[Peace-discuss] Bambenek goes ballistic

Wed Nov 1 09:10:57 CST 2006

It may come as a surprise to many of my acquaintances, but I was in the regular Army for 5 1/2 months (Feb.-Aug. 1996).  I can testify to the accuracy of the video.  

  After basic training, I was stationed at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA.  We were supposed to be the "cream of the crop" (haha).  Two weeks after my arrival, a girl in my company was raped.  They passed out prozac like it was candy.  After I had been lied to about my assignments, harassed and bullied by NCOs and a recurring physical problems with my feet, I demanded to be discharged.  

  If you have been in under 6 months, the process is relatively easy--you get an uncharacterized discharge, "failure to adapt" is what they call it.  The first thing my officers asked me when I told them I wanted out:  "Have you been sexually assaulted?"  It was so prevalent, that was the first thing they assumed.  Thank God, no.

  I recently met an Iraqi who worked with the US Army as an interpreter in Mosul.  He said most of the time soldiers tried to talk him into "hooking them up" with local women/girls.

  If Bambanek is so "patriotic," why doesn't he enlist and see how it is before shooting his mouth off in defense of an institution responsible for so much horror and heartbreak--both at home and abroad?    

  Tammy 

David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
  At bottom, link to the video

________

Counter-recruitment or counter-patriotism?
Liberal efforts to slow enlistment numbers detrimental
to students, nation

John Bambanek

Posted: 11/1/06

A video on military service called "Before you Enlist"
was recently approved to be shown to Centennial High
School students by principal Dr. Weigand. This video,
created by the American Friends Service Committee, was
presented to Centennial by members of the Anti-War
Anti-Racism Effort, an organization that is in no
small part ordered to eliminating hatred and invidious
discrimination in our community. 

If the point of the video were that people should take
what recruiters say with a grain of salt, I would have
no objection. But the video goes far beyond that to
paint the military as a den of rapists of their fellow
soldiers, including the first-person testimony of one
enlisted woman. I know quite a few women who have
served and none of them had any inkling of such
problems. Painting the military as a group as rapists
is the kind of invidious stereotyping AWARE should be
against. 

Yes, there have been incidents of rape in the military
and when discovered they have been prosecuted. There
have also been incidents of frat boys putting roofies
in women's drinks at frat parties. Shall we consider
the entire Greek system a den of rape too? 

Another favorite claim of the anti-war left is that
the military recruits 18- and 19-year-old "kids" who
don't know what they're doing. So let me get this
straight: according to the left, a 12-year-old has all
the faculties necessary get an abortion, but an
18-year-old can't make their own career choices when
those choices include something noble like military
service? 

Sure, some of the antics on this campus give weight to
the claims that college-aged people are basically
kids. Just turn a few pages and see the puerile comic
"Aww Shit" and you'll see what I mean. For that
matter, just look at Professor Kaufmann's anti-Chief
antics and he's well over 20. However, just because
some people get to college with a sense of entitlement
that the world somehow owes them, doesn't mean all
college-aged people are that immature. 

The video also claims that military service provides
no job skills. There are a few jobs that don't have
technical skills that map to the civilian sector;
however, the discipline, ability to communicate and
high motivation do provide decided job advantages to
military veterans. 

For instance, I completed the Air Force ROTC program
when I was an undergrad but could not be commissioned
because I injured my knees before graduation. I went
to work for Ernst & Young making six figures my first
year out the door. Within six months I was promoted to
project manager, one of the youngest in the company. 

Of all the classes I took during my undergraduate
years, it was my minimal Air Force training more than
anything else that helped me succeed. Everyone I know
that has left the military has similar stories of
success. 

However, it seems that now there has been an effort to
target ROTC cadets to convince them they don't know
what they are doing. On other campuses, ROTC cadets
are treated to all sorts of harassment for being
"baby-killers."

When Mike Rudzinski, an Army colonel, spoke at Carey
Busey Elementary School, the anti-war left became
absolutely unglued about how he was recruiting 10
-year-olds for military service. They said he lied to
the kids because he didn't deliver the anti-war
template message. One writer called recruiters
"monsters who have been stealing the American dream."
And they act surprised when people question their
patriotism. 

The military is not for everyone. It's a hard life
spent defending something good and worth dying for.
While unilateral surrender might appeal to Marxists
who pretty much hate the American system already,
sometimes brave men and women need to stand up and
fight to defend the innocent. They shouldn't be
denigrated for their efforts, they deserve better. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini 

_________________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFsaGv6cefw

This is a sneak preview. They will release it on DVD
shortly. It's possible to pre-order.

Full details at:

http://www.beforeyouenlist.org/

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