<p>“You do realize that all men who are US citizens are required to register for the selective service within 30 days of their 18th birthday?”</p>
<p>Absolutely, and we will make sure that our son registers on or immediately after his 18th birthday.</p>
<p>“You do realize that recruiters are simply salesmen? They aren’t going to conscript your underage child.”</p>
<p>If you feel comfortable with your child’s school giving salesmen your child’s contact information, without your permission, feel free to do so. I don’t. It doesn’t matter whether they’re trying to sell the military, the Peace Corps, or a credit card.</p>
<p>“You do realize that access to high schools by military recruiters is a part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002? It isn’t a new phenomenom.”</p>
<p>I didn’t say it was new. I didn’t, however, know about it until I read about it here. I’ve received tons of information from schools about just about every other provision of NCLB. Apparently, however, schools aren’t required to send anything home about the military recruitment provision.</p>
<p>eastcoascrazy – I, too, am proud of the long line of military service in my family. I would be proud and supportive if one of my children decided to enlist. However, as long as our children are minors, we should have to opt IN to the distribution of their contact information to anyone, not opt out.</p>
<p>“Some people do enlist because they genuinely want to serve your country. Then you have kids who want to enlist out of desperation to make a money or go to college, because they can’t afford it otherwise or have no job waiting for them upon graduation. That, to me, is not admirable”</p>
<p>I suspect the number of people that go into the military purely because they have a strong sense of patriotism, or are desperate and have nowhere else to go is relatively low. There may be some who enlisted due to patriotism after 9/11 or have a strong family history of service. Probably everyone who goes into the military is patriotic, and certainly loves this country. But…I believe most join the military because it takes them somewhere they want to go. To learn a skill they are interested in, because it looks like an interesting and exciting career, because they have friends and family who have served and it looks like an appealing option. Very few enlist because they’re just desperate, I think that is purely a myth. There is nothing wrong with being interested in education benefits and pay, while doing something that appeals to you.</p>
<p>It is not easy to get into most services anymore, some are cutting back and trying to get rid of people. We really don’t need people to enlist because, “somebody needs to do it.” There are plenty of willing volunteers, and we don’t need recruiters coercing kids to fill their hard to fill positions. Perhaps offering bonuses to people willing to do those jobs would be the best way to go. I had two good female friends who got suckered by recruiters to fill positions that they tested well for and recruiters wanted to fill. One, the military made a jet engine mechanic, the other, a warrant officer. Both ended up disliking the choices made for them, and found ways to get out of their commitments, after going through extensive training. What a waste of taxpayer money.</p>
<p>Relax. Your son can participate in his school’s ROTC program without incurring a service obligation as long as he does not accept scholarship money. Once he accepts scholarship money he becomes contracted and he will have to serve. Many ROTC cadets don’t apply for scholarships until their junior or senior year. Many of those who declined scholarships just walk away after deciding the military is not for them.</p>
<p>Or you stay after the first two years of college or join from junior year onward unless they’ve changed their policies since my friends went through ROTC in the '90s and early '00s.</p>
<p>The US Navy has been good to us. My husband was active duty for seven years and a reservist for twentyone years. He learned to fly in the military and became a commercial airline captain. He has a pension for life that began at age sixty and excellent medical coverage. He was ROTC at UNC and has had a good career thanks to the military. In 1983 his company downsized and he was furloughed for a year. During that year he was able to do extra duty with the Navy and that saved us financially. I cannot say enough about the outstanding people that make up our nation’s military and what an honor it was to know those we served with. We were not blessed with a son but we hope to have a son-in-law and we would be delighted if he were ROTC.</p>
<p>I would also be proud and delighted to have my daughter in ROTC. The women who are accepted are outstanding. I live in a college town so I see them. They jog by my house sometimes and when I see their athleticism I am reminded of how far women have come since I was their age.</p>
<p>You really can’t just “sign up” for ROTC to “try it out” anymore. When S1 started NROTC there were about three or four walk-ons. By the time he graduated/commisioned, there were none in his unit.
The military is making cuts all the time. The word is they cannot afford to spend money training young people who are just trying it and/or are not really serious about it because they don’t have scholarships on the line that require them to reach certain standards like the rest of the midshipman. One really has to pretty much have a scholarship to do ROTC in college. Scholarship recipients are allowed to drop out with no obligation after freshman year if they decide it’s not for them. </p>
<p>We are so proud of our Navy Lt.jg. He’e making a good living (more than his civilian friends who grad. from college same year as he did), just bought a beach house and loves his job which is providing him with very specialized training that will land him a job in the civilian world if/when he decides to leave the Navy. He just told us a couple of weeks ago “Sometimes I can’t believe I get paid to do this.”</p>
<p>Some of my students are ROTC, some are National Guard, some are retired military. Without exception, I can tell you that these students are head-and-shoulders above their classmates in responsibility, work ethic, and ability to meet academic challenges head on. They may not always get the best grades in the class (but I’d estimate that none of them have ever gotten below a B) but they always gave it their best shot and “owned” their mistakes rather than whining about any problems. They’re on time for class, they can work independently or in a team, they’re invariably polite and pleasant. Some of them don’t agree with the government’s deployment decisions any more than I do, but they’re willing to put their lives on the line…and I honor that. To the OP: whether or not your son ends up enlisting, his openness to doing so indicates that you’ve raised him with a strong set of values and you should be proud of him.</p>
<p>Our autistic son was contacted by the HS recruiter at home. I thought it was the cross country coach because S did not get many calls. Turns out he had made an appt! Recruiter called back next day to confirm time and I explained S had autism and the disability prevented him from joining up. After I was told they take disabled people, I asked him to look up moderate autism and call me back if you think he qualifies. They got his name from the HS list. He did register when he turned 18…</p>
<p>I did not read the entire thread, so forgive me if this repeats. My son IS interested in ROTC and hubby is a West Point grad who served 27 years–no combat. We just returned from a weekend school visit that included a very fine ROTC presentation. Part of the presentation was about how a kid who does not get the scholarship can ENLIST in the National Guard and get tuition and board paid plus a monthly stipend of $300 plus. Now, every kid in that audience was spinning numbers in his/her head. As a parent, I am squirming.</p>
<p>Before we got home, I said DO NOT sign up for the NG. We have saved for DS’s education, and he does not need to sign up. My worry is that he would sign up, hate it, and then be committed to six years of guard duty in another state. But for DS, that monthly check is very appealing. Or, sign up, flunk out, and have the same problem.</p>
<p>The recruiters are fairly clever young men and they know what appeals to other young men who are facing down big college costs.</p>
<p>@Momzie: Free speech is enshrined in our constitution, not in military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. I am really tired of the fact that our country has become militarized so pervasively that joining voluntarily is considered off-limits from any criticism or critical thought.</p>
<p>Tuition and board? I’d check that out again. I do know he/she will have attend boot camp and serve in the NG enlisted ranks, and if his unit is called up, they go. There is no call-up exemption for college students. Non contracted ROTC cadets get $500/mo. No obligation.</p>
<p>^^ agreed! if my DS joined the military I would be seriously tempted to disown him. He would get the longest history lesson he has ever had to listen to from me, that’s for sure. Have so many forgotten the lessons of the war in Vietnam??? Too many of the homeless, disabled and mentally ill in the country are vets.</p>
<p>Toblin–the figures are correct. The student does enlist, goes to boot camp, and dual enrolls inNG and ROTC. They will not be deployed as long as they are in school AND their NR commitment goes away if the soldier is commissioned regular Army. Remember the National Guard is run by each state, so what goes in one state does not go in another.</p>
<p>" Remember the National Guard is run by each state, so what goes in one state does not go in another. "</p>
<p>During the Bush years, National Guard troops and their equipment, were sent to Iraq for tours of duty.</p>
<p>"State governors from both parties say that Bush administration policies are stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of National Guard members have been sent to Iraq, along with much of the equipment needed to deal with natural disasters and terrorist threats in the United States, the governors said here Sunday at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.</p>
<p>The guard, which traces its roots to the colonial militia, has a dual federal-state role. Governors normally command the guard in their states, but guard members deployed overseas in support of a U.S. government mission are under the control of the president. "</p>