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Pentagon Creating A Database Of Students
needacoolnickname writes "The Washington Post is reporting that the Pentagon is working with a marketing firm to create a database of students ages 16 through college to help them identify recruits. A little chuckle from the Pentagon in the article: '...anyone can opt out of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate suppression file. That file will be matched with the full database regularly to ensure that those who do not wish to be contacted are not, according to the Pentagon.'"
i hope you get cancer
"And how many rich kids officers are dying in Iraq right now? I'm not sure if he was an officer, but there was that one football player who died. But he was killed by friendly fire. The military is welfare painted as glorious."
You're referring to Pat Tillman, who died in a friendly-fire incident. After he was killed, the US govt used him as a propaganda tool and covered up the events surrounding his death. He was in Afghanistan, not Iraq. But he was still an idiot, for confusing support of a morally bankrupt political regime with patriotism.
Thou shalt not kill.
That's a commandment, is it not?
Why is Bush's gov't looking for more young people to train as professional mass murderers?
What would Jesus do?
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
I can serve my country and still be opposed to the demands of our current government. Bush and Co have not done anything to increase my Freedom. At the moment, it is unclear whether they will have done anything to increase the Freedom of people in Afghanistan or Iraq.Bullshit. Just putting on a uniform is NOT enough to earn respect.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/10/24/muhammad.pr
You're a bit confused on this thing known as "history".
Because some people fought back in the Revolutionary War, does not mean that some mechanic in the Army is the reason I can type this.No. It is only the last couple of generations that have seen their current government use the military to further their own aims rather than to protect the USofA.That's Islamic Fundamentalism, not "islamofacism".
It is very similar to the Christian Fundamentalists you see in the good ol' USofA.
We should get the best people we can in our military and we should train them hard, equip them with the best and only use them when we or our allies are invaded.
Right now we have a military where people are being held in, without the right equipment and being killed in a country that was no threat to us.
It takes a LOT more guts to stand up and say that the government is WRONG in that circumstance than to just go along rah-rah-rah support.
"while teaching those that were drafted valuable skills and trades that would apply to the real world"
God damn thats straight out of an Army recruiting ad. I'm sure some draftee's learned valuable skills and trades in the military during Vietnam, but I'm pretty sure most combat veterans didn't learn much beyond how to shoot an M-16, take orders, frag their incompetent officers, stay alive, and to deal with post traumatic stress disorder when it was over.
Teaching valuable skills is something that mostly happens in a volunteer army in peace time. Draftee infantrymen mostly learn how to kill and avoid being killed and those skills dont have a lot of civilian applications outside of maybe S.W.A.T teams.
"my knowledge John Kerry didn't have any political ambitions at the time he decided to enlist."
Well that shows your knowledge of the issue is nonexistent. Kerry was famous or infamous for his political ambitions when he was at Yale which was where he was before he enlisted. His initials are JFK and everyone at Yale was well aware he had a massive Kennedy fetish and political amitions to follow in JFK's footsteps, exactly in his footsteps. One odd twist, everyone thinks he is Irish Catholic from Boston which is what he needed people to think for his Kennedy track, though in fact there isn't an Irish bone in his body. Kerry was a name his Jewish grandparents chose somewhat at random when the emigrated to America from Austria/Hungary, to hide the fact they were Jewish. Kerry doesn't claim to be Irish but he is really glad to not correct the mistaken impression most people have, and he never advertises the fact that he is half Jewish, because being Jewish used to be poltiical suicide though today its almost a plus.
In case you missed the parallel, chances are high Kerry volunteered for Swift boats because they were the closest match to the PT boats Kennedy served on in World War II. He very much wanted to be a hero in Vietnam, get medals, and use it as a springboard for his political career. Being in the Navy the only two good choices for combat hero were fighter pilot or swift boats.
"so I won't assume the worst until it's actually proven"
Not sure what you are getting at. Its not exactly a slam at Kerry and H.W. that they served in combat, really dangerous combat, and it was a future coup for their political careers. Only knock against Kerry was he was gung ho going in and immediately flip flopped to anti war, flip flopping being the story of his life not just a Republican attack ad.
Especially among the World War II generations, military service, especially combat service, and especially with decorations WAS a major coup for a future political career, and it was a motivator for future politicans to volunteer for combat. Its just a fact, its not an accusation or a slam.
Its not as much of prerequisite as it used to be partially thanks to a string of bad wars with bad outcomes(Korea and Vietnam). I don't think Clinton can be faulted for ducking service, because he made it clear he opposed the war in Vietnam and he stayed consistent on that throughout.
Really the only flaming hypocrite among the 4 is George W. Bush because he is a classic chicken hawk. He is way to eager to launch military action, and get other people killed in wars, but when it was his turn he pulled strings, ducked and spent the time partying, partying hard, in Texas and Alabama, and ducking even his minimal guard duties. Dick Cheney's record is only marginally better, he used college deferments and marriage to duck the draft. Now there specialty is cataloging high school students to send off to die in their screwed up mess of a war, a war they suckered American' in to with one lie after another.
I really hate chicken hawks, they are among the worst form of hypocrites.
@de_machina
Yes, but is the Royal Navy full of cannibals?
Ummmmm.... Yes. Yes it is.
Sorry to any Royal Navy people out there. I'm just curious where you're going with this one.
So then as far as recruitment goes, an educated young populace is a bad thing?
Why haven't you?
Who's to say he hasn't? Moreso, these chicken hawks might be a little more cautious about war if it their own kids stood some danger of dying in it, as opposed to someone else's kids.