The meaning of “recruiter for your school” might have more to do with the Army coordinating who is actively recruiting where, than someone who is permanently installed at said school. So more “I’m the recruiter the Army designated for” than “I’m your school’s recruiter”. Big difference. I’ve never heard of the latter.
I recall a few weeks back in the 1990’s where different armed forces recruiters were allowed to set up a booth in my HS cafeteria. In hindsight, it seems like the faculty should have launched a whole job fair while they were handing out favors. Which just raises more questions. Anyway, this recent social media angle fits with the same M.O. - they’re super aggressive and will work every angle to get closer to potential recruits.
The bigger problem is that, like all military posts, they rotate people frequently. IMO, there’s little incentive to strictly observe social norms since they’re never sticking around for more than a couple years. Yes, you can report people, but that has got to feel like playing whack-a-mole.
When i was in high school 2003, my physics class devoted an entire period to a military recruiter… Sufficed to say, only the redneck kids were interested.
You know, there’s an aspect to the bond, the camaraderie, the discipline, the fitness that I really appreciate about soldiering. Growing up with films like Band of Brothers practically on repeat, having read pretty close to every book that came out from those guys — well, I have admiration. But at the same time as I grew up and became more leftist I of course had many issues with the volatility of our leadership.
If I could’ve joined Norway, Canada, or German armed forces under the NATO banner, I may very well have done that. After seeing everything transpiring in Ukraine, I often wonder if I’d have the courage to do what those brave people are doing every day. In the right context, under purely defensive conditions, I’d like to think I would’ve thrived, but who knows…
But second to volatile leadership is quite honestly the type of people the military tends to attract. The desperate, the jar-head conservative types. If life is on the line, I’d rather not be in a foxhole with them if I’m honest.
But there’s a lot of talk that finally the culture may be shifting within the US Military — to attract smarter, better educated people. I know a lot of conservatives are retiring early and not joining up because they feel the “culture is changing,” which is a good sign to me.
Edit: Downvote me all you want, some of NATO’s senior commanders came from being senior military commanders of German Nazism and very close to Adolf Hitler. Source.
That’s really interesting. I’d never considered where Germany would find experienced commanders to support their role in NATO and be the front line with the Soviets. It’s obvious in retrospect I suppose.
It’s very similar to people like Werner Von Braun that went to the US, were key to the space race, but also key to advancing the technology that went into military missiles etc.
Sorry, the edit wasn’t specifically for you. It wasn’t just NATO with Hans Spiedel and Adolf Heusinger. Nazis also served intelligence agencies in America. The CIA facilitated, and Hoover and the FBI allowed it.
Does this have any application to today, though?
“As we say in Germany, if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis.”
The desperate, the jar-head conservative types. If life is on the line, I’d rather not be in a foxhole with them if I’m honest.
Conservatives are all about making small in-groups and large out-groups. If you’re in the out-group, go fuck yourself. If you’re in the small in-group, their life goal is to elevate their in-group above all the out-groups.
In a foxhole, conservatives and liberals are pretty much the same. Only the people in the foxhole matter at that moment.
It’s when they come home and conservatives can’t give a damn about more than a dozen people and can only see six months into their future that is the real problem.
Fair point, and to that I admittedly use this as an explanation for why Ukrainians can fight side-by-side with the likes of more right-wing extremist groups in their military (e.g., Azov). It would be little different if the United States was attacked and I and some dude from the Proud Boys / Oathkeepers / The Base / 3%ers was with me and we were fighting to protect our family.
In that respect, sure. I just couldn’t pursue it during domestic peacetime as a career given that and the volatility I mentioned.
Back in 2001 the recruiter at my high school very nearly convinced my girlfriend at the time to join up. She was not cut out for that life, and did eventually back out.
I went to highschool and university in the US - I was lucky that I got a scholarship and that covered pretty much all my tuition costs.
But I had a friend, one year older than me, who joined and served in the US army for something like 2 years just so he could get his university costs covered and to save some money for living expenses.
It may not be intentional, but the high cost of higher education is an excellent recruiting tool for the US military.
They get relatively cheap, more educated workers for at least a short time. And they’re often able to keep them at a cheaper salary than hiring someone with the same education. A (proactive) promotion that doubles your salary from $35 to $70k a year generates a lot of goodwill, even if that education and position would usually start at $90k.
Also people who “go to college” that work pays for don’t live on campus, so the company is only on the hook for tuition, and not room and board. And it’s often not full time. It’s worth $10k/year for all that.
Their recruiting offices were set up directly across the street from my daughter’s high school right next to the Burger King where all the seniors went to lunch.
They also exclusively target lower to middle class areas because rich people have options, and the capitalist oligarchy love that poverty to cannon fodder pipeline.
I would imagine that behind closed doors, men in positions of power have had conversations about the potential recruits the military is losing with easy access to abortion, but I agree with you.
For the most part there is no grand conspiracy, just passionate nuts who believe they’re going to live forever who found a shortcut to what they imagine is God’s approval. Like that nut who climbs buildings to raise awareness or whatever it is he’s doing. They believe when they die, they’ll wake up on a cloud and hear “Jesus Loves the Little Children” playing in the background. Their lord will walk up to them and embrace them, tell them what a good job they did shouting about saving babies as he pets their hair.
I grew up in that world. So glad I don’t still live in it.
If they truly cared about “all life” they would be pushing food programs for kids in schools, and persue free education.
But educated children don’t end up in the military… Quick cut those programs!
Republicans pull out a Bible and read whatever chapter slightly resembles the doctrine they want to push, and conveniently forget all the rest. And their voting base laps it up because they’ve never actually read a Bible themselves either.
Also a huge reason the GOP is so against student debt forgiveness. Can’t give poor people an option beyond joining the military if they want to go to college.
When I was in high school and I replied to the appearance of an army recruiter in my social studies class I objected to his presence there with the phrase, “surely you don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be here recruiting impressionable youth to bomb brown people in the name of fascism?” My teacher made me stand in the hallway and gave me a “0” on the days quiz. There was no fucking quiz.
I’ve got forced military service, but my country ain’t at war, so I’ve just gotta work 6 months in shitty jobs, that are necessary for society for free. Oh, and your free time in the barracks consists of drinking beer, playing cards and smoking
The ruling class needs workers to work in order to exploit them.
This doesn’t mean all work is intrinsically serving the ruling class. But in a society set up to funnel as much money as possible to its rulers, then it does.
Lot of people in here who are very uncomfortable with the fact that the world is a messy place made up of almost entirely morally grey issues with exclusively morally grey situations. Good, now do something about it.
Ah, the internet doesn’t count at all, because it’s not about voicing an opinion to the largest possible amount of minds that you’re looking to change, but about shaking a sign and looking angry, and that only if there’s at least a dozen people doing the same?
Yes, aha, mm, people having opinions never changed anything, people having opinions online never changed anything, never made people group together behind the same opinions, to protest for something, in such numbers they changed something? Yeah, I can’t ever remember that happening.
#/S
Oh wait no, that’s actually the thing the internet is infamous for.
Want me to start listing all the things internet protests have affected? Because I’m pretty sure comments on Lemmy have a char limit.
Why do you think gathering in front of the local townhouse to yell obscenities at local politicians is somehow “more real” protesting, despite the internet being objectively superior for sharing those protests around the world, actually influencing people.
Have you ever bought a product just because you saw an advert for it? Most people would say “no, I don’t buy things based on ads I see”, but advertising is one of the largest industries in the world.
'Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half. ’
You might say the same thing of online protests. However, I’d like to note that you and I are now talking, because of OP. So saying they had literally no effect is clearly false.
I still fondly remember my friend Bob Niederider from high school in the '80s. One day an Army recruiter came to talk to our history class, and at the end he asked if anybody had any questions. Bob raised his hand and said “yeah I have a question: does napalm still stick to kids?” I didn’t really appreciate this at the time - and the recruiter certainly didn’t, either.
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Always has been.
The meaning of “recruiter for your school” might have more to do with the Army coordinating who is actively recruiting where, than someone who is permanently installed at said school. So more “I’m the recruiter the Army designated for” than “I’m your school’s recruiter”. Big difference. I’ve never heard of the latter.
I recall a few weeks back in the 1990’s where different armed forces recruiters were allowed to set up a booth in my HS cafeteria. In hindsight, it seems like the faculty should have launched a whole job fair while they were handing out favors. Which just raises more questions. Anyway, this recent social media angle fits with the same M.O. - they’re super aggressive and will work every angle to get closer to potential recruits.
The bigger problem is that, like all military posts, they rotate people frequently. IMO, there’s little incentive to strictly observe social norms since they’re never sticking around for more than a couple years. Yes, you can report people, but that has got to feel like playing whack-a-mole.
When i was in high school 2003, my physics class devoted an entire period to a military recruiter… Sufficed to say, only the redneck kids were interested.
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FTFY
You know, there’s an aspect to the bond, the camaraderie, the discipline, the fitness that I really appreciate about soldiering. Growing up with films like Band of Brothers practically on repeat, having read pretty close to every book that came out from those guys — well, I have admiration. But at the same time as I grew up and became more leftist I of course had many issues with the volatility of our leadership.
If I could’ve joined Norway, Canada, or German armed forces under the NATO banner, I may very well have done that. After seeing everything transpiring in Ukraine, I often wonder if I’d have the courage to do what those brave people are doing every day. In the right context, under purely defensive conditions, I’d like to think I would’ve thrived, but who knows…
But second to volatile leadership is quite honestly the type of people the military tends to attract. The desperate, the jar-head conservative types. If life is on the line, I’d rather not be in a foxhole with them if I’m honest.
But there’s a lot of talk that finally the culture may be shifting within the US Military — to attract smarter, better educated people. I know a lot of conservatives are retiring early and not joining up because they feel the “culture is changing,” which is a good sign to me.
NATO was founded with Nazi leaders. source.
Edit: Downvote me all you want, some of NATO’s senior commanders came from being senior military commanders of German Nazism and very close to Adolf Hitler. Source.
That’s really interesting. I’d never considered where Germany would find experienced commanders to support their role in NATO and be the front line with the Soviets. It’s obvious in retrospect I suppose.
It’s very similar to people like Werner Von Braun that went to the US, were key to the space race, but also key to advancing the technology that went into military missiles etc.
I didn’t downvote you. I’ll have to delve into this as it seems interesting. Does this have any application to today, though?
Sorry, the edit wasn’t specifically for you. It wasn’t just NATO with Hans Spiedel and Adolf Heusinger. Nazis also served intelligence agencies in America. The CIA facilitated, and Hoover and the FBI allowed it.
“As we say in Germany, if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis.”
Dude the fact that you said ‘soldering’ made me think this was either a shitpost or a copypasta
LOL
Conservatives are all about making small in-groups and large out-groups. If you’re in the out-group, go fuck yourself. If you’re in the small in-group, their life goal is to elevate their in-group above all the out-groups.
In a foxhole, conservatives and liberals are pretty much the same. Only the people in the foxhole matter at that moment.
It’s when they come home and conservatives can’t give a damn about more than a dozen people and can only see six months into their future that is the real problem.
Fair point, and to that I admittedly use this as an explanation for why Ukrainians can fight side-by-side with the likes of more right-wing extremist groups in their military (e.g., Azov). It would be little different if the United States was attacked and I and some dude from the Proud Boys / Oathkeepers / The Base / 3%ers was with me and we were fighting to protect our family.
In that respect, sure. I just couldn’t pursue it during domestic peacetime as a career given that and the volatility I mentioned.
Back in 2001 the recruiter at my high school very nearly convinced my girlfriend at the time to join up. She was not cut out for that life, and did eventually back out.
I went to highschool and university in the US - I was lucky that I got a scholarship and that covered pretty much all my tuition costs.
But I had a friend, one year older than me, who joined and served in the US army for something like 2 years just so he could get his university costs covered and to save some money for living expenses.
It may not be intentional, but the high cost of higher education is an excellent recruiting tool for the US military.
Yes. It was. Now days most jobs offer to cover college. I want to know how they benefit because I don’t get it.
They get relatively cheap, more educated workers for at least a short time. And they’re often able to keep them at a cheaper salary than hiring someone with the same education. A (proactive) promotion that doubles your salary from $35 to $70k a year generates a lot of goodwill, even if that education and position would usually start at $90k.
Also people who “go to college” that work pays for don’t live on campus, so the company is only on the hook for tuition, and not room and board. And it’s often not full time. It’s worth $10k/year for all that.
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Nothing is unintentional.
Treat these guys like the scum they are. “Oh cool what does ssg stand for? Sucky sucky guy?”
Their recruiting offices were set up directly across the street from my daughter’s high school right next to the Burger King where all the seniors went to lunch.
Shady as fuck
They also exclusively target lower to middle class areas because rich people have options, and the capitalist oligarchy love that poverty to cannon fodder pipeline.
Which is conveniently the real reason they are trying to ban abortion. Because poor kids without options are easy to recruit as cannon fodder
I remember one of the ® Congress critters saying as much a few years ago, but I can’t find the source. I think it was one of their complete imbeciles.
I think you give pro choice and religious nuts too much credit.
If you’re still believing they’re religiously motivated you’re exactly where they want you.
The idiots who vote are religiously motivated. The ones with power want cheap labor.
I would imagine that behind closed doors, men in positions of power have had conversations about the potential recruits the military is losing with easy access to abortion, but I agree with you.
For the most part there is no grand conspiracy, just passionate nuts who believe they’re going to live forever who found a shortcut to what they imagine is God’s approval. Like that nut who climbs buildings to raise awareness or whatever it is he’s doing. They believe when they die, they’ll wake up on a cloud and hear “Jesus Loves the Little Children” playing in the background. Their lord will walk up to them and embrace them, tell them what a good job they did shouting about saving babies as he pets their hair.
I grew up in that world. So glad I don’t still live in it.
deleted by creator
Good to know. Explains a lot.
deleted by creator
So is the alternative to kill people in the womb based on the possibility they might end up joining the army at some point in their lives?
If they truly cared about “all life” they would be pushing food programs for kids in schools, and persue free education.
But educated children don’t end up in the military… Quick cut those programs!
Republicans pull out a Bible and read whatever chapter slightly resembles the doctrine they want to push, and conveniently forget all the rest. And their voting base laps it up because they’ve never actually read a Bible themselves either.
You’re right. We’re better off killing them in the womb to prevent any suffering they may have.
Interesting…
Also a huge reason the GOP is so against student debt forgiveness. Can’t give poor people an option beyond joining the military if they want to go to college.
The one in my town is right next to GameStop.
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Wait till you learn about places with conscription.
Taiwan is one of them, I am never going back again.
Nice.
When I was in high school and I replied to the appearance of an army recruiter in my social studies class I objected to his presence there with the phrase, “surely you don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be here recruiting impressionable youth to bomb brown people in the name of fascism?” My teacher made me stand in the hallway and gave me a “0” on the days quiz. There was no fucking quiz.
I’ve got forced military service, but my country ain’t at war, so I’ve just gotta work 6 months in shitty jobs, that are necessary for society for free. Oh, and your free time in the barracks consists of drinking beer, playing cards and smoking
You’re only doing that to serve a ruling class that doesn’t want to pay you.
Good job, your nation is made up of useful idiots.
no necessarily, we’ve mostly done things that don’t serve the ruling class only, like clearing up after natural desasters
You must not know how societies function.
how do they function then? really, I’m always in for learning something
The ruling class needs workers to work in order to exploit them.
This doesn’t mean all work is intrinsically serving the ruling class. But in a society set up to funnel as much money as possible to its rulers, then it does.
Lot of people in here who are very uncomfortable with the fact that the world is a messy place made up of almost entirely morally grey issues with exclusively morally grey situations. Good, now do something about it.
You can join or help the Progressive International. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine is on the council.
Like… protest against it?
Hmm I wonder what sort of forms protesting a thing can take? Surely posts on the internet don’t qualify right?
“Everything shit so why bother” is your take?
https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/war-for-oil-conspiracy-theories-may-be-right
Ignoring your sarcasm, yes protesting is one method of driving change, albeit one of the weakest ones.
No, posting online doesn’t count, at all.
Ah, the internet doesn’t count at all, because it’s not about voicing an opinion to the largest possible amount of minds that you’re looking to change, but about shaking a sign and looking angry, and that only if there’s at least a dozen people doing the same?
Yes, aha, mm, people having opinions never changed anything, people having opinions online never changed anything, never made people group together behind the same opinions, to protest for something, in such numbers they changed something? Yeah, I can’t ever remember that happening.
#/S
Oh wait no, that’s actually the thing the internet is infamous for.
Want me to start listing all the things internet protests have affected? Because I’m pretty sure comments on Lemmy have a char limit.
Why do you think gathering in front of the local townhouse to yell obscenities at local politicians is somehow “more real” protesting, despite the internet being objectively superior for sharing those protests around the world, actually influencing people.
Have you ever bought a product just because you saw an advert for it? Most people would say “no, I don’t buy things based on ads I see”, but advertising is one of the largest industries in the world.
'Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half. ’
You might say the same thing of online protests. However, I’d like to note that you and I are now talking, because of OP. So saying they had literally no effect is clearly false.
“That’s stupid.” “You’re talking about it.” “Youre right… they got me.”
“Hey, cool, were friends now, but seriously how you gonna get health insurance or pay for college? Sure would be a shame if…”
I still fondly remember my friend Bob Niederider from high school in the '80s. One day an Army recruiter came to talk to our history class, and at the end he asked if anybody had any questions. Bob raised his hand and said “yeah I have a question: does napalm still stick to kids?” I didn’t really appreciate this at the time - and the recruiter certainly didn’t, either.
What was the response?
It was basically the scene in Full Metal Jacket where the Marine commander grills Joker about the peace sign and “Born to Kill” on his helmet.
SSG means sexy space girl or super Saiyan god?
Super ShotGun