Let's Recruit Those Homeschooled Kids for the War on Terror!

Rick Santorum wants to. And since a whole bunch of the homeschool community are Christian Republicans who support President Bush, then they must support the war. So this may be a very fertile recruiting ground, you think?

We all know the government has been fighting to get access to schools so they can recruit Seniors as they move towards graduation. I don't want them at the schools, necessarily, but I can certainly understand their motivation, since they're having a whole lot of trouble recruiting enough soldiers to feed Bush's war machine. But what about the homeschoolers? Well, little Ricky Santorum (R-Bush's Pocket) is seeing to that in this year's National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006.

It's section 522, and Natalie, a homeschool blogger, describes its provisions as. . .

Section 522 of this omnibus bill calls for the creation of a special policy for the recruitment and enlistment of homeschooled students in the US Armed Forces. Section 522 would
• Require the Secretary of Defense to prescribe a policy on recruitment and enlistment of homeschoolers into the Armed Forces
• Ensure that the policy applies uniformly across the Armed Forces
• Grant homeschoolers special treatment for enlistment, with no practical limit with regard to enlistment eligibility
• Permit enlistment of homeschooled graduates without a secondary school diploma or GED to enlist in the Armed Forces
• Prescribe a single set of criteria, determined by the Secretary of Defense, to determine whether an individual is a graduate of homeschooling.

Homeschool blogger cobranchi.com is also worried about this provision, as is Melissa Wiley of Here in Bonny Glen, who fingers Santorum as the sponsor of Section 522.

Could Rick Santorum be any more stupid? This is his natural constituency, homeschoolers, but he evidently didn't get it that many of them want as little government intererence in their lives as possible. I'd say a concerted effort to recruit one's child into the military is government interference. A constituency Santorum should be able to count on, since he is a homeschooler (and thief) himself, is a bit up in arms on this subject, but they don't seem to be able to move the issue to the forefront. I'm thinking we need to get them publicity.

As a final word, while I can find more serious concern about Section 522 by several other homeschoolers and the National Home Education Legal Defense website, and complaints as recent as December 19, I've been unable to find Section 522 in the current legislation. Can anyone help with that?

Crossposted from Allspinzone.