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Mom ferrets out truth on Guard duty

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published February 10, 2005

Laramie Misner was surprised when her daughter Kelsie, a 17-year-old senior at Dunedin High School, came home on the evening of Jan. 7 saying she wanted to join the Florida National Guard.

Misner listened with growing worry when Kelsie told her that a Guard recruiter had visited school that day. Kelsie said the recruiter promised not only that the Guard would pay college tuition, but also that she would not have to leave Florida.

It is absolutely true the Florida National Guard will pay college tuition at a Florida school.

But it is absolutely not the case that recruits can be guaranteed to remain in Florida or even the United States. At this moment, 700 to 800 of Florida's almost 10,000 Guard members are serving honorably in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Yet other students at Dunedin High School thought they heard the recruiter say this, too, and some of them signed up. If you are 18 you can sign for yourself, but if you're 17 your folks have to sign too.

Kelsie was pretty sure her Mom was wrong. That's understandable - whom should a 17-year-old believe, after all, Mom or a complete stranger? So Misner gathered news articles about deployments. Knowing the recruiter needed her signature too, Misner was ready for his followup call. She put Kelsie on the extension to listen in.

"I said to the guy, "Did you honestly tell those kids they would not have to go to Iraq?' " Misner says. She mentioned the articles she had gathered. She says his reply was: "The papers get the National Guard mixed up with the reserves."

Then she started quoting items about Guard units being activated and shipped out. "Well," he said, "there are a few that are going ... it happens on rare occasions." At this point, Misner noticed Kelsie's eyes growing wider.

Misner did not let the matter slide, but visited Dunedin High School, complained, and traded e-mails with principal Mildred Reed. Reed told her she would inform Guard recruiters "that my expectation is that they give realistic presentations."

Misner thought about this awhile longer and called me. "I'm not coming out on this because I am against war or anything else," she said. "I'm here because I think that recruiter flat-out lied to those kids."

Obviously this does not reflect the recruiter's side of the story. My messages to the local offices of the Florida National Guard were not returned. But I was able to speak with a spokesman for the Guard at the state level, Lt. Col. Ron Tittle in Jacksonville.

I told Tittle I didn't know what the recruiters said, only what people believed they heard. Maybe, I suggested, the recruiters said almost nobody has to go. Tittle gave what seemed a responsible reply: If the students heard the promise, then they heard it - "Perception is reality" - and the Guard needs to make sure what recruiters are saying.

"When they join the Guard," Tittle said, "there is always the chance they could go overseas ... wherever we may be called to active duty." The Guard obviously hopes to sign up recruits but strongly believes that recruits be fully informed of the implication of their decisions, Tittle said.

I asked Linda Lerner, a member of the Pinellas School Board, what policy exists on military recruiting visits. She reported it is a welcome and common practice, often arranged at the local school level, whether in job fairs or individual visits.

It turns out that under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, military and college recruiters are entitled to the names, addresses and telephone numbers of high school students. Parents must sign a written notice to keep their child off the list.

This account is not in any way intended to discourage young people from considering the Florida National Guard or military service in general. The benefits of regular salary and college tuition are real. It is a way to serve our nation with honor.

But as Laramie Misner points out, the least we can do for 17- and 18-year-olds making this choice is to make sure they have a full and honest understanding of the implications. Not all of them have a mother quite so involved. Her stubbornness and willingness to speak out on this subject strike me as especially American.

[Last modified February 10, 2005, 00:25:06]