My boys received these calls, though they weren’t interested either. All it took was one time for me to answer the phone and specifically tell the recruiters that I did not want them to call for my sons again. That did it. Legally, they can’t continue calling after the parent sez so. (At least that’s my understanding.) I’m glad he registered to vote. I consider voting a far more patriotic act than going off to war. Soldiers defend the right to vote, so it seems to be the higher calling of a citizen.

Theoretically, soldiers defend our right to vote. In a saner world, perhaps. I’m not making much of a connection, though, between Iraq and our ability/right to vote. But maybe, through the act of voting, we can eventually return to a saner world. Maybe.

One of these days, I’ll probably grab the phone and tell the recruiters to stop calling. I think that, currently, recruiting must be one of the world’s worst jobs.

Wow. I can’t believe how forward and persistent they are. It makes my heart pound just thinking about it.

Especially reading this on the heels of reading today about how the Pentagon has reneged on the $15,000 signing bonuses they used to rope reservists into re-upping for another 6 years. The reservists re-signed, but now they won’t be paid the bonuses.

You can’t believe anything these recruiters say. They’ll lie through their teeth, say anything it takes to get your sons and daughters within their grasp. It’s a disgrace.

The Army recruiter made *my* heart pound. His voice was full of authority and no nonsense. I can see how a kid talking to someone like that could find himself signed up before he knew what hit him.

The Air Force guy was polite and reserved. The Navy recruiter was vivacious and charming. Haven’t heard from the Marines yet.  Or the Coast Guard (do they recruit??)

I read about that $15,000 signing bonus renege and it made me furious. How do they get away with that? And do they think bone-headed moves like that will encourage more recruits? In what world?

I don’t think the USCG recruits, as they’re not really military.

Doesn’t your school district have an opt-out provision?  Seattle permits parents to request that their child’s data not be forwarded to the service recruiters.  The district would actually prefer to make it an opt-in process, so that the recruiters would receive information only on those who were actually interested in hearing from them, but something in NCLB prevents that.

The Coast Guard may not be military but they’ve been deployed to the Persian Gulf region. The lad owns his very own Coast Guard tee shirt, from a tour of duty in Iraq, bestowed on him by a Coast Guard service member who spent several months over there. Came as a surprise to her when she was deployed.

I don’t know if we have an opt-out provision. It’s not something I looked into...it wasn’t really something I was thinking about. Why, I can’t imagine, but....

I guess it’s too late now. Anyway, they’re not going to get him unless they reinsititute the draft, God forbid.

I do think it’s passing-strange when the USCG is deployed to guard someone else’s coast.

Well, they’re helping to guard our oil at the oil terminals, dontcha know.

Of course!  Silly me.

Not only that, they’re guarding those terminals against the people off whose coast they’re patrolling.

No one ever said Irony can’t have a warped sense of humor.

I didn’t realize until recently that the Coast Guard is one of the departments of Homeland Security.

That creeps me out for some unfathomable reason.

I thought it was you, Kate, but it must have been someone else talking about their district’s opt-out policy. The policy was that any kid whose parents opted them out of having their info sent to military recruiters would not appear in the yearbook. The school board gave some ridiculous song and dance about privacy and how being in the yearbook would violate the kid’s privacy if the parents opted out. So parents were forced to choose between having their kids aggressively recruited or not having their memories in the yearbook.

I read that someplace, too, Kim. Did you mention it at your place? I can’t say for 100% certain that we don’t have that policy here, but I’m sure I’d have heard a huge stink about it if we did. Since this still tends to be a pretty liberal town, I don’t think something like that would fly. School board members would find themselves voted into oblivion at the first opportunity.