Friday 15th April 2005 (19h45) :
Children Recruited in the USA:
'Enlistment bonuses' offered to 14 yr olds
In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty. By Tim Schmitt
Colin Hadley spends most of his days after school
skateboarding or playing Halo II on his new X-Box with friends. He sleeps until noon or later on
weekends and rarely, if ever, does any schoolwork
outside the classroom, where he pulls down solid C's and a few D's - just enough to get by. He's
the typical 15-year-old American boy: cocksure in
demeanor, certain the world revolves around him, and confident that life is going to serve him
well. And he's the new "target of interest" for U.S. military recruiters who've begun signing up boys as young as 14 for military service, which they will be required to begin when they turn 18.
"It's a sweet deal," says Hadley, who boasts that he bought his X-Box with the enlistment bonus he received after signing up last month. "I don't have to do hardly anything for three years, but they're paying me now."
Hadley's windfall was made possible under the
Pentagon's "pre-enlistment program" that was quietly authorized last month in an effort to ensure the number of military troops available for combat remains steady for at least the next few years.
The conditions of the program are simple. A young
man who is at least 14 years old and has a parent's permission can enlist in the U.S. military, but will not report to duty until he reaches the legal age. The future soldier agrees to remain "physically and mentally fit" and to undergo annual physical examinations at the
Military Entrance and Processing Station (MEPS). In exchange, the government provides him a $10,000
sign-on bonus that is paid in yearly installments of $2,500 until the age of 18, at which time any
remaining balance is given to the recruit.
And while waiting to report to duty at 18, the new
recruits are paid a modest stipend and allowed access to funds granted veterans for education.
Because combat duty is a requirement of enlistment, the program is currently open only to young men, and it has been authorized for only three years, so Congress will have to renew the program again in 2008.
"The program is still in the early stages, but we're certain it will prove a valuable tool for the U.S. military while providing future soldiers with much-needed financial assistance so they can start planning for the future now," says Lt James Pederson, a spokesman for the U.S. Pentagon's Office of Recruitment and Retention.
With the war in Iraq still taking a toll, and
potential conflicts on the horizon in Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Philippines and elsewhere, the U.S. military is faced with a shortage of manpower not seen in decades. The Army National Guard met only 56 percent of its recruiting
quota in January, and the Marine Corps fell short of its recruiting goal that month for the first
time since 1995. The Army missed its February
recruiting goal by 27 percent, and the numbers for March and April are not expected to improve.
"We're going to appeal to the patriotism of
parents," says Pederson. "Parents have to understand that their children are needed in a time of war and that sacrifices need to be made for the good of the nation."
Tom Hadley recognizes this need, and when he heard
of the pre-enlistment program, convinced his son that it was in his best interest to sign up
"There aren't a lot of opportunities for poor or
working class kids in this country right now, so this program is a blessing," says Tom. "Colin can
spend the next couple years just being a kid and
save a few bucks for school, and after his four years of military service he'll come out ahead. I'm proud of my son for making such a wise decision and standing up for his country."
Carla Bloomer agrees with Tom that poor children
have few options, but rankles at the suggestion that selling military service to a child is an
answer to the problem. And she didn't even know this was an issue until she learned a recruiter had talked to her 14-year-old son and convinced him to sign up. "He's not smart enough to make a decision like that at this point in his life," she says. "That recruiter came in and played to his teenager's sense of invincibility and know-it-all attitude and convinced him this was the best thing for him to do. In the end, I had to give in and let him sign up."
After he signed the paperwork, however, Bloomer took a closer look at the contract and was even more disturbed by what she learned. The small print reveals that the $350 monthly stipend her son receives is actually an advance on his $250 per month combat pay and $100 per month hardship duty pay.
"What they've done is guarantee that my son will go to war when he's old enough," says Bloomer. "They're paying him for it now so he can't back out later."
Her son, Richard, admits he wasn't aware of the
source of the payments he's receiving, but adds that he's not worried about it either. "At least I'm getting paid now," he says. "Hell, I might get
killed my first week out and then I'd get nothing. At least I can enjoy it now."
But it may not be that simple. According to
Pederson, the money paid out in the pre-enlistment program is an advance on pay, which will need to be paid back if the soldier is unable to serve in combat for any reason.
"If a recruit is incapacitated or killed before two years of service have been completed, half of the funds paid to him pre-service will need to be
returned to the U.S. government," he says. "That's
still very generous, considering we could ask for reimbursement of funds for the entire period of
incomplete service."
And once these kids sign up under this program, they are committed to serving in a combat zone and face strict punishment if they refuse duty when they come of age. If any refuse to show up for duty they will be charged with desertion in a time of war and be subject to military court martial, which, theoretically at least, could result in the death penalty.
"We expect our recruits of all ages to honor their
commitment," says Pederson. "We are expending resources to guarantee their future service and
will do whatever is necessary to make sure they live up to their pledge."
But Pederson says the pre-enlistment program is
really not that much of a change from recruitment methods that have been in place for the past few
years. With passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, the military was guaranteed access to the nation's public schools for recruiting
purposes. According to the Office of Recruitment and Retention, the U.S. military was denied access to public schools on 19,228 occasions in 1999. But since the passage of No Child Left Behind, these schools have no choice but to let them in.
"This allows us to send our professionals into
schools to share information about the benefits of military service to young people, just as colleges and other businesses are allowed, encouraged even, to visit with students and do
the same thing," says Pederson.
But Karen Foss, the mother of a 14-year-old at
Lincoln High School, says the intensity of the recruiting focused on her son took her by surprise. "I don't think most parents realize how much time and energy they (recruiters) spend on these kids," she says. "I was shocked when I found out that they were calling my son at home and visiting with him outside the classroom
without my knowledge."
And Foss is quick to point out that she comes from a family with a long history of military service (her grandfather was at Iwo Jima and her dad earned two purple hearts in Vietnam) and that she's a registered Republican who supported the war in Iraq. "This is just too much, though," she adds. "These are children they're after."
Lindell has taken small groups of students out for
pizza and met with them over sodas and snacks at an area coffee shop frequented by teens. He uses
these meetings to tell the kids about the advantages of military service.
"It's important that they know they can make a real difference in the world," he says. "I tell them about the opportunity to travel, the chance to earn money for college, the medical benefits and the feeling of pride that comes with serving your country. "It's an important tool to reach these kids before they are influenced by outside forces who lack understanding of the U.S. military's worldwide goals," he adds. "These kids understand the need for a strong military and haven't had their thoughts corrupted by
unpatriotic ideas."
Foss' son, 14-year-old Tyler, and his best friend,
15-year-old Matthew Biehn, met with Lindell several times but declined to sign on despite the
benefits Lindell told them about. Last month,
Lindell arranged another meeting with the boys at a South Side coffee shop and brought along fellow
recruiter Sgt. Lindsey Reas. After meeting with Reas several times Tyler decided to join the pre-enlistment program, and once he did, Biehn signed on as well.
"I didn't even know the recruiter was talking to him until he told me he wanted to sign up," says Karen. "His father, whom I divorced several years
ago, agreed to let Tyler join, so there was nothing I could do to stop him.
I'm fairly confident that they brought a young woman recruiter in to close the deal with these boys. They're in the throes of puberty and would pretty much do whatever a pretty girl asks them to. I just don't think it's fair."
Reas refused to entertain that notion and said the
final incentive for these two boys came when she pointed out the number of comic books $350 per month could buy. And in fact, when Tyler and Biehn agreed to discuss their enlistment, they arranged a meeting at a comic store where they promptly dropped more than $50 each for new releases.
"They give us a lot of money for doing nothing,"
says Tyler. "If we have to go to war later, it won't be that bad anyway. She (Reas) gave us a copy of an Army video game that lets you see what it's really like. If you know what you're doing, you probably won't get hurt or killed."
The game Tyler refers to is a free one available at
http://www.goarmy.com that the army has developed as a recruiting tool. The site boasts that the game
allows players to "Experience realistic training
missions and see what it takes to become part of America's Army team."
Local recruiters will also provide free copies of
the game on CD to anyone interested, especially the young boys who generally play such games. Despite Karen's concerns, the recruiters are within their rights to talk to the kids without parental permission or knowledge. Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act enables recruiters to gain personal information about students -
home addresses, phone numbers, extracurricular
activities - from school records. The only time parental involvement is required is when it comes
time to sign the papers.
"Yeah, we talk to the kids," says Lindell. "But it's not like we're kidnapping them and making them do this. They make an informed decision
based on the facts we give them."
In the short time the program has been in place, at least 10,763 young men aged 14-16 have joined the pre-enlistment program. Of those, at least 94
hail from Iowa, which boasts the second highest rate of participation (per-capita) in the nation, falling only behind Mississippi.
These new recruits have begun chatting on the
Internet and sharing thoughts on their upcoming service on message boards and have started an informal organization of members called VFW - Veterans of Future Wars. It's an accurate title, too.
Pederson says these new recruits will be required,
after completing boot camp and two weeks of additional training, to serve in combat zones. The
very nature of the war on terror, he explains,
ensures that the United States will be in a state of armed conflict with some enemy or another for
many years to come.
"We will most definitely be at war with someone for the next decade, at least," he says. "And our recruitment programs are an effort to ensure the
safety of all American citizens and to protect the
American way of life."
Beck, director of the NPJA, disagrees, and says this is indicative that we as a country have reached a level and acceptance of war that may be
difficult to turn away from. "That parents are
allowing and encouraging their children to sign up under this program is troubling and shows a real lack of understanding of what's happening in the world," she says. "By committing our children to wage war, we are committing our society to a path of violence and oppression and militarism that will be impossible to sustain and that will further alienate us from the rest of the world."
Still, Pederson says the program is a necessary
step. "Is it unfortunate that we have to recruit children to serve in battle? Absolutely," he says.
"But most countries have had children soldiering for centuries. We're just leveling the playing field." PB
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