A Call to Arms (Sort of)

[oldfart]

This editorial was published December 19 in "The Franklin Post", the school newspaper for Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon.


RECRUITERS NOT WELCOME AT FRANKLIN

Bryan Wiedeman, Editor


FHS has been invaded; military recruiters are roaming the halls searching for boys and girls to join their blood-soaked cause.

These military recruiters are quick to point out benefits of the military, but won't even begin to mention the dangers of a military career. There have been 2,008,016 US casualties during wartime. That is way too many.

Any military recruiter lurking around FHS, waiting to entice his or her defenseless prey with promises of college money is an unwelcome intruder. The blood of thousands of dead kids lies in the hands of these soul-sucking death-mongers.

The career of recruiter is one centralized around propaganda and half-truths. For example, when logging onto the main Army recruitment site, GoArmy.Com, the first page seen is Cpt James Lussier's grin. He's all suited up with a scuba unit and a rifle. He's a Special Forces dentist and the site tells all about him. Problem is, only 6.7% of soldiers work in healthcare. By comparison, more than 47% of the servicemen and women in the army are in combat specialties. It seems logical to tell the story of a combat specialist. But they don't. They don't because the combat specialists are the blue-collar workers of the military. Their lives are extremely dangerous. They face danger extremely often and do not have a glamorous experience. What do these killers show instead? They show Captain CavityFighter and his toothbrush brigade. That way, there is always a fresh batch of kids ready to give their lives for the noble causes of truth, justice, and dentistry.

At Franklin the military has a captive audience. A representative from that same military that killed over 600,000 Vietnamese men, women and children, can sit down with a 14 year old freshman.

Everyone with a conscience needs to let the recruiters know how they feel about this. Let the local army recruiters know how they feel about this. Let the local army recruiters know that they're not welcome at Franklin, and that it takes a sick, sociopathic individual to encourage killing of this magnitude. No more Franklin students need to die young in a foreign country with a rifle on their back and a serial number on their chest.

*************************************

Mr. Weideman doesn't seem to have a published e-mail address, but the faculty advisor, Karen Polis, can be reached at [email protected].

Watch your blood-pressure, think carefully before lighting the fuse on your replies and try to make a reasonable, thoughtful arguement. I agree, he needs to be given an all-expenses-paid tour of the mass graves of Iraq or a peek into the ovens at Dachau, but let's work with what we have right now.

Beyond those few guidelines--- GIVE HIM HELL!!!

Feel free to pass this around the web. He needs a lot of attention.

 

[brownie0486]

The first thing that came to mind is his right to free speech, which the military so nicely has provided him through their scarifices.

Brownie

 

[Wildalaska]

Just a kid trying to be different, once he goes to colleg and is surrounded by leftie loonies, he'll join The Young Republicans.

Wild5goldenringsAlaska

 

[TarpleyG]

I'm with brownie on this one. Someone with a little more tact and writing ability should point out to the author that those 2,000,000+ dead soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen make it possible for them to spew thier filth as they please.

GT

 

[ojibweindian]

Email sent.

 

[capt. Nemo]

Editorial???

I really shouldn't post on this right now. Even after taking a few deep breaths, I'm filled with rage.

I must agree that some deaths attributed to American military forays have been for naught. BUT, to disgrace the hundreds of thousands or millions that fought and died (or worse) for our country and our freedom is the worst kind of treasonous slander. This man - for lack of a better,or worse, term - is obviously in the employ of bin laden, husein, france, germany, north korea and every other American-hating group, organization or country in the world.

Does he think that the rest of the world would benevelently stand by and watch us prosper without the Armed Forces of the United States to protect our interests, as well as the interests of other, less fortunate peoples? The fact that the whole world isn't speaking german, russian or japanese testifies to the answer.

Gotta go now. I'm getting madder by the minute.

Buck

 

[oldfart]

My daughter goes to Franklin. She brought the paper home for me to see. After my heart-rate dropped below 80, we talked it over and she is going to submit a rebuttal when school resumes next month. She has access to all my files and books and has already found the quote by John Stuart Mill that starts off with "War is an ugly thing..." She's a pretty good writer. She's already making notes of what she wants to cover.

Mr. Wiedeman mentioned "captive" audiences in his editorial without a thought about his own audience. I hope someone points out his hypocricy.

 

[Balog]

As a recruit in the DEP for the USMC, this vile filth makes me want to What a flaming idiot. :banghead:

 

[redhead]

I couldn't get past the first couple of paragraphs - my blood pressure would get too high, and I'd be grinding my teeth to nubs. I hope Bryan learns a few things about freedom and liberty in the next few years, and what it takes to secure those things. God know I was an idiot when I was in high school, and anti-military to boot - I allowed myself to be brainwashed by the leftists lurking around. But as I matured, and looked around me, I learned to respect and very much appreciate the sacrifices made by those in the military who are willing to serve. To those of you posting and lurking on this forum, I thank you for your service.

 

[killermarmot]

This was in Oregon but the same garbage happens in California as I'm sure you're all aware of. I'm a senior at Sonoma State and I have to deal with this kind of **** on a regular basis. The worst was an air force recruiter was on campus and all these kids (they were in their twenties but they were kids) thought it would cool or something to lay around in front of his little desk rolling on the ground moaning covered in fake blood crying things like why did you bomb our inocent village and all that kind of stuff. While it angered me our campus is very strong on freedom of speech so I knew I couldn't just go grab some guys and beat the crap out of em. so I just waited till they were blocking his table hence taking away HIS right to speak. So I grabbed one of them and politley asked him what he thought he was doing treating a guest like that asked him who he thought made it possible for us to go to school and learn so on and so forth. Told him to take a couple history courses that didn't come off of KPFA (hyper liberal radio station that plagues CA) then come back and talk, not make a spectical out of himself.
Where do these people get it in their heads that it is effective to get your way by being ignorant. It's like the protests in SF before the war, all it did was make it impossible for my brother in law (paramedic) to get to a call because the streets were full and caused a sick woman her life and cost my friend a CHP officer an arrest when he was called to an armed robery outside the city. These people make me sick but hey freedom of speech is for everyone I"ll just be armed with an informed response ready to put em down.

 

[HBK]

I try not to get too ticked off when a kid shoots his mouth off, (or in this case, his pen) but that's too much for me. I can't even think of a reasonable reply right now. I know he has the right to free speech, but the use of all the "blood soaked' language pisses me off. He should be thankful our military provides us with defense. He should be angry that our military doesn't defend our own borders. I would be EXTREMELY interested to read that rebuttal, oldfart. If it's not too much trouble, a pm when you post it would be most appreciated.

 

[Thumper]

I too am anxious to see your daughter's rebuttal, OF.

 

[P95Carry]

Refer up page to Capt. Nemo's post ... he pretty much said it all for me .. all I need.

 

[Bruce H]

It would be so much fun to grab this person and throw him in a hole for a couple of weeks. Make his life totally miserable, just short of permanent damage. Drag him out after a sufficient period of time, hose him off and turn him loose. Ask him what he thinks of the treatment of several countries that the military or dictators run. Introduce him to the few who have excaped places like this. Let them have a little talk with the brilliant person. Some people need a hard lesson in reality.

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

This is the end product of "peace-culture" parenting and reinforced by public schools driven by teacher's unions.