I would want our young people to know their rights regarding possible objector status. There is an organization in my area that is teaching Selective Service Education. An excellent article outlining the principle was published in Metroland .

Also, recruiters are allowed, under the "No Child Left Behind Act", to actively pursue (harass) new recruits in high schools. What a lot of school administrations are not telling students is that they (the students) also, under the very same act, have a right to "opt-out" from being contacted by military recruiters. Parents and/or school officials around here are being encouraged by local peace activist groups to inform students of the "opt-out" option and, in some cases, actually changing policy to make it an "opt-in" option (in other words, the students are not approached by recruiters unless they ask to be). Parents, check with your local and area schools to find out what their policy is. Note that this can vary, not only from town to town, but from school to school, as well. In most cases, it's left up to the individual school's administration.

<img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/peace.gif" width=16 height=16>
Captain Zap

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 3 times, lastly by Captain Zap on Aug 30, 2005 ---</FONT></center>

A bit more you can do to protect your children...
From www.MoveOn.org
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
A little known provision in the federal Leave No Child Behind law is forcing public high schools all across the country to disclose the personal information of 30 million teenagers and young adults to a private marketing firm and the military. The Pentagon announced just this summer it had been collecting and using the data—including such sensitive personal information as Social Security numbers, ethnicity, GPA, personal email addresses, height, weight, and even the cell phone numbers of our kids, without their parent's permission. They had been keeping this announcement secret for more than two years—a violation of federal privacy laws and the privacy of tens of millions of young Americans.

While the law compels schools to violate the privacy of ordinary Americans it also creates a way for families to "Opt Out" to stop the mega-database from being used on your child. If you know someone between the ages of 16 and 25, spread the word: you can "Opt Out" of the database by clicking on the link below.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=919

Working Assets, Mainstream Moms and ACORN have put together a useful website called LeaveMyChildAlone.org that helps you easily write a letter to your local school district so you can opt-out of this database. If you are a parent interested in protecting the privacy of your child or if you're between the ages of 16 and 25 this is an easy way to protect your privacy. Just like with the federal "Do Not Call" list the data will be "suppressed" for use, but not removed.

While government intrusion on our privacy is bad enough, the use of a corporate marketing firm for this work is even worse. The government has hired private marketing firm BeNow, Inc., to manage the data, known as the Joint Advertising and Marketing Research Services (or JAMRS) database. BeNow, Inc., has no statements on their web site regarding their own security or privacy policies. With increasing reports of identity theft and security breaches at private data collection firms, compiling such a vast collection of sensitive data without consent, particularly on minors, is irresponsible—even dangerous.

The JAMRS database is updated daily and distributed monthly to the four branches of the military for military recruiting purposes. Information is collected from a variety of sources, including DMV records, SATs, and ASVAB test results. Use the "Opt Out" tool to stop JAMRS from using your data or the data of your child, or forward the tool to other parents or students you know.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=919

Congress is just starting to realize the implications of what they have done by going around parents in this way, to get at their kids. People are really mad about this. Join the effort at LeaveMyChildAlone.org for action alerts related to this issue.

Thanks for all you do.

–Joan, Tom, Noah, Marika and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Monday, September 19th, 2005

P.S. Learn more about the organizations sponsoring www.LeaveMyChildAlone.org

Working Assets http://www.workingassets.com

Mainstreet Moms Operation Blue http://www.themmob.org/

ACORN http://www.acorn.org/
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

thanks, Wyld, for keeping on top of this. I sent the link to Eric and Corey (they're over 18 now) so they can opt out on their own. I also gave the link to my sister Ellen, who has 3 boys all in their teens.

Thanks again!

This is what I have to say about the draft:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
--13th Amendment ot the constitution.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
The Army makes no effort to find deserters and bring them back. This makes the hardest kind of sense. We're all volunteers... ...if a man doesn't feel that way about it... ...I don't want him on my flank when the trouble starts.
--Robert Anson Heinlien, <u>Starthip Troopers</u><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why reinvent the wheel? The draft is a horribly stupid idea to begin with: take someone who doesn't want to fight, threaten him with jail and possibly worse if he doesn't acquiesce, and put him down alongside a bunch of other guys who don't want to fight, in a war that they either don't support or don't understand the reasons for... and then expect to win?!

I may be a right winger but I believe you shouldn't force folks to do something they don't want to do. Therefore I am anti-draft & anti Nam. Surprised ya didn't it? <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/peace.gif" width=16 height=16>

This came around at my daughter's high school. They sent home a note for parents to check whether they wanted to 'opt out' for dealing with the recruiters. I signed it happily <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>. I had a real problem with this ... my husband, on the other hand thought she should be exposed to all things and then let her make up her own mind. Guess it's a mom thing!

My take on the daft coming back, is just more propaganda, that Bush puts out there to scare American's.

* But if in so, this ever does actually happen, I'm blessed to live SO close to Canada. ( aye Wyld <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15> As Robbie would be crossing that bridge for awhile. As my oldest brother Thomas did, for the Viet Namn war.

* he can't say that war didn't affect him, altho he got dual citizenship. He had just started to be a Dr. and after a few yrs. it just bothered him, about the Canadian dollar. ( ntm: not having the chance to live out a fantasy, and be the home town Dr. for the area he was raised) /THO, he loves his country, and has little regret in that area.

PEACE OUT END THE WAR(aka: bring our guys and gals back. NOW KID / Rb

From ABC News...


Military Recruiters, Parents Battle at High School

Updated 11:44 AM ET October 30, 2005

Maj. Forrest Poole is used to taking fire: He was in Iraq, and now he's been in front of the Seattle School Board.

Outraged parents in Seattle helped push through new rules restricting military recruiters in school -- specifically, rules that put organizations opposed to the military on campus at the same time as recruiters.

"I just want to make sure when the recruiters are here, that we're given an opportunity to speak with students and they're given an opportunity to speak with us," Poole says. "We don't want a student to feel like he or she cannot come up and talk to Sgt. Matthews because there's some other people ... who may be intimidating, harassing or bullying."

It is an increasingly time-consuming issue for military recruiters who are fighting to keep some of their most prized territory.

The opposition does not come from outraged students, but their Vietnam-era parents.

"We're trying to let people know about this," says one of the parents, Kurt Kutay, "because the school district hasn't done its job to inform the community."

A provision in the federal No Child Left Behind Act, signed in 2002, requires schools to give military recruiters the same access and information as college recruiters -- meaning home phone numbers and addresses.

"The school is going to turn your name over to the military," Kutay says.

'Very Vulnerable Age'

A group of parents in Seattle says most families don't have a clue the new law exists. And they argue that schools have done a poor job letting parents know there is an alternative -- that schools must provide the so-called opt-out forms that give students the chance to withhold their information from the military.

"When it comes to education, I think the colleges have the right to contact the students," says Linda Summers, a parent. "I'm not sure that the military should have the same right."

Despite the increased access, the military has had a tough time meeting recruiting targets. The Army has achieved only 92 percent of its goal. The Army National Guard, 80 percent. The Army Reserve, 84 percent. While the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps met their targets, the continuing casualties from the war in Iraq -- now past 2,000 dead and 15,000 injured -- have made recruiting more difficult.

Ann Kutay, a co-organizer of the parents' group, believes recruiters use heavy-handed tactics to take advantage of kids.

"They're at a very vulnerable age in their lives, and especially when kids are being targeted -- kids who may not be doing as well in school are targeted by a military recruiter, who tells them they can be a helicopter pilot," she says.

Multi-Pronged Attack

The opt-out forms are only the beginning of a much larger movement to restrict when, where and how military recruiters can operate. The battle lines in this fight are clear: They are the walls of America's high schools.

It is a multi-pronged attack. The accusations include pressure tactics.

Brenna Cole, a student, says she was advised to hide medical problems in order to join.

"I'm against what I call fraudulent recruiting," she says, "because I now have a fraudulent listing on my record. And it was because my recruiter advised me to lie."

And there are charges of racism.

Dustin Washington, a community activist, believes recruiters target students with lower incomes and minorities. He meets with high school students off-campus, during lunch hour, to encourage them to be wary of recruiters.

Schools in the Middle

Caught between the two sides are the schools. Principal David Golden sometimes has recruiters in his school twice a week.

"We set up a table near our cafeteria, and they man that table during the lunchtimes," Golden says. "And we do a similar thing with certain colleges that come in locally."

Despite the controversy, some students are very interested.

Marine Maj. Poole denies the allegation that his recruiters target specific groups or act anything but professional. And he says putting restrictions on recruiting will ultimately hurt everyone.

"If that access is to be limited or denied, I'm afraid the carry-over would be that the all-volunteer force may not be as capable, as professional as it could be," he says. "Ultimately, our goal is to maintain the standards of this force, to make sure we're finding the most qualified men and women who want to serve."

It is not an easy job or an easy issue for schools to referee. But referee, they must, because as one recruiter recently made plans for his next visit, the class just down the hall listened to a guest speaker warning them about recruiters.

ABCNEWS' Neal Karlinsky originally reported this story for "Nightline" on Oct. 25, 2005.

This sounds like a good, positive way for parents and teachers to counter the in-school brainwashing ... er, recruiting, I meant; from http://www.michaelmoore.com :

November 19th, 2005 9:40 pm
Teachers, students protest recruiters in school

Troy Record

WATERFORD, NY - More than a dozen people gathered near the Waterford-Halfmoon School Friday morning to stage a peaceful alternatives demonstration.

The rally, the organization's first, was in response to the Army and Army Reserves recruiting students at the school.

"We want the students to know all of their options before they enlist in the military," Ken Williams, a special-education teacher and the organizer of the protest, said.

The Peaceful Alternatives organization, which meets when there are military recruiters at the school, supports teaching about the war and encourages students to think for themselves, Williams said.

The organization has a table during the lunch periods at the school to offer educational materials to students about Peace Corps, Ameri Corps, and other alternatives to going into the military.

"We are given the same amount of time to have a table as the military groups are," Williams said.

"I do not want my friends and peers to go to war for reasons that they do not know or understand," Katelyn Riley, a senior at the school, said. "I would prefer to see them go to college and further their educations."

The organization is planning another demonstration on Nov. 30 when the National Guard is scheduled to visit the school.