The fastet growing segment of the population today is Latinos and they are under-represented in the Armed Forces. During my brief stint as a recruiter (hated it), we were told to recruit Latinos heavily. We were also told it was difficult. The Army is finding that out now too and making a special push to get Latinos inducted.

As Sgt. First Class Gavino Barron, dressed in a crisp Army uniform, trawls the Wal-Mart here for recruits, past stacks of pillows and towers of detergent, he is zeroing-in on one of the Army's "special missions": to increase the number of Hispanic enlisted soldiers.

He approaches a couple of sheepish looking teenage boys in the automotive aisle and seamlessly slides into Spanish, letting loose his pitch: "Have you ever thought about joining the Army?" "Did you know you can get up to $40,000 in bonuses?" "I'm from Mexico, too. Michoacán.

Critics say recruiters, who are under pressure to meet quotas, often use their charm and an arsenal of tactics, including repeated calls to a recruit, lunch at a favorite restaurant and trips to the gym. The Army also parades rigged-out, juiced-up Hummers wherever youths gather as promotional tools.

"We see a lot of confusion among immigrant parents, and recruiters are preying on that confusion," said Jorge Mariscal, a Vietnam veteran who is director of the Chicano/Latino Arts and Humanities Program at the University of California, San Diego, and is active in the counterrecruitment movement.
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Michael I. Marsh, a lawyer who represents migrant workers in Oxnard, Calif., said he wrote a letter to a local recruitment battalion last year after a 17-year-old's parents signed off on his Army Reserve enlistment at 18. The parents told him they were under the impression that they were signing to authorize a physical exam and blood work. When the youth later tried to nullify the contract, he was told it was too late and that if he tried to pull out, he would be ineligible for school money and federal employment.

After Mr. Marsh sent the letter, the teenager was allowed to withdraw his enlistment, Mr. Marsh said. Military contracts are not binding until a person takes a second oath of enlistment.

"The recruiter does not lie, but he does not tell the whole truth," Mr. Suarez said. "If you don't know the question to ask, you don't get the information. With language and cultural differences, it's complicated."

I wish I had a dollar for every recruit I met (especially Air Force) who told me that their recruiters told them that they could be officers too by just enlisting. It's true, because if they were selected for an officer-accession program from the enlisted ranks they could, but that's not quite as automatic as they had been led to believe when they came in talking about being fighter pilots. I used to meet these kids when I would take an officer candidate down to get their physical, while I waited. They would see my wings and come up and ask me if I was a pilot (yes), what did I fly (things with wings), oh, well my recruiter says I can fly F-15's once I get out of Basic Training...(did he now?) gosh, how wonderful (what an asshole).

So yeah, it's good that the Latino community has activists who are providing a reality check. There is certainly nothing wrong with military service, and I completely understand the first-generation immigrant's desire to "pay back" for being afforded citizenship. But an ill-informed decision based on a tricked-out Hummer is not really a decision at all...it's a tribute to Madison Avenue and unrealistic expectations.

After all, if the Army is good for Latinos shopping at W*M, it's certainly good enough for Jenna and Not-Jenna, isn't it?