A Few Good Men?

A recent article by Susan Paynter in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer details a very disturbing story. An 18-year-old high school student answered a phone call from a Marine Corps recruiter, who then started badgering him into joining the Corps. Finally the recruiter and another Marine showed up at the teenager's workplace, hustled him into a car and drove him off to the bright lights of Seattle.

You can read the article for the details of what happened next; I'll hit a few high points. One thing they offered this kid was an "apathy discharge." If he got tired of the Corps, he could just quit. And he didn't have to go to Iraq if he didn't want to. There is a happy ending, despite the appearance of a lawyer. The kid went home with his mother, and there are two Marine recruiters who have some 'splainin' to do.

What in the Names of Jesus, Allah, Ganesh and Quetzalcoatl were these assholes THINKING of? Sure, our all-volunteer military is running short of recruits - there's an unpopular war going on, and few young people feel the desire to be blown into fragments. But this smacks of impressment; since a draft is (so far) out of the question, recruiters have resorted to unethical and (as related above) downright illegal tactics.

I wonder if this is what the recruiters were told during their "stand down" a month or so ago.