Mothers Against the Draft

Parents exercise military opt out

A growing number of parents are opting out of having their children's names, addresses, phone numbers and school records added to military recruiting rolls. Since 2002, as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, school districts have been required to turn over student information to military recruiters and colleges which request those lists, except for the information on students whose parents specifically request not to be included.

The Administration denies that a draft is in the works. But, says Ron Paul, M.D., an eight-term Republican congressman from Texas and a former Air Force surgeon, "You don't listen to what they say, you watch what they do. The Administration says no, but what we've gotten from the Pentagon and elsewhere is yes." Last fall Presidential adviser Karl Rove polled Republican members of Congress on how they felt about the draft. They said they'd support the President.

Uncle Sam wants you. He needs you. He'll bribe you to sign up. He'll strong-arm you to re-enlist. And if that's not enough, he's got a plan to draft you. The Bush administration has sworn that it will never reinstate a draft. But according to an internal Selective Service memo made public under the Freedom of Information Act, the agency's acting director met with two of Rumsfeld's undersecretaries in February 2003 precisely to debate, discuss and ponder a return to the draft.

The Army keeps saying it is planning no return of the draft, but more and more commentators are sensing that the choice for the U.S. government might become withdraw from Iraq or enact a military draft. The Army has already increased the "backdoor draft," announcing that more people in the Individual Ready Reserves – those no longer in uniform and not obligated to train – are going to be called up for duty.

Right now – with both our regular and Reserve soldiers stretched beyond the breaking point – our all-volunteer force is tapping out. If our overseas troop commitments continue at the present rate or climb higher, there won’t be enough Army and Marine grunts to do the job. And thin, overworked units, from Special Forces teams to infantry battalions, lose fights. So the draft – which will include both boys and girls this time around – is a no-brainer in ‘05 and ‘06.

In February, the Army missed its recruiting goal for the first time in nearly five years. The Army missed its March goal by 32 percent while the need for soldiers is on the rise. The United States Armed Services have announced a new plan to solve their recruiting problems – convincing parents to get their children to enlist. At the same time, parents are organizing to ensure the military draft does not return. The battle lines for the bodies of America's youth are beginning to take shape.

Sybil Arum's eighth-grade granddaughter came home this week worried that she was on the verge of being drafted by the military and sent off to war. The reason for her fear was the Department of Education's annual privacy notice, which says contact information for secondary students as young as sixth-graders may be released to military recruiters unless the student, parent or legal guardian requests otherwise.

To counteract anti-war sentiment and beef up forces without reinstating the draft, the Army is spending $8 million to develop and produce advertisements promoting enlistment. Four new commercials aimed at black and Hispanic young people and their parents began running last week.On May 9, the Army plans to triple its effort to reach mothers by adding commercials on Court TV, the Food Network, Oxygen and others.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Staff Sgt. Richard Guzman is on the front lines of one of the U.S. Army's toughest battles in years, and he's not in Iraq. He's an Army recruiter trying to coax young men and women into volunteering to serve at a time when U.S. ground forces are engaged in a bloody guerrilla war halfway around the world. "To me, recruiting used to be easy. Right now, you really have to hunt for those ones who really want to do it (Army service)," said Guzman, who recruits in New York City's Harlem section.

The constant deployments have prompted an outcry from some part-time soldiers who never thought they'd be called away for so long. Members of Congress have said they're worried that the Guard has been strained to the breaking point. And military officials are worried that the number of recruits will continue to slide.

In one sentence, Wayne Fields can tell you why he refuses to enlist in the military: "I don't see any point in this war and I don't want to lose my life over it," the 20-year-old said, referring to the conflict in Iraq. Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, views like Fields' are hurting efforts by one branch of the military to recruit enlistees at a time when military officials say they are badly needed.