]

11. It's my understanding that if you don't want

a recruiter to have your kids personal information you actually have to go to the school and sign a paper to keep them away. Otherwise schools are required to give out students personal information. It was part of some bill, might have been NCLB or the Patriot Act...

[FreedomAngel82]

17. It's with NCLB

Google "No Child Left Behind and military." Now I know where they got the name....

[uppityperson]

19. NCLB schools that get gvt $$ have to offer parents/kids opt out forms

According to the law (ha) schools that get federal funding have to offer parents and kids an opt out form to sign. If they do not offer the form, they can lose funding (again ha). You can download them off one of the internets if the school says they don't have any. Our TeenPeace group had a demonstration when the HS said they didn't have any of the forms. They had a bunch made up, gave to kids to sign and turn in to school. Kids OR parents can sign to opt you.

Schools are required to offer the opt out forms. They must take them if they are given them or lose federal funding (haha).

PM me if you want more info, or google search.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. It's quite simple really

They're having trouble recruting for the first time in four/five years. Nobody wants to join the army or anything in dealing with the military because they know they'll be shipped to Iraq. Quite telling really. All the repukes are for the war but none want to go over there. :eyes: I thought they were kickin ass macho men?

[sakabatou]

16. No...

we had 1 week where the armed forces came and that was it.

[diamond14]

20. todays students are like SHEEP....here's some historical PHOTOS

Historical PHOTOS demonstrating how military recruiters were RUN OUT OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS...


today...IMO, the parents just ENJOY sending their kids off as CANNON FODDER...the parents LOVE having ROTC take their kids, parents LOVE having the military sit in the public schools....the parents don't mind at all sacrificing their own kids for BUSH WARS.....they do it with JOY.....parents just sit there while ROTC steals their kids, they don't object, and neither do the children...it's all like SHEEP going to the slaughter....

--------------------------

in ONE WEEK, May 1970...THIRTY ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) were BURNED TO THE GROUND on college campuses....ROTC is a THE military recruitment tool....here's the SPIN that distorts this HISTORY, from a military recruitment web site: "ROTC was active at all major universities in the United States until the Vietnam War, when it lost official recognition on many campuses amid anti-war sentiment."


see here with your own eyes: "lost official recognition"....ROTC building on Kent State Campus goes up in flames....THIRTY more ROTC buildings, all across America, were also BURNED TO THE GROUND....that's how young people got the military OUT OF THEIR SCHOOLS...this is HISTORY that should be studied in all AMERICAN HISTORY courses...

May 2, 1970...Kent State University ROTC building goes UP IN FLAMES


May 3, 1970...the left-overs of the ROTC building incineration...
these YOUNG people are 18 or 19 years old, recently finished high school, but they have COURAGE...while today's students don't have any courage....not even a 'little' resistance to the military recruiters, who SIT IN THEIR SCHOOLS....nothing...no resistance at all...today's young students are already going like sheep to the slaughter...and most being slaughtered in Iraq today are 18 or 19 years old....

[LSdemocrat]

22. The difference is the DRAFT. That is why students cared more then.

If their wasn't a draft for Vietnam I seriously doubt you would have seen such intense protests.

[Massacure]

21. Recruiters show up quiet often at the school I attend.

Often enough that my friends and I have a banner with the names of everyone that died. Our principle always lets us know when and where the recruiter will be in the building ahead of time. :evilgrin:

If we have some spare time we also shout some anti-war chants as well. We just have to be careful not to disturb the teachers. ;)

[JackD76]

23. I am not in High School but I got stories.

I am in college now but I got some fucked up stories about these recruiters that pisses me off when I think about it.

Story 1.

A few months before the Iraq war, when I was 16, I had a strange encounter with a military recruiter. It was about 9:00 on a Saturday morning and i had just gotten up and was trying to get ready for the day. All of a sudden, an Army recruiter Sargent came to my door and asked my dad to talk to me, actually asked for me by name. So I go into my living room and there is a Sargent standing there with pamphlets and he asks me if I want to join the army. This doesn't even seem legal and yet there he is, asking a 16 year old high school student to join the army. What the fuck kind of country is this, when recruiters can come to my house and try to sign me up?! Next thing you know, they will just start taking people out of their houses and ship them to Iraq.

Story 2.

About two weeks ago, i was at school, at my college, and I said down at a table in one of the lounges to find a home work assignment. After a few seconds, I looked up and saw a marine recruiter coming toward my table and he just sat down. He starts talking about how great the marines is, so i got up to leave. But that wasn't a good enough clue for the marine to leave me alone, so he thought it would be a good idea to follow me across the entire campus, begging me to join up. Finally, I just said, "i am not joining the marines, i have no plans to join the marines." Well, i guess that he found out, somehow, that i am not joining the marines, so he walked away.

These people are getting desperate and they couldn't be pissing me off more.