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MILITARY RECRUITERS? AFGHANISTAN?
Published On 03-29-2009 , 5:01 AM
Is the military, with so many career paths open to graduating seniors, an option families really want their sons or daughters to grab on to?
Families need to know the real story and not just what the all too friendly recruiters tell our kids.
Military recruiters, like college recruiters, have access to students on the high school campus. But unlike the college folk who visit the place, the military recruiters have quotas to fill. And another big difference between these recruiting folk is that the military ones have a specific interest in minority students.
I'll just call her Ms. Williams, as this mother didn't want her name mentioned. Throughout the years, men in her family have served in all of America's wars right down to the current one in Iraq; so she has no qualms about her son marching off to serve his county.
Ms. Williams didn't know anything about the Opt Out Letter she should have received in her son's high school enrollment papers, which if she had received and signed, recruiters would not have been allowed to call her home.
The recruiters did call and for this family it was perfectly fine. Did any college recruiters call? Well, no, but then their son, I was told, never made the kind of grades in school that would get him into the halls of higher learning.
But the recruiters, Ms. Williams said, could bypass all of that making college possible along with other very attractive sign-up bonuses.
Did the recruitment of Ms. Williams' son have anything to do with him being African American? No, she said, because we all need to serve our country.
What about the bodies of our young people being brought back home and unloaded off of military planes in flag-draped coffins?
And as life is these days, Ms. Williams interrupted to remind me with an air of extreme distrust sent my way in her delivery, that President Obama was bringing the troops home from Iraq.
Afghanistan?
That war, Ms. Williams insisted, was a battle being fought by some Afghanistan people called the Taliban who were against women.
Anyway, the family who lived down the street had a son going into the Navy and by doing that he would earn his citizenship.
"Why, Ms. Smith," Ms. Williams asked, "would you even ask these kind of questions when kids, young men especially, have to find something to do with their lives."
As an afterthought she added, "My son is African American and the boy down the street is Mexican."
Irving Gonzales in Houston, like Ms. Williams' son, thought by listening to recruiters, that the military was for him. As reported this past July by Marc Greenblatt, Gonzales signed up for the pre-enlistment program, which allows kids to join without a binding commitment. But when Gonzales, according to reports, changed his mind about being in the military, the DEP (delayed entry program) wasn't exactly how he understood things would be.
Signing up was a lot less complicated than his signing out!
Hear more of what families need to know about military recruitment on Wednesday, April 1, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Charter Channel 56, Talk About Parenting with Shirlee Smith. Also, on the web at www.talkaboutparening.org.
his blog can be found in our columns section where you can print a copy or e-mail to someone
http://talkaboutparenting.org/pages/articles.php
 Tune-in Wednesdays Noon to 1:00 p.m. Talk Abut Parenting with Shirlee Smith LIVE Call-in at 626- 794-2116 or 794-2551. PCAC Charter Channel 56 in Pasadena. Return to our home page and click the red television for streaming. See our calendar listing for further details
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Comment
| | 1. | These serious problems must be discussed and talked about
- by rapid4me, 02-02-2010, 2:21 AM
| | 2. | TODAY you insulted me and YOUR country by ripping into our children who chose to SERVE YOUR country!!! YOU have insulted me and my child - My story is very simple - got married at age 17 - with parents consent - husband was 25 yrs - 7 yrs older than me. Our son was born in 1969. I am white, european educated - my husband WAS white, american educated. Our son was born 2 years after marriage -1969! DADDY was killed in Vietnam - we suppose - MIA!!! US Government kicked me out ; not a citizen, but LEGAL RESIDENT - not like MS or MRS Gonzales down the street - who is probably illegal - but, then the FLAKES of this so-called US Societey always cover up for the LAWBREAKERS. My son, in spite of what HIS country did, VOLUNTEERED-
no recruiter needed!!! No promises, but what he was taught at home and he felt was right - what can I do for MY country - the USA. He did not ask me for permission, he did what he felt was right! He, hopefully, will be able to retire from the Navy next year --- at age 40! Meanwhile, I am struggling - can't get a job - why %28too old, too white???%29 - I speak 3 languages --BUT, to my detriment - I DO NOT speak MEXICAN!! I am looking at being HOMELESS - because people like YOU have a chip on their shoulder - I really didn't think that YOU were such a RACIST!! You know, we ALL bleed red - and I would have thought you would be pleased with the opportunities the military offers ANY child regardless of RACE - apparently you prefer your kids %28grandkids%29 to be gunned down in the streets!! How sad that you are so anti-american - instead of encouraging these %28discriminated-your words -implied!!%29 kids - male or female , to take advantage of any opportunity this country offers! Kids grow up - sooner or later! Let them make up their OWN minds - stop bashing this country! It takes every one of us LEGAL citizens to get out of this mess - STOP these RACIST commentaries and get that big CHIP of your shoulder!!
Respectfully,
Marianne M.
PS: Do forgive my misspelled words - after all I am just a LEGAL immigrant!
- by marianne M., 03-29-2009, 11:55 AM
| | 3. | As you know, without a draft, someone has to fight the Nation's wars and who better than those with limited options? The state of military resources provided our fighting men and women have hit an abysmal low and for what other reason than those who fight to keep us safe represent the most vulnerable in our society so who cares other than their relatives who have no meaningful connections to anyone in the power structure? As has ever been the case, education is the only viable way to a better life. But again, our schools are as abysmal as our military and the same representative groups in the military are poorly served by the nation's schools, which means they are fodder for military recruiters who come prowling with their false promises. So Ms. Smith continue your work on behalf of the Williams' families of the world and their vulnerable immigrant neighbors.
- by Beverlee Bruce, 03-29-2009, 6:26 AM
| | 4. | I have followed your articles with great interest about this subject. We did use the opt-out form but found out the child can "opt back in"by giving out their phone number to a recruiter. My daughter was dyslexia and could not qualify for the UC system of college right out of high school even though she was in college prep classes.Immediately the recruiters were on her tail. They had access to her school records and teacher notes. They would show up at the college fairs knowing that students like her would be walking around with their friends and being as they would not have a future at a college would consider having a future with the military. One of the recruiters started flirting with my daughter and asking for her phone number. She knew how I felt about the military calling our home and giving her phone number out to 'men' she did not know but felt pressured by her girlfriends that kept saying - oh give it to him, he likes you, he wants to ask you for a date. She gave out her number. When he called he reached me. I informed him that we had signed the opt-out form and he informed me that was null and void as soon as she 'gave' him her number. He then started giving out personal info from a file he had pertaining to her school performance and read to me a paper I had signed at the school saying that I was aware that the school had provided classes to prepare my daughter for the UC system but she wasn't able to pass algebra so she was not going to be considered for college. "Now what was my child going to do flip burgers? I didn't want that for my child now did I." he asked. I write this because I know the pressure is intense for these high school seniors to graduate in a blaze of glory. Some students just need to be able to go to the next step and pursue glory at a later point in their lives. But they can't if they come home in a flag draped coffin. No senior in high school should be given to believe that they have failed so severely that their only choice is to go to war and hope that if they live through it,the military will make good on their promises to educate and provide them with the honor they seek.
- by no name please, 00-00-0000, 12:00 AM
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