Re-opening VA hospitals, a pay and benefits increase, and the right supplies to do your job wouldn't hurt, either.

According to this article, "The Army and the Marine Corps are having difficulty meeting monthly recruiting goals as images of war broadcast daily from Iraq discourage young people who might otherwise be eager to join the military." So the Pentagon is going to hire "an outside marketing firm to help compile an extensive database about teenagers and college students that the military services could use to target potential enlistees."

Let me save the Pentagon the trouble of Big Brothering new ways to circumvent the Privacy Act (more than they already do) to obtain a completely useless pile of market research. The reason you have lost and will continue to lose your usual base of enlistees is remarkably simple:

The Iraq war.

No really! It's true! It's not the images of war that are keeping you from meeting your recruitment goals, it's the war. This inexcusable debacle. This blight on America and our military. SO blatantly wrong, even the 'otherwise eager'--those kids who come from military families, the financially needy without educational options, the patriotic who feel it is their duty and honor to serve--call bullshit on it. However you, in your infinite ability to manipulate and underestimate the character of our youth, think that by using illegally obtained personal information you can come up with a slick new ad campaign that'll somehow change their distaste for the slaughter of innocents.

My advice? In the future, try waging war on an actual enemy, and only when it's the very last resort. Then come up with a clear war plan. announce an objective, a time line, an exit strategy, and more importantly--a single fucking plausible answer as to why we're at war in the first place. Because people who are being asked to put their lives on the line tend to like to know those things.

{Update: Get your teen to opt out. Now.

Are you still here?

Go.}

Posted by Antigeist at June 24, 2005 10:03 AM