Military Recruiters Try To Be Hip; Kids Roll Eyes

[babylonsister]

So now recruiters want to sign up 'alien life forces'? :crazy:


Military Recruiters Try To Be Hip; Kids Roll Eyes

By Aaron Sarver, In These Times. Posted December 12, 2007.

Military recruiters are using pop cultural knowledge and text messaging to connect with a younger generation.


Teenagers, be warned: Military recruiters have armed themselves with "Wat up, dude?" and "nmu" in their effort to lure you to Iraq. (For those who lack daily interaction with teens, "nmu" means "Not much. You?")

As headlines reveal that the military is lowering standards to meet its recruiting goals, the Pentagon is trying new techniques to connect with Millennials -- those born between 1980 and 2000, formerly known as Generation Y.

In September, the website Entropic Memes reported that attendees at last spring's Annual Navy Workforce Research and Analysis Conference were given a slideshow presentation titled "The Road to a 2025 Total Force: Talkin 'bout Their Generation."

At the presentation, ad executive Arthur Mitchell, director of strategic planning for Campbell-Ewald, the agency behind the Navy's Accelerate Your Life campaign, talked about the inability of Navy recruiters to connect with today's young people.

Millennials, he explained, are "narcissistic praise junkies" and "a somewhat alien life force." To help recruiters communicate with such bizarre life forms, Mitchell presented a pop culture quiz, asking recruiters to identify members of Green Day and the Black Eyed Peas (two popular bands). In addition to getting them up to speed on today's music, he showed them the ins and outs of text messaging and emoticons.

more...

http://alternet.org/story/70307/?page=entire

[HughBeaumont]

1. Odious.

They'll keep their goddamned "hip" oily mitts offen my millennial. My kid isn't doing Bewshtol-Cheneyburton's bidding in the bloodbath furnace. And yes, I'm in the firm belief that this illegal massacre will still be going on five to seven years from now, when he is of recruiting age.

That was the one thing that cheesed me off about my HS years and my parents - that they continually allowed this Army recruiter to visit our house, even though I made it perfectly clear many times that joining the military factored in my life plans somewhere down near smoking crack, starting a drug cartel or robbing banks.

[unhappycamper]

2. Hi 'sister

Could you cross post this to the Veterans forum? Thanks.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=259

[NavyDavy]

3. nothing new recruiter go thru this type of training every few years..

military is not for everyone.....but i enjoyed my time inof course i was in a safe location doing intel work, but i got to travel to places most of the people i knew just dreamed of or read about. So before you attack the military as a whole there are a lot of us here that enjoyed our tours.

[babylonsister]

4. Who's attacking the military? My DH is a retired vet.

I have more sympathy for the military than many do, which is why I don't want to see them used for fodder in this illegal, immoral occupation.

[flashl]

5. A recent report claims the recruiters met their requirements

This admin has used every trick in the book to entice new recruits:

A provision of the No Child Left Behind Act requires high schools to give military recruiters student phone numbers and addresses unless a parent files a written request to "opt out.

Widespread reports surfaced about recruiters enrolling gang members

A recent trial revealed recruiters acquiring 'phoney' identification to enlist "illegal immigrants"

Recruiters travel internationally promising money and U.S. citizenship

Judges are giving "go to jail" or "go to the military" options

Nationwide parents have organized to keep recruiters away their children. Communities are not blind to the fact of the military and this administration's abhorrent treatment of its vets and their families.

[UTUSN]

6. Well, I'm going to say something unpopular here (what else is new)

But when Doonesbury does the same thing, tries to be hip, tries to use Generation Whatever-this-is in the soldiers' sequences, or with the daughter Alex, it falls flat to me, and *I'm* not hip!1

Whenever he's puncturing the B.F.E.E., he's fantastic. I wish he would stick with that permanently.

[zbdent]

7. kinda hard to storm the hill with your pants down under your ass ...