POMFRET, Md. -- Military recruiting saturates life at McDonough High, a working-class public school where recruiters chaperon dances, students in a junior ROTC class learn drills from a retired sergeant major in uniform, and every prospect gets called at least six times by the Army alone.

Recruiters distribute key chains, mugs, and military brochures at McDonough's cafeteria. They are trained to target students at schools like McDonough across the country, using techniques such as identifying a popular student -- whom they call a "center of influence" -- and conspicuously talking to that student in front of others.

Meanwhile, at McLean High, a more affluent public school 37 miles away in Virginia, there is no military chaperoning and no ROTC class. Recruiters adhere to a strict quota of visits, lining up behind dozens of colleges. In the guidance office, military brochures are dwarfed by college pennants. Posters promote life amid ivy-covered walls, not in the cockpits of fighter jets.

Students from McDonough are as much as six times more likely than those from McLean to join the military, a disparity that is replicated elsewhere. A survey of the military's recruitment system found that the Defense Department zeroes in on schools where students are perceived to be more likely to join up, while making far less effort at schools where students are steered toward college.

Now, as pressure mounts on recruiters to find 180,000 volunteers amid casualty counts from Iraq and Afghanistan that have surpassed 1,300 dead and 10,000 wounded, the fairness of the system by which the nation persuades young people to take on the burden of national defense is coming under increasing scrutiny.

The Globe inquiry found that recruiters target certain schools and students for heavy recruitment, and then won't give up easily: Officers call the chosen students repeatedly, tracking their responses in a computer program the Army calls "the Blueprint." Eligible students are hit with a blitz of mailings and home visits. Recruiters go hunting wherever teens from a targeted area hang out, following them to sporting events, shopping malls, and convenience stores.

Officers are trained to analyze students and make a pitch according to what will strike a motivational chord -- job training, college scholarships, adventure, signing bonuses, or service to country. A high-school recruiting manual describes the Army as "a product which can be sold."

The manual offers tips for recruiters to make themselves "indispensable" to schools; suggests tactics such as reading yearbooks to "mysteriously" know something about a prospect to spark the student's curiosity; notes that "it is only natural for people to resist" and suggests ways to turn aside objections; and lists techniques for closing the deal, such as the "challenge close":

"This closing method works best with younger men," the manual reads. "You must be careful how you use this one. You must be on friendly terms with your prospect, or this may backfire. It works like this: When you find difficulty in closing, particularly when your prospect's interest seems to be waning, challenge his ego by suggesting that basic training may be too difficult for him and he might not be able to pass it. Then, if he accepts your challenge, you will be a giant step closer to getting him to enlist."

I think you could probably file a class action suit against the military based on the
article and some real data backing up the story. It targets and makes the recruiting
process selective, segregates rich from poor, and probably with the right attorney
(Edwards) could make them change the way they recruit.

The give aways should be stopped. It is tax payer dollars and a waste. Also why
do the Marines need a civilian Hummer all tricked out $94,000 for re-cruiting?
Why not use a real battle ready hummer and put the rest of the money into
vehicle armor? Why are they trying to compete with corp america? There pay sure
doesn't

Also at any whim congress changes the retirement benefits and pay. Ask my father
25 years military and 26 years civil service. He gets screwed from them all the time!

If we do not have a draft and the military needs to meet a "quota" ........this is how they do it.
Who wants a volunteer military and why? I think having an all volunteer and then preselecting recruitment just screws the poor and working class,..again. They fight and die and "the beat goes on." Now I remember why the "men" in charge like the "volunteer" military so much. Who among them has any access to powe? For the most part, their parents don't vote or contribute $$$$ to campaigns and neither do they. The "leaders" who claim to represent and the movements that profess representing the interests of these folks do nothing, because if the poor and working class don't volunteer, the sons and daughters of privilege will be drafted.

source........
<_<

Community College and then a state school is a lot better than getting your son's arms and legs blown off. Get real. What is this stuff about " If I cant get into Harvard I am going to join the Army". There is more out there then you think. Look around.

The parents of the chidren at the first school... "Military recruiting saturates life at McDonough High, a working-class public school where recruiters chaperon dances, students in a junior ROTC class learn drills from a retired sergeant major in uniform, and every prospect gets called at least six times by the Army alone."  ...need to direct their school board not to allow in recruiters from any organization that discriminates on the basis of age, sex, race, national origin or sexual orientation.  When they conform to those standards, they can recruit.

I would prefer a two year mandatory service to the nation, which may be military, or civil service. In exchange two years of college would be paid for by the government. There would be no deferments, and for gays and lesbians there would be NO don't ask, don't tell sh*t!

My son is 15 1/2 years old and a sophomore in high school.  We are white middle class (and sinking).  He carries a 4.20GPA and goes to college at night because he desparately wants to get into a good college.  While he is also active in sports, he is not a stand out.  Despite all of his efforts, the exploding cost of tuition, the lack
of available high school counselors and career development programs for guidance, and scholorships have made him begin to look to the military more and more as a viable alternative for training and college opportunities.  He and his friends are
doing more and more of this on their own.  There have been no overt recruiting
efforts at their High School. The thought of thousands and thousands of $'s in student loans is quite daunting to him.  He also is concerned about placing me in a huge amount of debt.  Patriotism does play a part also, even though he disagrees with the military involvement in Iraq, he believes as
through out history, the young must step up to the plate and do their duty.

The kid deserves a full ride to Stanford (no, I'm not saying this just because I'm
a proud mom).  His unbelievable disclipline, quest for knowlege and desire to better himself educationally has been there since kindergarten.  Stanford or Michigan (his first choice) is not a reality.

As a mother, I'm very torn.  But the more info he gathers (on his own without pressure, the more I understand why he is considering the military....I guess
what I am saying in this long winded post is Today really is not yesterday's military
anymore.  Thousands of dollars in educational opportunities, state of the art training are going to trump promotional key chains anyday.

Makes one sad and mad to read this article on recruitment policies; getting them changed likely isn't easy to do.  Hard to say that these practices are illegal but as a minimum they seem very unethical.  Kids in high school are not all that hard to manipulate when such targeted strategies and pressures are utilized by the recruiters.

Just poor kids volunteer for the military is what happens?

Wait a second, didn't John Kerry volunteer?  Didn't Al Gore volunteer?

Well, if the military is so bad for those kids, why do they all vote republican?

(no, it's not rehtorical, why do they vote for wars and money for the military over money for education?)

The draft may be coming.  Democrats will have no say in this as the Rethuglicans now control everything.  With volunteering way down, even with the offer of cash up front, and with a war being promoted by the Rethuglicans, and with Faux News working everyone into a frenzy with "kill, kill, kill them all now as fast as we can" and glorifying this war, I don't see any other solution.  Getting Resident W out of there by proving election fraud, and by proving that JK was the real winner of our election, seems the only answer.  If a draft comes, it will still be the poor who have to go and die, just like it is with the volunteer military.  The wealthy and the connected will always have a way out of serving, if that's what they choose.