As legal questions continue to mount in the debate over military recruitment on college campuses, the armed forces are examining the controversial issue in greater detail.
"We need the best and the brightest people when we're facing daunting situations of life and death," said Major Rachel VanLandingham, a United States Air Force recruiting chief. "We can't settle for second-best."
VanLandingham oversees recruitment for the Air Force office of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, which seeks out law-school graduates to handle the many complex legal matters that the military faces.
In late November, a Philadelphia federal appeals court overturned the 1995 Solomon Amendment, which required universities to allow military recruiters on campus if they wished to receive federal funding. This past week, the Justice Department elected to appeal the 3rd Circuit Court's decision to the United States Supreme Court.
At the heart of the debate over military recruitment is the conflict between universities' non-discrimination rules and the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding sexual orientation.
The battle has centered around law schools because they tend to stick strongly to their non-discrimination rules and also because their graduates are sought after by JAG recruiters.
According to VanLandingham, JAG lawyers offer legal advice to the military on topics ranging from military justice to disciplinary issues to proper rules of engagement. She said that these lawyers are intimately involved in the military's operations, including United States' involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"They are contributing to national security," she said. "I know it sounds grandiose, but it is true."
VanLandingham said that on-campus, personal interviews between younger JAG captains and law students are essential if recruits are to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to join the military.
"Many people don't have anyone in their family who was in the JAG Corps," she said. "Maybe they've seen something on CNN or they've watched A Few Good Men, but the military is a different world. You have to know what you are getting into and you have to know all the benefits."
Department of Defense spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers agreed.
"The military offers some unique opportunities to these graduates that they might not be aware of if they did not talk directly with a recruiter," he said. "For example, law students who join the military have expanded opportunities to travel and to argue substantive legal cases soon after graduation."
Both military officers expressed concern about universities allowing military recruiters on campus but not giving them the same access to students and resources as other employers.
"We do not want to be relegated to second-class status," VanLandingham said. "The current [law-school employment] system is set up to provide the best link between students and employers."
Shavers expressed a similar sentiment.
"We're not looking for special access or privilege," he said. "We just want to be able to compete on a level playing field with other organizations looking to recruit the same talent."
When asked about the contradiction between university non-discrimination policies and military homosexual conduct policy, Shavers said he wished to clarify the common perception of the military's stance on sexual orientation.
"'Don't ask, don't tell' is not some Pentagon idea or some whim; it is a congressionally enacted law for the United States," he said. "The Department of Defense is simply complying with the law of the land."
Those who oppose the Solomon Amendment argue that whether or not "don't ask, don't tell" is a policy protected by law, the presence of military recruiters on campus gives an unfair employment advantage to those of a specific sexual orientation.
In an e-mail statement, Jacob Press, former chairman of Lambda Law -- a Penn Law School advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues -- said he believed "protection from employment discrimination" was the "most basic of civil rights."
"We are talking about the mere right to exist, to earn one's bread," he said.
A new military recruitment program will not begin on campus until February.
