United States Military

[wet blanket]

If any of you have been in an american high school with a high percentage of lower income students, you'd have noticed that towards the end of the school year, you start seeing recruiters in uniform set up little booths in the cafeteria with pamphlets and such about once or twice a month...

Hell, one day, they brought a red hummer on campus. They parked it right by the flagpole, and they started playing really loud popular music(stuff like ludacris, godsmack, etc). They also had a table out there filled with enlisting forms and a pull up bar. Now, this drew a crowd... The school I went to was rather large and imagine, if you can, a good mob of a few hundred highschool kids all interested in this bullshit. I can understand why though, bunch of guys in a slick uniforms who have the young ladies making eyes at them, a pull up bar to show everyone how tough you are, 'cool' music being played from an interesting vehicle, and a table of pamphlets promising to put you through college so long as you sign by the X.

Not only that, but having just graduated, I get calls almost twice a week from dipshits wanting me to enlist with promises of having my college paid for and how the military will help me achieve my career goals. Then there's the letters in the mail, but those aren't quite as offensive as I just toss those away.

Anyway, it seems to me that the military is really wanting some new recruits. I never would have thought that people bought into this shit unless I had seen it for myself. It gets me to wondering how far into the future the day is when a draft is announced and they start calling numbers and sending letters. Perhaps I'm just paranoid and over-analyzing all of this, but it's strange when it's happening all around you. If I start hearing any more talk of that draft garbage, I'm going to make my move out of this country a little ahead of schedule.

[refuse_resist]

Yeah, that's how all those recruiters are. They use certain psychological tactics on people to make it seem like joining the military is like some sort of paid vacation you're going on and they'll pay for all you're college tuition, give you bonuses, etc.

Back at the high school I was going to I would see army recruiters walking around campus all the time and would bug the hell out of people. Seriously, they lie a lot to people and will tell them anything to join.

Whatever they tell you, don't listen to them. They're all full of shit and that's all that comes out of their mouths.

[Comrade Latino]

Yeah they're all over my school too. The worst part is that at my school they have like this class where they teach you to march adn stuff like that and all the teachers are soldiers. I think that is fucked up man.

[RED CHARO]

I have a couple of friends that joined the Australian army, after they finished high school. Because of the job placement schemes the army has (for the one that finished the training), it became a wise choice for him, he now has a high paying job.
But I never told them exactly what I thing of them joining the army, as with my politics it has become a sour point in our relationship.
The government could use these recources they have in better ways. Instead of just locateing them to army personell, and use them for the whole community!
On another note in Mexico, a country with conscription for those who are poor unempolyed, or not in uni. The army does absolutly nothing for those who finish there service, and just give them a short term job and has them lined up for any lefty up rising that may occur (although one person I know joined the Zapatistas after leaving the army :P )

[h&s]

Its just the same as the British Army having a recruitment unit wherever there is a big public gathering, like at funfairs. They are there to prey on those who've a little too much to drink to get them to sign up. Its just exploiting those who can be exploited into signing up.

[noland]

Not that I'm in anyway in favor of what the US military does, but if a person cannot afford to go to college the army is a good second option. There are all sorts of opportunities and job options that can allow you to stay out of combat. I've done alot of research on the military and it's really not all that bad. The only way that alot of the jobs offered are different than civillian life is that you wear a uniform. Clerks, secretaries, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, and even clergy are employed by the military. Like I said, I don't strongly support the army, but it's not what a lot of people make it out to be.

[wet blanket]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2004, 03:55 PM
Not that I'm in anyway in favor of what the US military does, but if a person cannot afford to go to college the army is a good second option. There are all sorts of opportunities and job options that can allow you to stay out of combat. I've done alot of research on the military and it's really not all that bad. The only way that alot of the jobs offered are different than civillian life is that you wear a uniform. Clerks, secretaries, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, and even clergy are employed by the military. Like I said, I don't strongly support the army, but it's not what a lot of people make it out to be.
Do you really think the US government would hesitate for a second to call people in any of the occupations you mentioned up to active duty if a situation arose where they felt that they were in need of more soldiers(with the obvious exception of medical staff)?
We're living in some very shaky times these days, and I don't believe for a second that there's any 'safe job' for new recruits in the military.

[refuse_resist]

They've already done that. Soon they'll be calling up thousands of non-active duty personnel to go back in, especially if it's a certain job they need.

[Fidelbrand]

Ye... they need more frontmen to suck oil or natural resources around Asia / Caspian Sea to feed its "Progress". =_=...