America's Army GGL sponsorship under attack
Hippies and peaceniks are threatening the last solid recruitment tool in the US Army's arsenal -- the America's Army video game. Anti-recruitment groups are upset the army is sponsoring the Global Gaming League with a whopping $2 million where "victors may win a chance to check out actual computer simulations of combat situations utilized by the Army." Meaning, these winners get to spend some time with recruiters for a cup of coffee and absolutely no portion of the conversation leading to how the Army can help their future.
"It is part of this campaign for the last 20 years to invade youth culture with militarism," Project on Youth and Non-military Opportunities co-founder Rick Jahnkow told AFP. "It affects the way young people think. It affects their world view. That is a very dangerous thing." Considering the US has a volunteer army, the recruiters kind of have to "invade youth culture," it's not like they can recruit Grandma Yetta's House of Geriatrics for a solid fighting force.
Jahnkow cites the Iraq war as a "prime example" of what happens when a country allows the military to sell soldiering to the public. Meaning that because we have America's Army and military recruitment commercials that the US was more than happy to go along with the war. Jahnkow says, "Soldiering is being popularized when in fact we are supposed to be teaching people from an early age that civilian democratic rule is the ideal." Yeah, but who's gonna protect us when the Communists come for our babies?
