Utterly Meaningless

If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, so what do you suggest we do to recruit new people? I am not a recruiter, but I play one on TV…okay, I don’t do that either. I’m just curious if anyone has thought beyond “my privacy is my god.” Pretty difficult to “sell” something if the customers are increasingly off-limits. Pretty hard to have privacy as a freedom if there’s no one left to defend that freedom (well I’m sure you all would if it were threatened, but by that time it’s too late). Just a thought. No, I don’t agree with everything (or even many things) recruiters have been known to do, and no, I don’t believe all information should be available to them. Just curious why you think NO information should be given to them. In this day and age, it’s okay to “support the troops”…riiiight…but it’s not okay to actually BE the troops. And please don’t tell me it’s purely a matter of rights and privacy, because I’m not that naive. It may be for you, but I think a lot of those parents out there think that their kids are too good for the military, that it’s a last resort for losers and misfits and will lead them nowhere. Interesting misconception, and laughable. But back to the question…any ideas?

A
(6 1/2 years active duty Air Force, start as a Reservist next Friday; wife of active duty member, daughter of retired member/Vietnam vet; daughter-in-law of prior active duty member/Vietnam vet and now Reservist; sister of prior active duty member; granddaughter of WWII vet; and mother of brand new military brat as of April 20th.)

Well, I’ve been opposed to the Iraq war since before the invasion. I felt it a war of choice, not of necessity. If my son were several years older, no recruiter would come within 100 yards of him.

You want to fix the recruitment problems? That’s easy. Bring the troops home. No Iraq? No problem.

The politicians broke the all-volunteer army. Let them send their sons and daughters first. Fat chance.

Enlistments are down, but RE-enlistments are up, especially among those who have served in Iraq (including the wounded.) Most of the troops know why we are over there (and I think you’d be surprised with their answers if you asked them; from your comment, I think your ideas of why differ from ours). However, they don’t fight for the “why” or for the leadership at the top, civilian or military (although most support that leadership); they fight for the guy or gal next to them. Chrenkoff is a great resource if you were ever to want to know more.

In reading my post again, I see how I definitely stepped on toes (I was a little bugger; sorry!), and I regret offending. However, we aren’t robots and we aren’t sheep–we question behind closed doors, we reason, we study to prove ourselves worthy (well, not everyone, of course. We have bad eggs, too.) I just wanted you to know, though, that the army isn’t BROKEN (in spite of Clinton), and that the all-volunteer force (which it still is) still works very well. I hate to use jargon, but I’ve seen the synergy of an all-volunteer force in action. We really do more with less (the 90s were especially bad; however, if we keep thwarting recruiting efforts, we will eventually NOT be able to keep that up), and the constant reinvention, although truly annoying at times, and occasionally painful, generally keeps us from stagnating. Anyway, I know I’m biased and my kid is up from her nap. We’ll agree to disagree, hopefully with respect intact.

Thanks always for your honesty! I never would expect less from you and your site…
A

we;ve been homeschooling our kids for 11 yrs and our almost 17 yr old daughter gets recruitment literature from the military
weekly. And we wrote a letter specifically requesting that information not be shared (in accordance with our state code).

There are a million places that the military can gather names and addresses. Any form your child may have filled on on a website or to enter a contest, or the warrenty registration for tech gear, will end up in a database that can be bought by marketeers from the latest trendy clothes company, or the military.

Generally speaking, I think the military is entitled to student data for students in public schools. If you are going to turn your kids over to the education branch of the government all day you have no room to whine when the defense branch starts to ask about the first few years of their adult life.

-USAF brat and likely the father of a future Marine.

But what about colleges?

I’m in my late thirties and I’m going back to school. Do I have to worry about my SS number and birthdate being passed around in the hot little hands of civil servants? They have no legitimate reason to need my data for recruiting purposes, so the only thing that could happen is I expose myself to identity theft.

But privacy isn’t my god or anything…

Since privacy isn’t Adele’s god either, suppose we all throw a party outside her bedroom window this Fourth of July weekend?