COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Military recruiting calls concern some families
JASON KOTOWSKI, Bakersfield Californian
October 27, 2007
Some local families think the military knows a bit too much.
Jennifer Journey said her daughter, a Bakersfield High School
student, was very uneasy after a recruiter recently called and
offered to come over to the house to give her more information about
a career in the military.
She and her daughter both thought the call might be a scam.
"I don't believe they should have our home phone numbers," Jennifer
Journey said Friday. "We live in times where you don't know if it's a
real phone call or a fraud."
U.S. Army Capt. Brent Ivester said a list of high school juniors and
seniors who are eligible for the military must be provided by any
public school that receives federal funding. The mandate, which
includes allowing recruiters on campus, is U.S. law, Ivester said.
Ivester said the list of numbers is uploaded into their computer
system and recruiters start calling. Students who ask for more
information can either go to the recruiting office or a recruiter can
meet them at their residence.
It's up to students to decide if they even want to hear about the
options the military provides, Ivester said.
"We don't pressure our applicants," he said.
Kern High School District spokesman John Teves said the information
is given to the military at the beginning of each school year and a
notice of the release of that information is sent to students' homes.
Private schools that have a verifiable religious objection to
military service are exempt from the law.
Additionally, parents can contact schools and request their
information be taken off third-party lists, which include the military.
Once a call is made, recruiters talk about training and benefits and
can sign students up before graduation. All male U.S. citizens are
required to register with Selective Service if they are at least 18
years old but are not yet 26 years old.
Parent Iris Rucker said she wouldn't have a problem with military
recruiters calling her home when her daughter, who is a BHS freshman,
is older. She wouldn't want the recruiter coming to her house, though.
BHS senior Michael McCarthy said he received a call from a recruiter
and declined to hear more. He didn't, however, have a problem with
getting the call at home.
"Their intentions are good," McCarthy said.
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