Navy visiting schools this week
The U.S. Navy is all over Rock County this week, including in local high schools.
Navy Seals will hold fitness contests in phy ed classes. Navy band members will offer clinics with school bands. The elite Blue Angels flying team will give motivational speeches.
And, some students will be able to ride in a machine that simulates the flight of an F-18 Hornet.
The Navy was at Evansville and Parkview high schools last week. This week, they're scheduled to be at Janesville Parker, Beloit Memorial and Beloit Turner high schools.
Why is the Navy so keen on meeting local youth? It's not for recruiting, said Rick Lehman, assistant principal at Parker.
"They're not making any bones about it. They are who they are. It is the Navy," Lehman said. "I think we're fortunate to have skilled professionals who are volunteering their time to assist our learning."
"What bothers me, in a way, is they're coming at graduation time, and they know that unemployment around here is in excess of 13 percent, and this is fertile fields for them," said Ted Kinnaman, longtime local peace activist and former Janesville School Board member.
Lehman said the Blue Angels will talk about how they reached their goals of becoming pilots.
"I think it's a positive motivational speech," Lehman said. "It's not meant to be a recruitment tool, but obviously they are who they are."
And how else would students ever be exposed to a flight simulator, Lehman noted.
The simulator is "pretty much an advertising tool," said James Antonucci, public affairs officer for the Navy Recruiting District, who organized Navy Week.
The 65-ton simulator is similar to the ones used for training, however, Antonucci said. It allows 12 students to sit on benches and belt themselves in for a ride that includes a video view from an aircraft cockpit.
Tech ed and engineering students at Parker will take the ride, Lehman said.
"It's kind of laughable to say this is not a recruiting trip," Kinnaman said. "It's more subtle than sending out recruiters, but it clearly is a recruiting trip."
The Navy, basically, agreed.
"This is a soft recruiting event. Strictly awareness," Antonucci said.
Recruiters will be there, because they know the schools. And they'll answer questions, but there will be no overt recruiting, Antonucci said.
The Navy has the resources to put on an appealing show, but at least in Janesville, students have been exposed to an alternative message. The Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation has been doing "counter-recruiting" in the schools this year, said member Sue Nelson.
"I think what we particularly are concerned about is that the people that are being recruited often are not given a complete picture of what they're signing up for and do not entertain what (career) alternatives there might be, and we just wish a broader picture could be conveyed of the extent to which we've become a militarized society," Kinnaman said.
Kinnaman said recruits might not know that enlisting for a number of years could mean additional years of service, if called upon.
Those extra years could mean more tours in places like Iraq.
Craig High School Principal Mike Kuehne said the Navy is not coming to Craig. Only 10 students signed up for the Seal challenge, Kuehne said, and a concert in the Craig bowl was not possible because of ongoing construction.
