There are waiting lists to become a Marine Corps grunt on a fast track to Afghanistan

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/26/2010-12-26_gi_bill_lack_of_job_opportunities_and_love_of_country_spur_record_recruiting_for.html?r=news

BY Richard Sisk
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Sunday, December 26th 2010, 4:00 AM

G.I. bill, lack of job opportunities, and love of country spur record recruiting for armed forces

City kids are lining up to join the military in record numbers for love of country, lack of jobs - and a chance for college money under the new G.I. bill.

The rush to enlist in the five boroughs is so great that there are even waiting lists for those wanting to become a Marine Corps grunt on a fast track to Afghanistan. snip

"Some of us don't have money," Abby Teves, 19, a graduate of Newtown High School in Queens, said at the Army recruiting station in Elmhurst.

Glenn was followed through the door by Isaac Perez, a student at Intermediate School 71 in Brooklyn. Since Perez was only 17, he brought along his mother, Yesenia Sierra, to sign paperwork for him. snip

"The Marines will give him a future," she said. "I'm supporting his decision."

[90-percent]

1. The American Dream

Sign up to join the military and play "pay for college roulette".

A government run lottery that gives hopeless young people a chance at the American Dream. All you have to do is navigate a gauntlet of death, injury, lost limbs, and emotional break downs.

America is still the land of opportunity, if you want to gamble your life and well being to get it.

Yet another example of how unfair our society has become.

-90% Jimmy

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. 'and love of country '

Yes.... I'm patriotic because I lack a job and opportunity and
need to become cannon fodder for the empire.

And ME going to Afghanistan will cost the taxpayer ONE MILLION DOLLARS
a soldier........

WHAT A FUCKING WASTE OF MONEY.... But hey... I'm educated on weapons now and programed to kill on command..... What a Jarhead.

[SoCalDem]

8. Let's see what happens to all that "love of country" when there's a good job market

IF we are ever lucky in that respect again..

Young people need MONEY.. if they cannot find a job that will support them, they have three (maybe four) choices:

1) live at home with Mom & Dad forever
2) crime
3) military
4) the priesthood

[adigal]

13. Move to Canada - it's easier for young people

I am telling my kids to consider it. Maybe go to graduate school in Canada.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Not a Bad Idea... my kids are now living in Denmark

They both Love and Loved the US, however being
Half/Danes with Dual Citizenship have chosen Denmark for the time.

My Son thinks Canada is a great place for 'the closest thing to Europe
and America after spending the last year in the US.

Opportunity and upward Mobility in society leaves the US in tenth place
in many international studies and I suspect it gets worse everyday.


I almost went to Canada when my draft number came up, had a job,
and connections but didn't..... Almost think it was a mistake.

I like Canadians on the average better than Americans.
Sure, they have their rednecks but at least they are educated....LOL

I do think a Parliamentary government is superior than our system
which has revealed lately the BULLSHIT of the concept of a Senate
or HOUSE OF LORDS.

[COLGATE4]

22. They are also much more susceptible to peer pressure and still

have poor impulse control (which is why the drinking age is 21 now).

[Ichingcarpenter]

34. IMPULSE......

the tobacco age is 21 in many places
but 18 is drinking....

I will have to have a drink and then smoke about that.

Yes..........Insanity.

[ngant17]

17. it's impossible to "love your country"

because it's an intangible concept. You can love your garden and flowers in your yard, the birds in a nearby tree. But how do you love something that is so gigantic that it is barely seen in its entirety from outer space? There are no borderlines in outer space, so at what point do your quit loving the US from space, when you can't even see its border between Mexico and Canada?

Nationalist sentiments can be easily converted into bellicose sentiments for the purposes of war. If you can "love" your country, you can just as easily be encouraged to go into the opposite extreme, to "hate" another country. And so both ideas are absurdities. It's a bipolar condition, a mental sickness.

I don't love my country. I love the history of my country, and only the good and noble part of that history.

[undeterred]

3. The son of a friend joined the marines 2 years ago

and they were afraid he'd go to Afghanistan. But he was given a choice, so he ended up in Japan and is having a great time, getting lots of career training. Some of his buddies wanted Afghanistan. Its hard to believe young men want to go there when there are other options.

[SoCalDem]

9. macho gun-culture

there are many young (mostly) men who see wartime as way to get paid to "do mayhem".. At home, it gets them jail-time, but in wartime, it's not that likely

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. That kind of "Love of Country" is where that News Article

DOESN'T FUCKING GET IT.


I doubt the kids are thinking about being a JarHead
because of Love of Country. No... the system is being set up like
some kind of Robert A. Heinlein, libertarian, Starship trooper. society
where being a REAL CITIZEN, means serving the EMPIRE's Military,
Industrial Baron complex of the real Kings..... The international Corporations.

[DaveinJapan]

16. I didn't understand it either, but an old family friend in the Marines emailed...

He was in Japan and, as he put it, felt like he wasn't "doing his part" with so many other friends and comrades in the war zones.

I can understand that sentiment, if genuine.

[undeterred]

23. I'm just glad this kid respected his parents fears.

They didn't want him joining in the first place but they couldn't really stop him. They know that this war in Afganistan is not worth their son's life.

He wasn't college material, but he's done well in the military, so this has been the best thing that ever happened to him. But if he just had the influence of his buddies, and not his parents, he might have signed himself up for combat instead.

[shanti]

26. my son's hs friend

signed up for the marines two years ago, and is now in japan as well. however, he is supposed to be going to afghanistan soon :( he's a good kid, but the marines was a dumb decision (imo)!

[Scruffy1]

4. Is this the best we can do?

I have a son who is 20 and can't find any kind of part time work at all.Luckily I have been able to keep him in school,even though it takes all my resources.

A jobless young man or woman will gladly take the risk in order to be able to make a living when their is no opportunity. It looks like they learned their lesson from Viet Nam and having got rid of the draft, decided to use poverty as a recruitment tool. These troops aren't likely to disobey orders or refuse to fight.

Ever seen a recruiter working a rich private school? Just class warfare on the poor.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. It costs Millions to train a soldier and Thousands to train a teacher

AND THAT'S REALITY.

How much does it take to educate a SCIENTIST and then put them to work?
How much does it taketo educate an ENGINEER and then put them to work?

HOW MANY JOBS WILL THEY CREATE VS THE SOLDIER IN THEIR LIFETIME?


Then if you do educate them.... Where is their GI bill?

We need an answer and solution to solving this nation's problems
and the world's problems not just our EMPIRE'S problems.

[NNN0LHI]

28. New GI Bill passed the Senate a couple of weeks ago

http://www.kitv.com/politics/26123775/detail.html

New GI Bill Passes U.S. Senate

POSTED: 4:06 pm HST December 13, 2010
UPDATED: 4:12 pm HST December 13, 2010

WASHINGTON -- On Monday, the U.S. Senate passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, a move to improve the lives of veterans.

The bill was sponsored by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii.

He said it will improve educational assistance for those who served in the military after Sept. 11, 2001.

[Ichingcarpenter]

29. NOW IT'S 10$ MILLION PER SOLDIER

THE SYSTEM SUCKS

OH........ GOOD.... THE SENATE DOES SOMETHING
TO PROTECT THEIR EMPIRE.

[NNN0LHI]

32. You didn't have to yell at me. I get the message

:7

:hi:

Don

[forty6]

5. This (unfortunately) was why Bush 2 was popular for so long into

his term. (NOT with me!) His administration pumped us up with wars and crusades and missions to accomplish.

Of course, Bush/Cheney made a mess of the first war in Afghanistan by starting a second one in Iraq 17 months later, but the American people weren't paying attention to that. RESULT: 9 years later, still in Afghanistan, 7 years and counting, still in Iraq.

If I were a Republican President, I'd be smacking my chops waiting to get us into another war so most everyone would love me and our country once again! (That kind of bullcrap seems to work every time!)

Instead we have a world diplomat as a President who wants to avoid more conflicts, respects our allies and adversaries alike, and has a mess in two war zones to try to clean up, and he's a socialist, too, (wants us all the be healthy and his wife wants us to be well-fed). What a failure as a leader, not getting us all psyched up for more costly devastating wars! (SARCASM HERE!)

NOW SERIOUSLY, for a moment:

How about we start and recruit an ARMY like in the FDR years, the WPA, CCC, TVA! Fix our nation's crumbling infrastructure, build or rebuild energy wasting buildings, reclaim natural shorelines in the Gulf Coast areas, finally finish rebuilding a safer, storm resistant New Orleans. Recruit a million or two folks 18-58 to do this hard back-breaking work, the 18 year olds to do the heavy lifting, the 58 year olds to do the heavy thinking and planning and leading and collaborating with private business and industry. Instead all we have to offer some young able-bodied kids is a hitch in the military? Something's not right about all this reliance upon excessive militarism and neglect of our own nation's potential for repair and rebuilding right here at home.

Just some of my thoughts on this day after a holiday about "PEACE ON EARTH"!

[sendero]

7. That would be great..

... but out leaders, including Obama, have made it clear that war is their priority.

We will be stuck in these stupid, pointless wars until the country simply cannot afford to wage them any more. And that day is, fortunately, not all that far off.

[forty6]

14. Thanks, I'm afraid you may be right! Obama has not been inspiring

in his command of the real problems America faces.

He is governing as if he took office 100 days after 9/11 !!
It's been almost 10 years, we are now not only post 9/11 but post Katrina (5 years) and post Gulf Oil rig explosion spill (8 months) and a dozen other natural and man-made disasters.

Obama seems to be stuck back in the thinking that defeating desert-dwelling terrorists in Afghanistan or Iraq or in the remote hills of Pakistan is more of a priority than fixing our nation's weaknesses here at home, more important than affording millions of Americans real meaningful work in contribution to our becoming a great and robust healthy, safe, fuel efficient, abundant nation again!

[KharmaTrain]

11. And You Wonder Why These Wars For Profit Roll On??

Both adventures are now jobs programs. There's no "exit strategy" or anything more than trying to prevent things from getting worse than they already are. Almost all involved know the moment our troops do leave (and they will...when its no longer economical to do so) none of the "progress" that happened under the barrel of our guns will last. So what's the purpose?

Recruiters have never had it better...the prospects for someone coming out of high school today is bleak. College? Even going to a JC for a year can run upwards of 5 to 10k and don't even think about a 4-year school without a scholarship or a rich dad or relative. Hit the streets? Where? Home Depot? Burger King? So what's the best option?

Within the past year I know of several young folks who have enlisted primarily as they saw that as the best chance to get a job. I'm sure their love of country plays into as well, but if they had other routes I'm certain they would have taken them.

The deal is bringing home the troops and downscaling (which would save billions) would put a lot more bodies out into an already dormant job market...zooming unemployment figures...something this administration fears worse than almost anything. So the wars go on...it's "smart business"...war always is.

Hope you didn't get nailed too bad with the snow.

Happy Holidays!!

[adigal]

12. I think their plan is working

Starve the middle class and poor, until they have no options but the military.

My sons will never join the military. If they get that desperate, they can join the Coast Guard, which is a little better.

Sad, that this woman thinks the Marines is a future for her son - if he isn't killed on foreign soil, maybe.

[TacticalPeek]

18. Therefore, either we should not have a USMC or the USMC should not follow the President's orders.

Pick.

[NNN0LHI]

19. What about giving them jobs building stuff here instead of destroying stuff over there?

Or is that too radical of an option?

Don

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. Well... when they get back they will be trained on what the US thinks important

Maybe get a house, education or before they kill someone else

MAYBE LEARN HOW TO UNLEARN WHAT THE MILITARY TAUGHT THEM

But, I doubt that....... that takes 10 or more years
after seeing what they have done to humans I have known after 60 years on this planet.

[TacticalPeek]

21. I think that would be called construction work, and they would be called construction workers.

Giving people jobs building stuff here is an excellent idea because the economy needs stimulus in the worst way since Hoover.

If only there were leadership in Washington that recognized this.

(OTOH, a false dichotomy can be easily recognized and avoided.)

[Bigmack]

35. Why not keep the Marines, the Army, the Navy..

the Air Force, the Coast Guard... whatever?

How about we try to downsize them? We don't need 1.5 million in uniform if we don't have a world-wide Empire. We don't need 1.5 million in the Reserves, either.

There are always pirates... there will always be US citizens to rescue...Like that.

[Bigmack]

24. John Kennedy asked me...

what I was going to do for my country. I wanted to be a "good guy" defending us from the "bad guys". I joined the Corps. All I did was push around and kill brown people.

The experience made me a LOT smarter. I don't believe any of that bullshit anymore. My cynicism knows no bounds.

A lot of these kids are just young and dumb like I was, so I understand. I don't approve, but I understand. Young people are looking for something to give meaning to their lives.

Love of country?... maybe, but it's tied up with a lot of other shit, too. Hollywood versions of war... too much testosterone and not enough nookie... impress the girls.. impress the other guys...

There's an element of "wanting to see the elephant", too. Steven Crane wrote about it in "Red Badge of Courage" and there are lots of other examples. The culture asks young men to test themselves, and some choose combat.

We need to find other outlets. Earlier posters have pointed to the CCC, WPA, etc. I like the CCC idea best. It took the young men far from home... into the wild country, regimented their lives a bit, fed them, paid them a small amount that they had to send home, and most of all... worked their asses off. A tired young man is a young man without the energy to get into too much trouble. Better to build trails and parks here than blow shit up over there.

[NNN0LHI]

25. Dalton Trumbo wrote about the "wanting to see the elephant", phenomena too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun

Johnny Got His Gun

Joe Bonham, a young soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and face, but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body. He tries to die by suffocating himself but he has been given a tracheotomy, which he cannot remove or control. He successfully attempts to communicate with his doctors by banging his head on his pillow in Morse code. At first he wishes to die, but then he decides that he wants to be put in a glass box and tour the country, to show people the true horrors of war. Neither wish is granted, however, and it is implied that he will live the rest of his natural life in this condition.

As he drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend, and reflects upon the myths and realities of war. He also forms a bond, of sorts, with a young nurse who senses his plight.

[LWolf]

27. Does anyone here think

the deliberate erosion of the middle class, the corporatization and privatization of education, the celebration of "jobless" recoveries for the rich, the attacks on labor, are a coincidence?

Of course you'll see a rise in enlistments when career prospects look hopeless elsewhere. That's how you support the neoliberal demand for large pools of cheap labor and cannon fodder.

[RegieRocker]

31. Ayep!

[L0oniX]

30. Yea that's just great ...help support the MIC ...and add to the trillion $ a year for the pentagon.

[Ichingcarpenter]

33. HOMELESS VETS......... RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE

THE NEW AND THE OLD......WARS.

OLD AND NEW........LOL

The Roman empire awaits.

WAIT, I JUST HEARD YOU CAN BE GAY BUT NOT AN ATHEIST.

WHAT AN EMPIRE!!!!!

[GSLevel9]

36. and don't forget the allure of getting to go to far away exotic lands...

meet strange and exotic people... and KILL them.

This is the PS3/XBOX360 generation that lives for that shit.

SOME young people want to join the military so they can "git sum"