My boys are both in college now, but four years ago they were in the throes of high school. I remember going to a general parent meeting where they talked about the college experience, before sending us off to specific sessions. We listened to maybe four short speeches about what to expect, and they ended with a former graduate of the school who was now a college senior. He was all pumped up and telling us that there were options in the military. He, himself, had chosen the Marines.

He went on to relate the story of how he'd spoken to a recruiter, and after initially expressing genuine interest, decided to blow him off. The fellow called him back and said something along the lines of his word being his bond - especially if he was going to be a Marine. He said he had a personal realization and then made his commitment. He was proud to say that in a few short months, he was heading off to the Marines … and finished off with a rousing "Semper Fi."

Parents all around me commented on the obvious manipulation. This poor kid was no match for the seasoned recruiter, but we unanimously agreed a stint in the Marines would probably do him a world of good.

Of course, none of us could imagine 9/11. Or Afghanistan. Or Iraq.

Researching some material for a panel on privacy, I was looking into the latest on Opt-In/Opt-Out. If you're not familiar with this, it's pretty straightforward. "Opt-In" means they don't get to use your personal data unless you've "opted" to be "in" their database. It's the digital equivalent of "Don't call me, unless I call you."

"Opt-Out," on the other hand, means you're in their database, unless you deliberately tell them you want to "out." Case in point is the "Do Not Call" list for telephone solicitors, legislated by the federal government. Millions of people immediately signed up.

I explain Opt-In/Opt-Out here for a very unusual reason - The No Child Left Behind Act. It literally leaves no child behind in one very real sense - public schools must provide the home telephone numbers of their students to military recruiters, or stand to lose their federal funding.

While parents can choose to have their children "opt out" of being solicited by a military recruiter, they must submit this notification in writing. Of course, first, they have to know about it and then they have to write their letter in a timely manner - and this amid all the other chaos of dealing with teenagers and school.

Schools have not been uniformly happy about all this, and both San Francisco and Santa Cruz school districts tried to implement an "Opt-In" version - 6% of their students expressed interest in being contacted. But the federal officials said, "No. Those ain't the rules," and today, some 96% of our schools nationwide have complied.

While activists from the teacher's unions - and even the ACLU - have protested, their most concrete action is to create "Opt Out" forms on the Internet for easy download and submission.

But let's get back to the reality: Recruitments are down. By one measure, 30%. At the very same time, recruitments need to be up.

While the Army has flooded MTV with expensive ads, created a very hot video game on the goarmy.com website, and even sponsored a NASCAR entry, they've also added 1,000 new recruiters to the 6,000 they had fielded before.

I keep going back to that kid who was so easily manipulated by the recruiter. And I wonder how he feels today.

I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.

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