Parents Question Army 'Recruiting'

By Zsombor Peter
Journal Staff Writer

Hardly a week goes by that Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, a senior at Albuquerque High School, doesn't receive some bit of promotional mail from this or that branch of the U.S. military.

Bruce Trigg, Nathaniel's father, thought the form he signed barring Albuquerque High from sharing the family's contact information with recruiters would at least spare his son the school's involvement.

But when a cadre of uniformed Army officers showed up last week for a mandatory assembly on how to choose the right goals in life, he changed his mind.

The Army and school insist the assembly was not a recruitment drive. But some Albuquerque High parents say it was just that, only "thinly veiled" in the guise of a motivational talk to get around limits on student access.

They want the district to let students opt out of such assemblies and give groups that promote alternatives to military service an equal stage.

"I support the Army," said Jill Gatwood, whose son and daughter attend Albuquerque High. "The National Guard in particular can do some good things."

"The issue to me," she wrote on Duke City Fix, a Web site for public discourse on issues affecting Albuquerque, "is the dishonesty and the hidden agenda.

"If parents or students sign an opt-out form to keep the recruiters away, the public school should ... not sponsor mandatory assemblies to give recruiters access to students as a captive audience."

"It's manipulative and dishonest," Trigg agreed. "Who are they kidding?"

The Army actually did not run the assembly. That job fell to Planning for Life, which also visited three other high schools this semester: Highland, Manzano and Rio Grande.

On its Web site, the group says it is "a toolkit that helps students like you to better prepare— academically, physically, emotionally and financially— to further your education and plan for your life."

The only sign of any military tie is a small Army logo in the bottom left corner of the site's home page.

Planning for Life takes a holistic approach to student development, touching on everything from eating right to studying for standardized tests, said Emil Hill of the public relations firm Weber Shandwick. The New York firm represents Planning for Life.

"The Army does this to demonstrate community support," providing a free public service for cash-strapped schools, he said. "It is in no way a recruiting program."
The officers never ask the audience to enlist, Matthews-Trigg said.

"Absolutely no recruiting took place," Gabriel Gonzales, Albuquerque High's activities director, said in his reply to an e-mail from Trigg.

But the Army pays Planning for Life's bills— upward of $3 million a year— out of what Hill called its annual $250 million "advertising" budget.

The Web site for March 2 Success, meanwhile, the free test prep program that Planning for Life promotes and the Army pays for, has tailored four links of frequently asked questions for students, educators, parents— and recruiters.

The site repeatedly notes that students who sign up for the 45-day course have no obligations to the Army, but adds that students can use what they learn to improve their scores on military entrance exams.

It notes that the Army has no plans to release the results of individual students, but adds that results from the course will be used to "develop statistical profiles for the Army."

Gatwood, Trigg and others aren't asking schools to keep recruiters away entirely. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools have no choice, unless they want to forgo their federal funding.

But the law also lets parents request that their children's contact information not be given out if the military asks. Parents like Gatwood and Trigg believe that also should apply to school assemblies.

Hill said the group gives a presentation by invitation only.

In his e-mail to Trigg, Gonzales assured him that the visit was cleared by the district's communications office. Communications Director Rigo Chavez said that never happened.