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According to data provided by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), there are 1,871 military shooting programs in American high schools.
New Campaign: Shut Down High School Marksmanship Programs!
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS, where Nik Cruz attended, practice in the school's shooting range. We have an opportunity to put an end to military high school marksmanship programs and firing ranges. We will have activists send thousands of emails to state legislators, calling on them to support legislation to ban high school shooting programs. Please sign the petition to shut down firing ranges in American high schools! Your message will be sent to your state legislators. We must get people to connect the dots between gun violence and militarism. 
Here’s some background.
The Army taught Florida gunman Nikolas Cruz how to shoot a lethal weapon in his high school cafeteria when he was 14. Nik was a member of the school’s JROTC program. Militarism is a contributing cause of gun violence in America. Nearly 2,000 high schools offer marksmanship programs to students enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers' Corps (JROTC) program. These shooting programs don’t belong in our schools! JROTC courses, which often substitute for core curriculum subjects, are taught by retired soldiers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines who often do not have college credentials. We will stop this! Wars start in high school cafeterias where military recruiters forge relationships with kids during lunch! After lunch the same cafeterias are often transformed into shooting ranges and the numbers are growing exponentially. The marksmanship programs typically use CO2-powered long rifles that shoot .177 caliber lead pellets at speeds up to 600 feet per second. Please send the petition. We’re going to shut down these shooting programs and high school firing ranges across the country. Next steps: Countering militarism in our schools has always been a strategic blind spot for the anti-war movement. The idea of weapons practice in the schools is despicable and represents the lowest lying fruit for our picking. Our goal within two years is for activists in a half-dozen states to succeed in having their state representatives introduce legislation to ban military marksmanship programs in the high schools. We can do this. We’ll participate in an online campaign that will encourage activists to send the petition and to follow it up in a week with a separate email to their legislators. After another week, if activists have not received a response from their local lawmakers, they will be encouraged to call their representatives, using our talking points. We will promote the Shut Down High School Marksmanship Program campaign with frequent stories in the progressive media and an accompanying robust letter-writing campaign directed at editors of local and statewide news outlets. These letters should be “open letters” to the regional Recruiting Battalion Commander and the local Military Entrance Processing Station Commander The letters should not be political. Activists will be asked to stick to the script, ”Get the guns out of the schools, now!” This campaign will not concentrate on the removal of all military programs from the high schools. Too many of our allies in the counter-recruitment movement feel that calling for the removal of all JROTC programs from the schools would be counter-productive. We can expect furious opposition from the NRA, the CMP, and the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command. Bring it on. We believe we have the American public on our side. More on high school firing ranges GI Nick Cruz Opt-Out Campaign
The military collects the names, addresses, and phone numbers of our children from the local high schools. However, the law says parents have the right to “opt-out” from having their child’s information sent to recruiters. High schools are supposed to tell parents they have this right, but many fail to do so. Consequently, many parents don’t know what’s going on, while the Pentagon collects their child’s information. Parents must be afforded the right to say they don’t want their child’s information given to the Pentagon. See Opt-out ============ 
Propaganda from CACI: What single High School activity today is responsible for dramatically changing the lives of so many? Where are HS students learning valuable lessons in leadership, integrity, honesty, commitment, citizenship, and respect? And where are instructors using dynamic methods of teaching, focusing on the way students learn and applying those skills in and out of the classroom? The answer?
======================= The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is the military's enlistment test. It is given to 700,000 children in more than 12,000 high schools. The military parades it as some sort of "Career Exploration Program" while DOD regulations say its purpose it to produce leads for recruiters. More on the ASVAB
=========== Pentagon Recruiting Playbook Revealed
By Pat Elder July 15, 2017 Ominous developments in three states this summer - Oregon, Texas, New Jersey, and one city - Chicago, provide a glimpse into the Pentagon’s new playbook to recruit soldiers from high schools across the country. In brief, the military has been engaged in a robust lobbying campaign to lower academic standards to make it easier to recruit youth. New recruits have long been required to hold a high school diploma or a GED certificate. This requirement is a major impediment to finding enough soldiers to meet annual targets, but even when struggling students barely manage to graduate, the Pentagon has developed a plan to marshal more of them into the military. 
The Oregon Department of Education recently endorsed the Oregon National Guard’s Credit Proficiency Program for use in high schools across the state. The program gives juniors and seniors the chance to earn academic credits while training for military service at Oregon National Guard facilities. The program is expected to cut the state’s drop-out rate while increasing the on-time graduation rate. In 2015 Oregon’s 74.8% graduation rate was the third lowest in the country.
Under the program, if a senior in high school realizes a few weeks before graduation that he doesn’t have enough credits to graduate, he could enlist, go to Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training (AIT), and those pesky graduation requirements are satisfied. Some are even allowed to walk with their graduating class. Juniors may enlist in a split training program by attending Basic Training for 11 weeks in the summer to earn high school credits, returning to school as a senior, graduating, and then attending AIT. Press reports announcing the Oregon Department of Education’s endorsement of the military program have repeated the blatant lie that “some school systems have taken a stance against allowing military recruiters to be active on their campuses.” There is no record of a single public high school in Oregon that forbids military recruiters. To do so would jeopardize federal funding. 
In New Jersey, where students must pass senior year exit exams to graduate, school officials will allow seniors to earn a diploma if they can manage a score of a 31 on the military’s enlistment test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB. A 31 on the ASVAB is the lowest score the Army will allow. It is equivalent to an 8th-grade mastery of English and Math.
DOD regulations say recruits must be high school graduates or GED-holders. Remember Dylan’s: “Join the army, if you fail!” Now, it’s: “Join the Army; we’ll make sure you pass, ‘Cause that’s the way we’ll get your _ss.” Military planners have long complained that too many high school dropouts were precluded from becoming soldiers. There were 8,000 high school drop outs in New Jersey alone in 2016. Meanwhile, New Jersey has an 89% on-time graduation rate. Allowing students to score a 31 on the ASVAB may be expected to help with drop out and graduation rates while significantly lowering standards. Nationally, the “status dropout rate” stood at 5.9 percent in 2015. The "status dropout rate" is the percentage of 16-to 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or a GED). This group is of keen interest to the recruiting command. Relaxing high school graduation standards will help to ease the current crisis in recruiting. This is part of the Pentagon’s game plan in all fifty states. 
The Texas Legislature recently passed a law, SB 1843, that requires all high schools in Texas to offer the ASVAB Career Exploration Program, “or a similar vocational aptitude test.” The Army’s recruiting commander in Dallas led the successful lobbying campaign. The alternative aptitude test “must assess aptitude for success without college, be free to administer, require minimal support and training from school faculty, and provide a professional interpretation of the results.” The ASVAB is the only instrument that meets the bill. Soon, nearly all high school students in Texas will be required to take the military’s 3-hour enlistment test.
Recruiters receive ASVAB scores, social security numbers, and detailed demographic information through the administration of the test. At first blush, however, it appears that if the ASVAB becomes an officially mandated testing requirement, “It would mean that the military would be acting as an agent for the school and would thus have to comply with laws protecting pupil privacy (e.g., provisions of FERPA and NCLB/ESEA),” explained Rick Jahnkow of Project YANO in San Diego. The ASVAB Career Exploration Program, therefore, could only be administered as a graduation requirement if it is given under ASVAB Release Option 8, meaning that results cannot be provided to recruitment services. Otherwise, parents would have to give written permission to release the test data to recruiters. ASVAB results are currently the only student information leaving American schools without first providing for parental consent. Meanwhile, The Pentagon refuses to sign on to the Student Privacy Pledge, an effort to safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information. Another Texas law, SB 1152 allows high school students to receive up to four excused absences from school when pursuing enlistment in any branch of the armed services and it provides for an additional opportunity to take the ASVAB at Military Entrance Processing Stations. 
Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school system in the country with nearly 400,000 students, will withhold high school diplomas unless students have a job, college, or military plans lined up. The program, Learn. Plan. Succeed will require students to meet at least one of the following requirements in addition to regular credit requirements, to graduate:
The United States Military Entrance Processing Command is having trouble finding enough recruits so they’ve turned to working with legislators and school officials to approve laws and policies that’ll make it easier to find new soldiers. Oregon will allow those who cannot graduate to complete coursework through military service. New Jersey will allow kids with abysmal academic records to graduate if they can pass a military exam that requires them to have an 8th-grade education. Texas kids will have to take the military’s enlistment test and they’ll get four excused absences for exploring military careers. In Chicago, even if students meet the academic requirements to graduate, a program requiring additional hoops is likely to funnel large numbers to recruiters. It’s time for a national discussion on military recruitment, something not likely to happen while the media moguls continue to ignore this important story. "Look out kid; you're gonna get hit." SkoolLive - An interactive digital invasion of our high schools by corporations and the military.
A plan by upstart SkoolLive LLC of Fallbrook, CA to install thousands of giant 6-foot I-phones with flashing, screaming, streaming interactive screens in high school hallways across the country will allow the military to collect student data by circumventing state and federal student privacy protections. More ======================= Complaint filed with EPA over alleged safety violations concerning school firing range in Flint, Michigan
On January 25, 2016, the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy filed a complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the Northwestern High School Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Program operating in Flint, Michigan. The complaint alleges that the high school fails to protect the health and safety of students as evidenced by the photo shown here. The EPA has dismissed the complaint. More 
STATE ASVAB DATA
Click below to access your state’s ASVAB statistics. The database includes the name and location of 11,700 schools administering the test, along with the most current test date, the total of those who took the test, a breakdown by grade, and the release option chosen. The data covers the 2012-2013 school year. We're waiting for the results of our most recent FOIA request. Click Here to access your state’s ASVAB data. ========================================== 
Privacy Advocates Release “Parent Toolkit” for Student Privacy
Amid growing concerns about data privacy and surveillance, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (PCSP) and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) have created an important resource for parents to understand and safeguard students’ personal information. The Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy: A Practical Guide for Protecting Your Child’s Sensitive School Data from Snoops, Hackers, and Marketers is a vital resource in an age where nearly all school records are stored digitally, and where learning, homework, and administrative tasks are increasingly conducted online. The Parent Toolkit includes advice regarding overly aggressive military recruiters. For instance, the toolkit states, “When Tommy is a sophomore or junior, his private information may be shared with military recruiters unless his parents revoke their permission in writing. Regardless, his school may administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam and release his results to recruiters.” The toolkit contains an opt-out form and advises parents to talk to their kids about military recruiters who visit their school. Download the Parent Toolkit. 
Privacy Advocates Release “Parent
Toolkit” for Student Privacy Amid growing concerns about data privacy and surveillance, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (PCSP) and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) have created an important resource for parents to understand and safeguard students’ personal information. The Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy: A Practical Guide for Protecting Your Child’s Sensitive School Data from Snoops, Hackers, and Marketers is a vital resource in an age where nearly all school records are stored digitally, and where learning, homework, and administrative tasks are increasingly conducted online. The Parent Toolkit includes advice regarding overly aggressive military recruiters. For instance, the toolkit states, “When Tommy is a sophomore or junior, his private information may be shared with military recruiters unless his parents revoke their permission in writing. Regardless, his school may administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exam and release his results to recruiters.” The toolkit contains an opt-out form and advises parents to talk to their kids about military recruiters who visit their school. Download the Parent Toolkit. ========================================== 
Military Whitewash Campaign Kills Student Privacy Bill in Connecticut A bill that would have protected the privacy of Connecticut's schoolchildren was defeated in May largely due to a misinformation campaign by the military recruiting command. Read More ============================== 
"School officials encourage students to take the test under the belief that the
purpose of the ASVAB is to assist students in exploring their various career options. We do not object to the administration of the ASVAB test; however, the distribution of the enormous amount of data collected on the ASVAB to military recruiters is a serious infringement on the privacy rights of those students." More |
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JROTC Shooting Programs Contaminate Our High Schools with Lead. ======================= DOD Releases ASVAB Data
The military administered its enlistment test to 701,284 high school students in 12,894 high schools during the 2015-2016 school year. Of the 602,289 juniors and seniors who took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), 23.7% were tested under ASVAB Release Option 8. This means three hours of test results, sensitive demographic information children provide, along with their social security numbers, weren’t released to recruiters. It also means that more than three-quarters of the kids who took the ASVAB had their results provided to recruiters who use them to craft a sophisticated psychological approach for first contact. We have created a spreadsheet showing the testing totals for the entire US and an analysis of each state's data. Only schools are allowed to select release options for children, so students in the southeast are much more likely to have their results sent to recruiters than kids in the northeast. ASVAB test results are the only student information leaving American schools without requiring parental consent. The military maintains that ASVAB results are not protected under the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) because they are not educational records. Instead, they argue, these are military records, because the military proctors the test. The entire program is a charade. It is marketed in the schools as a “Career Exploration Program” while military regulations clearly say the purpose of the test is to procure leads for recruiters. Nonetheless, school counselors push the test. The military reports that 1,073 high schools required 47,157 children to take their enlistment test, typically without parental knowledge or consent. Meanwhile, the data suggests many more are being forced to submit to the testing regime than are being reported. Three states (HI, MD, NH) have regulations mandating the universal selection of Option 8, protecting the privacy of their students. The Mattis DOD dragged its feet on the release of the data. Special thanks to Rep. Steny Hoyer, (D-MD) who worked for its release! The data on military testing in US high schools was received in March, 2018 from Brandon J. Gaylord, Senior Advisor, Washington Headquarters Services, Executive Services Directorate, The Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Staff, FOIA Requester Service Center. See the ASVAB Data Here ============================== 
The U.S. military is able to circumvent federal privacy laws that prohibit schools from releasing student information to the military. They use giant, interactive video screens to prompt high school students to upload their private information. Federal law says mom and dad are supposed to provide their consent. More 
A right you do not learn about - or find any means to act on - is not a right at all! We must make the process of opting out mandatory for all parents! ================== Here's something pretty simple you can do. Please click here to send an email to your state legislators and governor. ================== Please consider Using this template to send a letter to your local or state school officials. ===============================  Military recruiters chill in the high schools.
More Avenues of Resistance Send an email to your school officials about military testing. Green Party Platform Military Documents Legislative Resources Opt out, JAMRS & ASVAB Child Soldiers Protocol Articles ASVAB in the news 
Military Recruiting in the United States, a book by Pat Elder, provides a penetrating description of the deceptive practices of the U.S. military as it recruits American youth into the armed forces. The book describes how recruiters manage to convince youth to enlist. It details a sophisticated psy-ops campaign directed at children.
Elder describes how the military encourages first-person shooter games and places firearms into the hands of thousands using the schools, its JROTC programs, and the Civilian Marksmanship Program to inculcate youth with a reverence for guns. The book reveals how indoor shooting ranges in schools are threatening the health of children and school staff through exposure to lead particulate matter. The book examines the disturbing, nurturing role of the Catholic Church in recruiting youth. It surveys the wholesale military censorship of Hollywood films, pervasive military testing in the high schools, and an explosion of military programs directed toward youth. Click to Order at no-profit cost of $8 (Don't Bogart this book. Read it, take notes, and pass it on.) 
The Military Turns to YouTube for Recruiting Like President Trump who regularly tweets messages to his audience, the Army's Recruiting Command has an "alternative" channel to communicate with potential recruits. Enter Archie Masibay, SGT,US Army. SGT Masibay, AKA Archiezzle, burst upon the world of video recruiting in early 2016, part of a virtual platoon of soldiers in the recruiting command. The Staff Sergeant turned recruiter has produced 430 videos on YouTube with 18 million views and 37,000 subscribers. Are the sergeant's frequent explanations of recruiting policy to be regarded as official pronouncements? For instance, the news that the Army will now be accepting soldiers who score a 21 on the ASVAB enlistment test is a radical departure from the past that is sure to send shock waves throughout the Army and American society. Is this for real? Archie says, "My opinions in my videos about the US Army and the military as a whole does not represent anyone. They are my own based on experience. My Goal here on YouTube is to release my creativity and thoughts about life and military." This is absurd but keeps in step with the military's over-the-top deceptive recruiting practices. How, exactly, does an active-duty recruiter find the time to produce this massive volume of meticulously researched work? Many of these videos feature active-duty soldiers during their performance of military duties on military installations. According to DOD Instruction 1325.06 that regulates this kind of activity, a service member's right of expression should be preserved to the maximum extent possible, subject to limitations involving the following provisions: (1) Solicitation; (2) Contempt toward officials; (3) Disrespect toward a superior commissioned officer; (4) Insubordinate conduct toward a warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer; (5) Failure to obey an order or regulation; (6) Improper use of a countersign; (7) Aiding the enemy; (8) Provoking speeches or gestures. Archie seems to be toeing the line, and so are the others in his virtual platoon. When Kyle Gott, active duty Air Force, stars in a video "8 Lies & 2 Truths about 4 vs 6 year contracts" are we expected to believe these are his own views, perhaps out on a limb, at least somewhat protected by the First Amendment? Or, is he a shill for the United States Military Processing Command? Gott has 97,000 subscribers. In one video, Air Force Kyle takes the MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) cracker challenge from Army Archie, which involves trying to eat two large, dry crackers within two minutes. Kyle couldn't do it. It is entertaining stuff. Kyle is a great performer and sharp as a tack. The videos are professionally produced, fun to watch. Thousands of these videos have been produced in the last year with millions of viewers. DOD regulations are pretty clear, "No commander should be indifferent to conduct that, if allowed to proceed unchecked, would destroy the effectiveness of his or her unit." These videos, it stands to reason, are officially sanctioned. Furthermore, it is ludicrous to think this volume of high quality film is the result of the independent work of individual soldiers during their spare time. Every second of every video, including all images, gestures, words, and underlying meanings are carefully vetted by the recruiting command. The military has been studying this new battleground by learning from the most successful vloggers in the business. For instance, Mark Dice reported in late 2016 that theUS Special Operations Command, which is involved in psychological warfare, wanted to send a team of researchers to spend several days with him to learn the secrets to his success. Dice has a million subscribers on his Facebook Channel. He declined and lampooned the military's request. This is what military propaganda looks like. According to Archie's Facebook Page, the film star is "a combat medic at the United States Army." His military occupational specialty matches that of Roy Lacroix, the Special Forces medic deployed in fictional Czervenia. SGT Lacroix is the hero of the America's Army Comic Book. The Army pays handsomely to the brightest minds on Madison Avenue to come up with this stuff. Archie exhorts his viewers on YouTube to "Smash that Mother F*ing "Like" button!" His wife, who frequently joins him, uses the F-word frequently. She says the drill instructors at boot camp were understanding when she showed fatigue while she was having her period. Archie keeps an impressive and exhaustive Military Vlog. The address accompanying his work is 2411 Empire Ave. Suite 104 Brentwood CA, the site of the Brentwood Army Recruiting Station. He announced in late 2016 that he was a military recruiter. Archie is featured in a video, "Opinion on Donald Trump Becoming President," published the day after the election, in which he says, "I don't think Trump is going to send us to war. I think he is going to work on the economy of the country." The recruiting command is reacting to widespread perceptions that youth are increasingly unwilling to enlist due to concerns about Trump. Archie says, "Trump doesn't look like a warrior. He won't want to see anybody's blood shed." Another Archie video, "Should I Join the Military While Trump is President?" has 29,000 views and 437 comments. Archie's short answer to the question is "yes." The comments read as an advertisement for military service. The random negative comments are professionally countered. The Army is in unfamiliar territory here. They're operating in a field they don't entirely control. Groups of activists could upset the apple cart with sharp commentary. The Army doesn't control YouTube and it doesn't control Facebook. They're vulnerable. Stopping them requires organized virtual resistance, the kind that helped shut down the Army Experience Center and its Facebook page in 2010. Overall, the comments on Archie's videos provide insight into how the marketing gurus and the Army brass think the Army needs to pitch recruitment. "Trump is the reason I joined," Trump is not racist," and, "I'd be having second thoughts if Hillary was elected." Archie dedicates a video to discussing the chances of getting killed while in the Army. He says, "It really depends on the job that you pick," but he fails to mention that the Army can change a soldier's job description without notice. The individual services have each produced large volumes of videos. They all exhibit similar graphic designs and themes. Archie has one video, “Can You Jerk off in Army Basic Training? that advises new recruits to masturbate discretely and to hide the evidence. Perhaps the Army is concerned numbers of soldiers were holding back from enlisting because of this. The individual services have each produced large volumes of videos. They all exhibit similar graphic designs and themes. Eboni and Germaine pitch enlistment for the all services, particularly the Air Force, and they've also produced a video, "Serving in the Military with Donald Trump as President." The video tells viewers not to worry about Trump and a host of comments echo that view. JTsuits produces Navy recruitment videos. In January of 2016, when the onslaught of military recruitment videos ensued, JT released, "Channel Trailer to End All Channel Trailers." In it, JT says, "Here at JT Suits, we're a family-run business and it's my goal to bring you the finest video on the internet." JTsuit's You Tube channel carries links to many of the others. Here's a sampling: Nava the Beast is an active-duty Marine with 75,000 subscribers. He says he gets up in the morning at 3:00 am to make the videos, despite everyone telling him he shouldn't. Gott Love features Kyle Gott, and Makenna, his civilian wife. They also started daily vlogging in January of 2016. They've got 44,000 subscribers. They provide a light-hearted and exciting glimpse of military life and the leisure time it provides. Wild Blue Yonder from the Air Force has 201 videos with 19,000 subscribers. Nicky NGTV has produced at least 61 videos for the Navy with 3,500 subscribers. Just Yoon is a Korean-American who pitches the Navy with 400 videos and 6,500 subscribers. *** And what about Archie's claim that the Army will now be accepting soldiers who score a 21 on the ASVAB enlistment test? The lowest acceptable score for entry into the Army has been a 31 on the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), which is used in determining the AFQT, or Armed Forces Qualification Test. According to the ASVAB Concordance Table widely distributed by the US Military Entrance Processing Command in high schools across the county, a score of a 31 on the ASVAB equates to a 690 on the combined critical reading and math sections of the SAT. A 21 on the ASVAB matches up with a 600 combined SAT score. Meanwhile, Prep Scholar has published an SAT Score to GPA Conversion Table. The table shows that a perfect score of a 1600 aligns with a perfect GPA of 4.0. A 690 matches up with a high school GPA of 1.27, while a 600 represents the bottom of the chart with a 0.00 GPA. It ain't good. According to Dr. Fred Zhang of Prep Scholar, a 700 is the median 8th grade combined score on the SAT, meaning the Army's minimum ASVAB score of 31 is equivalent to the performance of a below-average 8th grader. New Jersey and New Mexico allow high school students to graduate if they score a 31 on the ASVAB, which they use as an exit exam. Because the military uses secret "weighted scores" of the ASVAB sub-tests, it's impossible to exactly calibrate the grade-level of someone who scores a 21, although a 21 is equivalent to about a 4th - 5th -grade level. Archie explains the ten-point drop in ASVAB scores used to determine eligibility for enlistment. "It went from 31 to 21. The reason being -- There is an increase in mission for US Army recruiting. I'm a recruiter and I received this news a few days ago (published 3/4/17). I knew it before it was publicized. I'm not an official Army spokesperson, but we're gearing up again, for what I don't know." Archie elaborated in a follow-up video, "If you score a 21 you must at least be a high school graduate." The military's announcement in November 2016 that it is reviewing a host of enlistment standards demonstrates the extraordinarily difficult time the Pentagon is having to fill its ranks. It is looking at loosening requirements regarding fitness, weight, tattoos, pot use, and the enlistment of single parents. The Pentagon's difficulty in recruiting reflects the apparent recruiting-age public's souring of the prospect of military service under Trump. It also underscores the success of the national movement in countering the aggressive and deceptive recruitment of the nation's youth. Lowering ASVAB scores may open the floodgates for soldiers. Accepting scores as low as a 21, the bottom of Enlistment Category IV-A, the Army is in more unfamiliar territory, this one that overlaps with a host of general learning disabilities, what we once called mental retardation, characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. It's time for a national discussion on military recruiting in the United States. Military Releases
High School Testing Data Data released by the Department of Defense to the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy on August 1, 2016 shows the military administered the ASVAB to nearly 700,000 students in 12,000 high schools during the 2013-14 school year, a 2% increase over the prior year. According to the data, 81% of the Juniors and Seniors who took the ASVAB during the 2013-2014 school year had their results sent to recruiters without their parents’ consent. School officials blocked the release of test results to recruiters for the remaining 19%. The data identifies 900 schools that require students to take the test, although the number is actually much larger, considering the large number of schools that tested several hundred students. Click here to see the massive database, arranged by states and names of high schools. “Students do not leave their constitutional rights behind when they walk through the schoolhouse door. Students and parents in Connecticut deserve better protections for the sensitive information that the ASVAB test collects. We hope that this new data will inspire our state to take up meaningful changes to safeguard students’ private information.” - David McGuire, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. 
= ASVAB Game Changer
Military re-writes regulations to control damage and create new recruiting opportunities The recent changes made by the US Military Entrance Processing Command to Regulation 601-4, Personnel Procurement Student Testing Program, are very significant to the work we've been doing for years. With the revisions, If a release option isn’t selected by school officials, MEPS must now contact the school to determine the release option. If no option is received from the school, the test will be scored using Option 8. All MEPS scheduling communications with schools will include a listing of all release options. At first glance it seemed our activism had resulted in a victory, but upon closer examination, it’s apparent the military is adjusting its strategy to a changing landscape. More ================= 
New Law Changes Opt-Out
Minors must rely on parents to be removed from H.S. lists being forwarded to military recruiters. In 2015 Congress re-wrote section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that provided for parents to “opt-out” of lists of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of students being forwarded by high schools to military recruiters. That legislation also allowed under-18 students to opt themselves out. When the law was passed in 2002 it contradicted FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA only provided rights to students over the age of 18. Schools were often confused. Some allowed minors to opt out by themselves and some did not. Perhaps because of this discrepancy, Congress re-visited the legislation in 2015, calling the new law the Every Child Succeeds Act, (ESSA). Section 8025 of the new law removed the right of underage students to opt themselves out. There has always been confusion from parents and activists across the country regarding how to remove a child’s information from lists being forwarded to the Pentagon. Both NCLB and ESSA require schools to “notify the parents of the students served by the agency of the option to make a request.” Nothing in either statute describes exactly how a school system is supposed to notify parents or identifies a particular form for accomplishing the task of opting out. Some systems were immediately proactive, produced an opt-out form, and made it available to parents. Others ignored the law. The ESSA law says a parent of a secondary school student may submit a written request to the school that the student’s “name, address, and telephone listing” not be released to military recruiters. Upon receiving such request, the school is prohibited from releasing the information to recruiters. See Section 8025 of ESSA. Colorado’s Weld County School District uses an opt-out form that dates back to 2008. The form is very simple and it works for the new legislation. It has parents check a box and sign a statement that says, “Do not disclose my child’s name, address, telephone number or directory information to any United State military recruiter.” The form also includes spaces for the child’s name and date. That’s it. A simple email to the principal or the child’s guidance counselor stating a parent’s desire to withhold student information from recruiters is sufficient. We have also prepared a simple form for you to use here. |
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"School officials encourage students to take the test under the belief that the purpose of the ASVAB is to assist students in exploring their various career options. We do not object to the administration of the ASVAB test; however, the distribution of the enormous amount of data collected on the ASVAB to military recruiters is a serious infringement on the privacy rights of those students." More ================== 
"By not selecting Option 8 when it administers the ASVAB, the School District is violating not only
statutory rights, it is also violating constitutional rights." L.A. Chapter, 2005. ================= Remember the 4th Amendment! 
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
An illegal search occurs when an expectation of privacy that society considers reasonable is infringed by a governmental employee or by an agent of the government. More 
Child Soldiers International is concerned by a range of American recruitment policies and practices that undermine the safeguards contained in article 3.3 of OPAC, in particular with regards to the voluntary nature of underage recruitment, the right to privacy of children and the requirement of prior consent of parents (or legal guardians). Child Soldiers International is also concerned by the extensive access to schools and students’ information by the US military, which suggests that the US government is pursuing the active recruitment of under-18s.
See discussion beginning on Page 10. More |
Is ASVAB useful in predicting
success in college - or not? The official ASVAB website says the test does a poor job as a predictor of success for students who desire to go to college. The DOD site admits that the ASVAB is an improper substitute for the ACT or SAT because "the ASVAB is designed to predict success in the military.” From the website: "Why can’t I use my ACT or SAT score to enter the military? "The ASVAB is designed for a different purpose than the ACT and SAT. The ASVAB is designed to predict success in the military, while the ACT and SAT are designed to predict success in college. As a result, the content of the ASVAB is different from the content of the ACT and SAT, and different examinee populations take the ASVAB and ACT and SAT tests. Therefore, performance on the ACT or SAT is not necessarily a very good substitute for performance on the ASVAB, or vice versa." In contrast to the above, examine this snippet fed to schools to promote the ASVAB to students, "Whether you’re planning on college, a technical school, or you’re just not sure yet, the ASVAB Career Exploration Program can provide you with important information about your skills, abilities and interests – and help put you on the right course for a satisfying career. See your counselor for more information." =========================================================== 
Outgoing Recruiting Commander Admits ASVAB is Losing Popularity in the Nation's Schools
In one of his last public comments regarding ASVAB testing, departing US Army Recruiting Commander Maj. Gen. Allen Batschelet admitted the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is losing its popularity in the nation’s high schools. “We’re seeing an increasing trend with schools shutting us out from access or making access pretty restricted,” Batschelet said. “Schools are either choosing to not administer the ASVAB or withholding results from recruiters.” “There are unintended consequences, Batschelet explained, “because we think it is indirectly sending the signal that service to country in the military is not an honorable profession or something to which you should aspire.” Batschelet is drawing the wrong conclusions to explain the test’s unpopularity. Sorry, general. It’s the privacy! School officials are discerning the malfeasance of the ASVAB testing program and parents feel they should be entitled to make decisions regarding the release of their children’s personal information, rather than the recruiting command! ======================================
Why work against military recruiting?
The Department of Defense is in desperate need of reform. There’s just not a lot of truly visionary thinking going on between those shaved temples in the minds of the men who run the recruiting command. American society has undergone revolutionary change in the last generation but the Pentagon is very, very slow to catch on and they’re deservedly suffering the consequence for their reactionary stances on the most pressing issues they face. They talk the talk but little changes. The tide is turning and the recruiting command is seriously feeling the pinch. As long as the US Military Entrance Processing Command sees us and others who seek reform as threats and enemies of the state, there's little chance despicable conditions in the chain of command will improve. We are their brothers and sisters and we also love this country, although we view things very differently... Consider the startling statistic that there have been more than 20,000 deserters in the Army alone during the period from 2006 to 2014. Desertion is so common the military often looks the other way. The Army has pursued just 1,900 cases of desertion since 2001, and most of these prosecutions have resulted in little more than a slap on the wrist. Desertions are just one manifestation of a dysfunctional American military. The overwhelming majority of Americans who are ripe for military service aren’t interested or don’t qualify. The recruiting command is experiencing its greatest crisis since the end of the draft in 1973, although most Americans are oblivious. Dropouts The military's marketing pitch sounds pretty enticing but 15 percent of all enlistees don't make it through initial-entry training, and another 25 percent leave during their first permanent duty assignment in the operational Army. The means 40% of all Army enlistees never complete their first term. (2) The U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command is headed for a calamity on many fronts. More. ============================================= New Hampshire Passes
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State-by-State Snapshot
of ASVAB Testing This spreadsheet, with statistics from all 50 states and territories, was compiled using data released by the Freedom of Information Office of the Secretary of Defense in December of 2013. DOWNLOAD ================
The database was released after a protracted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. It is full of inaccuracies, omissions, and contradictions.
Read more 
The American Public Health Association calls for cessation of ASVAB testing for recruiting purposes.
Nothing in the Recruiter's manual advises recruiters to reveal the risks their prospects face, neither the physical hazards on the battlefield nor the psychological trauma and its aftereffects." More U.N. calls on US to stop mandatory military testing
In early 2013 The UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the Obama Administration to "Ensure that schools, parents and pupils are made aware of the voluntary nature of the ASVAB before consenting to the participation into it."
See Concluding Observations IV 21 (c) Recruiting & Testing in the Parochial Schools
Summer is the season for high school football practice. Two years ago, the players at Central Catholic High School in Portland, Ore., got a different kind of coaching. For the first time, U.S. Army recruiters volunteered to run Central Catholics’ Rams through their strength and conditioning paces—helping them prepare for the annual “Holy War” match-up against arch-rival Jesuit High School. According to an article in the Recruiter Journal (the monthly magazine for Army recruiting), the Army “footprint” for the big game included a Humvee parked outside the stadium, and a pre-kickoff event in which local recruiters placed “unit patch decals from various Army divisions” onto players’ helmets. “Not once at practice did we talk about the Army,” said one of the recruiters. “It wasn’t about the Army, it was about how we can integrate ourselves into the community in a way the community will accept us and not feel like we are a threat.” In 2014, one of Central Catholic’s standout players was selected to participate in the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a national football showcase which has been described as both the “crown jewel” in Army marketing strategy and a “springboard to bolster recruiting efforts.” Each year, a different coach is selected to lead the squad of the nation’s top high school players, and in 2013 the squad was led by a man who by then was quite well known in Army recruiting circles: Central Catholic’s football coach, Steve Pyne. In recent years, the Pentagon’s military recruiting capabilities have experienced a quantum leap—including unprecedented access to Christian schools. More |
