From The New York Times, 6/16/05:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/opinion/16herbert.html
Uncle Sam Really Wants You
By BOB HERBERT
With 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 circumstances, 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.
---
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