Stalking for recruits

The Department of Defense is trolling for high school students to get them to join in the orgy of needless killing and dying for nothing the Armed Forces.

The Department of Defense began working [June 22] with a private marketing firm in Massachusetts to create a database of all US college students as well as high school students between ages 16 and 18, to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches.

The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The database will include an array of personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade point averages, ethnicity, and what subjects the students are studying.

This isn't really news, since the No Child Left Behind Act ensures no kid is left behind in the war.

Sharon Shea-Keneally, principal of Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vermont, was shocked when she received a letter in May from military recruiters demanding a list of all her students, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The school invites recruiters to participate in career days and job fairs, but like most school districts, it keeps student information strictly confidential. "We don't give out a list of names of our kids to anybody," says Shea-Keneally, "not to colleges, churches, employers -- nobody."

But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this year. There, buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.

The new plan goes much farther than getting people's names and contact information, which is bad enough. It gets every bit of information out there on these kids.

Under the new system, additional data will be collected from commercial data brokers, state drivers' license records, and other sources, including information already held by the military.

''Using multiple sources allows the compilation of a more complete list of eligible candidates to join the military," according to statements provided by Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Ellen Krenke in response to questions. ''This program is important because it helps bolster the effectiveness of all the services' recruiting and retention efforts."

The Pentagon's statements added that anyone can ''opt out" of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate ''suppression file." That file will be matched with the full database regularly to ensure that those who do not wish to be contacted are not, according to the Pentagon.

You know, fellas, I've got some names for you if you're in need of some recruits.

Comments

[Sheelzebub]

I'd rather the chickenhawks who were so hot to start this war went over to fight it themselves, and offered their own kids up for volunteer service.

High school kids have plenty of opportunities to excersize their "choice" in joining the armed forces--they can go to recruiting stations. They aren't being turned away.

This is a privacy issue. The government--the big, bad government conservatives hate so much--is getting personal information on kids. Maybe you're okay with that, but a lot of people aren't.

[Lone Ranger]

Would you rather the military resume the draft? Better they should find kids who are willing and eager to have a role in changing history for the better. I'm assuming you are "pro-choice." So, give kids the choice and don't suppress information that will help them make that choice. The military needs people. The military wants to talk to any candidate who might be suitable. What's wrong with that? Believe me, the military does NOT want to return to the draft, when dim-witted, slack-jawed, pot-head cowards who were too stupid to flee to Canada and would rather frag their own officers than kill the enemy were in the front lines.

[molly]

The Quaker school I send my kid to refuses to comply, one of the many reasons it costs so much but worth every penny.

[zhoen]

Let the draft begin. But truly, until there really is a draft, of both sons and daughters, there will not be a grassroots outcry again this damned debacle of a war. Getting coercive in the public schools, among the poor, is, as it always is, the first resource for cannon fodder.

Excuse my cynicism. I was there for Gulf War I, and I am a bit bitter that George II couldn't leave his father's bloody mess alone.

[Al Hill]

I bet if you had access to that datbase a whole lot of schools would not show up in it ... my bet is that they are only going after schools that have a hih possible take rate ... I would love to do a search query on it based on family income and location... The Radical Right has never seen a list that did not want to put other people on ....

Al Hill