Let;s hear it for ignorance!

[gridlore]

From an article on aggressive tactics my military recruiters.

Nancy Carroll didn't know schools were giving military recruiters her family's contact information until a recruiter called her 17-year-old granddaughter.

That didn't sit well with Carroll, who believes recruiters unfairly target minority students. So she joined activists across the country who are urging families to notify schools that they don't want their children's contact information given out.

"People of color who go into the military are put on the front line," said the 67-year-old Carroll, who is black.

Bollocks. The majority of people in Army combat units are white. Minorities tend to join for job skill training and college opportunities, whites more for the adventure and experience. I state this as a former infantryman. Every infantry unit I was in had more white guys than other races. But our support units looked like the bloody UN.

So yes, decry the overly aggressive recruiters who are crossing far too many lines in trying to fill the ranks, but don't play the damn race card when it isn't warranted.

Comments

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

One thing is for sure, if we go back to the draft, it'll be the poor who're unable to get out of it.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

There's a way to fix that: Write it into law that the children of congresscritters and highly paid bureaucrats are the first ones drafted, the the children of rich civilians, then the children of the middle class, THEN the poor. THat's the only form of draft I will ever accept. If they declare a draft before I get un-stoplossed, then I'm going to declare myself a conscientous objector the moment we get off the plane in Savannah. It won't make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but every little gesture counts.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

The occasionally drafted rich kids in the 60's, too, but those generally got assignments at the officer's club in Fraulienbump, Germany. It was the poor kids that usually got sent to Noncomphrag, Vietnam. Not everyone with money is an asshole, but few with money volunteer for the crappy jobs, and why should they? People with power have always been able to pull strings and get their kids out of the fire, and that won't ever change. Even with universal conscript, someone will find some reason to have the son of Congressmen Skruemupthebum assigned to the pentagon as a cocktail commando, while Joe Bagadonut's kid gets used for medical experiments or assigned as a biological mine clearing device. I can't speak in absolutes, just my experience, and my experience is who you know has a lot to do with where you end up. YMMV

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

I know that the politically powerful will still find ways to protect their spawn, at least this way it will be technically illegal for them to do so. Not like they don't break the law all the time, but still.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think we should make Ba'al worship (http://www.bensozia.com/benideas/baal.html) mandatory for members of Congress.

It doesn't take political connections...

[murbin.livejournal.com]

...the military is system, and like any other has it's angles.
A good friend of mine was assigned to the 82nd during the late 80's. He was an E4 or E5 by the time and knew the three magic words to say while reporting for duty.

"I can type."

This resulted in an immediate assignment to the HQ Company, where Bill was then filling out forms in triplicate all day.

Bill's family political or military connections: Zip.

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

As someone with 21 years service so far, the only draft I want to see in this country is draft beer. And not the cheap stuff, either....

The other sure thing...

[murbin.livejournal.com]

Nobody on the right side of the aisle, or anybody in the Pentagon is calling for or even asking for a draft.

The last I heard of anybody talking about reinstating a draft in Congress, it was Rep. Rangel, democrat from New York.

Re: The other sure thing...

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

No one who'd suffer from it politicaly is talking about it, but there are some seriously respected military analysts who're saying it may end up being a reality if we keep up our current deployment with the loss in new recruits we've been seeing.

We're not up for another major push into, say, Syria or Iran, non-US troops in Iraq are not a sure bet, and we're down in recruitment. About 40% this year.

We may never see a Viet Nam style draft, but if we keep expanding our military mission and reducing troop numbers, *something* has to give. Either we leave the places we're occupying, so an even worse job than we're doing now, hire mercenaries, or draft civillians.

No matter how hard Bush keeps chanting that victory is near, the Iraqi forces are not up to defending Iraq from much. Acording to US soldiers who work with them, the Iraqis keep running away. The insurgency isn't anywhere near defeated either.

Both of those problems mean we need more US troops out there, and we're not getting a huge rush of patriots clammoring to enlist.

Re: The other sure thing...

[murbin.livejournal.com]

One way to avoid the draft that liberal congressmen are calling for is to pull US troops out of Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. They have been there for well over six years, with no exit plan.