Unpatriotic teen!

[Marginal]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3792491,00.html

And

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3792690,00.html

Shame on that kid. Stereotyping potheads like that...

 

[rmcrobertson]

Uh...why exactly is this kid, "unpatriotic?" Looks to me like he's doing exactly what he should be, in the best traditions of newspapers and this country. Good for him.

 

[Andrew Green]

I think there was some sarcasim meant in that "Shame on him"

 

[47MartialMan]

I guess there are many issues surrounding revruitment given there is a war and budget cuts going on.

 

[Marginal]

Uh...why exactly is this kid, "unpatriotic?" Looks to me like he's doing exactly what he should be, in the best traditions of newspapers and this country. Good for him.

Depends on what filter you want to use. If you're rational, then, yes, you're right.

If you're approaching this from a "with us or against us" right wing mentality OTOH...

1) He's using the media to spread negatives against the millitary. Soldiers die.
2) He doesn't respect millitary recruiters.
3) He approached the story with an anti millitary (and by extension, anti-US) agenda.

I suppose the converse of that filter could call him unpatriotic because:
1) He callously stereotyped the victims of drug abuse, 'tis the land of equality.
2) He went to the corporate suits with his findings
3) He did little to check the millitary-industrial compex

Or whatever paranoid imaginings such folk muster.

 

[sgtmac_46]

Depends on what filter you want to use. If you're rational, then, yes, you're right.

If you're approaching this from a "with us or against us" right wing mentality OTOH...

1) He's using the media to spread negatives against the millitary. Soldiers die.
2) He doesn't respect millitary recruiters.
3) He approached the story with an anti millitary (and by extension, anti-US) agenda.

I suppose the converse of that filter could call him unpatriotic because:
1) He callously stereotyped the victims of drug abuse, 'tis the land of equality.
2) He went to the corporate suits with his findings
3) He did little to check the millitary-industrial compex

Or whatever paranoid imaginings such folk muster.

Or we could just say the kid did a good job of exposing a couple of unethical recruiters. Good for him. So long as everyone he wrote is honest and accurate, I salute this kid. He's continuing a fine tradition of investigative reporting, and he didn't even have to manufacture "Fake but accurate" documents.

 

[michaeledward]

I guess there are many issues surrounding revruitment given there is a war and budget cuts going on.

Budget cuts? Budget cuts?

Whatever Budget cuts might be going on, they certainly aren't affecting the military. Perhaps you heard, and emergency situation arose a few weeks back. Apparently we need to urgently send some 130,000 troops to some countries in the middle east, somewhere ... somewhere near Iran, I think. For this our Secretary of Defense needed a supplemental appropriation of somwhere close to 90 Billion dollars.

It really must be some kind of emergency, because they couldn't include this money in the 'normal' budget process; so that is 90 Billion (with a B) on top of the 450 Billion the military takes every year. (which incidentally, has been growing, year over year).

Budget cuts ... :roflmao: ... that's a good one.

 

[ginshun]

Smart kid.

 

[Ping898]

Budget cuts? Budget cuts?

Whatever Budget cuts might be going on, they certainly aren't affecting the military. Perhaps you heard, and emergency situation arose a few weeks back. Apparently we need to urgently send some 130,000 troops to some countries in the middle east, somewhere ... somewhere near Iran, I think. For this our Secretary of Defense needed a supplemental appropriation of somwhere close to 90 Billion dollars.

It really must be some kind of emergency, because they couldn't include this money in the 'normal' budget process; so that is 90 Billion (with a B) on top of the 450 Billion the military takes every year. (which incidentally, has been growing, year over year).

Budget cuts ... :roflmao: ... that's a good one.

Um...actually they are affecting the military, but affecting future force programs, not current activities running in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

[michaeledward]

Ping898 ... Horse Hockey ... you got to back up a statement with something more than wishful thinking.

 

[Ping898]

Ping898 ... Horse Hockey ... you got to back up a statement with something more than wishful thinking.

I'll be honest, I don't know how to back it up, cause it is just my own experiences. On the projects I work on we've lost the funding more than once to do testing cause the money has been rerouted to Iraq. And we've been told by the Project Managers who allocate the money, not to expect any extra money in FY 06 cause it has all already been rerouted. These are the projects that are developing the technologies that will protect our guys in the future. I think they are just as important as what is currently going on cause all of them will eventually be fielded, and if we don't test them fully now, it will be more expensive later to go back and fix things and they will be less likely later to fix things because of the extra costs.
So yeah, current military ops are getting funded, but the ones that are suppsed to support the military in the future are loosing funding.

 

[Bammx2]

Question.....

Was this kid trying to embarrass people or was he trying to show how desperate recruiting has become?

Has he ever given an actual as to WHY he did this?

Besides notoriety,that is......

 

[Marginal]

The why should've been in the second link I posted. He said he wanted to do something cool, something under cover, and he decided to see just how desperate recruiters really were.

 

[michaeledward]

I'll be honest, I don't know how to back it up, cause it is just my own experiences. On the projects I work on we've lost the funding more than once to do testing cause the money has been rerouted to Iraq. And we've been told by the Project Managers who allocate the money, not to expect any extra money in FY 06 cause it has all already been rerouted. These are the projects that are developing the technologies that will protect our guys in the future. I think they are just as important as what is currently going on cause all of them will eventually be fielded, and if we don't test them fully now, it will be more expensive later to go back and fix things and they will be less likely later to fix things because of the extra costs.
So yeah, current military ops are getting funded, but the ones that are suppsed to support the military in the future are loosing funding.

According to one quick source I found ... the current 'R&D' budget for the military is 68 Billion dollars ..

Wonder if this chart will work .. seems contractors have been making out ..

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, GillSans]Top Pentagon Contractors​

​

[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, GillSans](billions of dollars)[/font]

First Number is 2004 contracts
Second Numbers is 2001 contracts
Third Number is rank.

20.7 - 14.7 - 1 - Lockheed Martin Corp.
17.1 - 13.3 - 2 - Boeing Company
11.9 - 05.2 - 3 - Northrop Grumman Corp.
09.6 - 04.9 - 4 - General Dynamics Corp.
08.5 - 05.6 - 5 - Raytheon Company
08.0 - 00.4 - 6 - Halliburton Company
05.1 - 03.8 - 7 - United Technologies Corp.
02.5 - 01.7 - 8 - Science Applications Int. Corp.
02.4 - 00.8 - 9 - Computer Sciences Corp.
02.4 - 00.4 - 10 - Humana Inc

​

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, GillSans]

[/font]

 

[Sapper6]

Ping898 ... Horse Hockey ... you got to back up a statement with something more than wishful thinking.

i guess you haven't seen the proposed base closing list? take a look at it and tell me again they are not affecting the military.

and yes, i think the kid did well exposing the recruiter. it's pathetic they would resort to such tactics to keep their jobs. perhaps if they got out of the office more, they'd be more successful.

 

[Ping898]

According to one quick source I found ... the current 'R&D' budget for the military is 68 Billion dollars ..

Wonder if this chart will work .. seems contractors have been making out ..



[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, GillSans][/font]

Yeah, an ample portion of the R&D budget is still there, mostly cause the contracts are already in place and involves contractors not army orgs I think. I think it is easier to stiff a actual government organization than a contractor. The T&E budget I know has been getting hacked and that is where our funds come from.

I got no problem with what the kid did. If even just half of the stories of what it has been said recruiters have been doing are true, then something is seriously wrong with how the military is recruiting.

 

[michaeledward]

i guess you haven't seen the proposed base closing list? take a look at it and tell me again they are not affecting the military.

and yes, i think the kid did well exposing the recruiter. it's pathetic they would resort to such tactics to keep their jobs. perhaps if they got out of the office more, they'd be more successful.

Actually, I have seen the base closing list. I also happen to live in a 'Blue State', which, seem to be getting the screws put to them in this 'non-political' process.

However, closing bases, and re-aligning duties to other bases, is designed to save the military money. Which is not the same thing as cutting their budget. They'll just have more money to dump into a non-functional missle-defense program.

Of federal taxes, the current duty military consumes 30%. Former military (Veterans Adminstration) consume another 19%. Hard to believe we are spreading 'PEACE' throughout the world with that kind of cash going to kill people and destroy property.

 

[Ping898]

The BRAC is also about the changing face of where the US sees a threat, back in the day it was Germany and Russia, these days it is North Korea, China and other Asian/Middle Eastern countries...so we are shifting forces to in theory face that threat more readily.

 

[ginshun]

Pure and simple, there really are no budget cuts in government. A budget cut means that the amount of money that makes up there current budget increases by less this year than it did last year. The total still goes up.


It like if my salary increased by 5% one year and then only by 3% the next year and my telling my friends that I got a salary cut. Its all BS.