Thoughts before Errands
Friday, April 15th, 2005 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniEDITED TO ADD: This is what I get for posting a "news" story before I do my back-checks, which you'd think I'd know better than.
The story now behind the cut-line below is, as mentioned by Alert Readers, a hoax. The only back-trails are to the original article in the alternative newspaper Pointblank, and about a zillion blog entries expressing horror. The lesson -- beside the obvious reminder to yr hmbl correspondent to check her facts -- appears to be that the current political climate makes such a story seem probable to a good number of intelligent people.
I give you the case of Sgt. Emiliano Santiago, who served out his contracted 8 years, only to find that the goverment has set back his termination date until December 24, 2031.
From the Seattle Times:
Since members of the Army National Guard have been serving on active duty since October 2001, Byron said the law allowed military planners to involuntarily extend the duty of Santiago and any other Guardsmen.
Santiago's attorney, Steven Goldberg, argued the judges should read Santiago's contract carefully and come down on the side of a teenaged recruit who did not read all the pertinent federal codes relating to military service.
Goldberg also noted that involuntarily extending terms of duty would have a chilling effect on recruitment.
"If you accept what the government is saying, what young man or woman would be willing to sign up?" he asked.
...Look carefully at Mr. Goldberg's question: Who under these circumstances is going to be willing to sign up. Now we have the answer, with thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
matociquala for pointing this out:
In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty.
By Tim Schmitt
Colin Hadley spends most of his days after school skateboarding or playing Halo II on his new X-Box with friends. He sleeps until noon or later on weekends and rarely, if ever, does any schoolwork outside the classroom, where he pulls down solid C's and a few D's - just enough to get by. He's the typical 15-year-old American boy: cocksure in demeanor, certain the world revolves around him, and confident that life is going to serve him well.
And he's the new "target of interest" for U.S. military recruiters who've begun signing up boys as young as 14 for military service, which they will be required to begin when they turn 18.
Read the rest of the story here
I'm gone.
The story now behind the cut-line below is, as mentioned by Alert Readers, a hoax. The only back-trails are to the original article in the alternative newspaper Pointblank, and about a zillion blog entries expressing horror. The lesson -- beside the obvious reminder to yr hmbl correspondent to check her facts -- appears to be that the current political climate makes such a story seem probable to a good number of intelligent people.
I give you the case of Sgt. Emiliano Santiago, who served out his contracted 8 years, only to find that the goverment has set back his termination date until December 24, 2031.
From the Seattle Times:
Since members of the Army National Guard have been serving on active duty since October 2001, Byron said the law allowed military planners to involuntarily extend the duty of Santiago and any other Guardsmen.
Santiago's attorney, Steven Goldberg, argued the judges should read Santiago's contract carefully and come down on the side of a teenaged recruit who did not read all the pertinent federal codes relating to military service.
Goldberg also noted that involuntarily extending terms of duty would have a chilling effect on recruitment.
"If you accept what the government is saying, what young man or woman would be willing to sign up?" he asked.
...Look carefully at Mr. Goldberg's question: Who under these circumstances is going to be willing to sign up. Now we have the answer, with thanks to
matociquala for pointing this out:In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty.
By Tim Schmitt
Colin Hadley spends most of his days after school skateboarding or playing Halo II on his new X-Box with friends. He sleeps until noon or later on weekends and rarely, if ever, does any schoolwork outside the classroom, where he pulls down solid C's and a few D's - just enough to get by. He's the typical 15-year-old American boy: cocksure in demeanor, certain the world revolves around him, and confident that life is going to serve him well.
And he's the new "target of interest" for U.S. military recruiters who've begun signing up boys as young as 14 for military service, which they will be required to begin when they turn 18.
Read the rest of the story here
I'm gone.
