BlogWood: MT Archives

Recruiters are people too blood sucking maggots preying on the poor!

Today’s Tampa Tribune has an article on those nice military recruiters who are helping out poor and minority students by sending them off to die young in a foreign war in order to save them from a miserable life f poverty here in the US.

So, why would any sane person join the Army these days?

Health care (You’ll need it after being maimed by an IED, but as a veteran, you’ll likely be denied proper care.)
Vocational training (You’ll be trained to perform a military job. Good luck finding a civilian job that requires the same skills.)
Upward mobility (Veterans actually earn less than non-veterans holding the same jobs. One third of all homeless people are veterans.)

Discipline
Discipline (You’ll learn to do what you’re told without thinking and without question. Actually, this might be helpful if you ever make it out and into civilian life, as long as you’re planning a career as a lemming - or as a dungeon mistress)
A glimmer of hope (Hope for an early death at the hands of a foreign enemy, or a life as a crippled homeless person.)
Play with guns (Okay - you will be allowed to play with lots of guns. You may even get to kill.)

As a society, we ensure that socioeconomic conditions remain ripe for the recruitment of poor and minority cannon fodder.

Recruiters concentrate on poor schools and the poor neighborhoods surrounding them. They will say and do almost anything to get warm bodies. Often compared to used car salesmen, their only concern is fulfilling their quotas.

Overall, the Army spends more than $460 million a year on recruiting and advertising. In addition to the glossy brochures and television spots promoting the ``Army of One,'' the service sponsors sporting events popular with the demographic it is trying to recruit - auto racing, football, basketball and rodeo.

``It's a sales organization,'' Padjune said.

Empty promises of job training, help with college, and travel to exotic locales pour out of their mouths. The reality of having been trained for a military career with no civilian marketability, of having no free time to attend classes, and of having to kill the natives in those exotic locales is of no concern to the hard-sell recruiters.

Rich white folks like those who attend South Tampa’s Plant High School, as well as private school students, wont be fodder unless they go out of their way to enlist. Recruiters are simply banned from most private schools, and they don’t spend any time at public schools with wealthy students, simply because it’s more difficult to pull the wool over the eyes of a recruit whose future prospects are better than bleak.

Two private high schools also are on Hawkins' map: Jesuit and The Cambridge School. His access to them is limited, though.

John Crumbley, an assistant principal at Jesuit, says his students plan for college. The campus welcomes representatives from the service academies, including West Point, but not recruiters looking for enlistees.

``They want to come in all day with a truckload of pamphlets, and that's not happening here,'' Crumbley said.

Now, the worst part of this whole situation is the fact that school systems are openly cooperating with recruiters. The schools are giving personal student information to the military so that the Army and other armed services can trick children into what is becoming literally a dead-end career.

A lot of attention was paid a few years ago when a federal funding rule kicked in, requiring public school systems to share student information with the military. No controversy around here, though, as The Hillsborough County School Board has been providing contact info for many years, and at a bargain price, too. For just $61, the military is given a database as well as the use of school property to further their nefarious agenda.

The Hillsborough County school district has been an active supporter for a long time. There was little local effect when the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act required public high schools nationwide to provide recruiters with names, addresses and phone numbers of juniors and seniors because Hillsborough has been supplying such lists for 20 years.

The county charges the military $61 for an annual directory.

Parents who don't want their children contacted can have names removed from the list by filling out a form in their children's student handbooks. Critics say many people aren't aware they can ``opt out'' until after the information has been released.

``It's very overwhelming for parents when they have back- to-school night and they have 15 different waivers and forms to fill out,'' said Mary Kusler, a senior legislative specialist with the American Association of School Administrators in Washington. ``It's very easy for this one to get lost in the mix.''

And it’s not clear form this article if Hillsborough County lets parents opt out. The “No Child” laws call for an opt out option, but if Hillsborough is selling this info on its own, apart from the federal requirements, are they required to provide an opt out, and do they actually provide one?

Padjune said his recruiters won't push it if their calls are unwanted.

``We attempt to contact everybody on the lists just to see what their interest is,'' he said. ``But we respect people's privacy.''

On any given day, armed forces recruiters can be found at Hillsborough's 23 public high schools, 17 of which have Junior ROTC programs.

Off campus, recruiters make regular stops at malls, movie theaters and fast-food restaurants, anywhere teenagers and young adults meet. These tactics aren't new, but they worry some parents who say children aren't getting the full picture.

Karen Putney's two sons graduated from public high schools in Tampa and were reminded of military benefits frequently by recruiters who said little about the possibility of combat, she recalls.

Neither son joined; the Putneys are Quaker and opposed to war.

``It has to be an informed choice,'' she said. ``There needs to be much more information about the grimmer details of the job.''

Gee, I don’t remember an ROTC program at Plant High when I attended. Oh, wait...

This underscores what some say is most wrong with the recruiting system. Recruiters look for candidates at public schools, particularly in poorer neighborhoods, where seniors are less likely to go to college and more uncertain about their futures, says Kevin Ramirez of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in Philadelphia.

``Recruiting is a numbers game,'' said Ramirez, coordinator of the organization's Military Out Of Our Schools program. ``They have information going back five, 10 years on the percentage of students from a school that enlists. They know where to look for recruits.''

It's clear that the frequency of recruiter visits can vary by school.

At Plant High School in south Tampa, for example, 97 percent of graduating seniors go on to college, says Principal Eric Bergholm. Military recruiters are welcome at Plant, he says, but they visit the campus only a few times a month.

At Blake High School in central Tampa, 60 percent of graduates are college-bound. Military recruiters are on campus as often as three times a week, says Principal Jacqueline Haynes.

So, our local government is actively partnering with the military to cull poor and minority students and send them overseas to be shot at. Don’t worry, though, because the Hillsborough County Public School System has some very strict rules when it comes to personal contact between a recruiter and students:

* Visits should be at a regularly scheduled place, time and day of the week.

Recruiters must really hate this rule, which forces them to be able to maintain a tightly packed and efficient weekly schedule. But, to be fair, this rule does help students to avoid the recruiters - a student can simply skip school on recruiter days. Hey, it’s only 3 days a week.

* Recruiters should not interview students who have not followed the proper procedure for a meeting.

See, this rule protects students who accidently come to school on a recruiter day and then unknowingly stumble into the recruiter’s office.

* Honest, up-to-date information should be conveyed to all students. Recruiters should conduct themselves so students do not feel pressured.

HOW do the recruiters manage to live within these rules? They are true American Heroes!

* Recruiters should offer military information to all students who request it, regardless of whether the student appears to be a good candidate.

This rule is really strict - forcing the overworked recruiters to pass out literature. Why does the Hillsborough County School System hate the military?

* If a student states he or she has decided definitely against a military career, the recruiter should not request to see the student again on school time.

Another tough rule. This one forces the recruiter to use his computer to look up students’ names and addresses in the database provided by the county.

Helpful Links:

The Objector: Home of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors

Not in Our Name: Stop the Military Recruiters

Questions for Recruiters

VFP Lawrence High School exhibit

Posted by Norwood at September 20, 2004 07:01 AM