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UW prof compares military recruiters with child sex predators

December 1, 2010 @ 11:44 am (Updated: 3:46 pm - 3/28/11 )

A Seattle woman, who fought allowing military recruiters in local high schools, is the lead author of a report that compares the behaviors of recruiters with the behaviors of sexual predators.

Amy Hagopian, assistant professor with the University of Washington's Department of Global Health concludes military recruiters are a "threat to the health of adolescents."

Hagopian says, "A review of the medical literature suggests military service is associated with disproportionately poor health for young people. The youngest recruits have the greatest number of mental disorders in the U.S. military, including alcohol abuse, anxiety syndromes, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder."

The UW published this report about Hagopian's research, done with Kathy Barker, PhD. It is presented as a commentary in the January 2011 edition of the American Journal of Public Health, under the title "Should We End Military Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health?"

Ending military recruiting in schools is something Hagopian and Barker have been trying to do for a long time. In 2005, Garfield High School became the first in the United States to ban military recruiters from their campus. Hagopian was Garfield's PTSA president at the time and led that effort. Now Hagopian and Barker believe recruiters exhibit behaviors similar to predatory grooming when they enter high schools.

"Grooming behavior is defined as the process by which a child is befriended by a would-be abuser in an attempt to gain the child's confidence and trust," Hagopian says.

The Army calls the professor's claim that military recruiters act like child predators "outrageous and offensive."

"To say that a military recruiter has the same way of approaching young people that a twisted sexual predator does, is highly offensive and blatantly wrong," says Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Smith says there are about 9,000 Army recruiters working across the country and if anything they serve as role models and mentors to students.

"We show America's youth what the core values of the Army are - physical fitness, moral fitness, the kinds of behaviors that we expect of our soldiers," Smith says. "To say these men and women are somehow equivalent to a sex predator is just wrong headed."

He adds most of the military's recruits are not students directly out of high school, they're over 24 years old.

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Comments (32)


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  • wonderfullone wrote...
    Interesting
    December 1, 2010 10:57 am
    Isn't the nanny state liberal involvement in our public schools doing the same thing?

    Grooming kids to trust and rely on the government to take care of them?

    Beside filling their impressionable heads with liberal political propaganda, they directly interfere with the family unit, the parents role in their lives, all to promote total dependency on the government.

    I know that in mush-head land, the inherent evils of service to this country are always on the forefront.

    God forbid these wack-jobs admit the many positive aspects of military service.

    Such as personal growth, self reliance, work ethic, personal responsibility, and better prepared for real life than in any of these liberal wack-job mush-head factories called universities.

    Oh well, ignore the grooming that is a real detriment to kids, no matter how obvious it is.

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  • roomtemp wrote...
    As long as we're making comparisons...
    December 1, 2010 11:03 am
    The indoctrination students receive in universities is rather cult-like...

    You won't mind me drawing comparisons between university professors and cult leaders like Sun Myung Moon or Jim Jones then, will you Ms. Hagopian...

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  • Dark Jedi wrote...
    Ms. Hagopian's data
    December 1, 2010 11:28 am
    Has been manipulated in my own opinion. I grew up with military family members as well as military promotions. Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, and recruiters in high school and college. I never felt "brain washed" or "my arm being twisted" to join the military. In fact, one Marine said to a group of people if you don't want to be in the military, then he doesn't want you in his unit. I say put Ms. Hagopian in Somalia and see how her "just give them a hug" theories go.
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Universal service solution
    December 1, 2010 1:22 pm
    Let's bring education and the transition to adulthood into the 21st Century.

    1. Eliminate the Senior year of high school.

    2. At 17, the education process continues as all young people choose a field for national service. Two years. The military would be an option, as would working for approved charitable or religious organizations. Pay would be whatever the branch of the military or charitable organization pays workers. More would be learned in two years in the "real world" than in the last year of high school and the freshman year of college.

    3. Following the 2 years of universal service, young men and women could return to school for two semesters, at public expense, and earn an AA degree. Four more semesters, at a subsidized tuition rate, would earn a bachelor's degree.

    4. Young people would be able to start their post-college life at the same age they currently do; but with the benefit of real world experience and a better defined career path. The nation would benefit from the military manpower as well as the social efforts.

    The military is a very good option for some and an inappropriate choice for others. Universal service would reduce the need for a "sales job" to get kids signing up.

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  • jpmarine wrote...
    This is sick
    December 1, 2010 2:21 pm
    I'll take the PTSD from proudly serving my country, it's called sacrifice. These sick liberals are truly the predators and have the true mental disorder. I can only imagine the matter of brainwashing that takes place is this cows class room. Truly pathetic human beings. This is typical from the UW whack jobs. Who would I rather have around, a military recruiter or a whack lefty proffesor, I'll take the recruiter, because I know that they would give their life for these "teachers." I can bet these ladies wouldn't lift a finger to serve protect our freedom. Just more pathetic libs.
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  • AJ McCarrell wrote...
    Chuck
    December 1, 2010 2:40 pm
    I like your basic idea, but I would tweak it. I would eliminate the last TWO years of high school, and have it count towards AA credit, since an AA is useless in the real world. Those who want to go beyond that should borrow the money to do so. Making it free causes extreme economic inefficiencies where tuition would skyrocket because colleges would know that no one is monitoring the cost. The exceptions would be for public service, IE teaching, military service, etc which would make any post-secondary education free upfront with a portion of your earnings going to pay back your debt at an accelerated rate. I would also limit the choices for majors to those fields that the BLS show can actually support a family, IE engineering, medicine, business, law, etc. None of these useless masters of arts in the luddite movement of the 17th century garbage.

    I would like to start shifting the cost of education back on to the consumers instead of making it a public good. The consumers would be more choosy with their dollars, it would hold the schools accountable and it would make the education system more efficient and practical.

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  • Weiser wrote...
    Let ANYTHING Liberal in...
    December 1, 2010 3:05 pm
    In fact, SHOVE it in. But anything conservatives support, like I don't know... Being free and defending our country. NO WAY! Liberals are worse than cancer.
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  • pauli wrote...
    Hagopian is a Sexual Predator
    December 1, 2010 3:06 pm
    Sounds like Hagopian developed a "report" to support her twisted opinion. I think she is drinking too much of the juice at UW. Has she even talked to any of these veterans themselves? Everyone I know that has served directly out of high school has benefited from serving and are definitely in a better position than if they had decided to just take a menial job that gets you no where.
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  • Marko in Seattle wrote...
    Opportunity?
    December 1, 2010 3:16 pm
    I remember a couple of years ago, Hagopian was trying to get military recruiters off of Garfield campus. In a radio interview she said that the recruiters were preying on disadvantaged and underperforming youths because those kids had no better alternatives. I thought to myself "so she wants to deprive those kids of their best opportunity?"
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  • flipper wrote...
    Hey Chris-
    December 1, 2010 3:45 pm
    Hey Gov. Gregoire...I know you're looking for ways to cut state expenses. I've got a candidate for you right here...Assistant Professor Hagopian.
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