True Stories of Teen Soldiers by Kristin Thiel

Author:Kristin Thiel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC

race, class, and recruitment

For Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month, interestingly, the activities calendar for the 2004 US recruiter handbook says to “Participate in events as available.” This might be a telling instruction because the military seems to target racial minorities and those from less economically advantaged families. As of 2005, Los Angeles County, California, was the county with the largest number of army recruits, and in Los Angeles Unified School District, the majority of students were nonwhite (91 percent) and low-income (74.8 percent). This pattern repeated in New York City, which included three of the nation’s top counties for army enlistment. The city was 51 percent low-income students, and 71 percent of high school students were black or Latino. The recruiter assigned to Downey High School, where mostly Latino students from working-class families attend, handed out swag emblazoned with “Think of Me As Your New Guidance Counselor.” It becomes a circle: In a 2005 Los Angeles Times article, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command likened military recruitment to any sales job. “If 95 percent of kids in that area go on to college, a recruiter is going to decide where the best market is,” he said, indicating recruiters would not visit that area as often as an area where more students are choosing among other options. “Recruiters need to prioritize.”

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