Basic High School's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets stand in formation while awaiting further instructions during a recent demonstration of military commands. Photo by Ronda Churchill. The Junior ROTC has long had a presence at local high schools. Here, Cadet Sam Orlove stands in formation at Basic High School, which hosts a Marine Corps program. Photo by Ronda Churchill. Genelle Baltutis explains how parents can keep the personal information of their high school-age children from getting into the hands of military recruiters. Photo by Ralph Fountain. First Sgt. Sam Rael calls out commands to cadets in Basic High School's Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. Photo by Ronda Churchill. Project Counter-Recruitment works to raise public awareness of the military's presence at local high schools. They give parents literature explaining the No Child Left Behind Act and how it affects them. Photo by Ralph Fountain. Joe Sacco discusses Project Counter-Recruitment, a group that seeks to change how military recruiters operate on high school campuses. Photo by Ralph Fountain. First Sgt. Sam Rael adjusts the cap of Joseph Simmons after commenting on the length of his hair during Junior ROTC inspection and formation at Basic High School. Photo by Ronda Churchill. Junior ROTC Cadet Joe Rogers, left, trims loose threads from Joseph Odell's uniform before formation at Basic High School. Photo by Ronda Churchill.

Across the United States, parents and anti-war activists are taking the military to task for recruiting on high school campuses.

Groups are protesting the section of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 that gives recruiters access to students' personal information and to the teens themselves, by enabling them to send out alerts and call the like-minded to action.

"These kids at their ages and at this time of life, it's hard enough. Send a recruiter in a slick uniform and a clean car at them and that's hard to resist. With recruiters, everything's perfect. They have slick ads and wonderful games that make the military look fun," said Genelle Baltutis, a member of Project Counter-Recruitment in Las Vegas.

Michael Goldstein, public affairs officer for the 6th Recruiting Brigade, headquartered in Las Vegas, sees it differently. The act is a valuable recruiting aid that does nothing more than give the military the same access to schools that civilian companies and employers have, he said.

"There are many young people in high schools who are making career decisions and would benefit from having these options available to them," Goldstein said. "That said, we have no desire to present opportunities to students not interested in listening to them. The No Child Left Behind Act helps us to be sure we have access to individuals to provide the basic career information (about the Army)."

Project Counter-Recruitment, which has a handful of members, is dedicated to raising the public's awareness of the military's presence in the Clark County School District.

The fledgling activist organization also has asked the School Board to adopt a policy that would make it easier for parents to limit the information recruiters receive about their children. Joe Sacco, one of the group's organizers, said if more parents knew about the provision in the law that gives military recruiters unfettered access to their teenagers, his group would be much larger.

Parents can prevent recruiters from receiving their children's names, addresses and phone numbers by filing a form to "opt out" at the beginning of the school year, Sacco said. But opting out also prevents college recruiters from receiving student information, and that shouldn't be the case, he added.

Project Counter-Recruitment asked the School Board to approve sending a form home to parents, spelling out how to opt their children out of military recruiting. Board members said they would research the issue next year, Baltutis said.

The School Board president did not return calls seeking comment.

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., is co-sponsoring a bill called the Student Privacy Act of 2005, that would return things to the way they were before the No Child Left Behind Act, Sacco said. Parents would have to request that schools give their children's information to military recruiters.

"I'm not opposed to the military going to campuses and presenting career opportunities to students. What I oppose is a systematic targeting of kids ... without their parents' permission," Berkley said.

The bill would prevent the military from "marketing to children in school" without their parents' consent, she added.

"If your school gets any federal funds, it has to provide the names, addresses and phone numbers of juniors and seniors (under the act)," said Lyla Bartholomae, a grandmother who joined Project Counter-Recruitment because she's worried about her 16-year-old grandson, who attends a local school. "We think this is an invasion of privacy. This is sending skilled salesmen at 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds. Would you send a child that age to buy a car alone? Of course you wouldn't."

Project Counter-Recruitment members want to stop other access recruiters have to high schools.

Recruiters often are allowed to speak at assemblies, pull students out of classes and approach them during lunch or athletic events, Bartholomae said.

"In military recruitment tactics, school ownership is the goal," said Sacco, referring to the Army's School Recruitment Program handbook.

The handbook provides recruiters with suggestions on how to achieve that goal, including delivering coffee and doughnuts to the faculty and staff once a month; volunteering to help at school functions; eating in the school lunchroom to increase visibility and other approaches.

While the No Child Left Behind Act has drawn attention to military recruiting of teens, the military long has had a presence on high school campuses in the form of Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs.

Junior ROTC often serves as students' introduction to the military, teaching them how to dress and act like soldiers. But they're leadership development programs, not military recruiting tools, said retired Lt. Col. Doug Montgomery, the director of Basic High School's Marine Junior ROTC program.

Basic is one of 13 high schools in the Clark County School District that hosts Junior ROTC. The Marine program started at the high school in 1977 and has given thousands of students the tools to be successful in life, Montgomery said.

"We're not a recruiting program. We don't push kids to go into the military. That's a misconception a lot of people have," said Montgomery, the director for the past eight years. "Recruiters can't just walk in here and do what they want."

Maybe not, but they are frequent visitors who are allowed to engage students at a time when they're in a learning and listening mode and most susceptible to new thoughts, ideas and beliefs, Junior ROTC detractors say.

Recently, Marine recruiters visited Basic and conducted pull-up challenges outside the lunchroom, students said. Recruiters from the Coast Guard, Air Force, Army and Navy routinely visit and address classes, pitching the benefits of a stint in their branch.

Michelle Stone, 17, a senior at Basic High School and a member of the Junior ROTC, said she often sees recruiters during lunch. At one time, she was interested in joining the National Guard. But no longer, not since her father, a Naval reservist, was called up twice after Sept. 11, 2001. He recently returned from the Middle East.

"My dad missed my brother's senior year. He was really mad. It was really hard," Stone said. "I don't want to put my family through that. He couldn't call home. When he came back he had all these stories. It gave me a different outlook on the military, because he came home and said every day there he was in fear for his life."

Many Junior ROTC members do join the military after graduating. Last year, 13 of 15 graduating seniors from the program at Basic enlisted. Several students who will graduate in 2006 already have enlisted, taken their oaths and received dates to ship out.

"I've always wanted to join the service since I was little. ROTC helped shape my opinion," said senior Greg Darlington, 17, a four-year member of Basic's program. He recently joined the Marines and leaves for basic training in the summer.

Tall, thick with muscle and wearing his hair cut high and tight, he already looks like a jarhead, slang for a Marine. Junior ROTC helped him decide that was the branch for him, Darlington said. He met his recruiter for the first time at school. Darlington and his best friend joined on the buddy system, which enables them to go to basic training together.

Although they don't consider themselves recruiters, it's not unusual for Montgomery and the other Junior ROTC staff to talk to students they believe to be strong military material. And if a recruiter is approached by one of their students about joining, Montgomery expects the recruiter to ask for his opinion.

"If a kid is interested or if I see a kid who has some potential, I'll talk to them about becoming a commissioned officer," Montgomery said. If a student expresses interest, "we can step back and say, 'Is this kid going to make it in the Marines?' You're dealing with students. They're not Marines. What we're trying to do is instill some discipline in them."

Most students aren't aware of the controversy regarding the No Child Left Behind Act and how it affects them, Junior ROTC students said. Instead, they take the contact with recruiters as another school-related inconvenience or assignment. And they seem to have strong opinions about their own plans and are not easily swayed by a recruiter's sales pitch.

"A lot of what recruiters say, they talk about education, what the military will pay for. Then it's, 'How is your life going now? Do you want it to get better?' " said senior Steven Hornback, 17. He joined the Navy and is set to ship out in July.

"But recruiters aren't allowed to (recruit) in ROTC class. They'll give you their phone numbers, tell you to come by their office, lure you in, in a sense. I think in a sense they shouldn't let recruiters on campus but they should have information available."

For some teens, especially those from poor families who don't have the option of going to college after high school, joining the military might be the only option they have, said senior Sylvia Mijares, 17, the battalion commander of Basic's Junior ROTC.

"They give you options. If you choose to talk to them after class, that's your right," she said. "If they can have crime investigators from Metro come on campus, why not let the military?"