u235

The War.

It's not popular is it? They don't want us there and at this point we don't want to be there. "We the People" that is, not "We the ruling party". The president and a significant number of our honestly elected officials don't want us to leave yet, but the problem is troops do need to come home at some point and those that leave need to be replaced. That's where recruiting come in, but these days enlisting is about as popular as the war its self. That is to say, it's not.

If there's anything that's been a hallmark of the past 6 years it's been craftiness. The current administration is sneaky, and pretty damn good at it. The press does keep catching them out, and they get pissed at it and howl anti-patriotic epithets at the writers and publishers but the fact is if they were being honest and above board there wouldn't be anything to be caught at. That's not to say that there aren't government activities that require secrecy, certainly there are. But the idea of processing public information, tapping calls, digging through bank records, tracking Internet usage, digging into public library records isn't in that same category....still that's not what this rant is about, it's about what I mentioned before. Recruiting.

Now where is the largest source of young, inexperienced males to be found these days? Well schools. High schools. Colleges too (though less popular because those men will probably be smart enough to decide for them that being at the business end of a gun isn't going to get your chicks, beer or money). High schools. The military likes 'em young and impressionable, preferably without dependants. But in schools most boys are still being influenced by parents and the idea of giving your child to the government to have him killed isn't very popular. So the government has given up waving the 9/11 banner as a motivation to PROTECT YOUR MOTHER COUNTRY. Their sneaky-experts looked for the next big influence in a high-school aged boy's life. The Teachers.

Apparently the government is very busy these days wooing teachers. Giving them helicopter trips, letting them handle the weapons, having them run simulations. Yes the government is throwing the "cool" factor of war at teachers in an effort to bypass parental influence and get straight to their goals - the kids. It's a slick idea really. Teachers get rides and pictures in a quarter of a billion, state of the art helicopter and in return Mr.Smith, your 12 grade gym teacher (who thinks you really have some talent there kid... what will you be doing after you graduate?) is willing to plug the benefits of enlisting. Sure your parents might not like it, but hell he understands you better than they do right? Wouldn't you like to ride in a helicopter like he did? He's been there and let me tell you - it's the shit.

It's funny how the current administration prides its self on its "family" values. Pride of course stopping at the line where it's more important to drive a wedge between the potential enlisted newb and someone's son.