US soldiers motivated by perks, not patriotism
It’s a long way from San Francisco to Baghdad, and the teenagers walking in the door of the Army recruiting office these days aren’t particularly eager to pick up a rifle.
War?" said Sergio Lopez. “I’m not really expecting that. I’m not thinking about it.”
Lopez, a senior at Mission High School in San Francisco, had just signed a sheaf of Army enlistment documents this week that promised him, as he put it, “a whole lot of stuff.”
On the wall behind him was a poster proclaiming the wonders of the Army or, as the Army’s ad writers keep calling it, Today’s Army. There were pictures of golf courses, ski slopes, waterslide parks, beaches and cozy resort bungalows (“one soldier per room, includes microwave”) that could pass for Club Med. There were no tanks and there was no mud.
Staff Sgt. Joshua Reis, a veteran Army recruiter in San Francisco, doesn’t bring up the subjects of war, shooting, bombing, bloodshed and death, if he can help it. The teenagers across the table don’t generally bring them up, either.
The Iraq crisis has had even less of an effect, he said.
Each year, Army recruiters sign up 76,000 fresh faces, largely with promises of $50,000 in college grants.
Reis spins a picture of Army life that dazzles the imagination – free flights to Hawaii, resort rooms at Waikiki Beach and Disney World, the chance to buy half-price music CDs at the post PX and traditional clothing (uniforms) at no extra charge.
Nationwide, the Army says few new recruits are motivated by headlines from overseas.
Potential recruits ask about college benefits, medical benefits, housing benefits and travel benefits more often than patriotic benefits, Heil said.
Between visits to the recruiting office, Reis said, would-be soldiers can bone up on Army life by visiting the Web site (www.goarmy.com) and playing the Army’s new video game, for free. It’s approved for teenagers, the Army says, and features far less blood than games in a typical video arcade.
“We built the game to provide entertainment and information without resorting to gore,” the game instructions say. “When a soldier is killed, that soldier simply falls to the ground and is no longer part of the ongoing mission. The game does not include any dismemberment or disfigurement.”
comment: Is this the american army oh my god. Inshallah when the islamic state arisies once again when it comes to fighting these american forces are gonna be a piece of cake. No wonder they stay up in the sky and bomb indiscriminantly when it comes to ground war they have’nt got a chance, they not even intrested in fighting for there country they more concerned about hawaii and WWF wrestling!
