So Very Sad. These Marine Recruits are Totally Brainwashed: Iraq=9/11!

[leftchick]

STILL they are eating up this horse crap even as they are being recruited.

:(

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/10/eveningnews/main931676.shtml

<snip>

First stop: the dreaded obstacle course. It's supposed to build strength, but it also tests character — often in inches and agony. It's where Alfonsi meets Michael Laurello, a scrappy 19 year old who enlisted right out of high school.

"My mother actually cried," Laurello says of when he enlisted. "It was like a funeral at my going away party."

Some wonder why anyone would voluntarily enlist during wartime.

"I want to be fighting the evils, what they did to us on 9-11," Laurello says.

All three of the recruits Alfonsi sit down with say they enlisted because of Sept. 11. Politicians will argue whether the war and 9-11 are related — but clearly here, to these recruits — the two are inseparable.

[Arkana]

1. Umm...

Politicians will argue whether the war and 9-11 are related — but clearly here, to these recruits — the two are inseparable.

It's a HUGE FUCKING DIFFERENCE, you media clowns! Maybe if you morons got off your asses and actually reported the fucking NEWS, these poor kids wouldn't be as brainwashed as they are!

[Berserker]

4. I just got done

screaming at the TV after watching that pile of right wing propaganda from the LIBERAL media. Will this ever stop? Day after day of this shit.

[Career Prole]

5. You are SO right! If the media had published the unvarnished truth

instead of right-wing spin these kids wouldn't still be mixed up about it four years in.
:grr:

[AtomicKitten]

20. stupid people make excellent infantry ...

It seems the GOP has much to offer in the fodder department.

[happyslug]

23. No, they make Terrible Infantry.

Studies beginning with WWII showed that the best infantry were people with higher than average intelligence and mechanical skills. Studies since that time continue to support that situation. As to the McNamara's "Dummy" recruits, this was again shown, while they were some jobs they could do, they suffered higher losses when assigned to the Infantry as opposed to infantry with higher intelligence and mechanical skills. McNamara's Dummy Corps was only successful in helping to avoid the issue of drafting men who were in Collage NOT in raising the troops needed to fight in Vietnam.

Lets look at some of the Skills a modern Infantryman needs:"

1. Ability to learn a number of weapons, not just one. He has to be able to operate his own Rifle, the Squad Automatic Rife, the Platoon Level Machine Gun, the M203 Grenade Launcher, the Light Anti-Tank Weapon (I believe the Swedish AT-4 is the present LAW in todays army replacing the original LAW of Vietnam). In addition he will be expected to help out on the Company level Mortar, .50 Caliber Heavy machine Gun and the Stinger Anti-Aircraft weapon.

2. He has to be able to read and understand the call signs, the Platoon Radio-telephone and be able to call in and "adjust" fire from both his unit's Mortars and whatever Artillery assigned to assist his unit.

3. He has to be able to operate within a squad level unit on its own and sometime in command of it.

4. He has to be able to operate, fuel and maintain whatever Vehicles attached to his unit including 2 1/2 ton Trucks, Humvee, Armored Personal Carriers, M2-Bradley etc.

My point is that it is difficult for someone with reduced Intelligence and low Mechanical Skills to do the above and thus such people are very poor Infantrymen. A infantry unit may be able to carry 1-2 of such people, but it be hard pressed to carry more than that and even then the unit would be better off with people who can replace losses in the fire-teams than in waiting for replacements while the people continue to drive around the Captain (one of the few jobs they can do).

[AtomicKitten]

29. Then why are those with the lowest IQ put in the infantry?

[nemo137]

30. Man, you are asking why are military does something totally counter

to any definition of common sense. I did a similar thing once, and got the strangest and most despairing looks from my grandfather. Just is.

[happyslug]

31. No there are NOT.

While EVERYONE in the Army has to be infantry qualified, even when McNamara's Dummies where in, the tendency was to put such troops in Labor or Stevedore units as opposed to line infantry. Even the army needs garbage pickup and trash removed.

On the other hand the Army has a huge prejudice against enlisting such low intelligence personal. Even today the Army will NOT recruit people with Test Score Category (TSC) of less than 15 (See AR-601-210 Section 2-8 (d) (Equal at least 16 on the AFQT or the "Armed Forces Qualification Test" out of a top score of 99)

All Army Regulations:
http://www.usapa.army.mil/

US Army Enlistment Regulations (AR-601-210)
http://docs.usapa.belvoir.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r601_210/cover.asp
http://docs.usapa.belvoir.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r601_210/head.asp
http://docs.usapa.belvoir.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r601_210/head.asp

For Military Occupation Specialties (MOS) See (This is a VERY LARGE PDF File almost 1000 pages):
http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/p611_21.pdf

For "Enlisted Personnel Classification, Promotion, and Reduction" AR-140-158 See:
http://docs.usapa.belvoir.army.mil/jw2/xmldemo/r140_158/head.asp

[Demobrat]

2. And of course we must "support our troops"

which in Bushspeak means never, ever allude to the fact that they are fighting and dying for a lie. That would be just oh, so insensitive....

[FreedomAngel82]

11. According to Teddy Roosevelt

that's just like treason.

[maxsolomon]

3. you lose when you think your enemy is evil

the wisdom of the tao.

[Demobrat]

6. No wonder Democrats are out of power.

nt

[maxsolomon]

8. it means you let emotion cloud your judgement

the tao isn't about winning elections. it recommends fighting war by retreating & watching.

do YOU think the GOP is "evil"? that hussein is "evil"? that osama is "evil"? do they see themselves that way, or do they see themselves as righteous?

[Demobrat]

21. I think that some of the things they do are evil.

Sending young men and women to die for a lie, for instance.

Whether or not they are "evil" individuals, I would have to decide on an individual basis.

But I don't think we are fighting "evil". We are fighting people who are just as convinced they are in the right as W is.

[maxsolomon]

32. if we agree, then what was your point originally?

"no wonder dems are out of power" can be interpreted in many ways.

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. Good piece in the Boston Globe today, too. Check this link.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/10/10/family_feels_misled_by_recruiter/

[Neil Lisst]

9. How do you tell a soldier he's wrong?

I think this is tough to do, but has to be done. Supporting the troops does not mean backing down from our condemnation of the war. It means being true to our ideals as a nation, one of which we have breached.

We have done something wrong, and correcting that action means getting out of Iraq.

Troops have been sold a bill of goods, but they always are. When we are very young, we are easy to sway, once placed in an environment among a peer group and subjected to daily propaganda. How many at 19 are prepared to understand the real issues of a war?

[FreedomAngel82]

12. You tell him

He's just a person. He's nobody special. You tell him the truth and don't apologize for it. If a recruiter called me and asked for me and told me that shit I'd sing the "lying piece of crap" song for him and tell him to fuck off and not call here again. I don't care if he is in the military.

[jody]

16. Perhaps tell him he has been betrayed by president, congress, and SCOTUS.

They are all guilty in particular SCOTUS who would not hear a case by a minority from congress if they sought to prove that the war in Iraq violates our Constitution.

Majority rules iff SCOTUS does not protect the rights of individuals when they are in a minority.

[FreedomAngel82]

10. They know exactly what they're doing

These recruiters aren't brainwashed. They're doing this to get people mad and to join again like what happened after 9/11. They're using it as a technique when they know damn well.

[frogmarch]

13. The article says

"Politicians will argue whether the war and 9-11 are related..."

The only way the war and 9-11 are related is that certain politicians used 9-11 as their "Pearl Harbor" - their excuse to invade Iraq.

Not all reporters are aware of this by now?

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. PNAC is the secret we shoudl never speak about

welcome to DU by the way, and no, most reporters don't have a clue nor do they want to have a clue

[Kagemusha]

14. I know it's not politically correct to put it this way but,

in their minds, Iraq is irrelevant. Who did 9/11? Arabs. Who are we fighting in Iraq? Arabs. The location is irrelevant. We're still fighting Arabs.

The name of a former Ottoman province/ British protectorate is just a minor detail.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. hmmm these guys are near the crucible

I can bet.. thy are telling the news crew aproved talking points from their officers and DIs.

I wish to a point more people knew how the military actually works... for they would understand that this propaganad was spoken by troops near the end of boot, who know you don't say while in unform anything that may be disaproving of teh mission. It does NOT matter what you personally believe in.

[Rex]

18. Big brothers of the world.

From the mouth of a child. Big Brother is watching you!

[Jara sang]

19. Stupid uneducated fools n/t

[tx_dem41]

26. Quite the contrary....

I work with soldiers and sailors everyday. They are neither stupid nor uneducated.

[Webster Green]

22. "I want to be fighting the evils, what they did to us on 9-11,"

Hoo-Boy!

What a fucking dolt!

[kiki]

24. What a load that article is.

Bad ordinary people! Bad! BAD for not liking war! Look, you're making little Michael cry!

Look at the big sweet lug. HE believes Saddam caused 9/11... don't take that away from him! Why, it's like telling a kid there's no Santa Claus!

[slaveplanet]

25. The scary part is not them going to Iraq

Gung ho to kill innocent Iraqis.

The scary part is that if they survive, and come back here, gung ho to push the civilian population around in the next declared emergency.

[leftchick]

28. It is equally scary for either scenario to happen

:(

[zulchzulu]

27. I wonder how many of those that died believed Iraq was responsible for 911

That's like going into WWII because the Martians attacked Pearl Harbor.