This morning we were at a high school in Alamosa, CO. Again, after our presentation, kids raised their hands to ask about the military. One had already enlisted and wanted to know how he might be able to get out. In all four high schools I’ve visited on the Wheels tour kids have shared stories of recruitment. One girl from Alamosa said, “They [the recruiters] are here all the time. They kind of pull you in. Ask a lot of questions.” She went on to say that a couple of her friends were being persuaded by the promise of a college education. In the No Child Left Behind Act there 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. If they refuse, they face a cutoff of all federal aid.

From my friend Michael Berg of the Carolina Peace Resource Center:

Today, military recruiters have unprecedented access to public schools. The little-known Section 9528 of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 grants the Pentagon access to directories of all public high schools (supplying them with student names, addresses and phone numbers) to facilitate contact for military service recruitment. A student or parent wishing to protect privacy must actively contact the school to opt out and protect their personal information. In some districts, it can be difficult to withhold information specifically from recruiters, yet still allow this information to be used for other purposes that parents and students may approve of, such as honor rolls or school TV shows.

Candy standing with Dennis Apuan at Camp Casey in Colorado Springs.