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Military Recruiters Try to Be Hip; Kids Roll Eyes

By Aaron Sarver, In These Times. Posted December 12, 2007.


Military recruiters are using pop cultural knowledge and text messaging to connect with a younger generation.

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Teenagers, be warned: Military recruiters have armed themselves with "Wat up, dude?" and "nmu" in their effort to lure you to Iraq. (For those who lack daily interaction with teens, "nmu" means "Not much. You?")

As headlines reveal that the military is lowering standards to meet its recruiting goals, the Pentagon is trying new techniques to connect with Millennials -- those born between 1980 and 2000, formerly known as Generation Y.

In September, the website Entropic Memes reported that attendees at last spring's Annual Navy Workforce Research and Analysis Conference were given a slideshow presentation titled "The Road to a 2025 Total Force: Talkin 'bout Their Generation."

At the presentation, ad executive Arthur Mitchell, director of strategic planning for Campbell-Ewald, the agency behind the Navy's Accelerate Your Life campaign, talked about the inability of Navy recruiters to connect with today's young people.

Millennials, he explained, are "narcissistic praise junkies" and "a somewhat alien life force." To help recruiters communicate with such bizarre life forms, Mitchell presented a pop culture quiz, asking recruiters to identify members of Green Day and the Black Eyed Peas (two popular bands). In addition to getting them up to speed on today's music, he showed them the ins and outs of text messaging and emoticons.

"At first contact, the Navy world is going to be too real to digest," according to the slideshow presentation, "akin to the 'The real world' in Matrix." It goes on to say, "Teach them. Guide them. Mentor them. Bull@*#% them, and they will just walk away."

The typical kid today, the report says, has the following characteristics:

  • Many of their experiences have been secondhand.
  • A sizable part of their life has been spent in a virtual world rather than in the real world.
  • The television/computer screen has always acted as a 'screen' that has kept them away from many direct real world interactions.
  • Their 'B.S.' barometer is very high.
  • Status and authority will not impress them, bureaucracy and red tape will frustrate them and a patronizing attitude will drive them crazy.
  • Perhaps they'll even expect their parents to "rescue" them.
  • They are used to instant gratification and praise.

Mitchell underscored that Millennials are tightly bound to their parents. A slide titled "The 'Coddled' Generation" explained that these young people were "raised by active, involved, 'helicopter' parents who challenge poor grades, negotiate with soccer coaches, visit college campuses, question employers, etc." (The term "helicopter parent" means someone who hovers over their kids, ever ready to touch down and help out.) The challenge for recruiters then is not only to convince the kids, but also their parents. "This generation actually likes their parents, somewhat of a departure from previous generations," Mitchell said.


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See more stories tagged with: military, recruitment, millennial generation

Aaron Sarver is an independent audio producer and writer based in Chicago. For nearly three years he produced and co-hosted the radio program, Fire on the Prairie, which featured interviews with progressive writers and activists, and is archived at fireontheprairie.com.

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My daughter will be 18 soon.
Posted by: lepidopteryx on Dec 12, 2007 6:37 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If she told me that she was planning to enlist, I would do all I could to change her mind.

From the article:
"...these young people were "raised by active, involved, 'helicopter' parents who challenge poor grades, negotiate with soccer coaches, visit college campuses, question employers, etc." (The term "helicopter parent" means someone who hovers over their kids, ever ready to touch down and help out.) The challenge for recruiters then is not only to convince the kids, but also their parents. "This generation actually likes their parents, somewhat of a departure from previous generations," Mitchell said.

This is a bad thing? So now there are less desperate lonely kids enlisting in the hopes of finally getting an impossible-to-please parent's approval. Sure, some parents are over-protective. Questioning employers is definitely over the top. But the only time I ever challenged a bad grade was when I knew she had done the work. And I certainly see nothing wrong with a parent helping a child choose a college, including visiting the campus with them.

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» RE: Is it a bad thing? Posted by: Dboy
Beats being raised by wolves
Posted by: ghoster on Dec 12, 2007 7:50 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sure they question and why not most of the crap coming from the MSM and government is lies anyway. A high level of BS detection is a survival skill nothing to be ashamed of, actually they are much better off than most that came before. Kudos to their parents and if it breaks this military mindset and nationalistic jingoism then I am all for it. Go Millinieals. Might just be the key to getting this country back, and if not then slowing down the mighty empire.

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Helicopter parents
Posted by: LeeAnnG on Dec 12, 2007 7:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Funny that some articles focus on how parents neglect their kids, are uninvolved with their lives and use the TV as babysitters while others focus on how overinvolved parents are with their kids.

Parents, like kids, are individuals. People love to talk about how kids aren't like they used to be. Well, society in many ways isn't like it used to be, and kids reflect those differences. However, there are still kids who are overachievers and underachievers, those who study and those who don't, those who get in trouble and those who don't.

It's also true that there are and have always been parents who are involved and those who are not. And their activities might change, but kids are pretty much like they always were and adult reactions to teenage rebellion are the same, too.

When I was in high school, adults said "kids arent' like they used to be." When my older son was in high school, adults said, "kids aren't like they used to be." 10 years later when my younger son was in high school, guess what adults were saying!

I'm just glad that one of the differences seems to be that kids recognize bull when they hear it and hope it's true that more of them are staying away from the military.

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Why would anyone join the military?
Posted by: drcyflowers on Dec 12, 2007 9:53 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't understand why anyone would join the US military today. Yeah, get your legs blown off so Halliburton can make more profit this year!

From what I see, only children from poor families, who have no opportunities in life, join the US military. They are unfortunately not the ones with the "hovering" parents.

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Recruiters=crack dealers
Posted by: DaBear on Dec 12, 2007 9:53 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Anyone else notice the similarity in tactics between recruiters and drug dealers (well the stereo type of drug dealers... not that I know officially--that disclaimer's for you, FBI fuckers) or even pedaphiles... isolate, work in secret, know their target audience (OK that's like you're ave. marketing goon, they suck too as human beings), 'I understand you more than your parents do' all that shit.

Seems like the best thing a father can do for his son is to teach him the difference between men you trust and men you don't. (I only say this and not daughter because I'm not a mom and my daughter is more likely to kick the shit out of some slathering recruiter... I hope)

Either that or more people need to study Aikido and Iaido.

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More hip teen text message code for Pentagon recruiters
Posted by: eddie torres on Dec 12, 2007 10:40 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
like, dude, it's rad in Iraq = ldiril!

after basic training, you can work for blackwater = abtycwfb!

wanna tap your girlfriend's cellphone? = wtygc?

in Baghdad, there are no cops = ibtanc!

meth cookers learned in the Army = mclita!

neo-nazi militias require Pentagon skill sets these days, dude = nnmrpsstdd!

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what's next?
Posted by: manderson on Dec 12, 2007 12:01 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What's next----press gangs, like 19th century Britain? Crank Dat Spiderman...

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That would probably explain the rash of war video games....
Posted by: Thetorganization on Dec 12, 2007 2:31 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
that have been infilirtarating the markets over the past couple of years. Call of Duty, Medl of Honor, the Rainbow Six series...alot of them are so realistic they could vouch for actual military training tools. And most of the time they are. It's been said that alot of military programs use simulations to exise certain situations in combaf you could look at the latest offering from the CoD series entitled Modern Warfare it's basically rendered to look and feel like the current situation in the middle east, filled with all sorts of stereotypes of middle easterners and even nuclear weapons in the mix! Anybody that couldn't see this type of thing as blatant propaganda is either blind or just stupid to the facts around them. I remember getting a call from a recruiter when I was about 17 (this was before 9/11), and of course I refused and told the guy to get off my sh!t. I guess they now have to use more shady practices to get kids convinced that it's alright to kill innocent people overseas just because of some non-factors and misinformation.

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The Marines these days...
Posted by: DPS on Dec 12, 2007 4:59 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
true story:

i'm younger and a senior in highschool. the Marines came into our gym class today to give us a (watered down) 'warm up.' it was increadably easy, almost like it was saying that the military wasn't hard and that anyone could do it. and when the recruiter asked me what i was planning on doing, i replied with the fact that i've been accepted into Rochester Tech for engineering. so almost instinctively he came up with a story about how he had a friend who was an engineer and hated it, but was serving faithfully for SOCOM and was having 'the time of his life' as a marine officer. he also told us that his Dad was a millionare (no joke either), but later he said that he didn't go to college because he 'couldn't afford it'!?

he also tried dissing me because my swimming wasn't as tough as the marines training. and being ranked 23rd in the state of PA obviously doesn't show how much i train per week...

all that said, i wish the recruiters would go away and annoy someone else. no one in my class bought all that bullshit.

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It's not the military I worry about
Posted by: Ayla87 on Dec 12, 2007 6:04 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's my parents. They're the ones presuring me to enlist, after I've told them 'no' more than once. It wasn't even a complete no either, it was "After college, so I can be an officer"

At least I can ignore recruiters. It's not like I have to eat dinner with them every Sunday.

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Let's see now..........
Posted by: gellero on Dec 12, 2007 8:41 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hmmmm..........trying to think of a country without an army.......Ah.ha....Costa Rica ! Can't think of any other......wait... Monaco?
If humans were kind and we all lived on communes chowing down 'shrooms, I guess we wouldn't need to recruit. But hey....we live in a world where there is a culture that believes it is a Holy Act to blow up a schoolbus and kill innocent kids, and one will be rewarded with virgins ( do they realize what they're getting into?? ) in some imaginary secret world that no human has ever seen. Don't you believe me?? Sound too weird or make believe?? Wish it were so.
And since nobody here in the 'Progressive' world thinks they should share the burden by instituting a draft system, we need recruiters.
And of course we need soldiers.
Would you react this way if we weren't at war?? Actually, most of you probably would, because you think enlisted men ( & girls ) are lower class, and less educated, and more gullible than you. And maybe they are (except for the Officers, who are probably more educated, more dedicated, and smarter than you).
What a bunch of whiney, pansy-ass posters. You should honor your fellow citizens who 'do the jobs most Americans won't do'. Y'all are a bunch of effete,spoiled brats.

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» RE: Let's see now.......... Posted by: bigremo
It's a scary, hostile world out there
Posted by: clarence on Dec 13, 2007 12:40 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If humans were kind and we all lived on communes chowing down 'shrooms, I guess we wouldn't need to recruit...
But hey, there's a culture out there that thinks it's alright to invade other countries and destroy their infrastructure, flatten entire neighborhoods on the suspicion that someone doesn't like us there, kill a million people most of them women and children.
A culture that thinks that everything in the world belongs the them and is willing to kill to get it. A culture whose bargaining stance is, "first accept our terms, then we'll talk."
A culture that spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined. (I also sells more weapons than any other country, often to both sides of a conflict.)
A culture that has never found a problem that can't be solved by killing something (and sees people as things).
A culture that has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with more young people in prison than in college. Where the needs and interests of of its population is served only accidently, if it happens to also serve the interest of corporations.
Scariest of all, it appears to be a culture with a large part of the population suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, with many of its members actually identifying with and feeling protected by their captors.
It's scary, all right.

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About the Hostile World
Posted by: gellero on Dec 13, 2007 5:51 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As expected, a comment that doesn't address the issue.......the need for soldiers.

I wonder if you think Europe would have been better off if we stayed out of Yugoslavia. Would the world be a better place if we left S. Korea?? Perhaps the Koreans should have a say in that. Sorry you find Global politics so distasteful. Maybe we should have left Osama and his gang alone in Afghanistan, and let the people there fend for themselves.

Complicated stuff.....the Fog of War.

Do you think we should bully Sudan about the Dafur situation?? Or just let them solve their own problem. We could ignore it like the world ignored Rawanda.......just a couple hundred thousand dead while nations watched. Makes a great movie plot. I wonder if the ghosts of the dead would have liked to see some US/European troops there before they were hacked to pieces.

Perhaps you should join a foreign policy think tank or appear before the Council on Foreign Relations, so you can have a say.

That being said....we still need soldiers.......honor those willng to do the job.

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» RE: About the Hostile World Posted by: lepidopteryx
» your daughter Posted by: gellero
» RE: your daughter Posted by: lepidopteryx
» RE: your daughter... Posted by: Ayla87
» RE: your daughter... Posted by: lepidopteryx
The most impressive effort in this capacity so far is Three Doors Down's "Citizen Soldier"
Posted by: yellow on Dec 13, 2007 6:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I was quite disappointed in them. A better TDD song for the US military is "I'm a Loser."

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To The One Pro-Military Poster On This Forum (And Everyone Else Too)
Posted by: bcgirl125 on Dec 13, 2007 11:16 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here are some facts to consider about America's military history.

America spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined, despite the fact that it is insulated from attack by 2 huge moats, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Every few years it fights another war, usually in some tiny third world country that annoyed the Washington power brokers in some way. Often, American military operations involve the overthrow of democratic governments, such as that of Mossadegh in Iran and Allende in Chile. America isn't exactly spreading democracy around the globe; more like an opening for its rapacious industries.

And as for Europe and Africa and Asia, why can't Europeans and Africans and Asians look after trouble spots there? Does America really have to be the world's policeman? I don't recall the planet holding an election and appointing America to do the job.

The last "just" war America really needed to fight was World War II, and according to most historians as well as Winston Churchill, that war would not even have happened if America hadn't stuck its nose into World War I, forcing a lopsided victory over Germany and the subsequent Versailles Treaty instead of ending WWI with a fair settlement.

No country needs as many soldiers and as many wars as America has.

Don't join the military. It will just cost you your health and you won't be making the world a safer place.

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We need intelligent kids
Posted by: Jimbo33 on Dec 14, 2007 5:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Okay, the military uses dirty tricks to attract teens. But I think that most kids are not so dumb to believe they will go on an adventure trip and spend the nights in quality hotels. The ones who can be seduced to enlist have parents who are not very smart themselves, who teach their kids that patriotism is by far the most important thing in life, conservative parents so to speak. And therefore it is important to teach students in schools always to question a system or an ideology, to enlight them about how things really work in reality instead just hammering knowledge into their brains. If this kind of education can be introduced in schools successfully then those recruiters and their stupid slogans won't get any chance to send any of those kids to Iraq or elsewhere one day

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Intelligent Kids??
Posted by: gellero on Dec 14, 2007 11:37 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So how do you account for the kids who go to West Point and Annapolis? Stupid?? Are their parents uneducated too??? Sheesh !!!

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