Monday, April 17, 2006
Those Army Recruiting Ads on TV
It’s hard to imagine how the US Army could have come up with more obnoxious ads.
First, of course, the idea that they exist at all is loathsome. The US Army should be apologizing to the world for the mess in Iraq not trying to gull stupid youngsters into enlisting so they can die for the glory of Donald Rumsfeld.
Second, it’s galling that the US Army is promoting the fiction that a disadvantaged kid can join up and not find himself in Iraq immediately and for the foreseeable future.
But the tenor of the ads is the most maddening thing about them: There’s the mother who seems to preface life with a sigh and an expectation that once again she’s going to be disappointed. (Which, dejected and depressed as she is, she probably will be.) Then there’s the kid who apparently believes the army training will equip him for something other than staying in the army and he parrots that boloney to his dumber-than-grass father.
But the winner of the Most Crass Army Ad Award is this one, which I quote:
Father to young man who is probably his son:
You’re a changed man.
Shook my hand then looked me square in the eye.
Where’d that come from?
Implication 1: The son was a snot-nosed brat the father couldn’t control.
Implication 2: The father had done such a piss-poor job of raising the kid that the kid ran off to the Army.
Implication 3: The numnut father hadn’t even taught his kid to shake hands properly and to look people in the eye when doing so.
Implication 4: The father couldn’t understand how his kid had learned to do anything right, since it sure as hell hadn’t come from him.
Implication 5: Send your uneducated, badly raised, untrained children to the US Army and it will shape them up before getting them killed.
The CCCO (Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors) says:
Most students don't know that:
* Two-thirds of recruits don't get any college money.
* To qualify for college money recruits have to pay $100 per month for a year.
* Most people in the military do not have time to attend college while in the service.
* The unemployment rate for veterans is three times higher than the national average.
* People who sign up with the Delayed Entry Program are told they can't change their minds, but getting out is as simple as writing a letter.
* The enlistment contract is for eight years.
* There are other ways to finance college, like federal financial aid, private scholarships, going to community college or joining AmeriCorps.
But finally, the question must be asked: Why would the Army want a recruit who is so stupid that he falls for these TV recruitment ads unless the Army’s only use for such a recruit is to send him to Iraq to get killed?
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7 comments:
Nice post. Keep it up!
Uh, I suppose someone ought to point out that we've had a VOLUNTEER Army for about 30 years now. There's no need for a Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (doesn't that name have a Soviet-style ring to it?) or to harp on people who choose to join.
Criticisms lose a lot of their potency when all you do is stand on the outside and talk as if you know what is going on inside.
You are a very narrow minded person.
I salute the men and woman in uniform and their sacrifices!
My question to you is...What have you done for your country today, yesterday or at all?
My guess...Nothing!
Thank you fighting O6 and anonymous. Well said.
Are you as ignorant as this piece comes across, or just trying to provoke? Just to comment on the most obvious of errors...Almost any idiot would know that Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines do not make decisions to go to war, our elected political leaders do, so the Army has nothing to apologize for. Yes, the Army does prepare young people for the future. Not all, but most specialties Soldiers get training in are easily tranferable to civilian occupations. Many a young person has matured after taking on the responsibility of being a US Soldier, which provides them the self-confidence and self-esteem to look someone in the eye and give them a firm handshake, where before they didn't have those traits. All soldiers who are honorably discharged are eligible for the GI Bill, and YES, Soldiers have to pay $100 a month for 12 months under the college fund, but then are eligible to receive $12,000 in educational benefits. By statute, a Soldier's enlistment is for 8 years, but not all that time must be spend on active duty. Their enlistment is could be 3 years of active service, and 5 years in the inactive reserve. Your piece is so full of half-truths and omissions, I hope you don't consider yourself a journalist.
Wow, it's amazing how absolutely uninformed you are. Here's a lesson for you - before you criticize me and my profession (yes, I'm an Army officer), walk a mile in my shoes. Your comments are hardly worth addressing. Go home to Mom and Dad and delete yourself from the internet.
I hope you sleep well tonight knowing how highly inaccurate your facts about recruiting and those who enlist in the military are.
You comment on how "The Army" should apologize. There is no "The Army". It's a collection of individual Americans who do what our elected officials ask us to do. And we do it better and more selflessly than anyone in the world.
A disadvantaged kid can enlist and succeed. Your narrowmindedness makes me question if it's even worth addressing your comments. Not a single person enlists and finds themself immediately in Iraq or elsewhere. First is basic training for nine weeks, plus a week of in-processing. Next comes Adv Individual Tng. It varries by job from four weeks to beyond 52. Third, the Soldier joins a stateside unit. The unit then trains and is certifed before going anywhere. Your presumption that we take a body off the streets and throw him on a plane for Iraq is absurd.
You are the reason the Army ads are accurate. I challenge you to read a book about the Millenial Generation. One of the traits the researchers have discovered is that 17-24 year olds view their parents are failures because of their immense selfishness and unwillingness to do anything but satisfy their own selfish interests. Todays youth want to be part of something larger than themselves and they see the importance of global events.
I am a dissdvantaged kid who enlisted in the Army. Unlike you assumptions, I have a degree in Computer Systems Engineering, am awaiting the promotion board results for Major, and have been in 10 years as a combatleader and have not been to Iraq or Afghanistan.
You imply that the Army trainers could never accomplish something parents couldn't. Not so. More times than I can count, I've seen proud parents amazed at their children's accomplishments. If history shows you anything, never doubt the capabilities of the American soldier.
I'd also say that a $100 a month investment for 12 months is well worth the $71,424 in educational benefits a Soldier gets in return. We do have time for college. It's highly encouraged and Soldiers are evaluated partly on their educational credentials. We also have EArmyU a free, accredited college program that gives Soldiers a free laptop computer and internet access world-wide to earn college credits. We have Concurrent Admissions where colleges and universities hold an admission slot for Soldiers who are deployed or serving actively until they return. Hundreds of colleges nationwide participate in this program. Finally, any training completed in the Army can be transferred to college credits for application to a degree path. the Army contracts college teachers to deploy with us so that Soldiers can continue their education during their down time. Any Soldier who doesn't do college in the Army does so by choice, not b/c of a lack of opportunity. I know of no other employer who makes it easier and more affordable.
For those that don't go to college, there is Army PaYS (Partnership for Youth Success). When a Soldier enlists and doesn't plan on college, he can get a guranteed interview with the company of his choice. It's a part of his contract, arranged on the date of enlistment, and provides the Soldier a shot at a high paying, skilled job upon exit from the service.
Your assumption that since many don't take full advantage of all Army education benefits means that we're not giving what's promised. That's the illogical equal to saying that because someone doesn't read all 30,000 books in the library that the library is a fraud when they say they offer 30,000 books.
I love Soldiers. Regardless of their background, race, religion, or motive for joining, Soldiers are incredible people who accomplish more with thier lives in a couple of years than most do in a lifetime.
I feel pity for you that you can't appreciate why the country needs young men and women to serve and protect our freedoms and provide freedom to others. Who will be there when the next hurricane strikes and FEMA can't handle it? Who will respond instantly at the next tsunami? Who will deliver food and water to worn torn regions most people don't know exists? Who will go when people like you are so stubbornly against them? I will and my fellow Soldiers.
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