thedrifter
07-06-05, 07:28 AM
Parents fight to keep kids from military
Families mount grassroots challenge against stepped-up recruitment drive.
By Tony Manolatos / The Detroit News
Even as Deb Regal's son prepares to leave for Iraq with his Marine aviation unit, she's mailing fliers, lecturing, posting messages online and planning her next move.
The Pinckney middle school teacher says she'll do just about anything to keep kids from joining the military.
Regal, whose son enlisted in the Marine Corps three years ago without her knowledge, is among a growing number of indignant parents and anti-war groups trying to derail the Defense Department's aggressive pursuit of future soldiers.
Locally, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the National Lawyers Guild are hosting counter-recruitment workshops. Plans call for attendees to speak directly to high school students, in the same hallways military and college recruiters have for decades.
While only a fraction of Michigan schools have agreed to welcome the counter-recruiters, the parents-led protests are a growing concern for military recruiters already struggling to meet quotas. Locally and nationally, fewer teens are enlisting, and the Defense Department's own polls show sharp declines in the number of parents recommending the armed forces.
Only 2,195 Michiganians enlisted in the Army last year, down from 2,692 in 2003 and 3,163 in 2002.
Regal says she's focused on ensuring parents and students are aware that the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act requires public schools to disclose contact information for students to the armed services for recruiting purposes. A little-known provision allows parents to withhold their children's information.
"School districts and the military are not advertising it. So our efforts are designed to make sure people find out about it," said Regal, the southeast Michigan coordinator of Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of family members of military personnel calling for an end to military involvement in Iraq.
Justin Regal, 25, had always dreamed of being a pilot, and he figured the Marines would give him a chance to work on planes. It has, but his mechanical aviation unit is now needed in Iraq. He leaves in mid-July.
"I have an overwhelming anxiety about his safety, the exposure and the long-term effect of being part of a violent situation 24 hours a day for weeks on end," said Deb Regal, who grew up in Livonia and protested the Vietnam War in the 1970s as a University of Michigan student.
List of names draws fire
What most concerns parents like Regal is a national database the Defense Department is compiling to target teens for military service.
For nearly three years, the military has collected the names, address and phone numbers of high school juniors and seniors, and uses the data to contact teens by phone and through the mail.
Last month, the Defense Department joined forces with a private marketing firm, BeNow Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., whose job is to manage the database and use marketing techniques to narrow in on potential recruits. Privacy advocates across the country are outraged.
Under No Child Left Behind, President Bush's extensive education reform, schools are required to give the military this information or risk the cutoff of federal aid.
"It's the law," said Dave Dawson, New Haven High School's principal. "I look at this way, the military is part of this country and it's a viable option for some kids."
Parents may direct schools or the Defense Department to leave their children's name off the list. Deadlines vary by school and usually fall between late September and the middle of October.
That's why later this month and again in August, parents, clergymen and others plan to gather in a Detroit office to hear veterans and other activists talk about how to challenge recruiting strategies. The plan is to put these volunteers -- two dozen attended an orientation meeting last month -- into as many schools as possible.
The Detroit/Michigan branch of the National Lawyers Guild is spearheading the effort.
"We want to reach students before the deadline of the opt-out letters," said Eleanore Eveleth, staff organizer for the guild, which has been invited into schools in Detroit, Birmingham, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Ferndale and Berkley.
Detroit lawyer Tom Stephens is a guild board member and father of three children, ages 11, 12 and 19.
"The existence of a database to monitor, to contact and to recruit teenagers for this kind of war, and the misguided leadership driving this war, is outrageous," Stephens said. "They're not going to get my kid involved in this mess, or the kid down the block for that matter."
For some parents, military service for their kids simply isn't an option. "Oh, no. He's not going," Diane Oleksyn, 40, said of her 17-year-old son, Brandon Benson. "He's my hockey player. He's going to be a Red Wing."
Oleksyn of Lenox Township nearly lost her 20-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Blake Benson, who was shot in Fallujah in November. He enlisted partly because his granddad was a Marine. He's tried to recruit his brother, who will be a senior at Anchor Bay High School.
"There's one really big reason I don't want to go -- because you go in and you get close to all these people," Brandon Benson said. "They're all like brothers to you. You go to Iraq, like my brother did, and he lost a bunch of friends. I wouldn't want to deal with that."
Recruiters have tough job
For recruiters, the challenges grew early this year as the war in Iraq dragged into its third year.
In February, the Army failed to meet recruiting goals for the first time since May 2000. The trend continued in March, April and May, even after the Army lowered its monthly goal of 8,050 recruits in mid-May to 6,700. With just 5,039 recruits, the Army fell short of its adjusted monthly goal by 25 percent.
The struggles mirror those in the Marine Corp. Marine recruiting in southeast Michigan fell short between January and March for the first time in five years. In southeast Michigan, 763 enlistees joined in 2003, compared with 701 last year. With just three months to go until the end of the fiscal year, about 450 young men have joined.
"It's tough. I've never seen it like this," said Master Sgt. Mike Gianetti, spokesman for the Marine Corps Detroit recruiting offices. "Recruiters are working harder."
They also have more tools at their disposal. This year, the Great Lakes Army Recruiting Battalion added 21 recruiters to the payroll, said George Noirot, chief of advertising and public affairs for the Lansing-based battalion. Meanwhile, sign-up bonuses for college jumped from $50,000 to $70,000 for some Army recruits who serve for at least four years.
The education benefits, as intended, continue to sway some families -- especially with Michigan's unemployment rate stalled above 7 percent, highest in the nation. The Army launched four commercials in June targeting parents of young adults and touting such benefits.
Julie Jackson's 17-year-old son, Juel Jackson, considered college, but financially it would have been difficult if not impossible, she said. After countless meetings with Marine recruiters, her husband, Anthony Jackson, and her son, she gave the OK for her son to join. Juel leaves for basic training next month.
"He was telling me that here in Detroit there's not too many opportunities for him as a young black man, and he wants to see the world and he wants to go to college," said Jackson, a Detroit nurse assistant.
"Of course, I'm concerned. No parent wants their son over in Iraq. That was the question I kept asking. What is the chance my kid will go over in Iraq? What sold me is the different things they have to offer, like schooling, and the places he'll get to see."
You can reach Tony Manolatos at (313) 222-2069 or tmanolatos@detnews.com.
Ellie
Families mount grassroots challenge against stepped-up recruitment drive.
By Tony Manolatos / The Detroit News
Even as Deb Regal's son prepares to leave for Iraq with his Marine aviation unit, she's mailing fliers, lecturing, posting messages online and planning her next move.
The Pinckney middle school teacher says she'll do just about anything to keep kids from joining the military.
Regal, whose son enlisted in the Marine Corps three years ago without her knowledge, is among a growing number of indignant parents and anti-war groups trying to derail the Defense Department's aggressive pursuit of future soldiers.
Locally, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the National Lawyers Guild are hosting counter-recruitment workshops. Plans call for attendees to speak directly to high school students, in the same hallways military and college recruiters have for decades.
While only a fraction of Michigan schools have agreed to welcome the counter-recruiters, the parents-led protests are a growing concern for military recruiters already struggling to meet quotas. Locally and nationally, fewer teens are enlisting, and the Defense Department's own polls show sharp declines in the number of parents recommending the armed forces.
Only 2,195 Michiganians enlisted in the Army last year, down from 2,692 in 2003 and 3,163 in 2002.
Regal says she's focused on ensuring parents and students are aware that the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act requires public schools to disclose contact information for students to the armed services for recruiting purposes. A little-known provision allows parents to withhold their children's information.
"School districts and the military are not advertising it. So our efforts are designed to make sure people find out about it," said Regal, the southeast Michigan coordinator of Military Families Speak Out, a national organization of family members of military personnel calling for an end to military involvement in Iraq.
Justin Regal, 25, had always dreamed of being a pilot, and he figured the Marines would give him a chance to work on planes. It has, but his mechanical aviation unit is now needed in Iraq. He leaves in mid-July.
"I have an overwhelming anxiety about his safety, the exposure and the long-term effect of being part of a violent situation 24 hours a day for weeks on end," said Deb Regal, who grew up in Livonia and protested the Vietnam War in the 1970s as a University of Michigan student.
List of names draws fire
What most concerns parents like Regal is a national database the Defense Department is compiling to target teens for military service.
For nearly three years, the military has collected the names, address and phone numbers of high school juniors and seniors, and uses the data to contact teens by phone and through the mail.
Last month, the Defense Department joined forces with a private marketing firm, BeNow Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., whose job is to manage the database and use marketing techniques to narrow in on potential recruits. Privacy advocates across the country are outraged.
Under No Child Left Behind, President Bush's extensive education reform, schools are required to give the military this information or risk the cutoff of federal aid.
"It's the law," said Dave Dawson, New Haven High School's principal. "I look at this way, the military is part of this country and it's a viable option for some kids."
Parents may direct schools or the Defense Department to leave their children's name off the list. Deadlines vary by school and usually fall between late September and the middle of October.
That's why later this month and again in August, parents, clergymen and others plan to gather in a Detroit office to hear veterans and other activists talk about how to challenge recruiting strategies. The plan is to put these volunteers -- two dozen attended an orientation meeting last month -- into as many schools as possible.
The Detroit/Michigan branch of the National Lawyers Guild is spearheading the effort.
"We want to reach students before the deadline of the opt-out letters," said Eleanore Eveleth, staff organizer for the guild, which has been invited into schools in Detroit, Birmingham, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Ferndale and Berkley.
Detroit lawyer Tom Stephens is a guild board member and father of three children, ages 11, 12 and 19.
"The existence of a database to monitor, to contact and to recruit teenagers for this kind of war, and the misguided leadership driving this war, is outrageous," Stephens said. "They're not going to get my kid involved in this mess, or the kid down the block for that matter."
For some parents, military service for their kids simply isn't an option. "Oh, no. He's not going," Diane Oleksyn, 40, said of her 17-year-old son, Brandon Benson. "He's my hockey player. He's going to be a Red Wing."
Oleksyn of Lenox Township nearly lost her 20-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Blake Benson, who was shot in Fallujah in November. He enlisted partly because his granddad was a Marine. He's tried to recruit his brother, who will be a senior at Anchor Bay High School.
"There's one really big reason I don't want to go -- because you go in and you get close to all these people," Brandon Benson said. "They're all like brothers to you. You go to Iraq, like my brother did, and he lost a bunch of friends. I wouldn't want to deal with that."
Recruiters have tough job
For recruiters, the challenges grew early this year as the war in Iraq dragged into its third year.
In February, the Army failed to meet recruiting goals for the first time since May 2000. The trend continued in March, April and May, even after the Army lowered its monthly goal of 8,050 recruits in mid-May to 6,700. With just 5,039 recruits, the Army fell short of its adjusted monthly goal by 25 percent.
The struggles mirror those in the Marine Corp. Marine recruiting in southeast Michigan fell short between January and March for the first time in five years. In southeast Michigan, 763 enlistees joined in 2003, compared with 701 last year. With just three months to go until the end of the fiscal year, about 450 young men have joined.
"It's tough. I've never seen it like this," said Master Sgt. Mike Gianetti, spokesman for the Marine Corps Detroit recruiting offices. "Recruiters are working harder."
They also have more tools at their disposal. This year, the Great Lakes Army Recruiting Battalion added 21 recruiters to the payroll, said George Noirot, chief of advertising and public affairs for the Lansing-based battalion. Meanwhile, sign-up bonuses for college jumped from $50,000 to $70,000 for some Army recruits who serve for at least four years.
The education benefits, as intended, continue to sway some families -- especially with Michigan's unemployment rate stalled above 7 percent, highest in the nation. The Army launched four commercials in June targeting parents of young adults and touting such benefits.
Julie Jackson's 17-year-old son, Juel Jackson, considered college, but financially it would have been difficult if not impossible, she said. After countless meetings with Marine recruiters, her husband, Anthony Jackson, and her son, she gave the OK for her son to join. Juel leaves for basic training next month.
"He was telling me that here in Detroit there's not too many opportunities for him as a young black man, and he wants to see the world and he wants to go to college," said Jackson, a Detroit nurse assistant.
"Of course, I'm concerned. No parent wants their son over in Iraq. That was the question I kept asking. What is the chance my kid will go over in Iraq? What sold me is the different things they have to offer, like schooling, and the places he'll get to see."
You can reach Tony Manolatos at (313) 222-2069 or tmanolatos@detnews.com.
Ellie