Recruit pursuit: Schools must give student data to military

Shawn Jensen says military recruiters began calling him a year ago, near the end of his junior year at Murray High School. Calls have continued throughout his senior year, accelerating as graduation nears.

How did recruiters find his phone number and know that he will graduate soon?

"I have no idea," he says.

Actually, they obtained it from his school — by order of Congress. When it passed the No Child Left Behind Act to improve education, Congress required schools to provide student data to military recruiters, unless parents choose to "opt out."

Did Jensen know about that law, or that he could opt out?

"No," he says. "It kind of bothers me."

It is one of many little-known tricks of the trade that military recruiters have in their arsenal to persuade young people to join today's all-volunteer military, a job that recruiters acknowledge is harder as America continues extended conflict in Iraq.

Other tools — many of which are revealed through recruiting manuals obtained by the Deseret Morning News through the Freedom of Information Act — include building favor with influential educators by taking them on trips nationwide to military bases or offering lunch or breakfast meetings, not to mention regular doughnuts for school faculty.

The military also offers a test in high schools that it advertises as a helpful career aptitude exam, but it uses the results to identify prime targets for recruiting.

Recruiters also recruit students to help recruit other students.

They utilize federal laws that require schools to give them access to campus. They distribute there countless pens, folders, T-shirts, key chains and other freebies to help start conversations. They prioritize schools according to how supportive they are and visit highest-priority schools monthly or even weekly.

Recruiters try to become part of school communities by offering to teach classes or help train sports teams. They eat in school cafeterias. They appear at assemblies to present military-sponsored awards. They are at career days. They are among the biggest advertisers in high school newspapers.

All of that, recruiters say, is essential to enlist the number of defenders the nation needs while still avoiding a draft that could force young people into the military against their wishes.

Maj. David P. Bradney, commander of the Marines' Salt Lake City recruiting station, said recruiters don't even want to utter the word "draft."

"Nobody likes to say that word, because it is an ugly word," he said. "It's an ugly word for all military services. And it should be a word that we stay away from in a very democratic society."

With that goal in mind, the military is doing some interesting things.

Student lists