• To end recruiter rapes.
• To end all rape by service members.
• ???

1. Zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct by recruiters.
2. End recruiter special access to private information about students - especially cell phone numbers.
3. Male recruiters never allowed to meet alone with potential female recruits.
4. Recruiters and their commanders are required to report any incidents of sexual misconduct that they learn of to prosecuting authorities in the appropriate jurisdiction.
   
5. Sex between any recruiter and any potential recruitee, regardless of the age of the recruitee, and regardless of whether the recruitee "consented" to the sex, must be established to be statutory rape under the uniform code of military justice.
6. ???
   

• President Bush - Commander in Chief.
• Donald Rumsfeld - Secretary of Defense.
• whoever the heads of recruiting are for the various armed forces.
• members of the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate.
• Oprah Winfree - to do a show on the topic.
• The rapist/recruiters themselves - publicity opportunity
• ????
  

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Wow!! Great foundation on your petition. I think #5 may need a bit of work due to the Laws definition of Statutory Rape:

 statutory rape
n. sexual intercourse with a female below the legal age of consent but above the age of a child, even if the female gave her consent, did not resist and/or mutually participated. In all but three states the age of consent is 18, and the age above which the female is no longer a child varies, although 14 is common. The theory of statutory rape is that the girl is incapable of giving consent, although marriage with a parent's consent is possible in many states at ages as low as 14. Intercourse with a female child (below 14 or whatever the state law provides) is rape, which is a felony. Increasingly statutory rape is not charged when there is clear consent by the female, particularly when the girl will not cooperate in a prosecution. Controversy continues over what constitutes "resistance" or "consent," particularly when some men insist a woman who said "no" really meant "yes."

So being that it clearly defines it as an age delegated violation, maybe we could try????

"Sexual-Coercion"-maybe???

sexual harassment
n. unwanted sexual approaches (including touching, feeling, groping) and/or repeated unpleasant, degrading and/or sexist remarks directed toward an employee with the implied suggestion that the target's employment status, promotion or favorable treatment depend upon a positive response and/or "cooperation." Sexual harassment is a private nuisance, unfair labor practice or, in some states, a civil wrong (tort) which may be the basis for a lawsuit against the individual who made the advances and against the employer who did not take steps to halt the harassment. A legal secretary recently won an award of more than $3 million against a prominent law firm in California for not controlling a partner notorious for his sexual harassment of female employees.

Just tossing around some ideas, and my neighbor is an attorney, maybe I can bounce the legal symantecs off him and see what he comes up with as a possible defintion-if any. I will talk to him and let you know you know if he comes up with anything useful.Okay.

Anyhow great beginning Jeff and very ambitious-I like that!!!

                                Blessings,

                                    Debbie L.

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Jeff I will let you know as soon as I speak with my neighbor and what he has to say about labeling the charge.K. I have to say thank you right back for creating this whole group and for being such a good person and trying  to shed some light  on and bring change to a Dirty Secret that has needed attention for a long time.  We need more people such as yourself in this world-not affraid to speak out and help others. My  Hats off to you Jeff and that big Heart of yours as well.

                                Blessings,

                                   Debbie L.

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I don't see any reason why sex between recruiters and recruitees shouldn't be outlawed or at least a rule be made....there are many businesses that have "rules" against "relationships" and if employees are caught then they are usually fired from the company.

I have to agree that this should pertain to the US unless we have members that have, as Jeff says, expertise in other countries.  There are many other countries that have totally different cultures and beliefs when it comes to things.

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I worked at a Naval Training Base for about 8 months during an intern rotation in surgery. None of the lower raking officers were allowed to address me in any way other than the way they would address a superior officer and only when necessary too-no small talk(Unless they  were a"ranking " officer) . I found this strange so I asked why they had to do this and I was told by a Captain that: The Military has a strict policy of "No Fraternization". I asked what that was and was told that a Fraternization policy prohibits prohibits all unprofessional relationships that can: Cause partiality or unfairness,Compromise the chain of command,Involve the improper use of rank for personal gain,Are or perceived to be exploitive or coercive in nature,Create an adverse impact on discipline, authority, morale, or mission accomplishment.(HMM- sounds very familiar to me). Any fraternization can result in being punished under article92, which is UCMJ/Court martial. So I am to assume that they should be punishing all of these recruiters under that article????

While I was searching the net last night I found some information that might be of help-maybe.I hope that maybe we can gain some information  that might be helpful on this task from these Inspector Generals, or that maybe they could be a useful ally.

 Each of the military recruiting services have "Inspector Generals," who's job it is to investigate allegations of recruiting irregularities and recruiter misconduct-including sexual misconduct or fraternization:

Air Force
Inspector General,
Air Force Recruiting Service, HQ AFRS/CVI,
Randolph AFB, TX 78150

Army
Inspector General,
U.S. Army Recruiting, USAREC,
Fort Knox, KY 40121

Navy
Inspector General,
COMNAVCRUITCOM Code 001,
5722 Integrity Dr, Bldg 768,
Millington, TN 38054

Marine Corps (East Coast)
Commanding General,
Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD),
Parris Island, SC 29905

Marine Corps (West Coast)
Commanding General,
Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD),
San Diego, CA 92140

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Great discussion!

I'd like to address item #2, if I may...NCLB.  I feel this should be a separate petition and is an extremely important point.  So many schools, particularly poor districts cannot afford to be without federal funding. NCLB ties the funding to recruiting on school grounds, targeting these children. If I understand correctly, they do not have to inform or involve the parents of these kids.  It has nothing to do with educating our children and puts them in vulnerable positions without any advocate on their side.  Many of these relationships start there with vulnerable high school girls being courted by older male recruiters.  This clause has to be eliminated from NCLB.

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Hi Debbie & Jeff & ,

 Your post of Friday was a great read! 

Am having a bit of trouble with the word cooperation though with regards to Sexual Coercion.  It still evokes, in my mind, togetherness/all is well [I perused the Wikipedia definition].  This is not a criticism, just critical thinking.  

Biologically, our bodies produce hormones in response to our environments: the external surrounding environment and also internal environment [thoughts, emotions].  Cooperating increases opiates and decreases blood pressure, norepinephrine and epinephrine [fight & flight hormones].  If someone is coerced into cooperating I don't know if there would be biological agreement yet we can not see that. 

What is bothering me is, a reader seeing the word cooperate in relation to all of the other words that describe this issue so well then this word might send them along a side trail and the conclusion is made..'if s/he 'cooperated' then s/he freely without any duress participated'.  It seems incongruent... just my thought on it.  Again, in my opinion, great work.

You also, Jeff !! 

Sorry, can not locate the smileys.

PS is there some way to expand the threads to each topic so we can see them all on the screen while we reply?

thanks for your consideration, Brenda

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Is the 3rd one, ??, to end rape?  It seems to follow logically.  I could accept seeing/reading it quite easily. In fact I would like to see it stated that succinctly somewhere.   By the same token, the starting point for this group is the first goal/step so it does not change this working group's focus.  It is a huge issue that is being addressed by many organizations working in different areas of it throughout the world.  Just my opinion.

To all,  please do not take any of my opinions, now or in the future, to heart.  Thank you again    Brenda

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I think it would be important to include a personal narrative in the body of the petition. Both to illicit more of an impact from petition signers and from the intended recipients. Do you have any one to provide this kind information or would it be possible to quote from the CNN transcript?

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Hi!

I am wondering if anyone here has any petition writing experience?  You have so many wonderful ideas!! Should there be a focus group too?

Have a great day

Tara

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Hi Tara,

I think we may have one, but when I clicked on the link last night , I was unable to access it. Maybe it is not up and running yet. I am not sure.

In answer to your question, no I personally do not have any experience in petition writing, I only wish I did. Hopefully with all the talented, well spoken people we have in this group-we should be able to all work together to come up with one fantastic petition. Atleast that is my hopes.

                        Blessings,

         Debbie L.

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