Hollow Army: When Recruiters Attack

[Guest guest]

r

Thu, 9 Jun 2005 20:09:31 +1000 (EST)

Marine Corps recruiters kidnap a 18-year-old and

 

 

I dont think there is any fight left in us.. This

happpens and we are so quiet..well.. Let me get back

to reading my copy of Orwell's 1984..

 

 

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/9/11732/64750

 

Hollow Army: When Recruiters Attack

by kos

Wed Jun 8th, 2005 at 22:17:31 PDT

 

Truth is stranger than fiction. Can you believe wore

him down to the point he signed enlistment papers?

A single mom with a meager income, Marcia raised her

kids on the farm where, until recently, she grew salad

greens for restaurants.

Axel's father, a Marine Corps vet who served in

Vietnam, died when Axel was 4.

 

Clearly the recruiters knew all that and more.

 

" You don't want to be a burden to your mom, " they told

him. " Be a man. " " Make your father proud. " Never mind

that, because of his own experience in the service,

Marcia says enlistment for his son is the last thing

Axel's dad would have wanted.

 

The next weekend, when Marcia went to Seattle for the

Folklife Festival and Axel was home alone, two

recruiters showed up at the door.

 

Axel repeated the family mantra, but he was feeling

frazzled and worn down by then. The sergeant was

friendly but, at the same time, aggressively

insistent. This time, when Axel said, " Not

interested, " the sarge turned surly, snapping, " You're

making a big (bleeping) mistake! "

 

Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and another

recruiter showed up at the LaConner Brewing Co., the

restaurant where Axel works. And before Axel, an older

cousin and other co-workers knew or understood what

was happening, Axel was whisked away in a car.

 

" They said we were going somewhere but I didn't know

we were going all the way to Seattle, " Axel said.

 

Just a few tests. And so many free opportunities, the

recruiters told him.

 

He could pursue his love of chemistry. He could serve

anywhere he chose and leave any time he wanted on an

" apathy discharge " if he didn't like it. And he

wouldn't have to go to Iraq if he didn't want to.

 

At about 3:30 in the morning, Alex was awakened in the

motel and fed a little something. Twelve hours later,

without further sleep or food, he had taken a battery

of tests and signed a lot of papers he hadn't gotten a

chance to read. " Just formalities, " he was told. " Sign

here. And here. Nothing to worry about. "

 

By then Marcia had " freaked out. "

 

She went to the Burlington recruiting center where the

door was open but no one was home. So she grabbed all

the cards and numbers she could find, including the

address of the Seattle-area testing center.

 

Then, with her grown daughter in tow, she high-tailed

it south, frantically phoning Axel whose cell phone

had been confiscated " so he wouldn't be distracted

during tests. "

 

Axel's grandfather was in the hospital dying, she told

the people at the desk. He needed to come home right

away. She would have said just about anything.

 

But, even after being told her son would be brought

right out, her daughter spied him being taken down a

separate hall and into another room. So she dashed

down the hall and grabbed him by the arm.

 

" They were telling me I needed to 'be a man' and stand

up to my family, " Axel said.

 

What he needed, it turned out, was a lawyer.

 

Five minutes and $250 after an attorney called the

recruiters, Axel's signed papers and his cell phone

were in the mail.

 

And the Pentagon thinks recruitment will improve in

the summer months? They've resorted to kidnapping.

It's probably time for another one of those 24-hour

stand downs.