Unsettling US Army Recruitment Commercial

[YDogg]

A couple of evenings ago - maybe Friday - I was watching television and saw a US Army recruitment commercial that struck me as very odd. I may have been watching MSNBC; I just do not remember.

The gist of the commercial was a father and son talking - the son is in uniform. The father says something like, "When I saw you, you did two things you've never done before. First thing was you shook my hand. Second, you looked me right in the eye." Then there is some sort of message about how the Army turns kids around and gives them manners.

I was unsettled by the "let's suck the parents in so they'll draft their kids for us" approach to this commercial. No plea for patriotic service. Nothing to do with education or developing leadership experience (some of those commercials are more convincing in their own way, I imagine, even though they leave out the whole "you might die" part). Now it's just "send us your kids and we'll teach them good manners."

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. If they want to improve recruiting

They could just wreck the economy.

Oops - solution in progress.

[acmavm]

2. Pretty much like the one where the black kid tells his mom he's found

someone to pay for his college. And then tells her "and anyway, it's time for me to be a man." Like it takes enlisting in a way built upon lies to enable a bunch of thugs to rob another country blind (while stealing from us as fast as they can) to make a kid a 'man'.

The propaganda is pretty deep and getting deeper. And more desperate.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[wli]

7. the deaths don't scare anyone

Now the disfigurements and amputations, on the other hand, will, and there are many, many more of those.

[madeline_con]

8. Look who it's aimed at...

Hispanics and other minorities, some whose only chance at a job or college is enlistment! :mad:

[tubbacheez]

4. Silly commercial. A young person could get the same assertiveness

training from a decent martial arts school.

No contract required.

[HockeyMom]

5. Parent/Child Relationship Problem

if his son cannot look his father in the eye until/unless he joins the Service?

That isn't just "manners".

[Boomer]

6. Sad thing is, part of that is really true

Being of a certain age, I know many of the parents of military aged kids rather than the kids themselves. But my brother-in-law and a friend of mine's brother both had very strained relationships with their sons, and military service actually did significantly improve their situations.

In both cases, the service insisted on frequent and respectful letters to parents, which forced a different communication dynamic from the young men. Manners is about showing respect and having consideration for other people, so frankly there's nothing trivial about that lesson. After just a year of military service, these young men had become mature, functioning adults who could actually hold a conversation with their fathers that didn't turn into a shouting match.

This was pre-Iraq war days, however, so neither father had to face the possibility of having their son shipped home in a body bag or wheelchair.

[madeline_con]

9. Dear Dad...

We finally got word! We should be ready to ship home in a couple of..."BOOM"!

[AndyTiedye]

10. The Army is Not a Cure for Aspergers Syndrome

Inability to make eye-contact is often associated with Aspergers Syndrome
and other autistic spectrum disorders.
These are neurological conditions, which cannot be cured by "discipline",
even Army discipline, though the Army would certainly put such recruits
through Hell trying.

Another reason for not making eye-contact is a history of being abused.
The last thing such a person needs is to be abused even more by drill
instructors.

I fear for those in either category who get pushed into the Army by
parents who think they can "make a man out of" their son, as well
as the kids who buy this hype themselves.