Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Dec 27, 2004
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5153043.html

Unemployed and gray? Truly, Uncle Sam wants you

by Reva Rasmussen

They are desperate. How else can I explain the fact that I am 54 years
old and the military is trying to recruit me?

The Naval Reserve found my risumi on monster.com where I posted it in
August 2001. Of course, my age is not on my risumi, but a smart person
can look at my dates of employment and figure out this is a pretty old
nurse, well into middle age and all of its concerns about osteoporosis,
bifocals and memory loss.

With enthusiasm the e-mail from the Navy declares, "One of the greatest
benefits of joining our force is that you won't have to sacrifice your
personal life to serve. Your training sessions will almost always be
with the Naval Reserve unit located closest to your home."

Yes, and pigs can fly and the stop-loss orders are working so well, they
won't need to pull up any more reserves and send them to Iraq. Well,
they do say, "almost always ... closest to your home." They do give
themselves wiggle room. But these days the military has no credibility.
The call-up of the reserves to active duty and the stop-loss policy of
not allowing troops to leave the military once they've fulfilled their
duty has destroyed the military's credibility.

Which may be why they've had to go to monster.com for recruitment. Which
is impressive in a pathetic sort of way. Despite the dearth of
resources, such as the lack of armor for vehicles in Iraq, the military
remains resourceful.

If the justness of the cause -- democracy in Iraq -- doesn't inspire
people to sign up, the military will recruit them from the ranks of the
unemployed, hoping that with our slack economy, a risumi posted three
years ago might lead them to a person still unemployed. Which makes me
wonder, if the American people are truly supporting this war, why aren't
more people signing up to fight it?

Probably because they're not willing to give up their limbs for a
prosthesis and their lives for glory. And because there are so many
casualties in this war, medical workers are badly needed. So why are
they being squandered on the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay? This is where
the International Committee of the Red Cross charges that the U.S.
military intentionally used psychological and physical torture with the
assistance of doctors and other medical workers. Which is another reason
why today's military is not the place for me. I do not want to place
myself at risk of being implicated in a system of torture. Where's the
glory in that?

On the other hand, I might like to go to Guantanamo Bay. I would like to
take care of prisoners there because I love democracy and I want to
demonstrate to the Arab countries that democracy is different from
Saddam Hussein's torture chambers; democracy requires prisoners to be
charged with crimes and forbids the use of cruel and unusual punishment.
Democracy may be a hard job, but someone has to do it and the military
hasn't.

So if I show up at the recruiting office with my gray hair, wearing my
bifocals, popping calcium tablets, will they sigh with relief, promise
me all my trainings will be near my grandchildren and sign me up? Will
they be willing to write in a clause that the stop-loss policy wouldn't
apply to me?

I know I can't trust this military. I know they are misleading me and
hoping I won't notice. But why are they trying to recruit an old person?
Why is the military desperate?

[Reva Rasmussen lives in St. Paul.]

*
Search the NYTr Archives at:
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/

To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit:
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr

==================================================
===============
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org
==================================================
===============

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged