Posted on 05/07/2006 11:08:55 AM PDT by T-Bird45
As a former Army brat and Marine wife, and the mother of an autistic son, this makes me sick. I am a supporter of the military, but some of the recruiting practices are disgusting.
What an idiotic statement. Thank you, Ms. Reporterette, for showing us, yet again, that the press knows ZERO about the military.
Yup, the military now requires stealth tattoos.
This thread is killing me.
My best friend's son joined the AF a while back, and that kid had some very prominent tattoos. No questions raised at all concerning the stupid stuff all over his neck and arms. I know that I would not have signed him up, but the AF had no problem. It might have been his exceptionally high intellect. I can't say.
As I recall, it was in written form. This was 26 years ago so my memory of the specifics is fuzzy but I do know that a fraudulent enlistment report was submitted through the chain of command. That report, combined with the soldier's poor performance, resulted in an early discharge.
Sounds to me like this boy would just be cannon fodder. We don't want that kind of military, or to ever have to fight that kind of war again.
True story.
When I was in basic training (11/61 - 1/62) we had a guy in our platoon from Maine and I mean, way up in Maine. North of the Caribous.
He had one of those polio arms (left arm) that never grew properly and was only half the length and size of his right arm, a stub really.
When the doctors at Ft. Dix did their medical examination on entry they were stunned he was accepted into the Army.
Needless to say, he was medically discharged and sent home to Maine.
The sad thing about this story is the guy really, really wanted to serve and the day before he left for his home he was speculating that he could remove the brass buttons from his Class A's, replace them with black buttons and he would have a wonderful suit to attend Sunday church.
So help me God.
They recently changed the tattoo rule so that as long as you couldn't see the tattoos when in uniform they were OK. Besides, once you are in the military I don't think they will kick you out for getting a tattoo.
I'm not a fan of tattoos but so many kids these days are getting them. I don't know why it's so popular, but they had to change the rules because a huge percentage of teens are getting them.
When I hit the "Yellow Footprints" at MCRD San Diego (forty years ago), I was in a group of probably 80...over the first few days, it was obvious that there were a half dozen (and none of these ended up with us for more than a handful of days) that NO Marine Corps recruiter should have let get that far; but these few did - and I'm sure it happened in every training platoon.
Recruiter BS pressure tactic against an impressionable contact. Believable, IMO.
"...the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout."
Depends on your perspective but this is mostly an uninformed reporter swallowing somebody else's BS. Doesn't distract from the main point of the article on fraudulent recruitment, IMO.
"Matthew told his mother that military recruiting at the school and surrounding neighborhoods was so intense that one recruiter had pulled him out of football practice."
Not unlikely based on my experience as a parent of children that were recruited at the end of high school and during their early college years.
As to buying the garbage, I am not sure what you believe is "garbage" but the overall article was well-supported with facts and quotes from knowledgable and named sources. As with anything, I don't accept it simply because "it was in the paper" -- critical thinking is still required to decide how much credence to give to any third-person report. On balance, I would give this article a B+ to A- for authenticity with some mark-off for injected bias concerning an "unpopular war".
You just want me to read the entire article.
Be seeing you.
Always a pleasure to pass a Sunday afternoon in good exchanges with fellow FReepers. Good day!!
Because they want to be different...
Got any proof the statments (other than the opinion about the cavalry scout) are not true?
I agree.If the recruit is 'to dumb' to start with,how the heck is he going to memorize multiple answers?Some of the best soldiers I have ever served with, were the ones who had been given a second chance in life at a young age.Remember the days a judge gave you an option?Go into the military,or go to jail!Many stayed and did their 20.
"...the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout."
Nice Try, maybe Explosive Ordance Disposal (EOD).
"Matthew told his mother that military recruiting at the school and surrounding neighborhoods was so intense that one recruiter had pulled him out of football practice."
Diagnosed with autism at age 3, and he plays football?
Probably not polio. More likely his mom took Thalidomide during pregnancy. That happened to one of my classmates in high school. His left forearm and hand never developed past the fetal stage. His right arm was fine. Aside from the left arm, he was a perfectly bright and capable person.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.