Military recruiters..any moms of teenage males here?

I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has gotten a couple of
pieces of mail, addressed to him, from various branches of the military. I
mentioned it at Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at home! They asked him
a bunch of questions and were getting all excited until he mentioned that
he's taking ADD medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they getting our info?
The schools? The county office of vital statistics? It's disconcerting.

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
news

"dejablues" wrote in message
...
I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has gotten a couple of
pieces of mail, addressed to him, from various branches of the military.
I
mentioned it at Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at home! They asked
him
a bunch of questions and were getting all excited until he mentioned that
he's taking ADD medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it
for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they getting our info?
The schools? The county office of vital statistics? It's disconcerting.


Part of NCLB requires schools to release information to the military,
unless
parents formally request that it not be released. Just one of the little
quirks in the law. Also, what I've seen here is that the military is
getting
very active at sending recruiters into schools to talk to classes, even
down
to middle school aged.



It's not like this is recent. I graduated 7 years ago from a high school in
a farming town in San Diego county. There were recruiters at our school
every Thursday.

If your child isn't interested, tell them to be straight with the recruiter,
they will leave them alone.

Denise

"dejablues" wrote in message
...
I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has gotten a couple of
pieces of mail, addressed to him, from various branches of the military. I
mentioned it at Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at home! They asked
him
a bunch of questions and were getting all excited until he mentioned that
he's taking ADD medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it
for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they getting our info?
The schools? The county office of vital statistics? It's disconcerting.


Part of NCLB requires schools to release information to the military, unless
parents formally request that it not be released. Just one of the little
quirks in the law. Also, what I've seen here is that the military is getting
very active at sending recruiters into schools to talk to classes, even down
to middle school aged.

"Denise Anderson" wrote in message
news:vQQrd.3221$M57.2280@trnddc01...

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
news

"dejablues" wrote in message
...
I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has gotten a couple
of
pieces of mail, addressed to him, from various branches of the
military.
I
mentioned it at Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at home! They asked
him
a bunch of questions and were getting all excited until he mentioned
that
he's taking ADD medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it
for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they getting our
info?
The schools? The county office of vital statistics? It's disconcerting.


Part of NCLB requires schools to release information to the military,
unless
parents formally request that it not be released. Just one of the little
quirks in the law. Also, what I've seen here is that the military is
getting
very active at sending recruiters into schools to talk to classes, even
down
to middle school aged.



It's not like this is recent. I graduated 7 years ago from a high school
in
a farming town in San Diego county. There were recruiters at our school
every Thursday.

If your child isn't interested, tell them to be straight with the
recruiter,
they will leave them alone.

Denise

I think some schools have been giving this information away for years. Not
all schools. But some.

The only thing different is that schools are mandated to comply with giving
the information away.

Jeff

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
news

"dejablues" wrote in message
...
I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has gotten a couple of
pieces of mail, addressed to him, from various branches of the military.
I
mentioned it at Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at home! They asked
him
a bunch of questions and were getting all excited until he mentioned
that
he's taking ADD medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it
for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they getting our
info?
The schools? The county office of vital statistics? It's disconcerting.


Part of NCLB requires schools to release information to the military,
unless
parents formally request that it not be released. Just one of the little
quirks in the law.

I heard an interview on NPR today about military recruiting (why I posted
the OP, which has been bugging me for a week) where they said they were
using NCLB test scores to keep the quality of recruits high...they don't
recruit anyone testing in the lower 50%.
My OS , who is now a B or B- student (couple of C's and D's in the past when
he was in Catholic school), has very good PSSA (what they are called here)
test scores, in the 98th %tile. He's a very good "test-taker".
He's currently enrolled in the district tech school for Culinary Arts, and
plans to be a chef. I tease him that he's going to get drafted and end up
cooking on an aircraft carrier . ;-)

"dejablues" wrote in message
...

I have nothing against the military, but where are they getting our info?
The schools? The county office of vital statistics? It's disconcerting.

Not sure, but I remember getting calls when I was in my junior/senior years
of high school. This was back in the late 80's.

JennP.

"dejablues" wrote in message
...

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
news

"dejablues" wrote in message
...
I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has gotten a couple
of
pieces of mail, addressed to him, from various branches of the
military.
I
mentioned it at Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at home! They
asked
him
a bunch of questions and were getting all excited until he mentioned
that
he's taking ADD medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of
it
for
a time.

My son asked to go off ADD med after taking it for only a short time years
ago. He heard that he couldn't go in the service if he took them. The med
wasn't helping anyway and were causing some problems so we did discontinue
them.

I heard an interview on NPR today about military recruiting (why I posted
the OP, which has been bugging me for a week) where they said they were
using NCLB test scores to keep the quality of recruits high...they don't
recruit anyone testing in the lower 50%.
My OS , who is now a B or B- student (couple of C's and D's in the past
when
he was in Catholic school), has very good PSSA (what they are called here)
test scores, in the 98th %tile. He's a very good "test-taker".
He's currently enrolled in the district tech school for Culinary Arts, and
plans to be a chef. I tease him that he's going to get drafted and end up
cooking on an aircraft carrier . ;-)

This is exactly what my husband did in his young adult years. He was what is
called a Mess Specialist, in the Navy, on a carrier.

Sandie

"dejablues" wrote in
:

I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has
gotten a couple of pieces of mail, addressed to him, from
various branches of the military. I mentioned it at
Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at
home! They asked him a bunch of questions and were getting
all excited until he mentioned that he's taking ADD
medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they
getting our info? The schools? The county office of vital
statistics? It's disconcerting.

the schools. they are required to give student info to
military recruiters, including home phone numbers... & no,
there is no opt-out.
an 18 year old male is required to register for the draft, so
is likely to get more calls.
lee

"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"dejablues" wrote in
:

I don't know how if this is usual, but my OS, 15, has
gotten a couple of pieces of mail, addressed to him, from
various branches of the military. I mentioned it at
Thanksgiving, and my SIL, whose oldest son turns 18 in
January, said that recruiters have been calling him at
home! They asked him a bunch of questions and were getting
all excited until he mentioned that he's taking ADD
medication. One asked him if he felt could go off of it for
a time.
I have nothing against the military, but where are they
getting our info? The schools? The county office of vital
statistics? It's disconcerting.

the schools. they are required to give student info to
military recruiters, including home phone numbers... & no,
there is no opt-out.
an 18 year old male is required to register for the draft, so
is likely to get more calls.
lee
The 18 year old is required to register, and can't opt out (although he can
list Conscientious Objector status on the card), but the parents absolutely
can opt out of having information sent to recruiters, although the school
may or may not be informing parents of this. Contact the guidance office.

"Sandie Hudson"

This is exactly what my husband did in his young adult years. He was what
is
called a Mess Specialist, in the Navy, on a carrier.

Sandie

They're called CS or Culinary Specialist now.

Denise