If Uncle Sam wants you, he has to be able to find you

[True_Blue]

Near the end of his speech on Iraq on Tuesday night, President Bush issued an appeal: "To those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces."

Bush's single-sentence call to service was his first in an Iraq speech, and it was better than no call at all. Even so, it was far less than he might have done to aid beleaguered Army recruiters, who are about 15% behind their year-to-date target despite meeting their goal in June for the first time in five months.

Today's all-volunteer Army is better described as an all-recruited Army. That Army is being tested as never before by an increasingly unpopular conflict, one that was based on false premises but has morphed into part of the war on terror. If recruitment fails, the only alternative is a draft.

Making recruitment work means giving the Defense Department the tools it needs to target prospective soldiers. This includes the database allowed in the No Child Left Behind school reform law, which requires high schools to release to the military names and contact information for their students.

more....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-06-29-our-view_x.htm

[Mythsaje]

1. Honestly

my first response to this news was "They're lying." :shrug:

Maybe, maybe not.

[evlbstrd]

2. Who is the liar here?

I have two kids, one is a 15 year old male (don't get me started), and a daughter near 20.
They both have very definite ideas about Iraq. No fucking way will they die in a desert for an American Empire.
My nephew is in the Air Force, foolish boy joined after the invasion, and voted for Bush, and he's full of regrets.

[Mythsaje]

3. I don't trust them at all anymore.

Not that I ever really did. In the lead-up for the war I knew we were being lied to, that the press was along for the ride, and that winning the war would be different from occupying it afterward. I knew the cost would be more than we could bear.

I KNEW it. A lot of us did. And no one listened.

[evlbstrd]

4. Agreed.

When they went ahead and did it anyway, I said to my brother, "They'd better do it right." They didn't.