We Want You(th)! Military Recruitment Report -- Statement by Romy Chowdhury

Romy Chowdhury
Hollis, Queens
Graduated from Thomas Edison High School in June 2007
Now attending Hunter College
Age: 18

I started seeing military recruiters around my junior year at Thomas Edison High School, when I started doing service with my friends in our guidance counselor’s office. As the school year started, we’d see recruiters come into the guidance counselor’s office, always in pairs. They’d talk to us and give us goodies, like balls and cups and bags that say “Army of One.” My friends would say, wow, that’s cool, nice, and they’d start playing with them.

At one point it got pretty intense – during one month I’d see the recruiters twice or even three times a week on the first floor walking around and talking with students. I was like, why are you always here? I hardly ever saw any college recruiters; I remember seeing recruiters from CUNY maybe one or two times. I saw Marines in their full uniforms walking around the school constantly.

During senior year I was approached right outside of my school. I was going back into my school for after-school tutoring, and these two recruiters who were much bigger than me came up to me and started saying, “So hey, how do you feel about the military?” I said, “I’m not at all interested.” He said, “There are so many benefits: you can pay for college, you can serve your country.” He was so persistent; he wouldn’t leave me alone. He said, “You know, you won’t even have to go to war. You’ll just stay here.” Then I told him, “You know what, I don’t have time for this right now, I have to go to tutoring.” He said, “Why don’t you come with me to my office so we can give you a better presentation?”

There is no place for the military in school. School is about getting an education. But the recruiters don’t care about our education. They’re happier that the less we know--the easier it is to get to us. For example, if we don’t know about possible scholarships and federal aid, they’re going to be happy. They’ll think, the kid doesn’t know there are other ways to pay for college, we can tell him the military is the only way.

We have enough to worry about just trying to get an education. Worrying about recruiters is just a distraction, just one more thing to think about other than getting our education.

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