COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Recruiting in Rural Areas
Military recruiters seek high school sign-ups
Trang Do, Medill Reports
July 20, 2007
WASHINGTON It' s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. And that
somebody is Sgt. 1st Class Jason Crider.
Crider is station commander of the Army Recruiting Station in Durham,
a post he has held for the last five years.
"In my personal opinion, the recruiting hasn't changed that much
since I started," Crider said. "It has always been a difficult job,
but it's nothing that cannot be handled."
Crider is one of approximately 230 recruiters for the Raleigh
Battalion, which covers nearly all of North Carolina east of the Blue
Ridge Mountains. Recruiters like Crider field phone inquiries, go
into their communities and visit schools. And they rely on lists of
students provided to them by school districts.
Riverside High School Principal James Key said that recruiters come
to his school several times a year and often set up in the cafeteria
to answer students' questions.
"I think the philosophy is the military recruiters that come to our
school are always respectful of our students, teachers and school and
at the same time we always, of course, tell our students to show that
same respect to the recruiters," Key said.
But at the American Federation of Teachers conference in Washington,
D.C. last week, some attendees were sharply critical of the practice
of giving the military information about students -- potential recruits.
A clause in 2001's No Child Left Behind Act requires public schools
to give lists of students' names, addresses and telephone numbers to
military recruiters who request them.
Lisa Kane, secretary of the Durham Council of PTAs, said she found
out about the practice a few years ago when her son, now graduated,
was contacted.
"When he told me, it made me stand straight up," Kane said. "It's a
matter of being informed. There's nothing going on that shouldn't be
going on, but the process should always be transparent. "
The school district and the individual schools must notify parents
that they can "opt-out" of the list. Durham Public Schools' Web site
has a form for parents to return to their child's school.
At Riverside High, a flyer is sent home with the school newsletter, Currents.
Still, Kane, whose daughter is a rising-junior at Jordan High School,
said she's concerned that some parents may "miss the memos."
"Backpacks are notorious for losing things and certainly teenagers
are not that conversational, " she said. "You miss that opportunity
and then it becomes something you're not aware of. Because of that I
would prefer for parents to have to opt-in instead of opt-out."
With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other factors, the Army is
facing growing difficulty increasing its ranks.
The most recent Department of Defense statistics show that the Army
missed its June national recruiting target for active-duty service by
1,369 recruits, or 16 percent short of its 8,400 goal.
But Major John Gagan, company commander for the Raleigh Recruiting
Company, said that locally, the area's recruiters are doing well.
"We're on pace to achieve our yearly session goal," Gagan said. "Some
sessions are more fruitful than others, but we're on track."
A report released Thursday by the Congressional Budget Office, a
non-partisan research arm of Congress,, found that "the South
supplied more recruits than its share of the youth population" in
each of four years surveyed -- 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2005.
The CBO study also showed that 47 percent of the military's
active-duty enlisted force is between the ages of 17 and 24.
Recruiters, administrators and parents agree that the decision to
enlist is a personal choice for a young person and should be
discussed with a parent or guardian.
"When I'm in a station, I hear recruiters making their phone calls
and I see what's on TV," Gagan said. "I'm not a parent but I can see
where the frustration may come in, but there's so much more to the
Army than that. I don't want the prevailing thought to be that we're
going to take your son or daughter and send them into a war zone."
Crider added, "In an all-volunteer force, our guys go to great
lengths to educate potential recruits and their families."
Although Kane's son decided not to enlist, she said that one of his
good friends did sign up.
"It's such an honorable way of life and also a great opportunity for
the future, for your education," Kane said. "It's an excellent
opportunity for many of our students."
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