Military Liasons

[elfs]

---

Military Liason. A lot of people have been hearing this term a lot in relation to the New Mexico story and wondering what it means. It means the same thing it's meant since WW2: an officer at the local recruiting office whose job it is to go to all of the high schools and liase with the school there, looking for recruits. It's not new, you had one (or at least your school district did) when you went to school, if you were in the U.S.

Of what you should be aware is the new powers military liasons acquired in the past four years. Ever since the Vietnam war, some schools have balked at allowing recruitment and JROTC projects on their campuses, and some school districts have had policies restricting the activities of military liasons on school property.

The No Child Left Behind act changed all that. As Donald Rumsfeld himself wrote in a letter to every school administrator in the U.S., "Congress passed legislation that requires high schools to provide military recruiters access to secondary school students and directory information on those students. Military recruiters are entitled to receive the name, address, and telephone listing of juniors and seniors in high schools."

If you do not want military recruiters sniffing around your kids, there is a simple way to do it. The ACLU has some sample opt-out forms that allow you to invoke Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act and keep your kids records out of the hands of recruiters.