The Recruiters///Lying to our kids in every town in the USA (Liars)

[Mari333]

Just talked to an anti war preacher and his wife in our small town...they gave me the lowdown on whats happening in this town in SW Michigan, and whats probably going on all over the country
Recruiters are coming into our small town, and going up to young people on the street asking them if they want to have coffee (18, 19 yr olds)
Then they sit them down and give them the "Honor and Glory " shpeil...promising them money and promotion if they can bring 3-4 more kids with them down to the recruiting offices in St Jospeh Michigan, where the kids think they will get paid big money and be promoted...and no one knows this, the kids are being waylaid on the streets...the Recruiters even ask the kids to get phone lists of their friends....
I called veterans for peace and Im trying to find some Gulf War Vets for peace in the Michigan area who are willing to speak at a church here to the parents and kids about the TRUTH and offset the BULLshit the recruiters are sending the kids..
In the meantime, I will be publishing in our local paper the names of EVERY SOLDIER KILLED INCLUDING COALITION SOLDIERS
Im mad...
anyone know any Gulf War Vets who would be willing to speak the truth here in SW Michigan????
anyway, if you do PM me...
Your kid could be next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. "18 or 19 year olds my ass!..these bastards were at my 11 year olds school

and were indoctrinating them in an elementray school...in the fucking classroom showing films and video games, handing out sports water bottles, keychains and stickers "GO NAVY"....the military has 19 18 wheelers criss crossing smalltown america complete with rock climbing walls and virual live action shoot and kill games and handing out their kill scores (print outs)...it is disturbing and it should be ILLEGAL! ...i don't mind recruiters coming to "career days" in the high school but my elementary school age children are off limits!!!!


Figure 1 - Mobile Van visiting New Mexico Schools

"The Army Cinema Vans, the Army Cinema Pods, the Army Adventure Van, the Rockwall and the Navy Exhibit Centers are crisscrossing the country as we speak, with high-tech "educational" shows that glamorize military life" http://awol.objector.org/mobile.html

Recruiting the class of 2005. Mother Jones. Jan/Feb, pp. 57-61, 80-81. http://www.motherjones.com/magazine/JF02/rotc.html

[thebigidea]

2. "Army Adventure Van" - ugh, that sounds so deppppresssssing

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. HERE is discription of what these Recruiting Vans are...God save our kids

What are the Recruiting Vans?

Seven Army Cinema Vans, each equipped with nine slide projectors and three screens. Four Rockwalls for simultaneous rockclimbing and recruiting. Eight Cinema Pods, carrying the recruiters and slide show directly into classrooms. The Army Adventure Van, featuring an M-1 tank simulator, a Cobra helicopter simulator, and a "Weaponeer" an M 16 rifle simulator. The Weaponeer provides each student with a printout showing exactly where each "hit" tore through their depersonalized, but human, target. Five Navy Exhibit Centers include a "Nuclear Power Van," and an "America's Sea Power Van." Seven parking spaces long by two deep, the Vans provide, according to the Army, "educational multi-media shows." The Recruiting Commands, who control the vans, aim to keep them filled all day long with class after class of students. Local recruiters are always present at these "educational" events. The Army's 16 vans visit a total of 2000 schools per year, propagandizing 380,000 "recruitable" students. The Navy visits approximately 500 schools, including community colleges and vocational schools. Both vans stop by shopping malls, state fairs, rodeos - wherever young people can be found. Two "National Science" vans, sponsored by the military and the National Science Center, also tour the country. In each case, the Pentagon's Recruiting Commands and local recruiters use school grounds, school facilities, and school time to glorify the armed forces and their version of history.

A Learning Experience?

The Army Recruiting Command advertises the vans as a "A Learning Experience." The Navy baldly calls them, "Recruiting Vans." But so-called academic slide shows are packaged with far more blatant advertisements for the U.S. military. The vans are designed to recruit, not to educate. "The vans zero in on our target market, and that's in high schools," explained Fred Zinchiak, Public Affairs Specialist in the Sacramento Army Recruiting Battalion. The Cinema Van's so-called "academic" shows include We the People - "217 years of American history from the birth of the nation through Operation Desert Storm" and Math. It All Starts Here, one of several shows explicitly geared to junior high school students. But the real intent of the Vans is to portray the military as a glamorous, painless "opportunity." The Army slide shows feature Combat Arms - The Tough Choice, with 21 minutes of artillery, armor, and combat engineering, doubtless without the carnage that results when these weapons are actually used; Path to the Future, bringing to multi-media life the recruiters' empty promises about education and career training; and Path to Professionalism, a "guide on the transition from civilian to soldier," which glorifies a soldier's first year without mentioning the hazing, humiliation, and loss of civil rights endemic to basic training. The Navy's videos include Steel Boats and Iron Men, Sea Warriors, Angels Over America, and, The Navy and You – Full Speed Ahead.

[Mari333]

3. assholes! parents and families need to stop this crap

small town by small town...! Ive called Vets for Peace asking them if I can get a Vet to speak here...there should be a major protest at each place that van drives thru...with lists of the war dead and wounded handed out..
Im going to do it here..for gods sake we have to stop these assholes

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. there are 19 of these semi's and the $ for 46 more in the Pentagon budget

[kalian]

9. And what about the TV programs....

on the History channel and the Discovery channel? :shrug:
I've noticed that they're playing these shows in such a manner that
it "looks cool" to be in the military. Grundgy rock music, people
running around looking like they're at some picnic, etc.
They need more BODIES for the imperial army. IMHO, they're trying to
get kids to enlist...and having failed that, draft them into service
starting in 2005, BUT these kids will have "bought into" the
image that its "cool" to be in the military.

Remember now: we've only fought against third and fourth world
militaries...

[rockymountaindem]

6. It's nothing new

I really love history, and I consider myself a bit of an authority on certain military history matters.

The "honor and glory" stuff has been getting the military recruits for centuries, and money probably leads the field in terms of historical motivation to serve. For example, the Roman Empire paid an above-average wage to their new recruits, and joining the army was, financially speaking, a good decision for the common man. In addition, the Empire gave a plot of land at the end of a soldier's service, something not easily acquired.

The Royal Navy sent men known as the "press gang" to press men into service during the Napoleonic wars. A group of Navy thugs would roam the ports and just drag men off to the ship and presto! instant sailors.

Here in the US, the Civil War provides good examples of the same kind of recruitment tactics being used today.

I know that if I were to go to war I would have a pretty good chance of coming home in a body bag, but nonetheless, I must admit that as a young man, the "honor and glory" thing still has great appeal to me. I can't fault the military for using these tactics to appeal to young men and women, but I don't like the idea of using them in elementary schools.

[PSR40004]

7. Has any one ever talked to a recruiter?

Jez they have been lying for so long it's hard to say the last time any of them told the truth, it has been that way for some time. I think parents should be able to direct if their children should be talking to a recruiter.

My own son is joining the air force and I wanted to go with him to talk over his MO and found it funny when I caught the recruiter telling him he didn't want to make those decisions with his dad as he was now a "man" (a 17 your old one at that). LOL he got a earfull and I have warned my son as much as I can about the pitfalls of believing the recruiter..

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. the law should be that all recruiters be double amputees and disabled vets

make it "fair and balanced"....let our children see if not hear the TRUTH

[kalian]

10. There ya go....

bring in recruiters that have a leg or an arm missing. Let the kids
see the other possibilities as well.
Kinda like the sergeant in Starship Troopers:
"I love the army, its made me what I am today!" (and he rolls
away in a wheelchair (boths legs missing) and he has one hook arm.

[Toots]

11. Recruiters Lying ~ No say it ain't so.

Huge news Recruiters lied. My God where have you been? That news is older than America. Recruiters have always lied.

[Valjean]

12. Democrats counterstrike

Democrats should counter with a list of individuals who would pledge to join the military if Bush was removed from office and America was removed from Iraq. Patriots rightfully wish to join the military in part to defend their nation. Imperialism is not part of national defense. They have turned the Army into a profit center for the big oil concerns.

Furthermore, they are trying to turn NASA into a profit center for Aerospace and oil. The radical change advocated by the Bush administration is aimed at getting Uncle Sam do directly subsidize R&D for aircraft and new drilling technologies for the oil industry.