Should Military Recruiters Be Allowed to Romance our Teens in HighSchool

Yes I agree. I am absolutely outraged but not the least bit surprised. I feel that the kids who want that life will find it, you don't need to tell lies to make it appear something it is not. I think that people should be made aware of this act and respond to the military with a loud NO!

Yes exactly. That is not cool how many teenagers tricked. If someone wants to work in the music industry, they just say "We will help you get in if you join the millitary! Many famous musicians were in the military." Ive seen it happan too. Outside my local mall there were to soldiers talking to people who looked anywhere from 17 to about 21.

Very few recruiters are like that. Most will tell you what you want to know.And yes they do go to malls and yes they do look for a certain age. What would you have them do,start a draft?

Did you ever ask them to stop and if so, did it stop? Did you tell your parents that this was going on? What country?

Who told you recruiters get bonuses for each recruit? What are the statistics for people in the military who were killed over in Iraq?

And are you aware that recruiters aren't allowed to lie to recruits? Go defend your country on your own then.

I just did the rough statistics. There were 1.384 million people in the military in 2000. So far, the military fatalities in Iraq is 2980. I think the math comes out to 0.2 of 1% (.002).

I had a friend that was already married when he enlisted, well they told him his wife would be able to live with him and all that. Well they stationed him in Japan and she wasn't allowed to live with him till he made a certain rank. They ended up getting divorced and he wasn't allowed to return home on leaves like he was promised either. My husband's father joined shortly after he was born and was shipped out for over two years till they could join him on base. I will agree they are very deceptive, but then we still do need our military and I am grateful for the ones serving and fighting, but there should be better ways of going about things.

Hi Hunny, First let me thank you for responding to my original post. Having said that. You have made plenty of assumptions here in your writing so let me correct you so this discussion doesn't go array. You are assuming I know nothing about the military. Myth #1. I am married for 16 years into a military family. My father-in-law was a decorated 20 year air force vet. Upon retirement he also was an attorney at fact for Disabled American Vets so they may get the benefits they were entitled to. I will not address your comment regarding the practices of recruiters because obviously NOT ALL recruiters are jerks. Not all attorneys are scum, not all used car salesmen are crooks. Having said that, when the shoe fits where it and when it does not, set it aside. I am not arguing about the military and its' benefits. For some it is a wonderful opportunity. My objection is the recruiting practices as a whole. If you are not a parent of a teenager being affected by this, then you are the one speaking without knowing the facts. Just because your engaged to a "good" decent recruiter doesn't mean that this is not going on. And it is NOT only my experiences that caused me to write this, it is happening to many teens in my area of the country and other parts of the country. You say that a child cannot join the military without the permission of the parent, but once again unless you have parented a teenager who has been influenced by people they "Trust" then once again it is YOU who do not know what your talking about. I acknowledge that children cannot go into the military before 18 or without the parental consent, but as a parent of a teen, I do not want recruiters going behind my back to sing the praises of the military to my naive teenager. And before you say it is only my teen that is naive, think again. We teach our children to trust authority. Who has more authority than the US government. Albeit, my son is a free thinker, unfair tactics are being utilized to get to children such as my child. It is almost as if psychological profiling is going on and then based on they "type" of child they are attempting to recruit they use specific tactics. So, as you can see it isn't TV that is forming these opinions, it is 1st hand knowledge. In fact, I make every effort to not watch the news as it is disgusting. But listen, I am glad you are marrying your dream guy soon and I am proud that he serves our country. But you my dear, only have 2nd hand information from a man you love dearly and it is YOU who knows not that she knows not. Good day!

I agree with you. That is where I am right now, ready to buck the system. Fortunately I found this out before my son entered high school so I can simply opt out. However I have a very confused God son who is going through a lot and I just found out they got to him. He has decided to go into the Marines. I weep for this decision. I know they have painted this great picture for him. In this time of war, I believe they really should lay off these kids. Let the ones who know this is what they want to come to them. This makes me sick and outraged. I want to start some kind of movement I am sooo mad!