Whatever happened to the good old recruiting days when they would take you out and get you drunk, and you would wake up with a hangover and a knot on your head in the hold of a ship?
Posted by TIKI AL at August 1, 2008 12:04 PMSounds like it's still happening. Isn't this about the third time they have had to stand down because of a "bad apple"?
Posted by palindrome at August 1, 2008 02:48 PMTIKI, apparently, these are the press gangs now.
My ex had to do a stint as a recruiter for officers, and I couldn't believe the pressure the higher ups put all their recruiters under to make their numbers. They just didn't let the guys go home until they made it. Since it was peace time, they raised their standards for degrees, which meant you had to be in aeronautics or engineering; no mail-order degrees like now. When you haven't seen your family for weeks, you're about ready to bop some kid on the head and drag 'im to boot camp.
Posted by iamcoyote at August 1, 2008 03:05 PMAnd in this way they recruit ordinary young Americans and turn them into professional cold-blooded killers (still, they have to be turnable, which in the end says something about them).
But what happened to Irving Gonzales? One hopes that he successfully resisted the tactics?
Posted by Shirin at August 2, 2008 12:15 AMGood question, Shrin. I assume Irving is now in college and was able to get out of what was, after all, a non-binding agreement, though the article I linked to says nothing of his current situation.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at August 2, 2008 12:57 PMWatch and see if the 'bad apples' get any punishment. Maybe they will for embarassing the Army in public, but you can bet the higher-ups were all gung-ho for these "any means necessary" dirty tactics until they got caught.
Posted by Kyle at August 3, 2008 03:12 PM