Tuesday, July 19, 2005
A Mother's Response To A Marine Recruiter
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July 9, 2005
Dear Sergeant Major:
I am responding to a recruitment letter you just sent to my son, Michael. I am somewhat uncomfortable about this letter in light of the fact that my son turned 15 years old barely two weeks ago.
Prior to receiving your letter, a Marine recruiter called our house and asked to speak to Michael. I'm not sure if that person was you, but I answered the phone, and when I found out that the caller was a Marine recruiter, I expressly told the caller that my son was not at all interested in the Marines and that I was appalled that a 14 year old (Michael's age at that time) was being targeted for military recruitment. The caller then said that he (meaning Michael) must have filled out a card or something requesting information. I apologized for that, as I did recall Michael telling me some weeks earlier that he filled out a card at a military recruitment information table at a mall or somewhere in order to get a free water bottle, or free give-away, and that he was encouraged to fill out a card giving his name and contact information. I then reiterated that my son was 14 and not at all a suitable recruitment target. The response I got was: "Well, he can enlist at 17, if a parent signs for him." I assured the caller, in so many words, that there was no fat chance of that happening!
And then, today, your letter arrives, in which you breathlessly state: "Good news! You'll soon be eligible to apply for enlistment in the Marine Corp. I'm preparing an information package . [and] will forward it to you when you turn 17." You end your letter with, "I hope that one day - in the near future - I'll be welcoming you to the Marine Corps."
For the record, let me repeat once more, what I said to the caller some weeks ago: My son is a minor, and he is not going to sign up with the Marines. Why you may ask? Number 1: He is not interested. Number 2: Over my dead body.
I suggest that you send your recruitment letters to George Bush's daughters, and how about Jeb's son and daughter while you're at it? Let's see, they are Americans, President Bush said there was no higher calling for a young American than to serve his or her country in the military. Perfect! You probably also have a rich pool of potential recruits amongst the sons, daughters and grandchildren of George Bush's top-ranking Republican administration officials! What an example that would be for the rest of the young citizens of America! You couldn't pay for better P.R. than that! Think of how the recruitment ranks would swell.
You and I both know that will not happen, nor will the sons and daughters of our esteemed elected officials, namely, the offspring of our congressional representatives and senators, sign up for military duty. No, the kids that are going over to Iraq -- let's see, I believe the average age of our soldiers is 19? - are usually the ones without the resources to go to college, tech school or have access to good paying jobs. In other words, they are not the sons and daughters of the privileged class.
I have a friend who is a nurse at a military hospital and she told me about the wounded coming back from Iraq. We don't see their pictures splashed on the front page of the newspaper, they aren't speaking on TV about what a wonderful privilege it was to serve their country and how they'd do it again if they had to. They are hidden from our sight. It is unbearably sad that these young men and women are being horribly maimed in the course of fighting for George Bush's lies. I wonder, how does George Bush sleep at night? Is he just unbelievably stupid, or is he merely bereft of feeling for anyone outside his own family? The man doesn't even have the decency to admit he made a terrible mistake and offer the people who lost their loved ones, and the poor wounded soldiers, as much as an apology. His arrogance should make us all very ashamed. Oh, and that business about if you don't support the war, you're not supporting the troops - excuse me, but I support the troops by not wanting them to be needlessly killed and wounded. It is not patriotic to wage war on a country that posed no direct threat to our country and put the sons and daughters of America in harm's way so carelessly and so dishonestly.
The Iraqi War (known as Bush's War to most Europeans) is a farce, it is illegal, it will never be won, and will never result in a democratic Iraq. (Does anyone, anyone, have the stomach any more for Bush's canned patriotic slogans and pathetic reassurances that we're "winning" the war?) All we can hope for is that other nations in the world will have pity and forgive our mistake and try to help put Iraq back together, if that's even possible, which I hope it is. Ironically, America will have to step aside and leave Iraq if some semblance of order has a chance of happening there at all.
As for George Bush's fate, he clearly ought to be impeached. Americans felt there was justification for sending troops into Afghanistan - but Iraq? I think the Downing Street memo explains the reasoning behind that disastrous decision. Even if one chooses to discount the Downing Street memo, there's evidence aplenty that Bush chose to ignore the facts in favor of an action that had nothing to do with bringing democracy to the Iraqi people and all to do with special interests, plus a little matter of unresolved business with Saddam, left over from his father's presidency. How dare George Bush tarnish the good names of democracy and freedom to sell this mess of a war.
No, neither of my sons will go off and fight for a war that George Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove cooked up. Neither of my sons will risk their lives so that rich Republicans can get richer, and their co-horts in the oil and defense industries, like Halliburton, can line their pockets with even more money pilfered at the expense of the rest of us well-meaning but way too naïve tax payers. Meanwhile, the poor get poorer, and the wretched of the world find even less to hope for.
You would do me a great courtesy to pass this letter on to your top commander as I understand that you are merely doing the job given to you, and that you mean no harm in your solicitation. But I do want those in positions of authority to understand that I do not want any more recruitment information sent to my son Michael, or to my other minor son either for that matter. I am not raising them to be sacrificed on the altar of George Bush's deceit, nor should anyone else give their children over to a man who would willingly cut their military benefits if it meant saving his rich cronies from paying higher taxes, while absconding from his own military service. (Yeah, yeah, I know, some of his key military records were "lost," and we are all supposed to pretend that he served when he said he did.) A wise leader should never ask others to make sacrifices that he himself would never make.
I know we can't bring back the `60's, but can we at least have some righteous indignation?
Sincerely,
Michael's Mom
Link
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July 9, 2005
Dear Sergeant Major:
I am responding to a recruitment letter you just sent to my son, Michael. I am somewhat uncomfortable about this letter in light of the fact that my son turned 15 years old barely two weeks ago.
Prior to receiving your letter, a Marine recruiter called our house and asked to speak to Michael. I'm not sure if that person was you, but I answered the phone, and when I found out that the caller was a Marine recruiter, I expressly told the caller that my son was not at all interested in the Marines and that I was appalled that a 14 year old (Michael's age at that time) was being targeted for military recruitment. The caller then said that he (meaning Michael) must have filled out a card or something requesting information. I apologized for that, as I did recall Michael telling me some weeks earlier that he filled out a card at a military recruitment information table at a mall or somewhere in order to get a free water bottle, or free give-away, and that he was encouraged to fill out a card giving his name and contact information. I then reiterated that my son was 14 and not at all a suitable recruitment target. The response I got was: "Well, he can enlist at 17, if a parent signs for him." I assured the caller, in so many words, that there was no fat chance of that happening!
And then, today, your letter arrives, in which you breathlessly state: "Good news! You'll soon be eligible to apply for enlistment in the Marine Corp. I'm preparing an information package . [and] will forward it to you when you turn 17." You end your letter with, "I hope that one day - in the near future - I'll be welcoming you to the Marine Corps."
For the record, let me repeat once more, what I said to the caller some weeks ago: My son is a minor, and he is not going to sign up with the Marines. Why you may ask? Number 1: He is not interested. Number 2: Over my dead body.
I suggest that you send your recruitment letters to George Bush's daughters, and how about Jeb's son and daughter while you're at it? Let's see, they are Americans, President Bush said there was no higher calling for a young American than to serve his or her country in the military. Perfect! You probably also have a rich pool of potential recruits amongst the sons, daughters and grandchildren of George Bush's top-ranking Republican administration officials! What an example that would be for the rest of the young citizens of America! You couldn't pay for better P.R. than that! Think of how the recruitment ranks would swell.
You and I both know that will not happen, nor will the sons and daughters of our esteemed elected officials, namely, the offspring of our congressional representatives and senators, sign up for military duty. No, the kids that are going over to Iraq -- let's see, I believe the average age of our soldiers is 19? - are usually the ones without the resources to go to college, tech school or have access to good paying jobs. In other words, they are not the sons and daughters of the privileged class.
I have a friend who is a nurse at a military hospital and she told me about the wounded coming back from Iraq. We don't see their pictures splashed on the front page of the newspaper, they aren't speaking on TV about what a wonderful privilege it was to serve their country and how they'd do it again if they had to. They are hidden from our sight. It is unbearably sad that these young men and women are being horribly maimed in the course of fighting for George Bush's lies. I wonder, how does George Bush sleep at night? Is he just unbelievably stupid, or is he merely bereft of feeling for anyone outside his own family? The man doesn't even have the decency to admit he made a terrible mistake and offer the people who lost their loved ones, and the poor wounded soldiers, as much as an apology. His arrogance should make us all very ashamed. Oh, and that business about if you don't support the war, you're not supporting the troops - excuse me, but I support the troops by not wanting them to be needlessly killed and wounded. It is not patriotic to wage war on a country that posed no direct threat to our country and put the sons and daughters of America in harm's way so carelessly and so dishonestly.
The Iraqi War (known as Bush's War to most Europeans) is a farce, it is illegal, it will never be won, and will never result in a democratic Iraq. (Does anyone, anyone, have the stomach any more for Bush's canned patriotic slogans and pathetic reassurances that we're "winning" the war?) All we can hope for is that other nations in the world will have pity and forgive our mistake and try to help put Iraq back together, if that's even possible, which I hope it is. Ironically, America will have to step aside and leave Iraq if some semblance of order has a chance of happening there at all.
As for George Bush's fate, he clearly ought to be impeached. Americans felt there was justification for sending troops into Afghanistan - but Iraq? I think the Downing Street memo explains the reasoning behind that disastrous decision. Even if one chooses to discount the Downing Street memo, there's evidence aplenty that Bush chose to ignore the facts in favor of an action that had nothing to do with bringing democracy to the Iraqi people and all to do with special interests, plus a little matter of unresolved business with Saddam, left over from his father's presidency. How dare George Bush tarnish the good names of democracy and freedom to sell this mess of a war.
No, neither of my sons will go off and fight for a war that George Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove cooked up. Neither of my sons will risk their lives so that rich Republicans can get richer, and their co-horts in the oil and defense industries, like Halliburton, can line their pockets with even more money pilfered at the expense of the rest of us well-meaning but way too naïve tax payers. Meanwhile, the poor get poorer, and the wretched of the world find even less to hope for.
You would do me a great courtesy to pass this letter on to your top commander as I understand that you are merely doing the job given to you, and that you mean no harm in your solicitation. But I do want those in positions of authority to understand that I do not want any more recruitment information sent to my son Michael, or to my other minor son either for that matter. I am not raising them to be sacrificed on the altar of George Bush's deceit, nor should anyone else give their children over to a man who would willingly cut their military benefits if it meant saving his rich cronies from paying higher taxes, while absconding from his own military service. (Yeah, yeah, I know, some of his key military records were "lost," and we are all supposed to pretend that he served when he said he did.) A wise leader should never ask others to make sacrifices that he himself would never make.
I know we can't bring back the `60's, but can we at least have some righteous indignation?
Sincerely,
Michael's Mom
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Michael's Mom,
I found your blog while doing a blog search pertaining to the United States Marine Corps.
Please allow me to better inform you on some of your information.
First, I will agree that it is somewhat unreasonable for a person to be contacted for military recruitment at the age of 14, 15. However, the military does not contact them for no reason. Either they filled out a card, as your son did, or a friend referred them.
What really got to me, was when you said "No, the kids that are going over to Iraq -- let's see, I believe the average age of our soldiers is 19? - are usually the ones without the resources to go to college, tech school or have access to good paying jobs. In other words, they are not the sons and daughters of the privileged class."
Madam, let me tell you a little about myself. This past year, I was able to graduate early. I had a full scholarship awaiting me. I turned down $38,000 in scholarships so that I could join my country's Armed Forces. I did not choose to do so because I am without resources OR incapable. If I desired, I have no doubt I could go to Harvard. I am not alone. Suddenly, many Ivy League graduates, many students at the top of their high school graduating class, have decided that there is something in life far more important than being viewed as successful by people that do not matter.
To me, knowing that I am doing something to achieve my full potential; doing something to ensure freedom for myself, my family, the rest of the world, and generations to come; I am being all that I can be.
Yes, I am still going to college. Yes, I am going to be a lawyer someday--a JAG lawyer in the United States military.
Please do not make assumptions for things which you know little or nothing about. I am not one of a kind. Thankfully, there are thousands of others just like me.
Sincerely,
A Proud Recruit
I found your blog while doing a blog search pertaining to the United States Marine Corps.
Please allow me to better inform you on some of your information.
First, I will agree that it is somewhat unreasonable for a person to be contacted for military recruitment at the age of 14, 15. However, the military does not contact them for no reason. Either they filled out a card, as your son did, or a friend referred them.
What really got to me, was when you said "No, the kids that are going over to Iraq -- let's see, I believe the average age of our soldiers is 19? - are usually the ones without the resources to go to college, tech school or have access to good paying jobs. In other words, they are not the sons and daughters of the privileged class."
Madam, let me tell you a little about myself. This past year, I was able to graduate early. I had a full scholarship awaiting me. I turned down $38,000 in scholarships so that I could join my country's Armed Forces. I did not choose to do so because I am without resources OR incapable. If I desired, I have no doubt I could go to Harvard. I am not alone. Suddenly, many Ivy League graduates, many students at the top of their high school graduating class, have decided that there is something in life far more important than being viewed as successful by people that do not matter.
To me, knowing that I am doing something to achieve my full potential; doing something to ensure freedom for myself, my family, the rest of the world, and generations to come; I am being all that I can be.
Yes, I am still going to college. Yes, I am going to be a lawyer someday--a JAG lawyer in the United States military.
Please do not make assumptions for things which you know little or nothing about. I am not one of a kind. Thankfully, there are thousands of others just like me.
Sincerely,
A Proud Recruit
Dear Proud Recruit,
A small clarifying point - this is not Michael's Mom's blog, this is DN's blog. But perhaps you knew that.
Well, much like a dealer in a school yard who gives free drugs at first, this is the way folks who want others to get hooked on what they're selling do it. In return for filling out some personal information, this young man got a free water bottle, or some such. He was obviously not so terribly sophisticated as yet to understand that there is no free lunch in this life. He just thought it was an easy way to get something for nothing. Surely you remember what it was like to be 14, since it was only 4 short years ago when you were that age. I would like to think the Marines would weed out 14-year olds from their call lists, but, as you know, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make the monthly quota of enlistments. And if you fail to make your quota often enough, you soon find yourself in the desert, kicking in doors, dodging IED's and nervously shooting at anything that moves. So probably even a kid at least 3 years away is fair game nowadays.
OK, Mike's Mom was a little off on the age but not so much on the background. Here's a quote from this article:
http://www.therockinghamnews.com/news/11202005/news/74047.htm
"They are also young - average age 20 for men, and 21 for women - and almost all are high school graduates from lower- to middle-class backgrounds."
Thanks so much for detailing your bona fides. You may possibly be the exception which proves the rule.
I like to think 'Michael's Mom' would be happy to have you serve in her son's place. Cindy Sheehan and all the other Gold Star Mom's might also agree.
Hey, if it were another time and place, you could have been the one to take George W. Bush's slot in 'Nam. Or any of the other chickenhawks, most all of whom seem to be Republicans anxious to initiate, complete with a multitude of lies, an illegal, immoral invasion and occupation which is as far as it gets from "defending America," with the children of someone else, anyone else but theirs. And, most assuredly, anyone else but THEMSELVES.
BTW, I also have no doubt you could go to Harvard. Not to disparage you, but "W" went to Harvard. And Yale before that.
He tried to get into the University of Texas before that, but they wouldn't take him. Apparently not smart enough; he's certainly proved the wisdom of their turndown in years since. But Yale had to take him - that legacy thing, you know. All the profs well knew who his Poppy was. And the career danger they faced if they dared give Junior an F.
I'm intrigued by this comment you made: "...have decided that there is something in life far more important than being viewed as successful by people that do not matter." (Emphasis mine.) You see, this one sentence tells me all I really need to know about you. Let me guess: Your Dad's a military officer currently assigned to Fort Leonard Wood and a "lifer." He's had 18 years to indoctrinate you as to which career choice of yours would make him the happiest. And little girls do like to make their daddies happy.
I'm also guessing that either you or him, or both, consider anyone not in his status to be the "people that do not matter." The enlisted folks - the 'grunts.' The guys who came from parents with working class backgrounds. The ones who truly made America great, only to watch it now sliding into Third World status at the hands of greedy, neocon war-mongers and imperialists.
I see your goal is to be a JAG lawyer. Get ready for the thousands of lawyer jokes coming your way. Not to mention the jokes about kangaroo courts.
I also took note of your elitist, superior tone in reprimanding your elders about making what you consider assumptions for things which, given your remarkably long experience and wisdom at the ripe old age of 18, she would know "little or nothing about."
I've seen an example of your experience and wisdom by reading your blog and many of the links to sites you admire therein. I see you're heavily into Ollie North, the convicted liar, guilty of aiding and abetting obstruction of Congress, shredding and altering official documents, and accepting an illegal gratuity from Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord.
The same Lt. Col. who disgraced the Marine uniform he wore while illegally ignoring the laws of the Congress of the United States of America to carry out Reagan's illegal policies, which resulted in the killing of 10,000 Nicaraguans and Hondurans, never mind the illegal arms shipments to Iran. And Nicholas Sparks? I have trouble envisioning the crisp, no-nonsense Marine attorney you wish to be with the soppy, cliche-ridden, schmaltzy, simple-minded glop Sparks grinds out.
Gee, I wish I had been as smart as you when I enlisted, upon high school graduation at 17, asked for a combat job and duty in war-torn Korea. Neither of which I was given, thank God. I like to think now that wiser heads prevailed, but who knows, it may just have been the luck of the draw. The Korean "peace-keeping action" was yet another of the many to come "wars" NOT fought to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. NOT fought for freedom, but for political and/or ideological expediency. Or oil. Wonder why the nationalists, posing as patriots, can't seem to understand this.
Have you heard the phrase: 'young and stupid?' It's mostly said by folks who, despite their "stupidity," managed to survive and often prosper into their seventies and beyond. We have the vision now to realize just how ignorant we were way back then.
May you attain that vision and wisdom someday.
I wonder if you will, since you seem to have taken the jingoistic TV commercial propaganda, and adopted it as your own: "I am being all that I can be." Puleeze...
You end by opining that there are thousands of others just like you. The neonazis, or neocons - same thing - certainly hope so. They need all the cannon fodder they can get for their imperialist goals.
And folks like you will take the place of my grandchildren, I pray... --DN
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A small clarifying point - this is not Michael's Mom's blog, this is DN's blog. But perhaps you knew that.
Well, much like a dealer in a school yard who gives free drugs at first, this is the way folks who want others to get hooked on what they're selling do it. In return for filling out some personal information, this young man got a free water bottle, or some such. He was obviously not so terribly sophisticated as yet to understand that there is no free lunch in this life. He just thought it was an easy way to get something for nothing. Surely you remember what it was like to be 14, since it was only 4 short years ago when you were that age. I would like to think the Marines would weed out 14-year olds from their call lists, but, as you know, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make the monthly quota of enlistments. And if you fail to make your quota often enough, you soon find yourself in the desert, kicking in doors, dodging IED's and nervously shooting at anything that moves. So probably even a kid at least 3 years away is fair game nowadays.
OK, Mike's Mom was a little off on the age but not so much on the background. Here's a quote from this article:
http://www.therockinghamnews.com/news/11202005/news/74047.htm
"They are also young - average age 20 for men, and 21 for women - and almost all are high school graduates from lower- to middle-class backgrounds."
Thanks so much for detailing your bona fides. You may possibly be the exception which proves the rule.
I like to think 'Michael's Mom' would be happy to have you serve in her son's place. Cindy Sheehan and all the other Gold Star Mom's might also agree.
Hey, if it were another time and place, you could have been the one to take George W. Bush's slot in 'Nam. Or any of the other chickenhawks, most all of whom seem to be Republicans anxious to initiate, complete with a multitude of lies, an illegal, immoral invasion and occupation which is as far as it gets from "defending America," with the children of someone else, anyone else but theirs. And, most assuredly, anyone else but THEMSELVES.
BTW, I also have no doubt you could go to Harvard. Not to disparage you, but "W" went to Harvard. And Yale before that.
He tried to get into the University of Texas before that, but they wouldn't take him. Apparently not smart enough; he's certainly proved the wisdom of their turndown in years since. But Yale had to take him - that legacy thing, you know. All the profs well knew who his Poppy was. And the career danger they faced if they dared give Junior an F.
I'm intrigued by this comment you made: "...have decided that there is something in life far more important than being viewed as successful by people that do not matter." (Emphasis mine.) You see, this one sentence tells me all I really need to know about you. Let me guess: Your Dad's a military officer currently assigned to Fort Leonard Wood and a "lifer." He's had 18 years to indoctrinate you as to which career choice of yours would make him the happiest. And little girls do like to make their daddies happy.
I'm also guessing that either you or him, or both, consider anyone not in his status to be the "people that do not matter." The enlisted folks - the 'grunts.' The guys who came from parents with working class backgrounds. The ones who truly made America great, only to watch it now sliding into Third World status at the hands of greedy, neocon war-mongers and imperialists.
I see your goal is to be a JAG lawyer. Get ready for the thousands of lawyer jokes coming your way. Not to mention the jokes about kangaroo courts.
I also took note of your elitist, superior tone in reprimanding your elders about making what you consider assumptions for things which, given your remarkably long experience and wisdom at the ripe old age of 18, she would know "little or nothing about."
I've seen an example of your experience and wisdom by reading your blog and many of the links to sites you admire therein. I see you're heavily into Ollie North, the convicted liar, guilty of aiding and abetting obstruction of Congress, shredding and altering official documents, and accepting an illegal gratuity from Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord.
The same Lt. Col. who disgraced the Marine uniform he wore while illegally ignoring the laws of the Congress of the United States of America to carry out Reagan's illegal policies, which resulted in the killing of 10,000 Nicaraguans and Hondurans, never mind the illegal arms shipments to Iran. And Nicholas Sparks? I have trouble envisioning the crisp, no-nonsense Marine attorney you wish to be with the soppy, cliche-ridden, schmaltzy, simple-minded glop Sparks grinds out.
Gee, I wish I had been as smart as you when I enlisted, upon high school graduation at 17, asked for a combat job and duty in war-torn Korea. Neither of which I was given, thank God. I like to think now that wiser heads prevailed, but who knows, it may just have been the luck of the draw. The Korean "peace-keeping action" was yet another of the many to come "wars" NOT fought to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. NOT fought for freedom, but for political and/or ideological expediency. Or oil. Wonder why the nationalists, posing as patriots, can't seem to understand this.
Have you heard the phrase: 'young and stupid?' It's mostly said by folks who, despite their "stupidity," managed to survive and often prosper into their seventies and beyond. We have the vision now to realize just how ignorant we were way back then.
May you attain that vision and wisdom someday.
I wonder if you will, since you seem to have taken the jingoistic TV commercial propaganda, and adopted it as your own: "I am being all that I can be." Puleeze...
You end by opining that there are thousands of others just like you. The neonazis, or neocons - same thing - certainly hope so. They need all the cannon fodder they can get for their imperialist goals.
And folks like you will take the place of my grandchildren, I pray... --DN
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