they're coming for your kids, people (pig army recruiter at gas station)

[jdj]

here's my gas station story:

I stopped during work today, am at the register, and this angel-faced kid is stocking cigarettes. In front of me is this guy with the high and tight hair, starts firing off questions at the blond cashier.."what's his name/is he out of high school yet/what high school did he graduate from.." all within earshot of this kid who doesn't even look 18, and the cashier wastes no time giving out the poor guy's information.

Then the jerk goes around the counter and tries to give the kid a card, which the kid won't take. He asks him "why are you stocking cigarettes, man" and the kid says "I'm saving for college" to which the gov't skinhead says "What if I told you I could pay for that"..the kid gets nervous and drops all the cigarettes, you can tell he's embarassed and the prick is really leaning on him, he finally gets it together and says "that's great as long as I don't have to sign anything"..I'm getting so pissed at this jerk, but I can't do anything, cause I'm in my work uniform in my work van with the repuke business I work for's phone plastered all over the side of it, but as the kid looks up he catches my eye and I smile and wink at him, he seems relieved..meanwhile the idiobot blonde cashier is bragging about how HER brother is in the military..the jerk says "why don't you sit down and talk to me about it" and the kid says "maybe some other time" he's still got 20 cartons of cigarettes in his hands, trying to just do his job, and this $%@# is hounding him, finally the army pusher says, "well, there's a website..." and at that point I had to leave..

I was enraged, I mean, here we are in a war, with 1000 dead soldiers, and this creep was just all GI Bill and shit on this kid, ON HIS JOB, like he's an idiot or something. I was so proud of him for standing his ground, and I don't know how that bloodsucker sleeps at night, you had to be there, but he seemed like as much of a predator as a child molester or something..it was nauseating.

[MrScorpio]

1. Army recruiters can be real pricks

I had one try the hard sell on me once.

When he found out that I was in the Air Force at the time, he backed off real quick like.

[jdj]

2. This disgusted me.

Had I not been "on the clock" I would have told him to lay off.

This is the south and the kid probably felt like he'd look bad if he turned the guy down. But he did, gently.

And so young, too. I was so proud of him, as this is repuke-fundie hell.

[Jerseygirltoo]

3. Has anybody else been getting the Army junk mail?

We got a couple things addressed to my husband's son from his first marriage(who doesn't even live with us). They're offering a free travel mug in exchange for your contact information.
That's a terrible story about the gas station incident. Those recruiters have quotas to meet.

[jdj]

5. Obviously.

I was thinking of responses, the one that came into my head that I wanted to say was "Yeah, instead of stacking boxes, you can come home in one."

[WMliberal]

7. read my post. i have a surefire way to stop it.

[jdj]

8. I know an awful lot of gays in the military.

So probably only straight people should use this response, because if you really are gay, they might stop trying to enlist you and ask you out instead.

[WMliberal]

11. nah, not the recruiters

you could easily turn it against them and report them to their superior officer.

[jdj]

13. "superior officer" hmmmmmmm,,

makes one think, all the hierarchy, the terminology,

scenesish, B/D-ish.

[WMliberal]

14. ok ok merely a higher ranking one then

then again... the boots, the armor, drill sargeants in general...

[jdj]

18. we love a man in uniform...

[WMliberal]

4. sounds straight out of F9/11

the kid should take my advice. whenever a recruiter called me or came up to me and asked if i thought about joining, i'd tell them i'm gay. in my wittier moments, it went something like "so they've finally starting letting gays in", but 9 times out of 10 the joke went over their head or they thought i was trying to insult them.
so just say "i'm gay".

[XanaDUer]

6. I'm always amazed at the personal info people give out

just 'cause someone asks them for it.

Poor kid. Best answer always is, "I'm not comfortable talking about my personal life. Is there anything I can help you with today (as it applies to the business)."

Sickening.

[jdj]

9. The thing about it was, the cashier told the recruiter his

name and age, before the kid even had a chance to say that. And the army guy was talking real loud, probably trying to embarass the kid and use peer pressure to lean on him. I don't see how this man can live with himself.

[XanaDUer]

12. I would rip her a new asshole when I was off shift

I hate people who do that.

Well, maybe she'll sign up.

[B. P. R. D.]

10. The Cashier Had No Right To Do That.

These people are disgusting.

[VOX]

15. Exactly. A right-wing stooge.

Welcome to DU, B. P. R. D.

See you in more upbeat posts -- :toast:

[B. P. R. D.]

17. Those Posts Come On November 2.

:toast:

[walldude]

16. Reminds me of F-9/11

When the recruiter asked the kid for his name and address so he could "take him off his list". I remember wishing that I had been standing there when he said that..

[pa28]

19. This is a good reminder.

Yeah, there are some real SOB's in the military. Just as any other institution. But many of the soldiers in Iraq are like the innocent kids you mention who fell for the trap. Pay for college, see the world. Not killers for hire who deserve no sympathy.

The soldiers in Iraq are victims of a lie just like we are only many of them have not yet realized they have been taken. At the same time many have come to understand they have been betrayed by the Commander in Chief yet have no recourse. In fairness to the innocent of our armed forces (they are out there) it seems a good time to say the ultimate blame for the killing of women and children like we saw in Fallujah must lie with Bush and punishment for war crimes must be dispensed on an individual basis. After all, the military is a killing machine but the President is responsible for activating it.

I worry for those naive small town kids who are bullied into signing up and then have their lives tainted forever by the memory of Iraq. I just hope we don't forget them.

[JSJ]

20. back in the day (60's, 70's) this recruiter would have...

...been surrounded and hounded out of there. Maybe even had his ass whupped for good measure.

[kodi]

21. they're little different than drug pushers.

tangled with one last year when i subbed at the high school. he heard i was telling the kids in my history class to be careful about the recruiters, and that once you were in they owned your ass. the fuckface started to get all bold on me in the hall at lunchtime and i just asked him to step outside if he wanted to talk to me like that. he just looked at me all confused. i guess he took it as a threat and walked away........funny as hell.

yeah, they're little different than drug pushers.