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thedrifter
01-17-06, 07:02 AM
Posted on Tue, Jan. 17, 2006
Military recruiters must overcome family disapproval
BY JIM WARREN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Dawn Anestis was distressed and confused last summer when military recruiters suddenly started calling her son, Cameron.

She was not unfamiliar with military service - Cameron was a member of the ROTC program at Bryan Station High School - and she was not completely opposed to him joining up. But Cameron, 17, wanted to go ahead and join the Marine Corps immediately under an early enlistment program, even though he would not graduate from high school for another year. And with America fighting a war in Iraq that seemed to have no end in sight, Dawn Anestis thought it was no time for her son to don a uniform.

"Part of if was that he was 17, and I did feel like he was being preyed on by the recruiters," she said. "I mean he's 17 and he's being heavily recruited. I was just appalled that someone would try to sway my son at that age."

After some intense negotiating that continued through summer and into fall, the Anestis family reached a compromise. Cameron put his enlistment plans on hold, and instead applied to The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., a military school. He has been accepted, and will enroll next fall after graduating from high school.

Cameron still wants to become a Marine after completing college, but his mother said that by then the war in Iraq might be over.

Across the country, these are stressful times for parents who find their children of high school age being courted by military recruiters. Even in the best of times, some parents might find it unsettling to answer the phone and find a recruiter on the line.

But even parents who might have accepted attention from recruiters in times of peace are more likely to worry when recruiters call in time of war - particularly if their children already are interested in joining up. Parents are left wondering whether to encourage their children, or to oppose an enlistment decision that potentially could be a matter of life or death.

As a result, military recruiting itself has become more controversial.

Last summer, a coalition of groups launched a national campaign called "Leave My Child Alone!" It established a Web site that offers parents advice on how they can take advantage of a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind Act to keep schools from releasing their children's names, addresses and phone numbers to recruiters.

The act requires schools that receive federal funding to provide recruiters with student information. But it also allows parents to "opt out" by signing a statement directing the school not to release their children's names. Sponsors of Leave My Child Alone say they're not anti-military, but they simply don't think schools should provide information to recruiters without parental approval.

Schools vary in how they notify parents about the opt-out provision. Some send a form home that parents can sign and return.

Comparatively speaking, the number of young people who actually sign up to serve their country is surprisingly small.

About 995 of the roughly 40,000 students who graduated from public high schools in Kentucky last year said they planned to join the military, according to figures from the state Department of Education. In contrast, about 20,000 of the graduates said they planned to go to college.

And although Kentuckians tend to think of themselves as among the staunchest of patriots, the state's overall rate of 5.2 recruits per thousand 18-to-24 year-olds ranked only 31st nationwide. Montana, with 8.1 recruits per thousand, led the nation.

The National Guard failed to meet its nationwide recruiting goal this year, in contrast to the Kentucky National Guard, which has met or exceeded its recruiting targets for the past two years.

Sgt. Bobby Jones, 29, of Barbourville, was the Kentucky Guard's leading recruiter this year, and he was the seventh-highest rated National Guard recruiter for the entire country. Jones joined the National Guard in high school and says it changed his life - something he frequently cites when talking to potential recruits. However, he acknowledges that parental fears about the war are making it harder for recruiters.

"Some parents realize that someone has to serve, and if that is their child's choice, they want to support it," Jones said. "But others will say, 'Can you guarantee that my son is not going to war?' I tell them, 'No, I can't. ... ' When that happens I just say, thank you for your time."

Some parents say, however, that not all recruiters are so gracious.

Lexington's Susan Swinford said she and her husband, Rod, were worried when recruiters recently began calling her son, Keenan, a senior at Henry Clay High School.

"The recruiters make it all sound so good, especially if your child is interested in the military, which our son is," Swinford said. "There's a lot of pressure out there, but I just don't want him to go to Iraq and maybe be killed."

Swinford said Keenan is 18, old enough to enlist without parental permission, but he has agreed not to go against his parents' wishes. She said her son now is looking into military schools, the service academies, or possibly a criminal-justice career - all moves that she said she can support.

For some families, enlistment is an easy decision.

Lexington's Martin Duncan wasn't too worried when his daughter, Amanda, started talking about joining the military last year.

Martin Duncan had never served in uniform himself, though he sometimes wishes that he had, and he was pleased with the good experiences Amanda was getting as a member of the ROTC program at Bryan Station. So, with his support, Amanda, now 18, joined the Air Force and will go on active duty after graduating from high school next spring. She plans to attend college, with the Air Force paying her expenses, and then become an officer and jet pilot.

Martin Duncan said he would have been equally supportive if Amanda had wanted to join the Army or the Marines.

"It was a matter that this was what she really wanted to do," he said. "She was very serious about it, and it's pretty hard for a parent to tell your child that she can't do something that she really wants to do."

He said he's comfortable with his daughter's plans, and is confident she will receive both discipline and training in the Air Force.

"I know that she will have a roof over her head, that she will have to go to school, and that she will have expectations that she has to meet," he said.

But for parents like Dawn Anestis, figuring out how to deal with a child's interest in the military during a time of war continues to be a challenge. Anestis said she was worried mainly because she felt recruiters were pushing her son, Cameron, to rush into a decision.

"He was told that the best military jobs would be available if he enlisted now, if he enlisted early," she said. "I think that as an adult you can put things in perspective, but he is 17. We told him we wanted him to explore all his options."

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Gary Cable recalls that his mother was less than pleased when he joined the U.S. Army Reserve.

"She was like, `Oh, not my baby,'" Cable said.

That was 19 years ago. Now, Cable, 36, is a sergeant first class in the regular Army, and his mother has come around. "She tells everybody I'm in the Army and she's extremely proud of me," he says.

But Cable says experience helps him understand why some parents of children of high school age might get nervous when they meet people in his line of work. Cable commands the U.S. Army's recruiting station in Lexington, which is responsible for finding new soldiers for the Army and Army Reserve in Fayette, Bourbon, Clark and Jessamine counties.

To do that job, Cable and his recruiters reach out_primarily to high school juniors and seniors_by visiting schools, making telephone inquiries, attending job fairs and setting up booths at sporting events. Their goal, he says, is to reach all students in the area at least once, and preferably at least four times, during their senior year.

But with U.S. troops still fighting, and sometimes dying, in Iraq, many parents are fearful whenever recruiters call their youngsters, or when their children express an interest in joining the military. Parents who at other times might endorse a son's or daughter's intention to join up are more likely to hesitate if enlistment carries the possibility of a year's tour in Baghdad.

Cable says he understands that.

"Nobody," he says, "wants to go to Iraq to be killed."

But Cable and his boss, Army Capt. Michael Wood, 39, who is responsible for Army and Army reserve recruiting across most of Eastern Kentucky, say that parents' fears often fade away when they can talk with recruiters face to face - particularly if that recruiter has had personal experience in Iraq.

"A lot of times we find that assuages parents' concerns because we can tell them what it's really like," says Wood, who commanded a radar outfit in Iraq in 2003. "As I told one parent, for 15 months over there my biggest concern was that I took 72 people to Iraq, and I wanted to make sure I brought 72 back."

Cable adds that recruits who pick jobs that don't involve combat generally can count on staying out of harm's way, even if they do go to Iraq.

"If your son trains to be an accountant I that's what he's going to be doing," Cable said. "Can I guarantee his safety? No. But you can't guarantee his safety if he's driving down I-64 either. If you break down the benefits of the Army, against something that possibly could happen, I think the benefits tremendously outweigh the risks."

Concerns about the war are making it tougher for the Army to fill its national manpower needs. Nationwide, the Army fell about 7,000 short of its goal of recruiting roughly 80,000 new soldiers last fiscal year, and the National Guard also failed to meet its national recruiting goals.

According to a report by the Baltimore Sun, the Army met its recruiting goals for November by accepting more recruits who scored in the lowest category on military aptitude tests. The Army also has decided to accept some students who have dropped out of high school and don't have a General Educational Development certificate, if they can pass military aptitude tests. Those accepted would have to complete a GED before going on to basic training.

However, Wood and Cable say that recruiting in Lexington and Eastern Kentucky remains strong. Indeed, Cable said his recruiting company is having one of its most successful years ever so far this fiscal year.

National groups that analyze recruiting patterns say that most recruits tend to come from economically depressed areas where employment and educational opportunities are limited.

But Wood attributes his company's recent success to the many benefits the Army offers, plus a population of patriotic young people.

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Charlene Drew, a senior at Cawood High School in Harlan County, said she started getting phone calls from military recruiters early this year after taking a test generally known as the "Az-Vab."

The ASVAB - or Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery - is a standardized test, prepared by the military, that is given annually to many high school juniors and seniors across Kentucky and the rest of the country. By one estimate, near 1 million U.S. high school students took the test last year.

Scores on the ASVAB can help students assess their potential for various kinds of careers. But the test has also been controversial in some places because it gauges students' suitability for various military jobs, and recruiters often use test scores in selecting students to contact about signing up.

Drew said she began getting calls in March, after juniors at her school took the ASVAB. She said she wasn't interested in joining, but received several calls.

"A few months after they get the scores back is usually when they call," she said. "If you get a good score, you'll start getting calls from recruiters."

The ASVAB test also is called the SASVAB, or School Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. It's essentially the same test that recruits must pass to join the military, and it includes sections on subjects ranging from science and mathematics to electronics and mechanical comprehension.

The ASVAB has been in use since the 1960s. Critics, including the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, argue that students and parents sometimes aren't aware that the test is a recruiting tool, or that students can decline to take it.

"The fundamental problem is that it's a way of data mining for military recruiters," said Oskar Castro, an associate with the American Friends Service Committee's Youth and Militarism Program. "It's framed as a general career assessment tool, and sometimes the military aspect is downplayed."

Schools vary in how they make use of the test. Some Eastern Kentucky schools routinely offer it to all juniors and some seniors. In others, students must sign up in advance to take the test. The ASVAB is not widely offered in the Fayette County public schools, officials say, although some high schools may offer it to selected groups of students, such as those specifically interested in joining the military.

Educators say they sometimes use scores on the ASVAB test to help students plan the courses they should take to prepare for careers after high school. The military provides the tests at no cost to schools.

"You do feel that it gives your students some good, useful information about careers," said Vicky Ashurt, a counselor at Cawood High School. She said she took the test herself when she was in school.

Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondent Linda Niemi contributed to this report.

Ellie