Hey Kids!! Take the Adventure Van to Baghdad
-Pat Elder
A ninth grader in a suburban Washington DC classroom is delighted to be excused from Algebra class to spend a half hour shooting a life-like 9 MM pistol and lobbing explosive ordinance from an M1A2 Abrams tank simulator. At the same time 3,000 miles away in La Habra, California, a 15 year-old girl is released from English class to squeeze off rounds from a very real looking M-16 rifle. The kids thoroughly enjoy the experience, especially the part about getting out of class. The two students have experienced the Army's Adventure Van, a 60-foot, 30-ton 18-wheeler with several interactive exhibits that bring an adrenaline rush and glorify weaponry and combat.
The Army's 19 vans frequent two thousand schools a year, generating more than 63,000 recruiter leads. The Army also has The Aviation Recruiting Van containing an AH 64 Helicopter flight simulator and an interactive air warrior and weapons display. The American Soldier Adventure Van has an interactive air/land warrior display and a future warrior display. The Air Force and the Navy also have trucks and vans that visit high schools. The Air Force has a Raptor Trailer, using two video game stations with joysticks piloting an F-22 fighter. Five Navy Exhibit Centers include a "Nuclear Power Van," and an " America's Sea Power Van."
Get More Recruits and We Don’t Care How You Do it!
Uh, well, actually…
-Bryan Bender, The Boston Globe
The U.S. military is considering installing surveillance cameras in recruiting stations across the country, the most dramatic of several new steps to address a rise in misconduct allegations against military recruiters, including sexual assaults on female prospects and bending the rules to meet quotas.
Recruiters may also be required to give potential recruits "applicant's rights cards," spelling out what a recruiter can and cannot do to get them to enlist, and the military may set up a hot line to report violations, according to the letter. Together, they mark the Pentagon's most forceful attempt to address what government investigators say is an increase in the number of recruiters using questionable tactics — and in some cases, breaking the law — while trying to fill the Pentagon's need for new soldiers and marines.
The military has more than 20,000 recruiters, who are required to sign up at least two recruits a month, and the pressure to put more men and women in uniform probably will not diminish. A Government Accountability Office investigation found last year that substantiated cases of recruiter wrongdoing rose from about 400 in 2004 to 630 in 2005 and that cases of sexual harassment of potential recruits or falsifying medical records more than doubled. Examples of misconduct included making unrealistic promises to recruits, fraternizing with them during off hours, offering them cash or other incentives to enlist and other forms of "coercive behavior”; criminal behavior included underage drinking and sexual harassment.