Has The Military Always Recruited 6-10 Year Olds At Cub Scouts????

At cub scout "twighlight camp" tonight we had the Army National Guard there. Complete with fake artillery shells, a cool Humvee, lots of slick glossy info booklets, pencils, and I don't know what else.

I complained to the person in charge of the day camp that I didn't think it was appropriate for the military to be here recruiting 6-10 year olds. He said "I'd never thought of that", I told him that I had thought of that and I'm sure they'd thought of that and it was brainwashing, and I didn't like the idea of looking at these wonderful kids as "cannon fodder" for a war in Iraq that is about OIL!!!!! He looked at me and said that he could "see" what I was saying but that he had just invited the Army to come since the theme is "American Heroes" and we've had Firemen, and we will have Air National Guard people, and the police, etc.

Maybe I'm over reacting. /???? :shrug: I still am not amused at the Army's presence there. I think that it was designed for kids, their presentation. They guys that did it were very nice and good with kids. Can you say brainwashers?? I'm sorry no offense to the military personnel, this is like just wrong. :grr:

Here's some pics of the little kids, and the soldiers, all I could seem to think about were these little kids learning about artillery shells and how cool they all thought it was and how the soldiers talked about it like it was just another day at the office.

*sigh*

I think the question is, did/does the army seek this out, or were they invited on the same terms as the police, fire dept., etc.? I can see that being very fun for kids, so long as the parents let them know that it's also a very serious thing. For these soldiers, doing things like handling artillery shells may actually be just a day at the office, and it probably seems totally normal. If I had children, I wouldn't want them to join the army, and I probably didn't because my parents were very strongly against it, even though my dad and grandfather had both been in it. As kids, we played at being soldiers, and we had toy guns and the whole bit, but my parents made the distinction between play and the real facts of combat abundantly clear. So long as the soldeirs' actions didn't seem like brain washing, I wouldn't worry, because it could be a positive learning experience. If it seemed like recruiting, I'd also be pissed.

:shrug:

isn't it? Don't know what more to say than that.

and I'd say that any person in the Army's position that would say it isn't a recruiting activity is fucking lying. It is as transparent as anything, regardless of what the stated reason for being there would be.

and it sucks

it works too

having my son in a paramilitary organization that discriminates against gays and is so gung ho about everything military is not making me happy.

I'm also a den leader...I remember cub scouts when I was a kid, wasn't a military like atmosphere, hell we met in the living room of our den mother, and we marched in a parade dressed like litterbugs.

I don't remember all this flag waving nationalistic, religiosity going on then. Maybe when I was a boy scout there was a little more, but hell, not much. Of course there were other problems that were bad when I was a boy scout, like having a scoutmaster who thought it was okay to teach young males how to masturbate, but he didn't ask us to salute him. :grr:

Okay, I have to admit, when I see grown men in scout uniforms I still go a little whacky and flash back to the experiences I had with that scoutmaster...add to it the militaristic bullshit going on (and the fact that 80% of the parents there look like they just came out of the hills for the meeting as in inbred looking) and I am at a point where I am loathe to continue him in that pack, or maybe in any pack. The cubmaster is an anal retentive emailer control freak who sends me 5 or more emails a day sometimes just correcting the last email. It is ridiculous. I've been a den leader for 1 month and I have 41 messages in a file on my email, 18 unread in there, and I've probably deleted 20. Since June 1. Not even a month.

What's the problem? My son loves scouts. His mother seems to like it too. So I will be the "bad guy" and I don't want to do it based on my personal issues, the militaristic approach may be fine for some kids, and maybe it isn't that big a deal, but having the Army there to recruit, and the Air Force there tomorrow, and all the groups at the day camp with names like "cadets", etc. The games that they play are "Army vs. Navy" at the choice of the cubmaster that my son has. He's a rather large and obese man who wears his scout uniform and scout shorts, socks, and probably shoes all the time. All right, maybe not all the time, but hell, it wouldn't be hard to imagine.

My son will not be cannon fodder for the freeptards and the Rethugs of this world, he will certainly know that he has many choices in this world.

I'll shut up now.

:puke:

scary too

It seems to me as a conscious attempt to indoctrinate children and future generations into a mindset of military and war.

Could this be part of a moran bush policy and the one McSame wants to continue into a hundred years? I just wouldn't put anything past them bastids.

:tinfoilhat:

running the scouts are teh kind that would turn you in to homeland security if they thought it was good for Merikuh, even if it were something like not flying a flag on Flag day or something :shrug:

thanks don't think its tinfoil stuff either. These guys were too much fun for the kids, the kids could touch everything, start the Humvee, climb all over it, play with the shells, the detonator piece, the telescope, he talked in detail about how one put the shells in the cannon and he showed them a picture of it on his PDA, then he talked about how the other one did all the mathematical stuff to find teh position of what needed to be fired at.

It was an indoctrination session

was an Eagle Scout, etc. - and there was never any interference by the military. Lots of patriotism, but not the military shit that is happening now. At least, it didn't used to happen in the 60s and 70s in South Carolina.

But, hey - indoctrinate kids young in your preferred religion, and indoctrinate them into the cult of violence. Yippee. Take the young and curious, and warp their minds.

Now, I'm not talking about all religions, or general service to your country. But grabbing hold of children when they're extremely impressionable does seem to result in lots of 'disciples', so to speak.

hell Madison Ave figured that out long ago, my son has always watched commercials more than regular TV :rofl:

in all seriousness, I don't remember it from the 70's either. No military bullshit rah rah shit with recruiter types hanging around.

I'd be furious if I were a parent of those boys. And concerned about what my son is learning. You're right in raising an alarm. Whether it'll be heeded, well....this nation is becoming more and more militarized. It's deeply disturbing.

I was in Campfire as a kid. We learned flag etiquette, but beyond that I don't recall a lot of nationalism. In fact, I only realized as an adult how many '60's protest songs I learned at Campfire Camp: "If I Had a Hammer", "To Every Thing (Turn, Turn, Turn)", "Blowin' in the Wind", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", etc. Apparently, Camp Seskome was one big hippy love fest. And this little Bluebird was just too uncool to get it. I wonder what "Little Rabbit Foo-Foo" was really about?

Yep, if I was a mom, I'd be aimin' my kids at Campfire. If I were you, I'd be aimin' my ire at your local BSA leadership.

leaders are either former military or wannabes, or freeper types

:grr:

I loved this kind of stuff when I was that age--the helicopters, the tanks, all of it.

Yet when I was older, I never had any desire to join the military. Just like I never had any desire to be a fireman, even though we had Cub Scout field trips to the firehouse. Never had a desire to be a baker, even though we toured the Wonder Bread factory.

Age eight is pretty dang young to "recruit" anybody.

I don't remember the slick marketing stuff and all coming to cub scouts

I seem to recall hearing of a lot of career day sort of Scouting activities, and I guess I don't have a problem with the concept of a visit from the National Guard. It isn't the NG's fault, after all, that Congress let * get away with commandeering state troops for his fake emergency.

But Cub Scouts are mighty young for this, and though the kids probably think the artillery shells are cool, as an adult I wouldn't want children worshiping military phallic symbols. Perhaps a different sort of presentation would have been more age-appropriate...and it is to be hoped that the kids will get to hear from those who wage peace, as well.

...and not the norm. I was in scouts for years, never had any kind of military contact at all, except maybe later in the Explorers-they were sort of directed at various military activities, but with much older kids.

I don't like this shit - I was in the Army, but not till after I quit college.

mark

I would be bothered also. And have you noticed how many ads for the military are shown in the previews for films at the movies. That really angers me- that is our tax dollars and it can't be cheap.

noticed that at the movies too

:rofl:

I think most parents have their kids join cub scouts to have fun, learn some useful skills, the golden rule, and all that. Taking a captive audience and teaching them how fun it is to blow up people in other countries is just plain wrong. I also have a problem with military recruiting in high schools... it's the captive audience thing. Anyone who has an interest in joining up can surely figure out how to find the nearest recruiter.

Would think that would have been a more important role to project to the kids.
However, since BushCo has made the NG their own personal army to fight wars outside of oue nation, they have become an International Guard, no longer set up to protect and serve within the boundaries of our country.

I agree with you, SPK.
At the very least, the presentation and sharing should have been done in terms of the good this group is supposed to do rather than promote killing and war as fun and exciting.