AdvancedEssay#4+LukasSupovitz-Aznar

Lukas Supovitz-Aznar

Advanced Essay #4

When I first started this unit about war I was immediately intrigued about the concept of why we are so involved in war. My first thoughts were that their has to be a method to our madness, but the more I learned the more I felt mislead. While writing this essay I wanted to lead the reader to a more knowledgable reason on how recruitment goes down. I tried my best to keep my opinion out of this topic, and just write with factual content. I think I did that, but still provided interesting content that would make the reader want to keep reading more. In synopsis I am happy I picked this topic because I was enlightened myself.

Hundreds of men stand in front of our flag, pledging their allegiance to this country. This photo is a powerful, yet common photo of a bunch of young men showing their dedication to the country; the same country that betrays them in many ways. In the background is the American Flag, and it shows that they will all fight for the cause. Sometimes the cause is not identified but these men are still willing to risk their lives. This has been a trend, where men who are mislead by their country still are loyal and extremely proud to represent the country. Throughout history, war has been an important topic for all countries.

Since the beginning of the United states, we have always been very involved in all different kinds of war. Recently war has come under attack, specifically by the United States recruitment system.  Army recruitment happens all around the country, and these recruiters come to thousands of high schools to get kids who are not yet ready to sign up for war. An important topic to note is that most recruitment goes on in towns of poverty, or where not much goes on. Kids are often lured into a lifestyle that they are not yet ready to live, and the recruiters know this but it is necessary for them to do to keep the strongest military in the world. According to the New York Times article “Army recruiters say they feel pressure to bend the rules” it states “He has been bending or breaking enlistment rules for months, he said, hiding police records and medical histories of potential recruits. His commanders have encouraged such deception, he said, because they know there is no other way to meet the Army's stiff recruitment quotas.”  This shows that recruitment is often unfair and this idea of a quota to sign people up is wrong. Although some recruits are not interested in serving for the country, others are. “By the Army's own count, there were 320 substantiated cases of what it calls recruitment improprieties in 2004, up from 199 in 1999, the last year it missed its active-duty recruitment goal, and 213 in 2002, the year before the war in Iraq started. The offenses varied from threats and coercion to false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq. Many incidents involved more than one recruiter, and the number of those investigated rose to 1,118 last year, or nearly one in five of all recruiters, up from 913 in 2002, or one in eight.” To be sent to war in an unfamiliar country without actually having any motive to do so is unjust, and one out of eight is a pretty large portion. Yet still many kids grow up with the dream of joining the military, and that is something to be proud of. The real crime is the lies that the recruits are told, such as “College will be payed for”- New York Times. This is very unfortunate, and for many they end up resenting how they served in the military because they were lead to misconceptions through the recruitment process. For a promise like college being payed for to be broken is very tragic, so most suggest to get everything in writing before actually signing up for the military.