What parent would send their 16 or 17 year old to go to the car dealership and negotiate a "deal" on
a new vehicle? Likely, no parent would do that. Why? Because adults realize that car salespeople have some techniques and tricks they use to sell cars. Here is an article from an Army Recruiting online magazine. They are touting that the recruiter is using his car sales "techniques" from his previous job, selling cars, and applying them in his current job as a military recruiter. Why do we let these salespeople have unfettered and unsupervised access to our children? October 14th, the Army was scheduled to be at the school during lunchtime.
I went. They were a no-show. October 28th, the Marines were scheduled to recruit during the lunch hour. I went. They showed up. The Marine recruiter posted on Facebook that he showed up. SSgt Page October 28 at 12:06pm · The Marines Have Landed — at Gaston School District. It was the same recruiter from last year who tried to accuse me of being libelous here on my website. He pretended that he did not see me. I mean, there we were in the same small classroom. Hard to not notice any other human beings in the same room. That was weird. Rude, I would say. So, I had to speak up and ask him how he was today. He was fine. Back to ignoring me. Your choice, dude. Today, November 4th, the Air Force was scheduled to recruit during the lunch hour. I went. They were a no-show. I don't mind taking my time to show up each time a recruiter is scheduled. Happy to do so. (I Just discovered this unpublished post from January of 2012 and decided to post it. It has been a journey!)
OK. I'm back from my visit to the school. Not a pleasant visit with the principal. He asked why I am there. I told him once again that I am there to make sure what the recruiters tell kids is truthful. He says that the recruiters only tell kids to stay in school and get good grades. I asked if he sat in the room with them to hear them say that and he said, no, that is what the recruiters tell HIM they say. I said well, then he is a more trusting person than me. He asked if I had heard them say otherwise and I responded that when I am in the room listening to them that my presence pretty much guarantees that they are going to NOT say anything misleading to the children. I honestly cannot tell if he believes what he says or if he is playing me. He received an email from someone who wanted to write a letter to the editor of the local paper and they wanted to know how many kids join the military from that school. I asked them that LAST year and they said they don't keep track. Apparently they do, as the principal showed me some figures that they emailed in response to that inquiry. The numbers that he showed me were very small. He said that these numbers reflect what they hear about kids who have left the school. I think the legal word for that is hearsay and that it is my exact idea of how a school would account for it's graduates. He said by law, that the recruiters can be at the school. I agreed that it was legal, but the school district could limit how OFTEN the recruiters are there. He did not understand. I told him the school district sets the policy as to how often a recruiter can be on campus, and he did not appear to comprehend that. So it appears that their non-policy about this is to have recruiters come to the school as often as the recruiter wishes. I said a job fair once a year that included military recruiters would satisfy the law and they would get their federal monies. He said that he would not want to restrict colleges to coming out once a year if there was a job fair. Colleges don't talk to the 7-10th graders. Geez. While in the room with Anthony the recruiter, a 10th grader came in to ask the recruiter if he had ever shot a gun. Anthony replied yes, but only at practice targets. Then the kid asked "What about that lady with the sign about 12 year olds that is out on the sidewalk in the morning?" heh Anthony pointed to me. heh I told the kid that the school had a policy last year that the 7th and 8th graders could not speak to the recruiters and that the policy had changed back. The kid said that was just wrong for a recruiter to talk to the little kids cause they don't know what they want and they are under their parent's control until they are 18. heh The kid asked Anthony if he was a recruiter and Anthony hedged that question by saying he was like a "guide." Hmmm. Makes me wonder what was up with that. The Navy recruiter was leaving the principal's office when I arrived and when I went to the classroom to sit with the recruiter - I could see that our relationship had changed since last time we met. I think that someone spoke to him about me. More later. Long article from the Air Force Times.
This main point is that the recruiters are pressured to get people under contract. They get paid extra pay for recruiting. They have "quotas" that are tough to meet. They are told how to lie and cheat from fellow armed services comrades. Go figure. Read the comments section after the article. That was interesting too. Keep in mind that most of the people being recruited are young and have not yet developed the adult brain power that allows for the relationship between action and consequences. Like signing an binding contract, and understanding what you may be required to do. You may be asked to lie and cheat to appease your higher-ups. It seems like a lousy situation for everyone and one person said they preferred military duty in Iraq to being assigned to be a recruiter. That is a lose-lose situation for sure. Just a reminder, that if you do NOT want the military ( or colleges) to have free access to your student's contact information, that NOW is the time to fill out a "Do Not Contact" form for any student you have in secondary school.
Secondary school is usually high school - but some, like the one my kid goes to, is a JR/SR school all in one building. You only have a month or so to fill out the form. There is an arbitrary date in October at most schools that you need to turn in the "OPT-OUT" form. Check with your school for their policy. If you do NOT fill out the form, then the school is required by law to hand over your private contact info to military recruiters if they ask for it. Here is a link to a page with a sample opt-out form, just in case your school has not provided one for you. Here is the OPT-OUT form. I will leave this article here for a few days and then move it over to the sidebar as a reference item. Click on the link below to read about young school shooters and their
interest in the military. This is a good website - NNOMY.ORG and it reminds me that I am not the only one. Peace is possible. The Marine recruiter came to "help" with the 3 PE classes for the high school. Remember, this is a small rural school with 30-40 kids per grade. This was his 3rd visit in 8 school days to this small rural school with only 30-40 kids per grade. The next school down the road has 400 per grade. Why is he not fishing in a bigger pond?
I went to the school with two friends of mine and here is what we saw: I did not take this video, someone with me did. It is not your typical PE class calisthetics. This "exercise" has on person on the ground, face up, and other public school students on each side and they are to drag the inert student in the middle. Yes. Just like in a war movie. Yes. Just like in boot camp. Except that this is in public school. They also had students carrying other students across their back and walking for 25 feet or so. Kinda like you would carry a wounded comrade in a move. Or in Afghanistan, or in this public school when the Marine recruiter is the teacher. The physical education class was led by the Marine Corps RECRUITER and his assistant was a graduate from this small rural school who had joined the Marine Corps. I do not think either of those two have a degree in physical education.  Here is the recruiter's first visit ever to the small rural school on May 13th. He is demonstrating the proper "ammo" can lift.I do not have a photo of the recruiter when he was back 3 days later to help with the school clean-up day. He said he would be there to help in the morning and then do the Marine Corps Fitness exercises for students in the afternoon. He got confused and only helped with the clean-up and did not follow through with the afternoon activities. So, the video above is from when he was back once again to this small rural school on May 22nd to run the PE classes. Bonus! Turns out that this recruiter has a lot of time on his hands to woo this small rural school district and the students as he showed up at the high school graduation to hand out awards on June7th. To recap: 1st visit ever by this recruiter to this school - May 13 2nd visit - May 16 3rd visit - May 22nd 4th visit - for graduation - June 7th  His job description is not Ambassador for the Marines. His job description is RECRUITER.  The recruiter's handbooks tell them to ingratiate themselves with the faculty and staff at schools. This guy is by the book.|
But, I am not buying it. Just to be clear. Today was a scheduled Marine Corps recruiting session at the small rural school where my kid goes . I got there 15 minutes early and darned if they had not arrived and checked in 1/2 hour before that. The head recruiter got briefed by the principal about me and given the "list" of what they can and cannot do. This list of administrative rules regarding recruiters only exists because I worked hard to make it so. There were no rules before me.  The head recruiter asked me how I was, and I replied, "Great," and asked in return how he was. He said he was tired because he was up late talking to people and telling them truthful things about joining the Marines. Yes, HE SAID that. They had an "ammo" ( I am not certain that an "ammo" box has any place in a public school...) box that was filled with sand and got young boys to sign a waiver to see how many times they could lift it over their head in two minutes. Why? So if the kid does a certain amount of lifts, - he - or she will get a "prize." I am not kidding! A prize. A Marine lanyard. A Marine keychain. A Marine poster. You, dear reader, and I, have paid for these prizes with our taxes. Kids fell for this big time. The waiver they sign incidentally gives their contact info. The head recruiter told them that if they check the "no-contact" box he will not call them. Right. I bet some other recruiter will. Get this: THIS FRIDAY is the school community clean up day. The same head honcho recruiter is going to VOLUNTEER to help. That is now 2 recruitment efforts in less than 2 weeks. But WAIT. There is MORE! Next week the same head recruiter will be back to teach all the high school PE classes via the "Marine Corps Youth Physical Fitness" program. That is a recruiting program spelled out clearly in the Marine Corps description of the program. So now that is 3 Marine recruitment efforts at this small rural school where there are only 40 kids per GRADE. ****************************************** Oh, yeah.... The head recruiter also stopped the band teacher in the hall to ask if he could come talk to the band about the Marines - cause the Marines have the oldest band and .....yadda yadda yadda. I looked at the online school calendar yesterday and there, on the 22nd of May is something called, "The Marine Corp Fitness Challenge" listed for ALL students in the 9-12th grades.
Huh? I see it as a back-door recruiting session that ALL the kids HAVE to go to. I composed the following letter and emailed it this morning to the Superintendent and the Principal and the (only) school Councilor: I would like to know more about what this Fitness Challenge is and what does the "challenge" part of it entail. Are there rewards for students who "pass" such a challenge? Are the parents of all the 9-12th grade children aware that the PE class on that day will not be solely conducted by an Oregon State licensed PE instructor? I would expect that, like a field trip, that there would be a signed parental form for all the students who want to participate, as this is not a regular part of the curriculum. Do you think the school district is more liable to have non-staff adults mingling with the students? I wonder if the Fitness Challenge Adults have been vetted by the Gaston School District to be in close contact with students. Are the Fitness instructors Marine recruiters or do they hold a different type of job in the Marines? Do they have specific physical education degrees that are directed towards children aged 12-18? I will take my son, Arlo out of school early that day as I do not believe he needs to participate in any type of military "challenge." I am looking forward to your reply. | AuthorI am a mom. ArchivesOctober 2014 CategoriesAll |
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