gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Army - Combat Infantryman)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2005-06-17 10:41 am

Let;s hear it for ignorance!

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.

[identity profile] sinboy.livejournal.com 2005-06-17 07:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Oops. I didn't realize I was implying that the Surgeon General was military. I just mentioned it because it was a federal post, appointed by the president, not for any military reason.

I prefer to remember both groups from Tuskegee. I think keeping both of them mentioned gives a good sense that, despite being segregated and discriminated against, the airmen showed courage and patriotism. They were the better Americans than the people experimenting on other black citizens