Where Politics And Video Games Collide

I don't understand why it is a bad thing for the military to recruit people? We live in a country of voluntary enlistment. Voluntary enlistment.The military personnel we have currently chose to be there. They can also make the choice to reenlist or not (my brother, for instance, chose not to reenlist in the Air Force and is a civilian once again). There are countries in this world where military service is not voluntary. Heck, it wasn't too long ago that there was a mandatory draft in the US itself!

Look, to protect our freedoms and land, we need X number of troops, plain and simple. X being a number that can shift depending on the amount of threats there are to the US at the time, as well as any other circumstances. The recruiters aren't the ones deciding where the troops go fight. Heck, the President doesn't even make that decision -- the Congress decides if and where the US forces fight. Sure, the President has limited power over where the National Guard goes -- probably more than he should, but it still is somewhat limited. And, the President is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. But the President needs the approval of Congress to commit those forces anywhere.

Anyway, as I said, there is a need for X number of troops. The military has recruiters to help attain that number. The recruiters, like any and all salespeople, will say whatever they can to fill their quota. Not necessarily boldface lie (some do), but at least not exactly tell everything about it either. Don't want to scare away the "customer" and all that. So what if the military is using a video game or two, or three, or whatever to recruit. They've used comics, TV, radio, magazine, and newspaper ads to do that for a lot longer. The recruiters are doing nothing wrong trying to get more people in the service. Don't lash out at them for whatever reason (like, for instance, disliking the current War). Take it to the people who have real power and responsibility for it -- the Congress. Write your Senator, your Representative, etc. Flood them with letters and anything else you can protesting the War. Get them to order a withdrawl of the troops, and even G.W. Bush can't override it.

If the recruiters played up the horrors and reality of war, they'd get probably no recruits. It would be counterproductive. There are military personnel leaving the service every day, there always has been -- either through death, injury, or their enlistment contract is up and they don't reenlist. These numbers have to be replaced. The recruiters have the impossible job of trying to replace those numbers. If the numbers are not replaced, then the military starts significantly dropping in size, and the US becomes a HUGE, tantalizing target for many nations or groups. The military is like a sieve, constantly reducing in size, and with the recruiters' job, it is restocking its numbers. Don't get upset at them for doing their job. Or would you rather think it better if the draft was reinstated?