Truth in advertising?

[featherynscale]

Yesterday afternoon, as triadruid and I were driving home from work, we noticed a profusion of American flags up at the funeral home next to the Masonic cemetary. They were accompanied by a large number of motorcycles, and we thought, "Ah. That must be a biker's funeral. And they all came up on the bikes, how nice." Then, as we drove a bit further, we noticed a camper with a yellow banner on the side. It appeared to be soliciting volunteers to join the Army. But surely, I thought, there's no way the Army would recruit at a funeral home. It's just, I don't know, in poor taste.

This morning, when we drove by, the bikes were gone, but the flags were still there. The camper had been relocated to a spot right in front of the building. It did, in fact, bear a recruitment banner. They are, in fact, recruiting for the Army, at the funeral home. For the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone would think this was a good idea, but I am open to suggestions.

Comments

44th Zombie Company

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

Obviously the US Armed Forces is not satisfied with soldiers dying for the cause and have begun reanimating the dead.

Re: 44th Zombie Company

[senset.livejournal.com]

I just thought of the whole Uncle Sam is looking for a few good Zombies thing. You beat me to it. *smirk*

Re: 44th Zombie Company

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I think that's a fine idea, particularly for desert warfare, where the dry environment slows rot and reduces the smell. Why has no one thought of this before? Iraq isn't Vietnam at all, you silly peaceniks; there's no way we could have deployed the zombies in Vietnam!

[iron-clad.livejournal.com]

"How many more young men have to die like this? Join and help the fight and end this conflict before more good soldiers lives are lost." Something like that I'm sure.

[capriciouslass.livejournal.com]

Ewwww! That just strikes me as being in extremely poor taste.

I thought maybe the bikers were part of the American Legion people that were blocking the Phelps boycott of military funerals... (and don't get me started on what I think about how poor taste those boycotts are)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

It had occurred to me too that maybe the bikers were protecting somebody from the Phelps crew, but I didn't see Phelps and his signs, so maybe not. Of course, I guess it's just him and two or three of his kids, now, so they're easier to miss.

[wildnsquirrelly.livejournal.com]

It's also possible that the Legion Riders had already chased this Phelps person off. Nothing like a bunch of disgruntled war veterans on motorcycles to chase off the unwelcome.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

People don't think clearly while in grief. I think the gnereral rule is not to make any life altering decisions in the first few months or so. Maybe the army is counting on sad depressed people who feel they have nothing left to lose joining them.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Even if you want to enlist that day, it takes a while to in-process, they will have to qualify mentally, emotionally, and physically. It does not help the army at all to bring in people who don't want to be there, so all the forces check and double-check for motivations and potential issues.

In one case, a young man had made it all the way through Enterance processing and was ready to ship out. The Command Gunny went to shake his hand and congragulate him for making it. (when I went in, standards were really tight) The young man's reply was that he "didn't shake hands with white men". This was something unexpected, and horrible. You can train people to do superhuman things, but you can't untrain that level of racism. In the Marines, there is no room for black or white, and for the most part, there is no difference between male and female, all are simply Marines. (If required to mention that a person is black or white, the correct terms are dark green and light green) After a bit of counseling with the young man and conversation amongst the recruiters, the young man was disqualified from enlisting.

I'm sure there are stories that can be told about recruiters doing anything to get people in, although that usually hinges on someone who wants to go in and simply has some minor legal issues (I was one of those). But if a recruiter gets caught coercing a person into the military, they are in just as much trouble as those that get caught dating potential enlistees.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

There's been a lot in the news lately about coercing, and rape, and other stuff.

When my boys turned 18 I practically had to threaten the recruiters with a harrassment lawsuit to get them to stop calling.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

There has been a recent scandal about sexual harassment in the recruiting office. Usually this is centered around a certain station or group of recruiters. Rape is a pretty strong term to use, but it is conceivable. Unfortunately, with there being a recruiter to cover every high school and college in America, it only takes a couple to start a nationwide scandal. They still have a better track record than teachers right now, even female teachers have had a huge trend of getting caught with students.

On the recruitment, I worked the recruiter's office during my time in the delayed entry. Every time a kid came in, there were questions about who else would be interested. We (I) kept notes on every senior in my school, and if I didn't know about them, then there would be calls. This was only my list, and I was calling up because two recruits gained me a promotion. Every time someone from the area enlisted, if they were interested in the promotion, they would call around. You also have 3-5 different branches of military in most cities, and sometimes you get an overlap of recruiting 'turf' so it's feasible that each person you said no to was from a different office and they all just needed a yes or no for their list. Also, a parent's answer is not the last word once they're 18. One of the guys that earned me my first stripe had a similar story to mine, parents were hippies/flower children and were opposed to the idea, the son enlisted against their wishes. I did get my parents to agree that it would be a good opportunity, but then they called up and wanted to cancel when Saddam invaded Kuwait. The answer they got was "You can contact different civic leaders and work to get out of the contract you signed for your son, but in a month, he will be 18 and can sign the contract without you, so it may not be the best investment of your time." (Mom & Dad signed for me when I was 17)

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Actually, I had the army call many times, I had my sons telling them no, no, no, and they didn't get their names from anyone else.

They did finally stop calling, but only after I asked who their commanding officer was so my sons could call and explain they weren't interested.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Hrm... sorry to hear. As with rape, it is -not- supposed to happen that way, and folks get in trouble for harassing calls... not as much trouble as for sexual harassment, but when a recruiting station is harassing citizens, a number of people get in trouble, from the low-level guys that call, all the way up their leadership chain.

Good call on the way to stop the calls... no one wants to have to do the carpet dance in front of the Officer in Charge. 8-)

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

My husband worked at a MEPS station, though not as a recruiter, so I'm not without sympathy, and I know they are under a lot of pressure right now.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Probably not as much now that 42 year olds can enlist. Although good luck finding people that can meet the weight standard, unless it is similarly way the whoa out there. 8-)

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I believe the phrase "if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand" applies.

A fighting buddy stopped out on Thursday, he's outprocessing for Iraq right now. It occured to me how much that inspires me to go back in.

Ditto for funerals, young men that served tend to have friends of a similar mindset. With the age limit now up to 42 for the army, there have been a number of cases where fathers and mothers have enlisted to pick up where their children left off.

And if anyone finds this a 'bad idea', keep in mind that a 40 year old adult joining 5 years after the war started has a far better idea of what they're up against compared to those who enlisted at 17 in a time of peace. The Army selects no one, interested individuals select the Army, and if they are lucky, they will qualify and be able to serve. The restrictions are looser now, but there is still a grand assortment of things that will disqualify people. The military lists I am on have a steady stream of people asking if there is anything they can do to get around certain things that disqualified them.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I'm in favor of people being able to join the Army if they damned well want to join the Army, and of people knowing what they're getting into before they get into it. It just seems sort of crass and opportunistic to me to recruit at a funeral -- not quite at the level of "well, we've got a pair of boots free now, and they might fit you", but pretty close. But then, my sensibilities and the sensibilities of the target audience may be different enough that what seems awful and disrespectful to me may seem honorable and motivating to someone else. *shrug*

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

That was sort of my point... generally the funerals of soldiers are filled with people that understand the motivations.

I'm also not sure that they were recruiting, they could have just set up an information/support tent (which usually has goarmy.com type stuff on it). I would find it odd that actual recruiters were doing their business there... but it's sort of like me with Scouts or the SCA, I'm not one of the paid recruiters, but when I'm out, I am always recruiting anyway, simply because I think some thigns are uber-awesome. 8-)

[matchgirl42.livejournal.com]

The Armed Forces are on MySpace, too. Hrm.

Three theories:

[wildnsquirrelly.livejournal.com]

(in no particular order)

1) Seemed like a good idea at the time?

2) Counter-recruiting scheme? These have been more frequent since the new wave of Veterans are hitting the streets chock full of bile about their experiences and ready to keep H.S. kids from going that route.

3) (my favorite) Truth in Advertising?
"How about a [ ] rifle? Never been fired, only dropped once?"

It's important to keep in mind that I have an admittedly dark view on such matters.

[karinablack.livejournal.com]

what the hell?