Youth benefit from the military - letters to the editor - Letter to the Editor

Humanist, May-June, 2003 by Kenneth O. Lynn

Why didn't Leah C. Wells just come right out and say she doesn't like the military in her "No Child Left Alone by Military Recruiters" article in the March/April 2003 issue of the Humanist? As a privacy advocate, Humanist, and an active duty Air Force officer, I found her thesis weak, but her disdain for the military rang loud and clear.

Wells claims the No Child Left Behind Act hurts education and compromises privacy by opening up the public schools as a fertile field of students ripe for the picking by coercive military recruiters. She asserts that students who don't succeed in school accept their inevitable fate and are sucked into the military. It is clear to me that Wells knows little about the outstanding young Americans serving in our nation's armed forces, nor does she show much knowledge about the modern military.

Today's military is made up of highly educated recruits and "lifers" who work in a complex technical environment maintaining and operating sophisticated weapons systems. The demands placed on them are heavy, but they excel because of their aptitude, training, and the education they received by the very system Wells claims is in jeopardy because recruiters are talking with students about career opportunities. In addition to the many benefits military service offers, Wells herself points out sarcastically that funding of higher education programs is among them. Why then would anyone object to high school students being apprised of these great opportunities?

Kenneth O. Lynn, Lt. Col, USAF
Langley AFB, VA