So how did the military get my unlisted phone number if I opted out

[PA Democrat]

of military recruitment for my teenage son?

My husband answered the phone this morning and it was a Marine recruiter asking to speak to our 17 year old son. He told the recruiter that our son is a minor and that he does not have our permission to speak to him.

What puzzles me is that I have sent the "opt out" letter to school every year since my son has been in high school to instruct the school that they are not to provide my son's personal information to military recruiters.

My husband was in such a hurry to get the guy off the phone that he didn't think to ask him how he got our son's information. I am assuming that the school district screwed up, and I'm also assuming that the recruiter or one from another branch of the military will be calling back.

Anyone else have this experience?

[Fresh_Start]

1. Your son may have completed a contest entry....

the military has been sponsoring 'win an Ipod' type contests to get the names of the students.

[PA Democrat]

6. He says no.

He avoids the recruiters that come to his school like the plague.

[HereSince1628]

2. Another consequence of signing statements: No Child Will Be Left Behind

Toe-the-line...Bush the great father in Washington knows what's best for his children.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Other sources than the school, perhaps?

Has he applied for colleges? Scholarships? Financial aid? Perhaps they, too, needed to get an "opt-out" letter. To apply for any federal financial aid (and most state financial aid), you must supply proof of registration with the Selective Service; maybe the recruiters got your number from that information and decided to pre-emptively draft him?

There are so many possibilities that the whole opt-out option is pointless.

[PA Democrat]

13. None of the above.

He has taken college boards but hasn't applied for anything as of yet. He's not old enough yet to sign up for Selective Service.

I'm just waiting for them to call back. The army just got one of his best friends to sign up under the early enlistment deal they do that requires parental permission. My son was really upset when he found out. He said that the army PROMISED his friend a non-combat job and my son said he warned him that they'll tell you anything to get you to join.

[Recursion]

4. Recruiters get it the same way any sales force does

And with the same flaws in the system. It's very easy to get on a call list and they tend to take care of getting names off them "some time next quarter".

[Mythsaje]

5. Just start asking them...

"How does it feel to recruit teenagers to die in an unnecessary, illegal war?"

That'll probably get them to stop calling.

[Gabi Hayes]

22. and get them an FBI national security letter

that's how paranoid I've become


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366.html

by the same guy who did the Cheney series

also, do you know about the Connecticut librarians?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/homefront/preemption/nsl.html

[porphyrian]

7. Most of the military recruitment junk mail has "add your friends" spaces.

I put my friends names and contact info down as a joke just so they'd have to talk to recruiters. They did the same to me. Fun in the "drink this" vein.

Someone could've done the same for you, either as a joke or to be an ass.

[youngdem]

8. I suspect they care about the opt-out list about as much as the Geneva Conventions

Which, shamefully, is used for toilet paper by this mal-administration.

[PA Democrat]

14. Good point.

They torture children, so why not recruit them without the parents' permission.

[MNDemNY]

9. Unless you "opted out" before your son entered the 9nth grade, it was too late.

[PA Democrat]

11. I did it before he entered 9th grade and every year since.

[MNDemNY]

12. Well then, maybe you need to ask Rove.

[Breeze54]

15. I opted my son out and still got /get calls.

The school was giving away the info, without checking the opt out list, and I had to call
the counselor, who then talked to the secretary, who was sharing the info with the recruiters
and then the counselor also called the recruiter and flat out told them not to call because
my son was on the opt out list. Now that he's graduated, he's gotten two calls and tons of
recruitment mail, cd's, dvd's, credit cards and fliers. They all go in the circular file.
We are moving soon and I'll have the phone number changed then.

You have to renew the opt out form every year. (Not sure if you said you did or not.)

[PA Democrat]

17. Yes, I send a new letter at the start of every school year.

It's just infuriating that the school may have still given his information out after I sent the letters every single year.

The area where I live is very Republican, and when I sent the first letter, the assistant principal called my son down to his office the day they would have received the letter. He told my son he "just wanted to put a face with the name."

At that time all the right-wingers around here were still cheer-leading for the Iraq debacle. Jeez, they should sic the recruiters on their own kids since they just loved Bush's war so much.

[Zookeeper]

18. "face with the name"

That's despicable.

[Breeze54]

19. Maybe you should talk to his counselor, face to face!

When I opted out, they did NOT know what I was talking about!
I had to actually stand there and give them the website and
wait for the secretary to go there and then she printed out
the opt out forms and also accepted my letter. She was very
interested in all the info and thanked me, as she has a son.
But the other secretary there is a ditz! I'm pretty sure she's
the one giving out the info, carte blanche'! The counselor was
a great advocate! Maybe yours would intercede for you too.
Good Luck and change your phone number and only give the
school your cellphone # ! Don't mention the number change!! ;)

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

10. They prolly got it off someplace like "MySpace". Just a guess. n/t

[sandnsea]

16. Your taxes

That would be my guess.

[Zookeeper]

20. I sent the opt-out form in the 9th grade....

My son is in the 10th grade this year and the friendly and misleading letters from the National Guard have been showing up.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Contact your congress rep

NCLB is up for renewal in September and this is one part of it that MUST be removed.

[Gabi Hayes]

23. I'd sue them if you can find out if they broke some sort of reg regarding

the opt out list

make a federal case out of it: PUBLICIZE this. people NEED to know what's happening to their children, and the law needs to be CHANGED

definitely call your congressman/senators, as has been suggested