U.S. Military Hits Up Impoverished Micronesia for Recruits

[Judi Lynn]

Source:

U.S. Military Hits Up Impoverished Micronesia for Recruits
Experts Say Soldiers Recruited for War Don't Often Understand Risks
By TONY AZIO
May 9, 2010

The portraits of stern-faced young men on armed forces recruiting posters, hanging from cafeteria walls, seem to gaze down at the mingling teenagers. Below, about 130 high school seniors have gathered to sit for a U.S. military aptitude test required by the school's administration. Several dozen plan to enlist; many more are still on the fence.

The students are from the Western Pacific island of Pohnpei. And the scene is repeated nationwide several times each year -- putting the four states that make up the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) ahead of every U.S. state in Army recruits per capita in recent years.

Lloyd Daniel, a talkative senior with a taste for pizza and American slang, will ship out for Army training on June 29. He joined for the same reasons most kids here do: to see the world, get a steady paycheck, and pay for college. Also, Lloyd feels a sense of debt to America: "The U.S. has been here helping out our island in many ways, so I feel that we, as Micronesians, must return the favor."

Liberated from Japanese occupation by U.S. troops during World War II, the FSM were administered by the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1947 until independence in 1986, when the two countries entered into a compact of free association.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/us-military-hits-impoverished-micronesia-recruits/story?id=10586161

[The Northerner]

1. How saddening.

Hopefully, some of them have paid enough attention to global events to realize that a potential military enlistment isn't worthwhile.

[saigon68]

3. Gimme an "F"

Gimme an F!
F!
Gimme an I!
I!
Gimme an S!
S!
Gimme an H!
H!
What's that spell ?
FISH!
What's that spell ?
FISH!
What's that spell ?
FISH!

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Huh!

Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

[earcandle]

2. Wait a minute... recruiting other people from other countries to be in OUR MILITARY? now they WILL

shoot us much easier than those kent state dudes ever did....
but dead we are just the same. 

If we tried to riot we would be killed,not listened to.  We
need our political processes to work so
we don't go there, and the political processes are trying to
force us to go there.... the ability to
deal with ambiguity is a sign of mental health.

heaven help us. or somebody not inside of this circle of fire.

[FreedomRain]

4. Thre was a Micronesian aboard my Navy ship. (late 80s)

Heck of a funny guy and one of my best friends in the Navy.


I always wanted to go live there, he did make it sound lovely.

[rockymountaindem]

5. You might want to point that out to the poster above you

who thinks they are mere provincials being dragged in to heartlessly mow us down at some unspecified point when "it" hits "the fan".