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been doing this for YEARS..
Bob Herbert, NY TimesWith the situation in Iraq deteriorating and the willingness of Americans to serve in the armed forces declining, a little-known Army publication called the "School Recruiting Program Handbook" is becoming increasingly important, and controversial.
The handbook is the recruiter's bible, the essential guide for those who have to go into the nation's high schools and round up warm bodies to fill the embarrassingly skimpy ranks of the Army's basic training units.
The handbook declares forthrightly, "The goal is school ownership that can only lead to a greater number of Army enlistments."
What I was not able to find in the handbook was anything remotely like the startlingly frank comments of a sergeant at Fort Benning, Ga., who was quoted in the May 30 issue of The Army Times. He was addressing troops in the seventh week of basic training, and the paper reported the scene as follows:
" 'Does anybody know what posthumous means?' Staff Sgt. Andre Allen asked the 150 infantrymen-in-training, members of F Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment.
"A few hands went up, but he answered his own question.
" 'It means after death. Some of you are going to get medals that way,' he said matter-of-factly, underscoring the possibility that some of them would be sent to combat and not return."
That's the honest message recruits get once they're in. The approach recommended by the recruiting handbook is somewhat different. It's much softer. Recruiters trying to sign up high school students are urged to schmooze, schmooze, schmooze.
"The football team usually starts practicing in August," the handbook says. "Contact the coach and volunteer to assist in leading calisthenics or calling cadence during team runs."
"Homecoming normally happens in October," the handbook says. "Coordinate with the homecoming committee to get involved with the parade."
Recruiters are urged to deliver doughnuts and coffee to the faculty once a month, and to eat lunch in the school cafeteria several times a month. And the book recommends that they assiduously cultivate the students that other students admire: "Some influential students such as the student president or the captain of the football team may not enlist; however, they can and will provide you with referrals who will enlist."
It's not known how aware parents are that recruiters are inside public high schools aggressively trying to lure their children into wartime service. But not all schools get the same attention. Those that get the royal recruitment treatment tend to be the ones with students whose families are less affluent than most.
Schools with kids from wealthier families (and a high percentage of collegebound students) are not viewed as good prospects by military recruiters. It's as if those schools had posted signs at the entrances saying, "Don't bother." The kids in those schools are not the kids who fight America's wars.
Now, with the death toll in Iraq continuing to mount, it's getting harder to sign up even the less affluent kids. So the recruitment effort in the target schools has intensified. Recruiters, already driven in some cases to the brink of nervous exhaustion, are following the handbook guidelines more rigorously than ever.
"If you wait until they're seniors, it's probably too late," the book says. It also says, "Don't forget the administrative staff. ... Have something to give them (pen, calendar, cup, donuts, etc.) and always remember secretary's week, with a card or flowers."
The sense of desperation is palpable: "Get involved with local Boy Scout troops. Scoutmasters are typically happy to get any assistance you can offer. Many scouts are [high school] students and potential enlistees or student influencers."
One of the many problems here is that adolescents should not be hounded by military recruiters under any cir stances, and they shouldn't be pursued at all without the full knowledge and consent of parents or guardians.
Let the Army be honest and upfront in its recruitment. War is not child's play, and warriors shouldn't be assembled through the use of seductive sales pitches to youngsters too immature to make an informed decision on matters that might well result in their having to kill others, or being killed themselves.
been doing this for YEARS..
OMG they have undercover agents imbeded inside highs schools all over the nation! They make the kids wear military style uniforms, march in drills, and practice handling rifles! I've heard the secret name for this organization is something like ROTC! I don't know that that stands for, but I bet it isn't good! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Since when is it OK for recruiters to solicite cub scouts? They aren't in ROTC. Ah yes, the chicken-hawks in the forum will do anything to support the war started by their glorious leader, except put their own asses on the line.
Cub Scouts are small. Many Boy Scouts are in high school and therefore fair game. Don't subs ute words.
What the are you talking about Dan? Are the recruiters going to take a boy scout and send him to Iraq? No, right? So what's the big deal? OMG! They told them about the military, they talked about serving when they get older! Oh the humanity! Recruiters must really scare you Dan.
PS- Recruiters don't just recruit from the ROTC, they recruit from any eligable group that can serve.
The Boy Scouts and the military have been working together for a LONG TIME... why does dan think everything is brand new...
In fact, an Eagle Scout can join the military as an E-2 instead of E-1.
One of my best friends was an Eagle scout. He seriously considered going into the millitary. He became an orthopedic surgeon instead.
Don't bag on people because they didn't serve. They may have had talents that were more in demand elsewhere. My buddy ended up spending a large amount of his residency in VA hospitals, treating veterans. Would he have done that as a rifleman?
You don't have to serve in the millitary to respect the soldiers & our president, and the effort being put forth by OUR COUNTRY.
^ i agree with bonfire on the you shouldnt scoff people who didnt serve. i see this more and more from people especially in wartime, its like you cant have an opinion on the war unless youre a vet?
BUT
what do the boyscouts and the military have in common anyway besides that they do things outdoors and wear a uniform?
i was never a boyscout, but i know they learn first aid, marksmanship and other that is taught in basic... plus, you probably aren't a schmuck if you're a boyscout and the military wants quality people...
I was waiting for a punchline involving horny clammy-hand Scoutmasters that live with their mothers and something to do with pup tents. Very disappointing, mookie.
The Boy Scouts are very similar to the military. Besides what Clan already stated, they are organized groups of people with different ranks. They both can work in groups to accomplish goals, and both learn very similar skills at the basic level. Much of what being a Boy Scout is about, revolves around serving the community. Very much like a national guard for kids. Many military leaders have been Boy Scouts and went on to become presidents. There are just many similarities.
Exactly how many Scout-Masters does it take to differentiate between who qualifies to be a cub scout and a boy scout?
:vomit
Eh, the real point is that we are way behind in recruiting numbers for 05...
more...Yahoo NewsThe Army has missed its recruiting targets since February and last month unexpectedly lowered its benchmark from 8,050 to 6,700 recruits and still only reached 75 percent of that downsized goal. The National Guard and Reserve have suffered a similar 25 percent shortfall. These recruiting declines are largely why the Army has only 35,000 of the 80,000 troops needed to rotate into Iraq and elsewhere next year.
The lagging numbers, a product of inflexible military policies and an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, have forced a full-blown recruiting crisis. Last month the Army added 1,200 recruiters, boosted its advertising budget, upped enlistment bonuses from $6,000 to $20,000 per recruit and even offered $50,000 in low-rate home mortgages. They've also slashed the enlistment period from two years to 15 months and raised the eligible age for National Guard and Reserves from 35 to 39. In an attempt to plug the hole, the Army is recruiting more high-school dropouts with lower test scores. Applicants who score in the 10th to 30th percentile range on the military's standardized ap ude test are now being accepted at higher rates. Making matters worse, junior Army leaders are quitting after their enlistment.
The effects have been alarming. For the first time in twenty years, the Army suspended recruiting on May 20 to hold a full day of ethics training for its recruiters. The ethical breaches include "the recruitment of a mentally ill young man in Ohio and a recruiter in Houston who threatened to arrest an applicant if he failed to join," the New York Times reported. The abuses, said top Army recruiter Michael Roc e, "were just flying under my radar." Reported recruiting improprieties are up 60 percent since 1999, with recruiters themselves suffering from stress-related illnesses, damaged marriages and suicidal thoughts.
If you were a recruiter, how low would you go to meet your monthly quota?
The real point is, that as per your usual inability to stand by your first posting, you change topics to something else. Good job.
one of the reasons they military was behind in the first place was because they raised recruitment goals.
Typical left-winger. CHANGE the line to upgrade the nature of the perceived problem.
IT WASN'T CUB SCOUTS, comrade, IT WAS BOY SCOUTS!
And...if you're unware, some Boy Scouts are old enough to join the military.
What?! We're recruiting Brownies?!?!
Who's backing off? I stand by my original contention that recruiters are going to desperate measures to meet recruiting goals because 'young conservatives' want other people to fight their wars.The real point is, that as per your usual inability to stand by your first posting, you change topics to something else. Good job.
Who cares? Recruiters aren't hitting Reagan or Churchill because they know they have a snowballs chance in of signing new recruits, but I bet they are hitting the out of Sam Houston and South San with this new Recruiting Program Handbook.Typical left-winger. CHANGE the line to upgrade the nature of the perceived problem.
IT WASN'T CUB SCOUTS, comrade, IT WAS BOY SCOUTS!
And...if you're unware, some Boy Scouts are old enough to join the military.
nbadan, you are ing dumb and make up out of nowhere.. all high schools are hit by recruiters. high schools give lists of graduation seniors to recruiters... this has been going on for decades... it is NOTHING NEW!
I've even heard that you have to register your name with some secret government en y known only as the "Selective Service" when you're 18. Damn evil conservatives!
He will NEVER cease to amaze me.....
Last I checked, there were many more "young conservatives" in the military than "young liberals." If that's not what you meant, better find another way to phrase it.
Hey if the recruiters can go into the High Schools and get the folks to sign up
then we won't need a draft-which this time might include some rich white folks and all those liberals hiding out in College for five/six years making D's
and getting deferments.
Sounds OK to me.
Again, tossing out an opinion, not grounded in fact, but elevated in Chicken Little style liberal rhetoric.
It's so sadly predictable.
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