Most Americans will tell you that they believe in honest, truthful, straightforward, ethical behavior. So
here's a question: Should people who are being recruited into the armed
forces be told the truth about the risks they are likely to face if
they agree to sign up and put on a uniform? Right
now, that is not happening. Recruiters desperate for warm bodies to be
shipped to Iraq are prowling selected high schools and neighborhoods
across the country with sales pitches that touch on everything but the
possibility of being maimed or killed in combat. The
recruiters themselves are under enormous pressure from higher-ups who
are watching crucial components of the all-volunteer military buckle
under the strain of a war that was supposed to have been won in a
jiffy, but instead just goes on and on. So
the teenagers who are the prime targets for recruitment are being told
just about anything to ward off whatever misgivings they may have. Need
money for college? No problem. You want to go to a nice place?
Certainly. Maybe even Hawaii. A
young man who recently registered, as required, with the Selective
Service System received an upbeat brochure in the mail touting the
military's 30 days of annual "paid vacation," its free medical and
dental care, its "competitive retirement" benefits and its "home loan
program." There
was no mention of combat, or what it's like to walk the corridors and
the grounds of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where
you'll see a tragic, unending parade of young men and women struggling
to move about despite their paralysis, or with one, two or three limbs
missing. I
am not at all opposed to the military. I was in the Army for two years,
and I've personally known many people who have had long and honorable
careers in the service. I've known many men and women who made almost
unimaginable sacrifices - including, in some cases, giving up their
lives - while in uniform. But
I think it is precisely because the stakes are so high that we should
be straight with potential recruits. Instead we present them with a
lollipopped, sugarcoated, fantasyland version of what life in the
military is like. In
a segment on PBS's "NewsHour" last December, an Army recruiter said: "I
joined because I was seeking some adventure, all right? And I've been
to a lot of different countries - Athens, Greece, Ireland, Rome. Been
to Egypt twice, to the pyramids. All sorts of fun stuff." The
Army actually has an online video game that it likes to brag is one of
the "top five" on the Web. Geared to children as young as 13, it has
more than five million registered players. But
war is not a game. Getting your face blown off is not fun. The
fundamental task of the military is to fight and kill the enemies of
the United States, and fighting and killing is a grotesquely brutal
experience. Potential recruits should be told the truth about what is
expected of them, and what the risks are. And they should be told why
it's a good idea for them to take those risks. If that results in too
few people signing up for the military, the country is left with a
couple of other options: Stop fighting unnecessary wars, or reinstate the draft. Instead,
the military and its harried recruiters are preying more and more on
youngsters who are especially vulnerable and impressionable, and
they're doing it by creating a patently false impression of what life
in the wartime military is like. The
youngsters recruited most relentlessly are those from small towns,
rural areas and impoverished urban neighborhoods. They are kids who are
not well-to-do, and who don't have much of a plan for their future. The
military, with its uniforms, its slick ads and its video games, can
look very good to these unsophisticated youngsters. With
a series of television ads, the Army is also trying to win over what it
calls the "influencers," the parents and other adults who have been
counseling youngsters to stay away from the military. That campaign was
packaged by the Leo Burnett agency, which has the following to say
about itself: "Leo
Burnett USA creates ideas that inspire enduring belief for many of the
world's most valuable brands and most successful marketers, including
McDonald's, Disney, Procter & Gamble, Marlboro, Altoids, Heinz,
Kellogg, Nintendo and the U.S. Army."
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