<p>The U.S. House of Representatives adopted an amendment on Wednesday that would require the secretary of defense to submit a report listing the colleges and universities that are not providing equal access to military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs. </p>
<p>The amendment, offered during debate over a bill authorizing spending on the Department of Defense for the 2006 fiscal year (HR 1815), is the latest salvo in the battle over the Solomon Amendment, a decade-old law that allows the federal government to withhold money from colleges that do not provide full access to military recruiters. </p>
<p>In February the House passed a resolution urging the Bush administration to challenge a federal appeals court decision from last November that allowed colleges to restrict military recruiting on their campuses. The administration obliged, and the Supreme Court has agreed to consider the case during its term that begins in October. </p>
<p>The latest amendment, which was offered by Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Republican from Florida, also expresses the “sense of Congress” that colleges that restrict military recruiting should be denied federal funds, particularly money for military and defense programs. That language, however, is not binding. </p>
<p>The House approved Mr. Stearns’s amendment, by a vote of 336 to 92, on Wednesday evening and later passed the overall bill by an even wider margin, 390 to 39. </p>
<p>Those actions came a day after the Senate Armed Services Committee approved that chamber’s version of the defense-spending measure. Once the full Senate passes its bill, negotiators will meet to hash out a compromise in conference.</p>
<p>Very scary…my son was hounded by a military recruiter for about a month after he was gone from home. Left several voicemail messages and called us at 10 at night to find out where he was…we did not give his number, just said if he wants, he will get back to you.</p>
<p>Something strange happened at D’s Achievement Night this week. She received an award for academic excellence from the US Marine Corps. D has never expressed any interest in the marines nor had any contact with them. Have award certificates become a recruiting tool? Seems weird to me!</p>
<p>It’s gonna happen. If you oppose on-campus recruiting, then you should focus on potential abuses such as that which achat reports. Recruiters are a lot like many other salesmen: if you show the slightest courtesy or curiosity and talk to them about the “product,” you’ve made a friend (pest) who regards you as a potential recruit.</p>
<p>Just tell your son or daughter to tell the recruiter that they are gay or thinking that at some point in the future they might be (even if its not true). End of story :)</p>
<p>I like the way you think. Good solid pragmatic advice.</p>
<p>I need to go brush up on my political ideology. I must be confused, but I thought the “conservatives” were all about not having the government intrude in people’s lives when they are not invited? Did the “liberals” suddenly gain control of Congress? I get so confused.</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem with recruitment at the college level, by then you have gained some experince and have the resources of the college and peer support to help guide you in making an informed decision.</p>
<p>I have a big problem with aggressive recruitment techniques at the Highschool level. At that point in your life you are not yet prepared to make a decision of that magnitude. I stayed out of it when they approached my son. He told them all no. I got involved when the Army didn’t like taking no for an answer and was calling every other night.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t have a problem with what the government is doing. The war is going badly and so is recruiting. I would prefer them to recruit on campuses than institute a draft!</p>
<p>Colleges seem like the last place the army would find a lot of interested recruits for the war we started in Iraq, but I do believe college students are independent minded enough to handle military recruiters.</p>
<p>High schools, on the other hand, should keep all recruiters limited to college fairs and similar venues. They should not be allowed to roam campuses freely and talk to students individually while they are eating lunch or going to and from classes. This is not only because they are the military, but because they are adult strangers that neither the school nor the students know, and they have an agenda. There is no way to know if individuals will act coercively or ethically when they are with teenagers one-on-one.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a shame …the military is an honorable service, as is firefighting and policework, whose members also put their lives on the line for us every day.</p>
<p>What’s a shame is that our current administration has strained our military to its limits, but has not provided the training, manpower, and equipment that our men and women need to succeed in their mission.
It’s a shame that our military and civilians in Iraq are in danger daily, with no real end in sight.
It’s a shame that we were led to believe that this war was necessary, when in fact we chose to invade for the purpose of regime change without a plan to win the peace.</p>
<p>Don’t think you got my drift - of course military service is honorable - the key phrase was “for everyone”. Our troops risk their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan - even for those who attack their missior, for those who wouldn’t lift a finger unless their own home was being attacked, and for those whose hate for Bush overwhelms any desire to understand what needs to be done in the Middle East to preserve the peace.</p>
<p>I agree that military is an honorable service but it’s a shame that your governement decided just now to push young american to go in the army just because the war is going bad.
they are asking to you to go overseas to do a sacrifice an enormous sacrifice !because the administration is not able to win the war in Iraq</p>