US Army Recruiters: "Iraq War Is Over"

ABC news are reporting that their own undercover investigation has revealed that US army recruiters were caught on tape blatanetly lying to students about the situation in Iraq.
Recruiters not only lied,one also helped a student who was posing as a drug user to cheat his was through the sign up forms!




This needs attention.
I understand the job of a recruiter is not easy,but this is awful.
Imagine these students reactions when they find they have signed up to a war they were told was over.
Is this a good way to build a reliable honourable fighting force,by lying to students and helping drop outs cheat on the forms?


When ABC are doing this sort of reporting,it really does prove how the tide is turning against Bush and the Iraq debacle.


mod edit, spelling in title

[edit on 13-2-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

""We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says. "

That is a true statement.
We are not "officially" at war with Iraq now and have not been for a while now.

I wonder, if someone is lied to, can they get out of the military that way-sort of a breach of contract sort of thing????

According to the US government...
you are worse than a terrorist, for critisizing this scam perpetrated upon our youth...

The Quakers protested when recruiters were offering to help prospects buy sportscars at high interest credit loans, in order to force them to signup, to pay for it...

and now the quakers are on the terrorist watch list...
hummmm

I'm not going to try to defend the recruiters, but this has been going on in the US since 1775. Everybody who has ever been recruited has been lied to and up until recently this was about as newsworthy as "dog bites man."

It happened to me and everyone I have ever known who has served. Most people just get over it and serve and some throw fits and get out early.

The part that I don't like about this story is telling kids they won't go to Iraq.

Every recruiter should tell every potential recruit that serving in a combat zone is a possibility for almost everyone who serves and that it should be expected regardless of how unlikely it might appear at the time of enlistment.

Before i went down to the recruiter,i did some homework online. It doesnt matter what the recruiter tells you. He can say all kinds of stuff,all that is legally binding is what is printed on your contract. Same goes for pay,and bonus'. What's in the contract is what's final. So unless what is stated on the paper differs from what you actually get,then i dont think you can sue.

I agree with mrmonsoon it is true that we are not at war with Iraq and that our own president told in national TV that the operations were a success and claimed victory.

That makes the statement of the recruiters true but at the same time they are deceiving the young people when they do not tell them the entire truth of what is going on in Iraq right now.

Yes people has been brought home but to be replaced with fresh troops and the ones brought home are only temporary they will be heading back again.

So . . . technically they are no lying.

But they are not telling the truth either.

[edit on 6-11-2006 by marg6043]

I agree with mrmonsoon it is true that we are not at war with Iraq

SEMANTICS
Maybe not in a declared war but US soldiers are being killed almost everyday by people from Iraq. Call it what you like but to deceive 18 year old kids is immoral and discusting. So to say we are not at war is denying reality.

[edit on 6-11-2006 by etshrtslr]

Id have to agree with Grady on this one. Recruiters are even worse than a guy on a date telling you anything to get in your pants. I mean, I signed up because I wanted to be in the military. I had no illusions about what I was getting into. I pretty much cut my recruiter off when he tried selling me some BS. I just wanted to sign up. But you would njot believe the crap some people got sold on. In basic training, I heard some of the most ridiculous stories. You would be surprised just how low some recruiters will sink. One chick was dated by her recruiter.

However, telling people that the Iraq war is over is a lie, pure and simple, and a bad one. I think that people should be able to choose based on truthful information and understanding. This is a new low.

But then again, how stupid do you have to be to believe it when you turn on the news, and its quite clear the wars in Iraq and afghanistan are going full scale, and no one is leaving, people are even getting extended?

My Uncle, the top recruiter in his state for many many years, never lied.

Although he DID hold Poker games with free beer, at his home about twice a month.
What is new about this story? nothing really.

Recruiters are salespeople.

Ok people...use some common sense here. The Army and Marines are DESPERATE for new recruits. They WILL tell you what you want to hear to get you to sign up. They will overlook a great many things if it means a new recruit. Criminal records, drug abusers, etc. They can break you of these habbits and obtain a waiver for you.

They will help you if you are sincere about joining. However, if you express even mild interest to recruiters of these branches, they will hound you, lol.

My brother talked to a Marine... within an hour that marine was at our door. . I admire the marines a great deal, but that was just OVERLY ambitious.

I have even had a recruiter for the navy, whom my mother hung up on (she fears for her boys and doesnt distinguish between branches) said he hoped that our house was hit by a stray missile.

Anyway, just watch what you bargain for.

OMG this makes me so mad...

If the war is over, and if we are bringing people home.. explain why I know 3 men going over in January after the holidays????

Must be going over for the sightseeing..

Some poeple deserved to be beaten ruthlessly!!!

I can't even count how many times I have heard stories about guys going to serve and being told they will do one thing and find out later that they cannot! .. For instance my old roommate was joining to be an x-ray technician.. OK not bad right? They had the whole thing set out in front of him, all details apparently in sight.. he was going to be a technician and that was that. Well the air force said that the program was full and offered him crew chief position (which sounds high and mighty and isn't) and this all happened in the course of a day (the day he was supposed to sign the contract for being an xray technician :@@ and they all most had him until we talked him out of it.

Then my story.. I went to enlist in the Coast Guard as a helicopter pilot.. well they had everything lined up then as a side not and i'm not kidding he actually said "I forgot to mention there is a 4 year waiting list" .. like OK.. surly you knew that before we prepared all the paper work and I got excited to go to officer school... Well he went on and almost got me into the Marines as infantry working with a helicopter! .. Thank god I told him to take his paper work and shove it some where I can't say on ATS because I would have been in Iraq in no time.. I originally wanted to be in a position to save people and was almost talked into being a basic soldier in the middle of a combat zone.

The point is.. they take kids .. just kids, 17-18-19 fresh out of high school like me and they try and manipulate their offers.. try and glorify the position of what ever basic position they offer you.. they try and make it sounds fun and exciting, they make it seem like you have no other options available. It's all about filling the quota to them.. they care about nothing else.. not your personal safety, not your life, not your personal needs or anything of the sort.. just filling numbers, your just a body to these guys.

Originally posted by etshrtslr
SEMANTICS
Maybe not in a declared war but US soldiers are being killed almost everyday by people from Iraq. Call it what you like but to deceive 18 year old kids is immoral and discusting. So to say we are not at war is denying reality.

Well technically we are fighting insurgency but our war was of liberation and to bring freedom to the oppress citizens of Iraq.

So actually the war was against Saddam but he is not longer the leader of that country.

Iraq have a Democratically elected government.

So Technically we should no be in Iraq any longer.

Get it.

[edit on 6-11-2006 by marg6043]

If you want to get really technical, we've never actually been at war with Iraq. It's just a conflict started by the President, which was then approved by Congress. Congerss has never actually declared war since World War II as the Constitution outlined.

Although I doubt the recruiters were being technical. Either way it's sad that some recruiters have to resort to some of the tactics they now use, and it's sad that students have to put up with this. But at least it's only a few recruiters, the one's that come to my high school are pretty well behaved.

When I was a Navy Recruiter, our favorite joke was:

Q: How can you tell when your recruiter is lying?

A: Their lips are moving.

Recruiters have been lying since the military instituted the program. In the Navy we went through an intense sales school. Recruiters are not selling the U. S. Military. They are selling an emotional need. They find out what you really want in life and then mold their sales pitch to fit that need.

I will not deny that I did this. It is a sales job like any other sales job. However, I never lied.

I wan't in a "war" in Vietnam, either. I was, after all a "military advisor", complete with a "9 Rules Card".

But, let-me-tell-ya, so long as there are rounds fired in anger at US Soldiers-- they are "at War" whether the "official statement" agrees, or not. This isn't a matter of intellect or semantics--it's a matter of Fact and Common Sense.

[edit on 6-11-2006 by Ed Littlefox]

First off RockPuck, how can you be suckered into joining the Marines, into the Infantry, to work with Helicopters? Infantry and Helicopters are two completely different MOS', and Marines are not Infantry.

My story, I actually had my Army recruiter lay it out for me as plain as day what I was getting myself into. But I actually wanted to be an 11-A Infantry Officer. He didn't lie to me because I wanted it, but he did well...."coach" me on a few of my forms.

My Grandfather was a USAF Station Commander (whatever you call it in the Air Force,) and they even went as far as posing a morbidly obese girl in her graduation gown to fool the camera when her packet was reviewed.

Originally posted by Baphomet79
...and Marines are not Infantry.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

The US Marine Corps has an infantry and it's MOS is 0311. All Marines are trained as basic infantrymen before they receive any other MOS training. Every MOS in the Marine Corps has one basic function and that is to support the infantry.

Without the infantry there would be no Marine Corps.

The reputation of the Corps is written in the blood of Marine infantrymen and the popular image of the Corps is that of the Marine infantrymen.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.usmc.mil...





[edit on 2006/11/6 by GradyPhilpott]

Yea I see this on a daily basis at highschool. Ive said it before that the recruiters will say whatever they have to to influence these young kids. Theres nobody giving them the alternative, just the recruiter stand telling them they wont go to iraq, wont see fighting, and will be safe.

its a bunch of BS, but alot of 17-18 year olds in school are dumb as nails. they will believe anything these people say because they are part of the government, and they believe that means they wont lie.

Originally posted by Baphomet79
and Marines are not Infantry.

And the Queen of England is a reptile

As Grady said, the Marines have Infantry, It's MOS designator is '03' and from there you have 0311 (rifleman), 0331 (Machine Gunner), 0321 (Recon), 0351, etc....


All recruiters lie, it's no big secret. Anyone who has ever served in the military can tell you that.

About the 'drug' form. Many recruiters doctor paperwork to meet their quota, but there's really not a need to. Unless you're a chronic user with the shakes and you've used in the past couple months, there's really nothing holding you back from getting a drug waiver to join the military.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by Baphomet79
...and Marines are not Infantry.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

The US Marine Corps has an infantry and it's MOS is 0311. All Marines are trained as basic infantrymen before they receive any other MOS training. Every MOS in the Marine Corps has one basic function and that is to support the infantry.

Without the infantry there would be no Marine Corps.

The reputation of the Corps is written in the blood of Marine infantrymen and the popular image of the Corps is that of the Marine infantrymen.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.usmc.mil...





[edit on 2006/11/6 by GradyPhilpott]

No, the Corps is centered around the tradition that every Marine is a RIFLEMAN, not Infantry.

0311 Rifleman

Semantics, I know despite it is an almost identical job (but Infantry/ Rifleman working with helicopters, huh?, that was my point). I am very proud to live in a country defended by the history and tradition of the Marine Corps.