COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Youth of Color
How The Army Gets What It Wants
Stone Lombardi, New York Times
November 6, 2005
Yonkers--CAPT. CHE AROSEMENA oversees Army recruiting for 92 public high schools in Westchester and the Bronx. The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act guarantees him and his staff entry to public schools, which would risk losing their federal financing if they barred recruiters. But accomplishing his mission has serious challenges nonetheless."It's tough," Captain Arosemena said, adding: "If the school really doesn't want us to have access, they will have unique ways for us not to talk to students. If it doesn't fit into their schedule, suddenly half the year has gone by and you haven't had an assembly."
Yet the captain knows that if he must cede recruiting ground in Westchester's resistant districts - like Scarsdale and Armonk, with their affluent college-oriented students - he can make up for it elsewhere.
"We have the most success in schools that have low college placement and low graduation rates," he said. "That's just a fact." He pointed out that students from schools in this category - typically, in places like Yonkers and Mount Vernon - rarely go on to take advantage of the Army's college funds anyway.
"College wasn't in their plans," he said. "They just want a good-paying job with upward mobility, and that's what the Army offers them."
No Child Left Behind also requires schools to turn over students' home phone numbers and addresses to the military unless a parent has notified the district not to in writing. And here, too, socioeconomics seems to play a role in determining which parents respond.
John Klemme, principal of Scarsdale High, says that each year 80 to 90 percent of its parents exercise their right to "opt out" - in other words, they demand to have personal information about their children kept from the military. In contrast, at Mount Vernon High, only 2 percent of parents wrote such letters last year, said Dr. Arnold Jaeger, the assistant superintendent of the Mount Vernon school district.
Sgt. William H. Smith Jr. recruits for the Marines at 11 schools, in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Tuckahoe, Hastings-on-Hudson and Eastchester. His turf includes Lincoln High in Yonkers, which he graduated from in 2000 and which, he said, is considered "full range" in terms of access to students.
BUT he knows firsthand how differently schools and parents in different parts of Westchester can react. He began recruiting in the northern part of the county, which he recalls as a frustrating experience.
At one high school college fair, for instance, the colleges were grouped together in the auditorium, while the military recruiters were off in a distant classroom, isolated from the activity. Only once was their location announced over the school's loudspeakers.
"I was in Chappaqua where 98 percent of the students go to college," Sergeant Smith said, "and the schools weren't receptive. It's the same families who have the 'Support Our Troops' stickers on their cars. They say, 'Thank you for your sacrifice, but not my son.' "
As a recruiter at a recent college fair at Lincoln, though, the sergeant was in his element. Roughly 10 colleges were represented that day, including Westchester Community College, Pace University and SUNY at New Paltz. There were also two branches of the military in addition to the Marines: the Army and the Air Force National Guard. The recruiters "have sort of become part of the family," said Edwin Quezada, Lincoln's principal.
The school makes that attitude apparent in many ways. Uniformed members of the school's R.O.T.C. program line the front entrance to welcome visitors at special events. Recruiters are welcomed in all parts of the school; they follow students in summer school, and even come to dances and concerts.
At the fair, Luis Figueroa, a senior, drifted over to the sergeant's spot at the Marine Corps recruiting table, where a video was playing and brochures on display asked, "Are You Ready to Stand Proud?"
Mr. Figueroa said it was easy to talk to recruiters like Sergeant Smith, because "they're just like us."
"I like how they are disciplined, how everything is tight, and the sense that you are part of a team," said Mr. Figueroa, 18.
How would his parents feel about his joining the military?
"My parents just love me and want to see me safe," he said. "But I think the Marines will keep me safe."
The sergeant, for his part, said that he was honest with students about how difficult it is to be in the Marines, but that he did explain to them that they could use the corps as a steppingstone to college or other pursuits. He said he never hounded students - only educated them.
He acknowledged that he was aiming to fulfill a recruiting quota, but denied feeling pressure. "It's the Marine mentality of accomplishing a mission," he said.
As students came by his table, he greeted many by name.
"How's your brother?" he asked one.
"How did you do on that math test?" he asked another.
"Say hi to your parents," he called to a third.
Sergeant Smith took part in R.O.T.C. as a student at Lincoln and enlisted in a delayed-entry program as a senior. By the summer after graduation, he was in boot camp. He was simply following a trend in Yonkers, where right after graduation in 2003, 14 students districtwide joined the military, and a year later 16 did.
Similarly, at Mount Vernon High School, "we actively invite and welcome the military recruiters," said Dr. Jaeger. Mount Vernon has an R.O.T.C. program in which 71 students are taking part this year. He said that students see recruiters on a "regular and routine basis" and that they are frequently at the college center or in the senior cafeteria.
CHRISTIAN GRULLON, 17, has been in Lincoln's R.O.T.C. program for two years now, first attracted by "something about the spinning rifles and the discipline," he said. He has already filled out an application to join the Marines, though he failed the practice screening test by 6 points. He said Sergeant Smith had been helping him study.
Mr. Grullon, a soft-spoken young man, acknowledged some concerns about the war but said recruiters had calmed his fears.
"I've asked, since I'm going to join, will they make me go to Iraq right away," he said. "But they told me it takes lots of practice, and as long as I get proper training, it will be O.K."
Experiences like Mr. Grullon's have contributed to a growing "counter-recruitment" movement in Westchester, aiming to establish its own presence in area high schools.
"What on earth are we doing letting someone take an 18-year-old kid getting six months of training and sending him to Iraq where he can't tell who's trying to kill him?" said Ben Chitty of Yonkers, who has debated recruiters in high schools.
Mr. Chitty, a Vietnam veteran, is part of the Counter-Recruitment Committee of Westchester, a coalition formed last year by the Martin Luther King Institute for Non-Violence and NoWar Westchester, both based in White Plains.
The group has begun lobbying school administrators, publicizing the opt-out right to parents and providing speakers for assemblies and classes, particularly when recruiters are in the schools. It also provides packets of materials to be displayed next to military recruiting brochures, which make the argument that recruiters mislead students about job training, college money and military life.
"There are a lot of things that recruiters dangle in front of kids, and with the No Child Left Behind Act, they have access to children all the time," said Jill Sternberg, a board member of the Martin Luther King Institute.
Clergy members have also become involved in counteracting the recruiters' message. The Rev. George Kuhn, a priest at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Yonkers, held a meeting this fall after Mass, to educate congregants on opting out, and to play an anti-recruiting video called "Leave My Child Alone." He said most of his parish came from Latin America, and many, like the Salvadorans, knew about war firsthand and want to spare their children the experience.
The Rev. Odinga Maddox, pastor at Mount Hope African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in White Plains, said he, too, had begun to discuss recruiting in his ministerial council.
"I think blacks and Hispanics and poor people are disproportionately recruited," Mr. Maddox said. "You don't find the same presence in the suburban schools and other schools as you find in inner cities. Parents should be more informed about some of the recruiters and what they are offering."
Deborah Allen, of Pound Ridge, said she had no idea the military was recruiting at her son's high school, Fox Lane, in Bedford, until she received a letter from her minister, the Rev. Melanie Miller, explaining how to opt out.
"A lot of parents don't have a clue this is happening," Mrs. Alexander said.
AS a recruitment aid, the Army supplies Captain Arosemena with equipment like rock-climbing walls and "Adventure Vans," which offer students the chance to simulate some Army jobs. There are also Humvees specially equipped with plasma television screens and blasting rock music. The captain said one was known as the African-American Humvee and another as Yo Soy El Army Humvee (I Am the Army Humvee), and explained that they were meant to appeal to particular demographic groups.
But that does not mean the military is singling out minorities, he said. "It just so happens to be that 70 percent of my population base is Hispanic and black," he said, "and if you look at who joins, it's about the same ratio, so I don't see how you could make the argument that I'm specifically targeting."
Yet one of the specially outfitted Humvees went to New Rochelle High School last year, and while it drew a lot of attention from students, some parents complained. Linda Kelly, superintendent of New Rochelle schools, asked the Army not to send it back.
"We want them to adhere to the same policies we have in place for any postsecondary opportunities," she said.
Similar views prevail at Scarsdale and Byram Hills High Schools, both of whose principals said that recruiters were allowed into the school within the same constraints as college representatives were. Their presence is advertised in advance, the officials added, but few students choose to meet with them.
The reason for that is clear, Captain Arosemena said: "The graduation rate is extremely high and those kids are going to college and money is not an issue."
The captain expressed frustration with the opposition but said he could not gauge its impact - even though it has become difficult to attain his recruitment quota every month.
The Army announced in October that it had fallen short of its 2005 recruiting goals. That represented its first full-year deficit since 1999, and its biggest shortfall in 26 years.
"A lot of people in Westchester sit here with stickers on their car that say 'Support Our Troops,' " Captain Arosemena said. "But when you ask them if they have any relatives in the Army, they say, 'Oh no, I would never let a family member serve.' "
who was 6 when she traveled through the Southern California desert with her mother to enter America illegally. "Nobody can kick me out of here.
My rights will be defended."
In exchange, Quintero-Espinoza and her comrades assumed
responsibilities and risks, including being sent to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. Phone,
24, the airman first class who came from Burma in 2002, didn't hesitate to
volunteer to serve a nation willing to help him get ahead in life.
"I would be grateful to meet somebody who offers you what you want" in
return for accepting an obligation, said Phone, who became a citizen
about
two years after enlisting. "That's fair -- totally fair -- I think."
A history of service
That deal, with the promise of naturalization, has appealed to millions
of
immigrants and the military throughout American history. The Army, in
particular, has sought out and relied on immigrant recruits, especially
during wars.
In the 1840s, almost half of all recruits were not U.S. citizens, said
Conrad Crane, director of the Army Military History Institute at the
Army
War College in Carlisle, Penn. "They're just right off the boat,
basically."
During the Civil War, the government promised citizenship to
immigrants,
and recruiters sailed overseas to make the pitch. Noncitizens
constituted
as much as 20 percent of the 1.5 million-man Union Army.
"Some of them were attracted, of course, by glory; some of them by a
chance
for adventure," Crane said. "For a lot of them, citizenship is the
promise."
So many immigrants populated the ranks during World War I that the Army
was
dubbed the "American foreign legion" in Europe. After the war, an Army
unit
of 14 nationalities toured the United States to recruit immigrants,
touting
the promise of naturalization.
Many immigrants fought in World War II, but patriotism more than
citizenship drove enlistment, Crane said. Conscription also helped fill
the
ranks and continued to do so until the all-volunteer military returned
in
the 1970s.
Military resource
Given that history, Bush's executive order fast-tracking citizenship
was no
surprise, Crane said. With the Iraq war in its fourth year and military
recruiters struggling, speedy naturalization can attract volunteers and
is
a fitting reward.
"When times get tough to fill the Army and immigrants are available,
they're a resource," Crane said.
Despite raising enlistment bonuses and offering other new incentives,
the
Army has had a tough time attracting people. It missed its target last
year
by 6,600 recruits. April was its worst month effort since last summer.
The military typically accepts only U.S. citizens or legal residents.
Illegal immigrants have slipped in, in some cases with fake citizenship
or
immigration documents, said Stock, the U.S. military academy professor.
As a result of Bush's order, illegal immigrants serving honorably on
active
duty and meeting other requirements are eligible to apply for
citizenship,
Stock said. Also, a new law gives the military the authority to enlist
at
any time anyone, even an illegal immigrant, whose enlistment is deemed
"vital to the national interest."
"They could form a foreign legion right now," Stock said. "I get calls
all
the time from illegal immigrants who want to join the military."
For the most part, recruiters have not targeted noncitizens, said
Douglas
Smith, spokesman for the Army's recruiting command. Recruiting that
targets
populations of noncitizens likely accounts for at least some of the
noncitizen recruits, he said.
California's Army National Guard recruiters do not systematically seek
noncitizens, Guard officials said. They do point out that soldiers can
get
on the naturalization fast track, said spokeswoman Lt. Toni Gray.
"For us, noncitizens contribute valuable language and cultural
expertise,"
Gray said. "The value of their skills, however, is often surpassed by
their
sincere appreciation and commitment to our nation."
Noncitizens have been military standouts, according to a May 2005 study
by
the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research organization
serving the military. For instance, they are about half as likely as
their
U.S.-born comrades to wash out before completing their enlistment.
The military's need for foreign-language speakers recently spurred the
Army
to relax enlistment requirements, including maximum age and English
proficiency, to attract people with such native skills, reported the
Center
for Naval Analyses.
Opposition
Not everyone is pleased at the prospect of increasing the number of
noncitizens in the military.
Among the critics is Krikorian, head of the group that wants stricter
immigration controls. What concerns him is the potential for the
combination of military needs and political pressure from immigration
advocates to widen the ranks and expand benefits for noncitizens.
"This is one of those feel-good issues, at least for politicians," he
said.
"There's no reason that it wouldn't be tacked on to an immigration
bill, if
one were to come up."
Krikorian hasn't much of an argument, says Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El
Monte,
who favors expanded benefits for noncitizen soldiers. The California
congresswoman said immigrants have proved their value to the military
and
have earned their benefits.
"I think he's barking up the wrong tree," Solis said.
Spc. Cristianne Silva, 29, said enlisting in the California Army
National
Guard helped her complete a journey that began eight years ago, when
she
left her native Brazil and illegally entered America in search of a
better
life.
After cleaning houses and doing other jobs, Silva hired an immigration
lawyer and became a legal resident. She learned that her military
service
could help her become a citizen after she joined the Army in 2003 and
was
sent to Iraq.
"I'm still, actually, kind of shocked that I have accomplished this,"
said
Silva, who was naturalized in April in Sacramento.
"After so long of dreaming, now, finally, I can say: Yes, I am a
citizen."
Times staff writer Steven Harmon contributed to this story. Reach Dogen
Hannah at 925-945-4794 or dhannah@cctimes.com.
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