COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Students Mixed On Military Recruitment In Schools
Jon Camp, WMTW Local
April 26, 2007
PORTLAND, Maine -- The National Guard promises college tuition, a monthlysalary and the opportunity to serve one's country. And among those they
target are high school juniors and seniors.
Devin Johnson joined the National Guard as a junior at Deering High School,
saying patriotism called him to duty.
"It's a good thing, I think, to be able to serve," he told News 8.
Johnson, 18, was recruited by Staff Sgt. Rick Campbell, who said that more
and more, kids are interested in military service.
According to Campbell, the Guard pays up to $6,000 a year for state college
tuition. In addition, the GI Bill offers almost $300 a month to students,
while a "kicker" can tack on an additional $200 a month. With drill pay on
top of that, he said, a student can earn up to $700 a month and go to
college for free.
"The main reason I joined the National Guard was the 100 percent college
tuition. They have such a great program for reimbursing people in college
in this state," Johnson explained.
On top of all that, Johnson -- like most recruits -- receives a $20,000
signing bonus.
"It's not a bad deal," he said.
In exchange, recruits must sign on for an eight-year commitment, serving
one weekend a month and two weeks a year during the first year. There also
is the very real possibility of being called to duty.
In fact, for soldiers who have been with the Maine National Guard since the
beginning of the war in Iraq, nearly 100 percent have been deployed.
Johnson said, "I'm definitely accepting of the possibility that I will be
deployed, and I'm fully prepared for it."
Because enlisting is such a big decision, high school juniors who want to
sign up need their parents' consent.
According to Johnson, "It took my mother about 15 minutes to put her
signature down on that piece of paper."
At the beginning of each school year, parents in the Portland school system
receive a waiver. Unless they indicate otherwise, information about their
sons and daughters -- including addresses and telephone numbers -- are sent
to the National Guard.
Josh Waxman is the student body president at Portland High School. For the
past year, he has been working to reduce the number of times military
recruiters can visit the school.
He said, "I felt like I was seeing more military recruitment than college
recruitment. I think we should be promoting kids getting a secondary
education rather than going to the military."
But Campbell explained that the point is to give kids options.
"We have opportunities for certain people that may not have opportunities
themselves," he said.
Waxman said he feels those opportunities carry too high a cost.
"Kids see the military as an option to pay for college," he said. "Kids
should not have to join the military to go to college. It should be there."
In recent years, the National Guard boosted the number of recruiters at its
Portland recruiting station from three to seven while stepping up
recruiting efforts to hit a national target of 350,000 members. Last year,
they met that goal and are now pushing for even bigger numbers.
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articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
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material relevant to the work of