Soft Sell

I have been watching a little TV this weekend, especially the PGA golf tournament. I am also an obsessive compulsive channel surfer during commercials. One thing I have noticed is the large buy the US Army has made for its recruiting efforts. The commercials are really somewhat soft. They don't show tanks running around or soldiers dropping out of helicopters or swinging from ropes. They usually show a family setting of some sort and a "coming of age" mini drama as a young man decides the Army is the right place to be right now. They are well done as far as production and acting goes, but they are almost to painful to watch because you know where those recruits will end up.

My brother Tom used to be a Recruiter for a while and as I recall the position is very high pressure. I can't imagine what it must be like now. However, I can imagine the real conversations around the dinner tables these days in America as the war grows more and more to resemble quicksand. I don't think too many families are encouraging their kids to sign up, even if they are not pacifist. There certainly is a growing feeling that you wouldn't want your kids going into harms way with our current political leadership calling the shots. This leadership that fraudulently came with reasons for going to war, and then didn't provide what the military really needed in terms of manpower and basic military armor and materials can't make any parent feel too confident. That is to bad because the military can offer many good opportunities for young people.

Frank Rich in the New York times today said the war is over, but that the only ones that don't know it are bush and his hawks. Read it here.

Now, do you suppose any of those young actors in the Army commercials have signed up to serve? For all I know they may have been real recruits, or maybe those young actors have decided to leave the fighting to someone else. Some enterprising journalist might want to check this out.