On a Friday afternoon the 17th of November, 17-year-old high school seniors Robert Day and Samuel Parker decided to act after Day overheard some teachers at Pepperell High School saying that first thing Monday morning the school's juniors would be made to take the ASVAB military aptitude test. Often administered under the guise of a career aptitude test, the ASVAB's purpose is to better equip the State to prey on young people tricked or pressured into taking the test.

At least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005, according to records obtained by the AP under dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests. That's significantly more than the handful of cases disclosed in the past decade.

Parents and teachers are complaining that the latest issue of a popular magazine for preteens amounts to little more than an early recruitment pitch for the Army. Cobblestone magazine, which is put out by Carus Publishing in Peterborough, is aimed at children ages 9-14 and is distributed nationwide to schools and libraries. Its latest issue features a cover photo of a soldier in Iraq clutching a machine gun and articles on what it‘s like to go through boot camp, a rundown of the Army‘s "awesome arsenal" and a detailed description of Army career opportunities.

William A. Chatfield knows of about 1 million young men who are committing a felony, but he doesn't want the government to put them in jail. As director of the Selective Service System, it's Mr. Chatfield's job to persuade men 18 to 25 to register with the government in the event they are needed for a wartime draft. He's got 15.8 million names now.

Fresh from proms and final exams, they have made the life-changing decision to volunteer for the Army, They will be welcomed into a military that has struggled lately to fill its ranks. Last year, the Army missed its goal of enlisting 80,000 active-duty soldiers by 6,627--the largest shortfall since 1979. Enlistment of both African-Americans and women has particularly suffered in recent years.

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks.

Six New York teen-agers sued Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld on Monday, alleging the U.S. Department of Defense broke the law by keeping an extensive database on potential recruits.

"When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, `Well, that isn't going to happen,"' said Paul Guinther, Jared's father. "I told my wife not to worry about it. They're not going to take anybody in the service who's autistic." But they did.

High schools, long a key target for military recruiters, are placing more limits on recruiters' access to students because of parents' complaints. A growing number of schools throughout the country have set limits over the past year, including two of Arizona's biggest school districts. The changes come after parents complained that recruiters were overzealous or were on campus too often.