We need all the facts on recruiting.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Carol Van Houten and Phil Weaver For The Register-Guard

"School ownership is the goal," states the Army's School Recruiting Program Handbook, the guide for all Army recruiters on how to entice high school students to enlist.

`School ownership' is accomplished by a variety of techniques ranging from appealing to school staff with doughnuts to volunteering in uniform at registration, proms, sporting events, etc. Recruiters appear in classes, and generally troll the halls to talk up military service to students. Military paraphernalia may cover the walls and work spaces of high school career centers - anything to keep military images in front of students.

The Committee for Countering Military Recruitment, a joint project of Community Alliance of Lane County and Eugene PeaceWorks, thinks high schools should not be open recruiting grounds for military recruiters or free advertising spots to keep the military image before impressionable youth.

Our preference is that military recruiters be banned from high schools altogether, in part because their very presence can imply school approval. However, by law, military recruiters have a right to be in high schools that receive federal funds. This right extends only so far as a presence that is `the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students' (section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act).

By now many Lane County high schools - after pressure from our group, veterans, students, parents and school staff - limit military recruiter access to scheduled times, generally in the career center. Without careful monitoring by school administrators, military recruiters do find ways back into schools, such as leading push-ups in weight training classes. And some Lane County high schools still put out the welcome mat for military recruiters and will continue to do so until enough pressure is brought to get them to change their practices and comply with the law by implementing the `same access" concept.

The Committee for Countering Military Recruitment works in high schools to correct misinformation and to get accurate information to young people and their mentors about military service. A Dec. 27 article in The Register-Guard, "Despite war, local youths sign up," is an example of less-than-complete information.

Enlistment in the National Guard and the Army is up despite the war, the article states. Well, to be accurate, it is up compared to the lowest recruiting year, 2004. In the recruiting year that ended most recently for the Army, 2006, the Army and National Guard touted making their enlistment goal of more than 73,000 but failed to announce that the goal was smaller than the previous year's recruits of 77,578. Much was made of recent enlistment increases despite the ongoing war. Little was made of the fact that youth are enticed by large enlistment bonuses ($40,000 and higher).

Nowhere in the article was it mentioned that the National Guard, the Army and the Marines all significantly increased the number of recruiters. Nor did the story describe how standards for who may be accepted for military service were significantly lowered. More recruits are accepted without high school degrees, with criminal records or with histories of alcohol and drug abuse.

Wave a signing bonus of $40,000 and an appeal to pride in front of a low-income young man or woman who has little idea, support or opportunity for making a transition to adulthood, and such a person is very vulnerable to being recruited into the military, war or no war.

We of the Committee for Countering Military Recruitment strongly feel that high schools should not knowingly or unknowingly enhance the recruiting process. Because of the extensive history of lies, omissions and abuses, recruiters must have limited and supervised access to students. Students must also have access to alternate information about military service so that they may make informed, critical decisions about a matter as important as whether or not to join the military.

Given the vulnerability of many students, we urge everyone to find out what is happening in their high school and let school administrators know of any concerns. People should write letters to newspapers when they spot unbalanced reporting on military recruiting.

Carol Van Houten and Phil Weaver are co-coordinators of the Committee for Countering Military Recruitment. They can be reached at 485-1755 or 343-8548.