Why are young people still volunteering for George's War?

[Sukie1941]

My 93 yr old mom is very upset.

She doesn't understand why young people are still volunteering for George's War? She wants to know what they get out of it.

She sees young families--wives with very small kids--being separated not for the first time, but for the second and third times, while the father (or mother) volunteers yet again to go into harm's way in Iraq or Afghanistan. I am not talking about troops who are forced to return to war.

She hears young men talking about how they don't want to abandon their fellow troops....they miss their compaderes and want to be with them in spite of the risks.

And the families they leave behind...young wives and very small kids...wait and hope.

So, what is going on? Why do young men prefer to be with their buddies and not home raising their kids? Young kids, mostly under age five? Aren't fathers supposed to raise their own kids?

Are these young people incapable of being mature enough to stay home and be parents?

[napi21]

1. Most initially voluntere because they have no other options.

There are no jobs where they live, they can't afford college or trade school, and they're at an age where they feel invincable! Of course, the recruiters promise them the world wrapped in gold leaf with a bow on it!

Soldiers are all trained in bootcamp that your most important mission in life is to watch out for your buddy, and that if everyone does that, you'll all stay alive. It's soo engrained in them, and they really do believe their buddies need them to survive, they feel a compulsion to return to help. In a lot of cases, those buddies they're trying to protect have already saved THEIR lives and they feel a responsibility to return the favor.

I don't really think it has anything to do with not wanting to stay home and raise their kids. I'm sure that would be their preference, but they also know they made a committment to the military when they signed up, and for now, there's no way out!

[riderinthestorm]

3. Uhm, yeah, it does mean they have chosen war over staying home with their kids

It's been more than 4 years since this mis-adventure started with Iraq. Enough time for even those who enlisted in a patriotic furor after 9-11 to have come down off that high and gotten out.

They are making a decision to "watch out for their buddies" rather than raising their children and being with their families.

I used to feel like you do - that the soldiers were just without choices but at this point they've purposefully decided to be there. And that choice now deserves some scrutiny and yes, even censure in my opinion.

[Bozita]

15. Bad economy (for American workers) makes blue-collar high schools prime recruiting territory

The $5.15 minimum wage is actually a boost for military recruiters.

[frogcycle]

2. I ask myself that over and over

I read the newspaper articles after a fatality, all the families saying "he was doing what he wanted to", "he felt a responsibility" and on and on. Some of that is people just trying to reconcile it, I am sure, but still, there are volunteers - more signed up today, no doubt.

Some may have joined up right after 9/11, and that is better understood. But the 18- and 19- year olds have to have joined up AFTER this thing had gone really sour.

I don't get it either.

[undergroundpanther]

6. The military

Promises education training for a career etc. Things maybe their parents can't afford. Maybe the kid feels like a failure in their parents eyes and are convinced the military will help them earn the respect they crave in their parents eyes.

Our culture puts tremendous pressure on kids to achieve,be somebody,succeed and when they can't cope they feel ashamed.and don't know what to do.The military offers them hope..But with incredible risk and so the military paints up like service will make you a better person,maybe better enough to be respected by parents good enough to succeed and be loved-finally. For others it could be an escape from a controlling parent or abuse.Ny cousin signed up years ago to escape her toxic mother.

I think these could be some of the real reasons.It makes me want to cry.

[riderinthestorm]

11. The FACT that this is a meat-grinder is now widely known

While I'd like to sympathize with those who feel the military is their only option of "escape", it's done at the price of their life and limb PLUS they have the additional mental burden of actually uhm, killing innocent people.

They HAVE to know at this point that many, many, many Americans are coming home in pieces or in boxes. They HAVE to know that they will be killing many, many, many innocent civilians.

Sorry but those are the facts. There isn't any way to sugar-coat the fact anymore that you will emerge from this a killer, and just possibly a dead or severely maimed killer - how is that "hope"?

[frogcycle]

17. There are plenty who join out of lack of alternative

but a LOT of the KIA are described as having opted for it out of a sense of "duty" etc. As I said, maybe that is sugarcoating after the fact by friends and relatives, but there sure is a lot of it.


MANY who have done so have later expressed misgivings, said it isn't what they thought, etc. So it seems like a large number of young people continue to buy the rw bill of goods about protecting the homeland blah blah blah that helped bush re-steal the presidency, and are then quickly disillusioned. But then WHY do lambs keep plodding to the slaughter? WHY did x-number sign up yesterday? Of course the fact they are now widely waiving requirements like no felony record, etc. suggests we ARE now down to the bottom of the barrel. Which suggests that if it does continue, My Lai incidents are going to increase - big time. The military is being destroyed in SOOOO many ways.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Because young people LIKE war

Or rather, the idea of war.

American masculinity is fucked at its root. Believe that. They're signing up because they LIKE it, even love it. That's the hard truth of it, and all the endless talk about "necessity" has no basis in reality. They go because they want to go, to Iraq, to feel it, to have lived through it, to have stories.

You don't get to celebrate the St. Crispin's Day speech on the one hand, and then act shocked that young men want to live that model of fealty and masculinity on the other (much less dragging in class issues). They join with glee, dreaming of the firing line, not dejectedly, fearing the welfare line.

And everybody fucking knows it.

[undergroundpanther]

5. My friend's son

Is volunteering .He thinks he will be a chef.
He may very well be a chef in a mess in Iraq. Chefs don't cook all day,

I hate to see how disappointed he will be when he is shipped to Iraq, to get shot at,and do a little cooking on the side if they actually let him do what he asked to be taught..

But I know that's not how the military is.Once you sign up they will do as they please with you.But they don't tell desperate starry eyed teenagers hoping to make a career this.

I am so sad about this shit.

And when the Dem's suck bush's ass about this war, I hate them for it.

[AuntPatsy]

8. And your right, they are lied to as to what capacity they will actually have to serve...

[Disturbed]

10. There are many reasons.

I am sure that many of the young want to be combat troops to experience war. Why would a person join the Marines, Green Berets, Seals, Delta Force etc. Others may think that they won't be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. There are around 130 other places that the US Military is situated. Some want to go to College &/or become Doctors and the Military is their only way to achieve their goals. Yeah, there are a lot of various reasons.

[left is right]

13. I think some one has lied to your son's friend

I keep hearing that Haliburton is responsible for feeding the troops

[RamboLiberal]

14. They don't have many chefs any more

from my understanding most of the chefs are KBR employees from poor countries. Are you sure the recruiter didn't sell him a bill of goods?

[Cobalt-60]

16. In Navy Boot we were told on day 1

"the last one that f*cked you was your recruiter"

[AuntPatsy]

7. Because they are promised dividends such as healthcare and food to eat.

You do realize that most that sign up come from homes where hope for their future is bleak and perhaps being in ther service is their way out, promises of world travel and such....heroism and the like take over some not honestly understanding what is real and what is not when it comes to war, they think war games and not reality.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Count it as an implicit statement of how narrowly circumscribed their options are....

... Oh - and many of them can't wait to smoke them some sand-niggers too. Gotta love hicks.

[genie_weenie]

12. The Corpse and the rest of the military promises the following

You will be a real man after serving
You will get money for college
You will have big chested women throwing themselves at your feet
You will be a bad ass and can beat up anyone who "messes" with you

Additionally, many of the troops over there are National Guardsmen (perhaps 40%), they did not sign up for service in Iraq, but they have been co-opted by the power grab of the Terrorist Regime in DC.

Finally, I think the fact that more americans are not protesting and pay more attention to Lindsay Lohan's crotch or that every dead soldier is fucking number a maybe a name which flashes across the screen for 3 seconds or Fantasy Baseball sends a message which many unconsciously understand as america doesn't "really" care about them.

[watercolors]

18. Grandson graduating class in Augusta GA

almost half signed up for military or national guard. Reason most needed money or promise of college education. The cost of education is overwhelming for most families. The outlook for most looking for jobs is dismal. It is very difficult to even get astudent loan,as my older grandson persues his education he fears he will owe over 75 thousand when he graduates. It is so shameful that this country makes it so impossible to further ones education!