Fewer students answer the call

Even as the White House and the Pentagon are calling for a "surge" of troops in Iraq, military recruiters say they are doing well in Las Vegas - although numbers indicate that a smaller percentage of Clark County high school students are enlisting compared with previous years.

The percentage of the School District's seniors who chose military service dipped to 3 percent for the class of 2006 from 4.5 percent three years ago. Still, recruiters say, they are filling their quotas and that student interest remains high.

"We've met or exceeded (quotas) for every single month," said Master Sgt. Steven Flak of the Marine Corps' Southern Nevada recruiting unit. "Las Vegas has a lot of young men and women who are qualified and patriotic. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but here we're doing very well."

Among the area's newest recruits is Pfc. Nicky Kaufmann, 18, who joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Chaparral High School in June as her ticket out of town. She has completed boot camp and is headed for additional training in North Carolina.

And then?

"I go wherever they send me," Kaufmann said. "It's going to be the experience of a lifetime. I get to see the world. I can look back and say I didn't live my whole life in Las Vegas."

Lance Cpl. Michael Paaverud, 23, has already spent seven months in Iraq with the Marine Corps, which he joined after recruiters visited his class at Silverado High School.

"It was the best decision of my life," Paaverud said.

Such responses encourage recruiters.

"Everybody in the Marine Corps has a mission - ours is finding motivated people to join," Flak said.

The Marine Corps' five Southern Nevada recruiting offices have a combined goal of 25 new recruits each month, Flak said.

Monetary incentives are never discussed in initial meetings, Flak said. Some recruits, who score especially high on qualifying exams and possess special skills, may be eligible for as much as $10,000, Flak said.

The Nevada Army National Guard's top signing bonus is $20,000, up from $8,000 just two years ago. Recruits who agree to active duty in the Army can receive as much as $40,000.

For some, the lure of money isn't enough. Dominique Harvey, a junior at Silverado, has heard two recruitment pitches on campus since August, and said she wouldn't consider enlisting if it meant going to Iraq.

"I would fight for my country, but not that way," Harvey said.

Joe Sacco, who co-founded the Las Vegas chapter of Project Counter-Recruitment, a national organization that opposes military presence on public school campuses, said he was heartened that a smaller percentage of students are enlisting.

"It's really an indicator that these young people understand more about the politics of war and the United States government's true intentions in the Middle East," Sacco said. "The increased bonuses - that really shows how the military must buy its resources. Hopefully, students and their parents will understand that no amount of money is going to change the risk of losing one's life over there."

The presence of military recruiters at public high schools has been a sore spot for groups such as Sacco's nationwide. But federal courts have held that military recruiters must be provided the same access to students as representatives from colleges, universities and trade schools. The federal No Child Left Behind Act also requires military recruiters be provided with contact information for high school juniors and seniors, although parents can keep their children's information out of recruiters' hands.

Cindy Williams, the principal research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program in Cambridge, Mass., said the Army's latest crop of television advertisements seems aimed more to win the support of parents, coaches and teachers .

The Army's own surveys indicate that it's these adults who hold the most sway when a young person considers enlisting, Williams said.

But some parents are skeptical about allowing the military access to students on campus.

Ken Morgan spent four years in the Air Force and comes from a career military family, but said he's still not comfortable with the idea of military recruiters visiting his sophomore daughter's high school.

"I've got mixed emotions," said Morgan, a battalion chief with the Clark County Fire Department. "I know they have to talk to the kids, they have a job to do. But I don't think they give them the whole picture."

Sandee Brostron said she has mixed emotions about recruiters visiting Del Sol High School, where her son Joel is a junior. She knows the military can provide guidance and direction for young adults who might otherwise drift aimlessly. And her nephew is on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

In order for her nephew to come home, the military must replace him with another soldier. But Brostron doesn't want that soldier to be her son.

"I think we should pull all our troops out, not send more," Brostron said.

Flak, who joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Valley High School in 1989 and has been recruiting for 10 years, said every parent he speaks with asks about the chances their child will be sent to a war zone.

"I am straightforward and honest. I tell them there's always a chance," Flak said. "If they (new recruits) plan for it and don't end up going, that's not a bad thing. But it's something to prepare for."

Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Simmons visits Clark County high schools about twice a week on behalf of the Nevada Army National Guard. "We get parents involved as much as possible from Day One," he said. "We're pretty insistent about having them at the meetings."

Simmons said he's on track to meet his annual quota of 90 new recruits and said he hasn't been told his quota will increase anytime soon. Nevada's National Guard has about 2,200 members, the majority of whom have already been deployed to Iraq and returned home, Simmons said. One Nevada National Guard company, made up of about 120 soldiers, is currently deployed in Iraq. Other companies are scheduled for one weekend per month of active duty, for which each guardsman earns about $200, Simmons said.

When asked by potential recruits and parents about the risks involved, and the odds of being deployed to a war zone, Simmons said, he uses local statistics to give them a frame of reference.

Simmons tells them that Clark County had nearly 200 homicides last year, and more than 300 traffic fatalities. By comparison, just three Nevada National Guardsmen have died in Iraq since the fighting began in 2003. The fact that he cites apples-to-oranges statistics doesn't stop him from sharing them.

"Those are some of the things we tell people to put it in perspective," Simmons said. "Just because you join doesn't mean you're automatically going to get killed."

Williams, who was assistant director for national security in the Congressional Budget Office before moving to MIT eight years ago, said Simmons isn't the only one using local fatality statistics to make enlistment appear less dangerous.

"I've heard that recruiters are using this line and I don't think it's helpful," Williams said. "We need to confront the truth squarely with our young men and women. They need to be told, 'There's a chance you will die; there's a chance you will be wounded. That's part of the deal here.' "