Military recruitment continues to lag (blaming TV news for problems)

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=3613619

Military recruitment continues to lag

CAPITOL HILL Top military officials are making another pitch to Congress for more money to beef up America's fighting force. But the Republican chairman of a House subcommittee on military personnel is questioning how some of that money is being spent.

New York Congressman John McHugh says Congress is shelling out in excess of 462 (m) million dollars a year for recruitment and retention bonuses, and he wonders aloud whether it makes sense to "continue to buy a force."

....

Vice Admiral Gerald Hoewing (HOH'-ing) blames television news for a good chunk of the military recruitment problem. He says parents see images of fighting in Iraq -- and while they may think the military would be a good career choice for their son or daughter, they decide against it for now.

<</SNIP>>

[shoelace414]

1. Sure.. it's safe for a Vice Admiral..

[bluestateguy]

31. Remember the days when the generals/admirals would fight with their men?

Now they just sit in air-conditioned offices playing chess with people's lives.

[Anakin Skywalker]

33. Those Days Are Long Gone, My Brother.

I miss it. I thought it was admirable.

[SoCalDem]

45. The first part of the war was overseen from TAMPA

(at least I think it was Tampa) It was in Florida. Tommy Franks, I think..I remember him getting grilled about the fact that he was in charge, and yet was not even there.

[gratuitous]

2. Quit showing people that they could die

And they'll be back in the recruiting offices pronto! Especially as the recruiters go around handing out hundred dollar bills and promising other bribes. A recruiting budget of $450 million! Maybe you can't polish a turd after all.

[Jack from Charlotte]

13. If the damn TV people would show life in the military like it really is...

You know Sargeant Carter and Pvt. Pyle? Good times were had by all and all the being killed and maimed stuff wouldn't be spoken of.

It's TV's fault.

[saigon68]

43. Vice Admiral Gerald Hoewing IS A COMPLETE IDIOT --GRAPHIC PHOTO

HERE YOU GO ADMIRAL YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE

TELL THE MOTHER OF THIS DEAD RUSTIC HE DIED FOR "FREEDOM"








WE NEED MORE OF THESE PICTURES SHOWN TO PARENTS


DISGUSTING.

[Generic Other]

48. Why war is not hell, it's a cakewalk, folks. Come join!

Isn't that the stupidest conclusion ever drawn?

[Supersedeas]

49. teens basing career decisions on facts is just wrong--more video games plz

[daleo]

3. Imagine if TV showed how bad it really is in Iraq

In my opinion, they don't show the half of it.

[sabra]

4. Me thinks we only see a tip of the ice burg.

[XemaSab]

17. I think they're not even showing

the iceberg at all, I think they're showing ice cubes out of the ice maker in Shrub's wet bar.

[sabra]

18. LOL

me likes!

[XemaSab]

23. Thank you, thank you

I'll be here all week...

[IChing]

28. LOL ....that is exactly it N/T

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Submariner]

5. Could it just be that everybody, except the Bushbots of course,

realize that the whole Iraq war is, and always has been, a total and absolute fraud. Maybe it is as simple as that, and has nothing to do with TV news. Bush an evil asshole...and that is why nobody is enlisting....Period.

It could also be that the republicans are nothing but a bunch of all talk and no action chickenhawks.

[samsingh]

6. so they're against revealing the truth

[stanwyck]

7. Don't let up on the Young Republicans

they wanted this war. They support the troops. They support George. W. Bush.
They need to get their muffin butts down to the recruiting offices and give some real support to the troops.
Or else...just shut up.
Really.

[hadrons]

8. so Vice Asshole Gerald Hoewing, explain the Young Repukes ....

and why they aren't enlisting??? I can't believe the 'liberal media' is influencing them

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I hate it when people with stars tell giovernment lines

it gaves the lie better credibilty,

They want this war to continue, recruit young republicans, or you will never get these faux patriots in

[atreides1]

21. Only More Evidence

That the current crop of generals and admirals are no longer loyal to this country, but have sworn their loyalty to the Chimp in the White House.

Here we have an admiral blaming the free press, the very same free press that it's his job to defend, for the failings of a recruitment
program that continues to lie about what could really happen.

And let's not forget the generals and admirals who sit silently while the troops keep dying because they lack body armor, armored
humvees, and who are being put inot harms way so that these very same generals can get that high paying consulting job with a defense
contractor when they retire.


Traitors the whole lot of them.

[Moondog]

10. OMG! Tell the potential cannon fodder

what is actually going on? The horror!

What a putz.

[rocktivity]

11. All together now

:spray: :rofl: :spray:
rocknation

[LeftNYC]

12. It would be great PR if

the Bush twins enlisted...

[0007]

27. Here's a shot you'll never see in real life

[endarkenment]

14. I completely agree

The missing white girl in Aruba, all those shark bites in Florida, the tragedy of Katie Holmes, and those poor storm stricken tourists in Cancun all add up to one real difficult recruiting situation for the army.

[CJCRANE]

15. Condi Rice talking about

a "generational war" might have put people off a little bit. I mean, how long is a generation, about 20 years?

[endarkenment]

16. you misheard

kindofnasty said she was just a generic whore.

[daleo]

20. Actually, it has a precise definition in demography

Which relates, in practice, to the mean age of child bearing. This tends to be around 28 years in most societies.

[deutsey]

19. These people have their heads way up their asses

I can't imagine why parents wouldn't want their kids enlisting for the clusterfuck in Iraq. It must be TV news. :eyes:

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. 462 million dollars?

Hell, for that they could just rent the Chilean army for a year.

Who needs recruits?

[Larkspur]

24. The military needs to do a joint recruiting venture with Operation ,,,

Yellow Elephant
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2005_06_12_patriotboy_archive.html#111898037341576577

More at the blog...
http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/

[Miss Chybil]

25. It's the NEWS that's the problem. And all this time, I thought it was the

war. My bad.

:banghead:

[sybylla]

26. Yeah, we wouldn't want to blame the chimp for his entire lack of

foreign policy and inability to plan anything that takes longer than a healthy dump, let alone a war.

Poor widdle Vice Admiral :nopity:

[Az_lefty]

29. No, it doesn't make sense to "continue to buy a force."

Time to let these repugs know they can't buy everything. If these Chickenhawks want to continue this War they can implement the Draft to do so.

[ikojo]

30. Considering that most young people do not

watch the news, how can they blame the fluff shown on the nightly news for the decline in military enrollment? The thing is that the working class kids who are the source of much recruitment efforts know other working class kids who have enlisted. They talk to one another and are told the truth, that's why they are staying away.

[HockeyMom]

32. You are WRONG

They ARE paying attention. Newsday went around interviewing HS kids from all over. Even the kids in the poorest of neighborhoods have said, to quote just one of many according to the report, "I would rather flip burgers for minimum wage, than die in a war I DON'T SUPPORT".

If they cannot get the poor kids to enlist, do you think they have any chance in hell with the middle class?

[ikojo]

36. I said that kids don't watch the news....

they ARE getting the info..from relatives (such as I who have advised them against joining the military)...from friends who have enlisted and have seen the lie.

Kids don't watch NBC, CBS, ABC or Faux. They get their info from MTV or their friends.

I didn't say they weren't getting info, I said they were getting from places other than the corporate media.

So I am not wrong.

[Canuckistanian]

34. Damn that TV News for showing only the bad stuff

What about those schools that were painted? And the power grid - uh, forget that one. The water system.......

And the.. the.. the elections!, yeah the elections! They're free now!

And.. and...

Damn that TV News!

[Dr Fate]

35. I thought Young Republicans watched Fox & listened to Rush.

Does Rush & Fox also present negative views of Iraq?

I smell B.S.

[saigon68]

50. kick

[kodi]

37. akin to "feet accuse eyeballs of slowing effort to walk"

.

[classysassy]

38. The bad snoooze

pass another silly repug law,only Fox can report the news out of Iraq.

[natrat]

39. He says parents see images of fighting in Iraq

i must have missed this

[alfredo]

40. "he wonders aloud whether it makes sense to 'continue to buy a force.'"

Sounds like he's thinking a draft is the answer.

[yorkiemommie1]

41. get out the big butterfly nets and the lassoes

and send the kids off to fight and die for * and the PNAC!

[alfredo]

42. They will have to hire a bunch of mercenaries, or

pull out.

[Disturbed]

44. If the real dying and maiming were shown nightly...

the enlistment rate would drop like a smart bomb and more people would prolly be in the streets protesting the war on Iraq.

[alfredo]

47. That's what happened in the US (60-70's). The media started showing

scenes from the battlefield. Life magazine showed the faces of all the soldiers that died in one bloody week, and people hit the streets.

When Kerry's VVAW joined us, the protests took on more credibility. When students were murdered at Kent State and Augusta, the war really came home.

[union_maid]

46. How are the other branches meeting goal?

Have those goals been reduced so they can meet them? Just wondering.

I would certainly advise any kid I knew not to join, but at this point there's no need. 100% of the young people I know who are in the military have been sent to Iraq. Including ones who were specifically told they'd be doing something else by recruiters. Including those who had specific types of education promised to them by recruiters. Very few of them say they would join up if they had it to do over. It has put quite a damper on the military aspirations of their younger siblings and friends.