Army ads encourage parents to let their children sign up

[sabra]

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/12377444.htm

Army ads encourage parents to let their children sign up

CHICAGO - (KRT) - When Americans met their finger-pointing Uncle Sam during World War I, advertising became a linchpin of military recruiting almost overnight. Now with U.S. soldiers fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and recruiters struggling to sign up enlistees, the Army has added a new pitch.

The Army is no longer just an "Army of One," it's looking for a few good parents.

A new series of television ads aims to get parents to "Help them find their strength" and not stand in the way of their children signing up. One such commercial begins with a teenager telling his mother he's found a way to pay for his college education. When he reveals that the answer is the military, she becomes skeptical.

"Go on," she says cautiously.

"I already checked them out," he says, trying to dissolve her disapproving glare. "And I can get training in about any field I want.

"And besides, it's time for me to be the man."

Satisfied, she smiles. "OK, tell me more."

[XanaDUer]

1. That ad makes me want to

:puke:

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Me, too...

For some reason it almost seems anti-family to me. "Listen to your government, kids, not your parents." I hate those commercials.

[movonne]

2. I hope they show it heavily in the RED states...Lots of them support

this war, my guess is that they would really like to sign up and the parents will be thrilled..

[TK421]

3. Oh, he'll be a man allright.....a dead man, that is

either that or come back home with missing limbs and half his face:wtf:

[lovuian]

4. The problem they are running into is the Parents arefrom the

Vietnam era!!! They saw friends and relatives killed and maimed for WHAT!!! this are smart parents this is how one generation whose memory helps remind their children!!!

[BikeWriter]

10. "The Vietnam era" Thank you very much.

Once bitten, twice wary.

[donco6]

5. I've seen that ad.

It's a good try on their part (compared, say, to the sword-wielding, "War is a Video Game" series that ran a few years ago.) But what on earth do they think is going to convince a mom to let her kid sign up in the military?

"Yeah, mom, I can go into any field I want. And with ADA, I can go to school with no arms and legs!"

Mom smiles, "tell me more."

[vogonjiltz]

29. That makes me want

to break out in devilish laughter.

[OKDem08]

6. That will not solve their problem unless

they address the basis of a parent's misgivings & of course they will not do that. They are in a no-win situation.

[Callalily]

8. I personally discourage anyone

even vaguely thinking about joining any branch of the armed forces. It makes me sick how this administration just lies, and puts its citizenry into harms way just to line their greedy pockets. :grr:
Oh, and the video in the post, thoroughly disgusting, complete lies.

[BikeWriter]

9. Phuck... I can't see this fooling many parents.

[tabasco]

11. All the latest ads are extremely lame.

Produced by Rummy's new and improved corporate Army recruiting department. Like everything else Rummy has done (except stealing), this is a colossal failure. The Army will be 10,000 recruits short of its annual goal this FY. Another Rummy failure but one I am happy about.

I'm a proud Army vet but I would discourage anybody from joining the military when we have a corrupt Commander In Chief and gangsters running the Nation.

[Vickers]

15. Same here...I'm a proud USAF vet, but I discourage joining to the younger

people I talk to.

And I joined up during Ronnie Raygun! :crazy:

[LisaL]

12. I see another one here all the time.

The young man tells his father he wants to sign up for army reserve.
The father is against it at first because it's "the army" but later on becomes convinced when his son tells him he will be "trained here".
Sure, he will be "trained here", but next thing he knows, his butt will be send to Iraq.
I don't know if people are buying those things...

[soup]

32. 'Good training?'

'It's the Army.'

yeah, saw that one, too. Really don't understand how they think it's going to sway any parents to sacrifice their children.

Alternate commercial - father and son playing game of pool-
Son says he's thinking of enlisting in the Army Reserves-
Father takes pool cue and bops son over head and says, 'Are you nuts? 34% of the army troops in Iraq are in the Reserves.'


source for statistics: http://uspolitics.about.com/od/wariniraq/a/troops_june05.htm

[Quetzal]

13. I find that one to be the most offensive

It is a good thing I have DVR - those army commercials are on during EVERY, and I mean EVERY commercial break on Spike TV while I am watching my Star Trek.

[leetrisck]

14. Let them go to Arubia and then the FBI

will come help find you, but they won't go find Matt Maupin in Iraq

[niallmac]

16. Mothers, don't let your children grow up to be

fodder for a lying sack of republicans.

[mom cat]

21. Mothers Against the Draft....link

http://mothersagainstthedraft.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=18&id=144&Itemid=152

[AnneD]

17. When monkeys fly outta my butt

EOM

[struggle4progress]

18. "Don't worry, Mom and Dad. No child gets left behind." eom

[Bigmack]

19. Daily Show...

.. will just love it! I can just see the DS spoof of that one.

Too bad the Dems are so tied up with this war. They could speak out about ads like this.

[hadrons]

20. anyone who enlist with these criminals in charge is kookkook for cocopuffs

and I enlisted in '87 ... wonder if any of those parents will remember articles like this

U.S. Struggling to Get Soldiers Improved Armor

For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Pentagon is struggling to replace body armor that is failing to protect American troops from the most lethal attacks by insurgents.

The ceramic plates in vests worn by most personnel cannot withstand certain munitions the insurgents use. But more than a year after military officials initiated an effort to replace the armor with thicker, more resistant plates, tens of thousands of soldiers are still without the stronger protection because of a string of delays in the Pentagon's procurement system.

The effort to replace the armor began in May 2004, just months after the Pentagon finished supplying troops with the original plates - a process also plagued by delays. The officials disclosed the new armor effort Wednesday after questioning by The New York Times, and acknowledged that it would take several more months or longer to complete.

Citing security concerns, the officials declined to say exactly how many more of the stronger plates were needed, or how much armor had already been shipped to Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/international/middleeast/14armor.html?ei=5094&en=0fca05dd8b935b11&hp=&ex=1123992000&adxnnl=0&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1123962541-9DuQCPMhxzm5JZZcjj1URw&pagewanted=print

[ninkasi]

22. I advise any youngster old enough to enlist

not to even consider it. Not for any reason, not college, not benefits, not anything. Even if they should manage to eventually come back in one piece physically, they will have emotional scarring that will plague them for the rest of their lives.

If we had been attacked by Iraq, that would be one thing. We weren't. Bush lied, his administration lied, the newspapers printed the lies, and we are involved in a no-win situation, and killing off a generation of men and women who should be here, leading their lives, and not placed in harm's way.

War is ugly, brutal, and barbaric. It should be the very last, and the only, answer to a problem. Bush wanted this war before the Supreme Court illegally foisted his treasonous ass on this country, and we have gone downhill as a country steadily ever since.

His presidency will come to be viewed as the biggest disaster ever to happen to what was once America. He and his kind spell the end, unless enough people get enough courage to vote these lunatics out, and to remember what they have done, and keep them out.

[sakabatou]

23. I saw "it's the army" ad

makes me sick by portraying the parents as ignorant.

[HeeBGBz]

24. I saw several on TNT tonight

One sounds like the one you mentioned. They were really laying it on thick.

Scary.

[yourout]

25. When Clark and Feingold replace B**h and Cheney I will

still say no. Right now I say NO FUCKING WAY!!.

[hedgehog]

26. It reminds me of the bishops who constantly ask us

mothers to encourage our sons to go into the priesthood.

[acmavm]

27. What's so bizarre and no one ever mentions, is these people in these

commercials are FRIGGING ACTORS. They are not enlisting, no way. This is all just bullshit acting by a bunch of asses who plan to stay here safe and sound.

I've seen that woman in that 'it's time to be a man' commercial hawking all kinds of shit. Tell people to get it trough their heads, this is not reality. There are not parents talking to their children.

[NNN0LHI]

28. Why doesn't the Army encourage Boosh to let his kids join up? n/t

[Solly Mack]

30. I actively discourage young adults from enlisting

In addition to just not wanting them to go to war...I'm very offended by the "blame the parents" campaign...

[Mari333]

31. Just show them some pics of wounded and dead soldiers

You dont want to go thru the year of hell our family went thru with a kid in Iraq.

[Karenina]

33. Hi Mari!!!

:hi::loveya::hi:

[nookiemonster]

34. But, but, that would mean putting them on the TV.

How about some more American Idol?

:sarcasm:

[rocktivity]

36. Have you heard about Military Idol?

Sorry, it's not a joke: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8918624/

:headbang:
rocknation

[nookiemonster]

37. Yes.

Just another propaganda tool to lure the masses into "the glory of war".

Sickening.

:puke:

[KamaAina]

35. What's next? "War-Bits" breakfast cereal?

Silly rabbit! War is for kids.... NOT!!!!!!

:grr: :banghead: