Staff Sgt. Victor Jimenez distributed T-shirts, water bottles, key chains and posters, and collected dozens of students' phone numbers. Jimenez said he typically visits the school about twice a week, meeting with interested teenagers to discuss enlistment and going running with students. He also meets with students in his office in Montebello.
"We sit down with them one on one and talk about what the Marine Corps offers for them," he said.
Recruiters for the Army and the Air Force worked other aisles of the job fair, sprinkled among scores of recruiters from UCLA, a beauty college, Toyota and others. About 1,500 students streamed through the gymnasium.
Jimenez was surprised to learn that the women at the next table were counter-recruiters.
"I don't care," he said. "They're welcome to do what they want."
But when told some of CAMS' talking points, his eyes grew wide. "Wow," he said.
The group does not mince words -- a brochure on the table aimed at young women considering joining the military features the testimony of a woman who said she was raped while serving in the Navy, and says women in the armed forces are more likely to be sexually assaulted compared with women in the general population.
The volunteers told students that they would be sacrificing their lives to enrich private companies, that the military unfairly targeted minorities and poor communities, and that they would be sent to Iraq and "get your heads blown off."
Freshman Ashley Flores, 15, said she was pleased to hear a different viewpoint on campus.
"You see lots of recruiters" at school, said Ashley, who said she was opposed to the war in Iraq and whose stepbrother is an Army soldier stationed there. "I think the military just shows the positives of what you get if you join. They just show the good things."
But junior Jessica Reynoso, 16, whose brother is also in the Army, said the counter-recruiters' table was offensive. In the poll about government spending, she bypassed the options labeled "education," "environment" and "healthcare."
"I put all my pennies in the military," she said. "My brother's risking his life for us."
Inouye asked students why they wanted to join the military, turning to freshman Adrian Cruz, who plans to enlist in the Marines upon graduation.
"I want to fight for our country," Adrian said. "I'll be, like, the hero."
Inouye told the wiry teen he would end up in Iraq "killing a lot of innocent people," or could be killed himself.
"I'm only going to kill people who shoot at me," Adrian replied, patting the round Marines sticker he had stuck to the strap of his backpack.
Adrian said he was angry that Inouye, along with his parents, brother and teachers, questioned his decision about what to do with his life.
"It just made me kind of mad," he said. "I know they are right. I just put it in the back of my head. I still want to be a Marine."
Adrian went back to the Marines' table, where Jimenez, in his dress uniform, handed the 15-year-old his phone number.
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seema.mehta@latimes.com
