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242 Comments
- Hillsfar, on 04/06/2009, -1/+48The military has often been a place where America's soldiers sacrificed their lives not merely for their country, but for their uncaring commanders as well.
- redcolumbine, on 04/05/2009, -2/+42FTA: "There's one set of values for the Army, and when you go to Recruiting Command, you're basically forced to do things outside of what would normally be considered to be moral or ethical... You'll be told to call Johnny or Susan and tell them to lie and say they've never had asthma like they told you, that they don't have a juvenile criminal history."
- relaxeder, on 04/17/2009, -1/+36I remember walking around outside a few years back and being stopped by a group of army recruiters parked on the curb and standing around their vehicle. They asked me upfront if I wanted to go and fight for my country in Iraq, I said "sorry, the military isn't for me" and kept walking, and then they just started harrassing me and calling me a baby because I gave them my answer. Like I'm going to join now, you idiots. :\ (Of course I didn't say that to their faces, I'm a skinny little guy and they were built like brick ***** houses with crew cuts.)
The military needs to meet their quotas for enlistment, I realize that, but for an organization that should be doing a good PR job they put alot of meatheads out on the street to advertise for them. - Diefree, on 04/05/2009, -4/+35Just terrible. These are honorable men and women pushed to suicide and the army should be doing everything it can to change things and fix the cause.
- omnithought, on 04/06/2009, -2/+29I wouldn't join any organization that lies to you to get you in. If they lie to you at the front door, more lies are sure to follow...and they do.
- Thumper13, on 04/06/2009, -0/+24I know it's not cool or popular, but my Marine Corps recruiter was a really nice guy who helped me get in better shape before joining and taught me a lot of stuff before I went in so I was better prepared. When I got injured in boot camp he came a visited me (it helped that I lived in SD.)
When I had to leave the Corps before really becoming a Marine, he sent me a couple letters just checking up on me even knowing that because of my injury I could never re-join the Corps.
There are plenty of nice ones out there. The asses get all the press.
Semper Fi - BenTheTank, on 04/06/2009, -2/+22Meanwhile, my Air Force recruiter was about the most laid back dude I've ever met.
I think that the Army would see much improved recruiting and retention numbers if they treated their soldiers with more respect.
At the least I hope that Army leadership considers the stress their recruiters are under and lighten up on them, encourage them to make appointments w/ life skills, etc. - dave122, on 04/06/2009, -1/+19Blindly supporting 'The Troops' is just as bad as blindly supporting our government. It's not as if I want any of them to get killed, that couldn't be further from the truth, but how can I support them while they are carrying out a war that I find not only unconstitutional but immoral as well?
- borez, on 04/06/2009, -6/+24I can imagine how sending people off to die as cannon fodder for no good reason just may be a bit morally taxing.
- tk0680, on 04/06/2009, -0/+18Very poetic, but you're essentially saying "support them or die". Not all that democratic, is it?
Personally, I hope every single soldier comes home alive and well, but that's because they're people, not because they're soldiers. - azwethinkweizm, on 04/06/2009, -3/+21I graduated high school in 2008 and I keep getting calls from recruiters asking me if I'm doing anything with my life. I've told them a million times I'm in college but they still continue to call me. It's gotten to the point where I just make fun of them and treat them like trash.
I don't feel bad about it either, you should've learned what "no" means the first time you hear it. - offrdbandit, on 04/06/2009, -0/+15Comrade implies Soviet.
Fatherland implies Nazi.
You need to get your totalitarian regimes straight, son! - johndi, on 04/06/2009, -2/+16Very few people volunteer to be a recruiter. It's not like a normal job specialty where you join having a good idea of what you'll be doing. No, the Army likes to wait until someone has been in long enough to have time invested in the military. Potential recruiters have to consider whether to quit over what they know will be a hellish assignment when they are often more than halfway to retirement.
The choice is pretty random and they make no attempt to find out who is likely to do well as a recruiter. It's bad for the Army too since many experienced people do indeed quit instead of taking the assignment. Oh and they aren't amused when you get the speech to try and talk you out of signing your declination statement and your stated reason for leaving the Army instead of recruiting is "I can't be a recruiter because I won't lie to children." - BenTheTank, on 04/06/2009, -0/+12Tragically that is true. But in my (fairly limited) experience, there are many more commanders who care very deeply.
- DreKor, on 04/06/2009, -1/+11Freedom, being the natural state of man, is free. Nation states and other contrivances, however, are very expensive.
- directedition, on 04/06/2009, -0/+10Ever been on a university campus tour?
- BenTheTank, on 04/06/2009, -0/+9...Is that true?
I know a large number of Army E7s and E8s who never served as either. - e36wheelman, on 04/06/2009, -0/+9I think what he meant is, after they made fun of him, there is no way he will talk to them.
Not, "anyone who joins the military now is stupid." - mksmothers, on 04/06/2009, -0/+9They are screwing with you. Ask to talk to their company commander.
- RennyB, on 04/06/2009, -1/+10What johndi said. I was a mid career NCO (9 years in) trying to decide if I should stay till retirement or peruse a civilian career. The "Department of the Army Select" recruiter orders made what would have otherwise been a difficult decision easy.
- BagelWaffle, on 04/06/2009, -1/+9You can't simply ask them to stop calling. My senior year of high school I got calls constantly from recruiters pressuring me to join and trying to make me feel bad about saying no. I can't tolerate pushy people. Even if I'd been more open to it, their methods would have put me off. When my son gets older I will personally screen his calls from recruiters.
A while back, a recruiter in our area was caught putting cards in clothes at Target http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7630574 It's sneaky methods like this that makes people wary of recruiters.
I have nothing but respect for our troops. I live next to Fort Jackson and under a flight path to Shaw Air Force Base. I appreciate hearing the explosions or watching the jets flying in formation. It reminds me of how proud I am of our military. - booyahbitch, on 04/06/2009, -3/+11The problem, or at least one of them is, the Army is the largest force, the Navy, Marines and Air Force are all smaller, the Air Force being the smallest. The Army is under great pressure to provide warm bodies to fight every where and it is taking a toll.
- e36wheelman, on 04/06/2009, -0/+8The first day I walked into a Marine recruiter, I told them the job I wanted. (Civil Affairs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_affairs) This one douchebag made fun of me and told me to join the Peace Corps. Luckily, people like that are the exception, not the rule. There will be people like that in every organization and workplace and you just deal with them. I was surprised he said that to a possible enlistee though.
- secrity, on 04/06/2009, -0/+8I have never been lied to by any employer that I have accepted a job from. I have been lied to by companies that I did not accept a job offer from.
- wyntyr, on 04/06/2009, -2/+10actually freedom is free, it is only through the efforts of other men that you are enslaved, hth
- inactive, on 04/06/2009, -2/+10Best hit our war museum first. It's an 8 x 10 glossy of the WhiteHouse burning to the ground in 1812.
- z00k, on 04/06/2009, -19/+27Being in the Marine Corps for a long time, I have always wanted to say the following:
If you are not willing to stand behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them. - DankBuddz, on 04/06/2009, -0/+7"Along with Drill Sergeant, Recruiter is one of two hardship assignments that is considered manditory for a noncomissioned officer if he wants to become a senior NCO."
That is not true. I was in the Army for 8 years, and an NCO for 5 of those years. I only knew a few senior NCOs who served as a recruiter or Drill Sergeant. - DankBuddz, on 04/06/2009, -3/+10About 5 or 6 kids die per summer at Ft. Benning just from heat injuries alone.
6 did the summer I was there.
Care to express any more ignorance, or what? - AnthonyC, on 04/06/2009, -1/+8I saw this title and thought it had something to do with Jim Calhoun.
- Thumper13, on 04/06/2009, -0/+7A lot of people have their lives changed for the better. You just never hear about it.
I know I did. Granted, I was set on joining anyway, but I still dealt with a cool Recruiter. - RealmDown, on 04/06/2009, -1/+8True font door
- rchargel, on 04/06/2009, -1/+8Wow, I am stunned by the level of arrogance displayed in your rant. The only rational response I can give is, ***** you. I'm not in the military nor ever was. I am against the Iraq war, and was against it before it started. Hell, I didn't even think that going into Afghanistan was a good idea, although I did think (and still do) that we need to bring Bin Laden to justice. But the men and women serving this country in uniform didn't start these wars, the civilian leadership serving the civilian population did. I am impressed that you are so willing to call people who are putting the lives on the line to protect you and your family's lives are so willing to call them spineless peons. And from the anonymity of the internet too, you're so brave and forward thinking. And regardless of how you feel about the government or these two wars we find ourselves in, protecting you is precisely what the people who serve in the military signed up to do. And maybe your right (and in this one thing I believe you are) that the government doesn't care about them, but the people of this country should and do care.
To the people in the military. I am one of those lefties that the conservatives keep saying doesn't support you. It's true, we've had our disagreements, but I just wanted to say thank you. You deserve nothing but respect and gratitude for the many sacrifices you and your family have made for this country. I hope that you know that the majority of us, liberals and conservatives alike, only want what is best for you and our country, and that we all appreciate what you have accomplished and continue to accomplish every day. To those of you currently fighting on foreign soil, may fate or whatever God you believe in keep you safe and bring you home in one piece. May your families and neighbors greet you with open arms, and may the scars of war fade in their great company. Just try not to say things like "[i]f you are not willing to stand behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them." It kind of makes you sound like as big a jerk as the douche bag I'm responding to. - LonesomeFighter, on 04/06/2009, -0/+7exactly, all the people i work under care a lot and i would have no problem dieing for... but lets not get it twisted, i don't want to die.
- BotchaMcCoola, on 04/06/2009, -0/+7I worry more about the damages to our economy and the continued falling behind China financially. But I do appauld those of you who point out the human and moral tragedies as well. Useless loses of life and cruelty to ones family. Country First Not Military First.
- tk0680, on 04/06/2009, -3/+9Come home alive, buddy, but don't demand support from those who didn't sign up alongside you - they have their free will too.
- CRCulver, on 04/06/2009, -0/+6I served in the US Navy and finished a few months before September 11 (though after the USS Cole incident). Most people I served with were happily looking forward to some sort of imminent Middle Eastern conflict so they could go and kill "sand *****" and "camel jockeys". You're right that the war in Iraq was initiated by a civilian administration, but that doesn't make service members angels who deserve respect and gratitude. A lot of them are just full of hate, even towards the harmless civilian populations that we're ostensibly helping.
- SpiderTeets, on 04/06/2009, -3/+9fighting for a country you love?
- sivyr, on 04/06/2009, -0/+6Yeah... While they did volunteer for service originally, I'm willing to bet they didn't think of this type of service down the line. And when you're that deep into your career, as johndi put it (especially with the kind of benefits the military offers retirees) you really aren't just going to quit on a whim. It's a situation where you have to take it or give up a lot. I feel sorry for people wedged into this choice.
I really hope that this situation is rectified soon, because it's a terrible thing to see soldiers who have served in the field and come back safely only to have their lives ruined by their jobs. - rchargel, on 04/06/2009, -0/+6Are you under aged? If not, then yes they are allowed to do that.
- mycoplasma, on 04/06/2009, -1/+6I always imagined that being on the front lines was alot harder than making awkward phone calls to high-schoolers.
- BuffaloJoe29, on 04/06/2009, -0/+5Not with the foreign policy that we have adopted/created...
- bugwayji, on 04/06/2009, -11/+16 Comrade, it's for the Father land, you owe that much.
- SpykerSpeed, on 04/06/2009, -3/+8I will print money to pay you to fight for me. ~Government.
- whorunbartertwn, on 04/06/2009, -0/+5Wait, since you know a guy with one leg it somehow validates that ridiculous label of "cannon fodder" for our soldiers? Negative.
- inactive, on 04/06/2009, -0/+5People have tried to stand in front of you, but you seem to pick the right wars in places where journalists and concerned civilians have no access.
- e36wheelman, on 04/06/2009, -0/+5I'm not saying that people aren't killed or hurt, but he was calling our soldiers "cannon fodder." That's wholly inaccurate. More people died before 10 AM in the Battle of Fredericksburg than have died in six years in Iraq. The soldiers at Fredricksburg were cannon fodder, our modern soldiers are not.
- sirron811, on 04/06/2009, -1/+6they'll do anything....
- Thumper13, on 04/06/2009, -1/+6Pre-existing knee problem from sports growing up. I hit my knee on the obstacle course....about the 100th time through.
Spent a month on crutches and in the Medical Rahab Platoon. Then it was decided that I couldn't continue.
Should have joined the Navy, you don't need your knees as much. (Easy joke there) - Thumper13, on 04/06/2009, -0/+4Someday.
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