before you enlist-- an excellent antiwar video....

[mike_c]

Wow. This is powerful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFsaGv6cefw&NR

Apologies if this has been posted already-- I couldn't find it.

[Tommy_J]

1. Kicking and recommending

[kcass1954]

2. Thank you! My nephew just enlisted - I'm going to make him watch this.

He bought the whole recruiter line - said he just wanted us to be proud of him. I've already told him I'd be more proud if he'd had the balls to tell the recruiter to take a hike. It's a deferred enlistment - he's still in high school. Most of the family (they're my in-laws) are not thrilled about it, but figure that he's old enough to make this decision, in part because I don't think there was any planning made for him to be able to go to college.

My son is going to show this to a good friend of his who's considering enlisting. I hope to be able to see Jason this weekend. His grandmother is a friend of mine, and she thinks the service would be good for him. But there's some estrangement going on right now (she raised him), so my son and I may be able to talk him out of it.

I was an AF brat, and I'm not an anti-military person - just anti-this-military. I'm appalled at the way we're treating our military, both while they're serving and after they separate.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. Exactly.

When I was in HS, I actually briefly considered joining the military. I ultimately didn't join because of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and because Mr. Bush took office my senior year. If I was going to join, they would have to accept me for me and I never trusted Bush at all.