As a member of Corvallis Counter-recruitment Committee, I'd like to address the statements in Pat Wray's Feb. 22 column, "Anti-military activists have too much say at schools," about the Corvallis Counter-recruitment Committee.

The purpose of the Corvallis Counter-recruitment Committee (CCC) is to disseminate factual information to students, parents and community members so that they may make informed decisions that will hopefully have positive lifelong implications.

Because we consider present military recruitment tactics to be aggressive and invasive to student's privacy (not always presenting the facts about enlistment and at times presenting an intimidating presence in our schools), we offer factual information on "opting out" of having their private information sent to the military.

We offer information on recruitment, the military service, the draft, conscientious objector materials and alternatives to the military such as jobs and scholarship opportunities. The CCC is comprised of parents, students, teachers, community volunteers, veterans and conscientious objectors.

We are not anti-military, and it was especially hurtful to me to be portrayed by Pat Wray as such because I had explained to him that many of my family members served in the military. For me, this includes my father, father-in-law, mother-in-law, my uncles, brothers, niece and her husband. My father was buried in his Navy uniform a year ago, with full military honors in Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minn.

Wray stated that the CCC does care about the students in the Corvallis School District. We respect their right to privacy, and we want them to know the truth.

One important fact is found in the Enlistment Document of the Armed Forces: "Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to me. Such changes may affect my status, pay, allowances, benefits, and responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment/reenlistment document."

Also, Only those agreements that are written on the form may be honored, and "any other promises made by any person are not effective and will not honored." Many promises are made by recruiters, and many are broken.

The CCC has worked cooperatively and legally with the Corvallis School District to provide our information to students. We are volunteers with no budget, unlike the military, which has a budget of billions for commercials and slick advertising materials to persuade youth to join.

The CCC suggests 10 things to consider before enlisting. One is to talk to recently returned Iraq soldiers and veterans of other wars. Members of the CCC have also also lobbied Congress for more veterans' benefits, and helped to raise funds for veterans.

I invite the community and Pat Wray to join us in finding alternatives to war. I think we all can agree that war is harmful to the health of children and other living things. See our Web site, www.alt2war.peak.org.

Jeanne Raymond is a Corvallis resident.