Military Recruiters Lie About Dangers In Iraq

[Barrett808]

Military Recruiters Lie About Dangers In Iraq
Army To Suspend Recruiting For Retraining Following Target 5 Investigation

CINCINNATI -- This is the text of WLWT's report exactly as it appeared on the 11 p.m. newscast on May 18, 2005:

Announcer: "An explosive Target 5 investigation. Our hidden cameras catch military recruiters making the Tri-state sound more dangerous than Iraq."

Recruiter: "You've got more chance of dying over here than you do over there."

Announcer: "So, why are Tri-state recruits ready to risk their lives not getting honest answers?"

Anchor: "The problem is so bad the military is planning a nationwide stand-down day. That means this Friday the Army won't do any recruiting. Why? ecruiters using outrageous tactics to get your son or daughter to enlist.

"You won't believe how bad the problem is.

"Dave Wagner has the shocking Target 5 investigation."

(more)

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4508233/detail.html

[Retired AF Dem]

1. Being in Iraq

just might be safer than driving in Alabama. If I remember correctly if you drive in Al you have a 48% chance of being killed or crippled during an avg life span.

[xray s]

5. thats a joke, right?

you don't seriously believe that, do you?

[Tempest]

11. You can't be serious

That means almost half of Alabama's population has been killed or is crippled.

BULLSHIT!

[Judi Lynn]

20. This could lead to Alabama tow service owners' being wildly wealthy!

Busy all the time, and all. They could be real typhoons!

[Tempest]

24. Their tow trucks would be made by

Cadillac and Mercedes Benz if this was the case.


>>They could be real typhoons<<

Or would that be tycoons? ;)

[Retired AF Dem]

27. Actually my numbers were a little

low it is 57.7 percent. I did use the wrong word in using crippled should of been injured. So in Alabama you have a 57.7% chance of being killed or injured in a vehicle accident.

http://www.galaxy.gmu.edu/interface/I03/I2003Proceedings/ConerlyMichael/ConerlyMichael.paper.pdf

[daleo]

29. Being involved in an injury accident isn't what it seems.

First off, an injury might not be very serious. I believe it is defined as any event that involves seeking medical treatment from a doctor or hospital. But more importantly, everyone involved in the accident, whether they are injured or not, is included in the figure, which inflates the total considerably. Just think of multi-car collisions where one occupant gets whiplash. That could have ten people involved in an injury accident, for statistical purposes.

Which is not to say driving isn't dangerous. It is easy to show that the lifetime risk of being killed in a car crash or being killed as a pedestrian is between about one half and one percent. The chance of being injured in a car crash is about 10 times the chance of being killed, so your lifetime risk of being killed or fairly seriously injured is probably between 5% or 10%.

Looking at Iraq, about 800 soldiers per year die (out of 150,000) and about 10 times that many are seriously injured. That gives a death rate of about 5 per 1000, and a serious injury rate of about 50 per thousand. Aggregating that over 70 years (a lifetime), would mean that the total risk of being killed in Iraq would be about 37% and the risk of being seriously injured would be well over 100% - virtually certain.

So being a U.S. soldier in Iraq is still far more dangerous than being a driver in the U.S., by a factor of about 30.

On edit - for the record, I read your link, and that is why I prefaced my remarks with the definition of "involved in an injury accident".

[LiberallyInclined]

30. I've been "injured" in vehicle "accidents" on at least 7 occasions...

so that kind of thing might also skew the data-
but i'm in illinois, so it wasn't me doing the skewing in alabama.

[daleo]

31. I looked at the data a bit more closely (this is U.S. average)

From the NHSTA, For 2002, the numbers were:

killed 42313
incapacitating injury 313000
non-incapacitating injury 812000
other injury 1764000

Their definitions:
Injury Severity
The police-reported injury severity of the person (i.e.,occupant,pedestrian,or pedalcyclist).
1.Killed (Fatal)
2.Injured (Incapacitating injury,evident injury but not incapacitating,complaint of injury,or
injured,severity unknown).

Dividing into 300 million people for an annual rate, and multiplying by 70 for an aggregated lifetime rate gives:

killed 1.0%
incapacitating injury 7.3%
non-incapacitating injury 18.9%
other injury 41.2%

So, the lifetime chance of death or reasonably serious injury is about 8.5%. Most of the injuries would only be incapacitating temporarily (else the sidewalks of America would be choked with wheelchairs).

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSFAnn/TSF2003F.pdf

[ckramer]

2. Don't forget to tell the recruits this

"oh, man, these beautiful Iraqi women are easy..."

[Seabiscuit]

4. They're easy for awhile... then they castrate you.

[teryang]

3. Misleading military "scholarships" at grad awards ceremonies

Representatives of the Marine Corps and US Army, purported to award "scholarships" putatively worth $18,000.00 and $36,000.00 to a few of the graduates of my child's high school at an award ceremony last night.

They claimed that these Montgomery GI bill benefits had already been awarded to graduates who had enlisted but not yet embarked upon their active duty commitments. This is my opinion is a misleading recruitment ploy. My understanding is that these benefits do not accrue until one has successfully completed their tour of active duty, which may be interrupted by death, disability, involuntary separation for convenience of the service; involuntary separation for misconduct, personality disorder, or in lieu of courts-martial; or one may lose the entitlement for less than honorable discharge due to courts-martial sentence, involuntary administrative discharge, or conviction in a civilian court.

This misrepresentation is probably going on at hundreds of high school ceremonies across the country during graduation season.

[SKKY]

14. If it's the GI Bill, you can use it after your first year, but must...

...be used within 10 years after separation/discharge. And it's not transferable to your spouse or your children at any time. The Army also offers enlistment bonus' to the tune of like, 14K or higher. Could be either one but yes, the scholarship angle is a bit shady considering EVERYONE who enlists is given the chance to participate in the GI Bill.

[Earth_First]

21. AND you must 'pay into' the GI Bill your first year of service...

another little known recruiting detail left out of the banter...

[SKKY]

22. Exactly. I've often wondered how recruiters sleep well at night.

[PurityOfEssence]

6. No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die...

I need more gold.

[geckosfeet]

7. jeez,,, why would they lie ? Oh yeah,,,,, commander in chief.

Bush is the chief liar setting a good example for the rest of the organization.

What heap o shit we are in.

[merwin]

8. repulsive

[seg4527]

9. they are JUST like telemarketers

i took advantage of a free phone card offer from the Navy about a year ago, when I was 17. My girlfriend lived a thousand miles away, and 30 free minutes was 30 free minutes. for months after that i had navy recruiters coming to my house, dropping off pamphlets, me getting phone calls. now, i do realize it was my fault, for taking the phone card, and i dont' really have any right to complain, i suppose, after all, they did give me 30 free minutes (why the navy is trying to bribe people with 30 minutes of long distance is something that was and is beyond me).

they can't take no for an answer though. when i activated my phone card, i had to take a survery, and i even listed "going to anti-war protests" as one of my hobbies, so that shows how desperate they are. i got letters to my house, with a recruitment officer who had TERRIBLE SPELLING (weather equals whether, to equals too, and so on) berating me about how disappointed he was in me for wasting his time.

and i'm just one person.

at my old high school, they would always send alumni who had recently graduated and were kind of "cool" in high school to sit at the recruitment table. i guess they wanted to show off the cool people who join the army.

i could go on and on about this. but there's not enough time in the day. next year i'm going to be involved in counter-recruitment pretty heavily, and i can't wait.

[pokercat999]

10. The best counter-recruitment measures may be just what

you have done so far. Waste their time, tie up the recruiters chasing you and your friends who have no intention of EVER joining. While they are pursuing you they will miss the young man/woman they may have gotten.

[Barrett808]

23. Good idea, as long as it's not legally actionable n/t

[Barrett808]

12. I like the recruiter who threatened a kid with the firing squad

Now that's salesmanship!

[niceypoo]

13. Now recruiters are using GOP talking points?

Thats a standard way to explain away the war deaths. "Its more dangerous in NYC than in Baghdad" or "there were more people killed on the US highways than in Iraq" They are sooo desperate for carcasses to march into battle.

[Voltaire99]

15. Nice piece of journalism

Not bad for US TV news.

Here in the banal Minneapolis-St. Paul market, this type of TV journalism is unheard of; the local news klutzes would stub a toe if they tried to report anything more challenging than the weather or the Vikings score.

[seg4527]

16. yesterday kare 11 (i think) ran a story about a talking dog

"but you might not like what he has to say!"

give me a break.

[FlemingsGhost]

17. Ummmmmm ... er, so what did the dog say?

Give me a break, I'm an American.

:evilgrin:

[seg4527]

18. didn't watch it

just saw the commercial. sorry. ;)

i only ever watch the local news when i make the news. which has been a few times this year.

[MADem]

19. Recommended....with a recommendation...

There is an option to email the video when you watch it. Recommend that if you know any draft-age youngsters, you email it to them. This will serve two purposes: it will warn the youngsters, and it will increase the likelihood that this news report gets wider airing (the affiliate may well send it in for national exposure).

[Az_lefty]

25. This sounds like the idiot on Faux news who said...

that Baghdad was safer than Los Angeles...or something to this effect.

[Chicago Democrat]

26. This is a total outrage!

The bastards.

[struggle4progress]

28. kick