Democracy for Vancouver

David Swanson over at OpEd News has an article about the enlistment bonuses being offered potential military recruits. 

For one thing, most recruits won't actually get $50,000 or anything close to it.  In fact, nothing a recruiter promises a recruit means anything at all, because every military contract includes these lines:

"Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to me.  Such changes may affect my status, pay allowances, benefits, and responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment / re-enlistment document."

In other words, the rest of the contract means nothing, and only those two sentences and a signature actually matter.  The rest, like much of what comes out of recruiters' mouths, is lies.  The New York Times reported that one in five U.S. Army recruiters was under investigation in 2004 for offenses ranging from "threats and coercion to false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq." 

A member of my family has experienced these false promises time and again when enlisting and re-enlisting in the military.  The current bonus being offered is $50,000 just as mentioned above if he re-enlists after transferring to a war zone.  I'm also told the monies are tax-free.  Needless to say, I am sending him Swanson's article.

The article also has information on how to join the movement and start a counter recruitment campaign from a book called "Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World," by Aimee Allison and David Solnit.