06/21/05

This spring, Army, Air Force and Marine recruiters came to our little town's high school on separate days to woo the 31 members of the class of 2005. As the war we can't win drags on in Iraq, military recruiters, desperate for warm bodies to fill their quotas, are cruising schools, malls and popular hangouts all across our country for recruits. They've even driven the 52 miles down our one-lane road in search of future soldiers. ... In the Vietnam era of the 1960s, a favorite peacenik slogan was 'What if they gave a war and nobody came?' Well, guess what? It's happening. Against a backdrop of political confusion over how to disengage without having Iraq implode, it falls to military recruiters to troll for young men and women who think they have few options and so are susceptible to a polished pitch that could kill them...

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=44274&ntpid=2

from Capital Times, by Tad Bartimus


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp