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<p>I’d like one of these “principled” people to step forward and say they’d trade their entire immediate family in order to prevent the torture of a suspected terrorist.</p>
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<p>While I obviously can’t say this with 100% certainty since we never know unless/until we’re in the situation, but I would like to believe you’re wrong on this one.</p>
<p>I stand by what I said. Marines who lie to children in order to prey upon them are unAmerican, and (I will add) a disgrace to their country.</p>
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<p>I’d like to think that CIA agents and the MI-5 know more than we on CC do. </p>
<p>[Ex-CIA</a> agent: Waterboarding ‘saved lives’ - CNN.com](<a href=“Ex-CIA agent: Waterboarding 'saved lives' - CNN.com”>Ex-CIA agent: Waterboarding 'saved lives' - CNN.com)</p>
<p>[Torture</a> valid as it saves lives, says MI5 - Times Online](<a href=“The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines”>The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines)</p>
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<p>I am sure there are many that do not go to a war zone. But to pretty much say you can choose what you want to train for and you “will not” have to go is not true. And this recruiter did say that while we sat there almost with out mouths hanging open. Much of the discussion was about the fact that he himself had never had to go to a war zone, had spent X years stationed in Hawaii and was about to be posted to germany for x years. All very glamorous and attractive sounding to a 17 year old. Now my son is 21 and in the same situation would be able to judge much more realistically. </p>
<p>My daughter seriously considered the Naval Academy and they were quite straightforward. They flat out say they will try to put you in the area you want to be but in the end if they need someone in such and such a specialty their need comes first. That is what I would expect from any recruiter .</p>
<p>“you mean mini is exaggerating and twisting “facts” to support his own conclusion?”</p>
<p>Well, if some young impressionable future college students happened to wander onto this thread, and were to read her assertions concerning events in Berkeley, and now having being informed she was working with incomplete information that had lead her to draw the wrong conclusion, and if she persisted in her same line of reasoning, well, I’ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions whether she’s calling the kettle black or not.</p>
<p>“I stand by what I said. Marines who lie to children in order to prey upon them are unAmerican, and (I will add) a disgrace to their country.”</p>
<p>I agree Mini, but what about my earlier explanation would lead you to continue along this train of thought concerning events in Berkeley?</p>
<p>By that line of reasoning stealing is valid because it prevents somebody from going hungry. Just because something is a debatably effective means to an end doesn’t make it right. (or “American”)</p>
<p>“I’d like to think that CIA agents and the MI-5 know more than we on CC do.”</p>
<p>Well, John McCain would disagree and he’s best qualified with regard to torture. I think the point would be that people lie under torture and that the information, as a result, is extreemly unreliable.</p>
<p>There have also been numerous stories in the news lately about the amount of information the FBI has gotten from captives by earning their trust and establishing relationships with them as opposed to torturing them.</p>
<p>Sadam Hussein being one of them.</p>
<p>My now ex was approached last year by two army individuals to be recruited. This was during an assembly, and I was sitting up at the stands watching him talk to them on the gym sidelines. I started waving my arms, calling him on my cell, doing whatever I could to get him to stop talking to the recruiters, but then one of the recruiters stepped directly into our line of vision so my ex couldn’t see me, haha.</p>
<p>I don’t think it was any accident that he did so, because later when my ex talked on the phone with a recruiter to tell him that he wasn’t interested, the recruiter started making remarks about how he wasn’t being a man for listening to his girlfriend and not joining the army. Which wasn’t true, there were other reasons why he didn’t want to join (he wanted to go to college instead).</p>
<p>Recruiters’ tactics are very sketchy, indeed…</p>
<p>“Even if the next terroist attack occurs at Berkeley, I am not sure the people there would come to their senses. Berkeley is a true cesspool of igorance.”</p>
<p>Not true Razor; in fact the opposite is true. It’s a mistake to judge an entire city by the actions of a few rogue council members. In my discussion with the Berkeley police one of them confirmed my suspicion that there are far more Berkeley residents supportive of the Marines than there are on the side of the city council members. Watching Berkeley citizens arrive at the recruiting station to take the Marines out to lunch further confirmed my belief.</p>
<p>“I started waving my arms, calling him on my cell, doing whatever I could to get him to stop talking to the recruiters, but then one of the recruiters stepped directly into our line of vision so my ex couldn’t see me, haha.”</p>
<p>Plenty of “sketchy” going around on all sides? Your ex not old enough to think for himself without your help?</p>
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<p>I went to West Point before I transferred to UCLA and where you got placed was determined by class rank. At academies however most people want to go into combat zones, and as such infantry is always in high demand.</p>
<p>“I went to West Point before I transferred to UCLA”</p>
<p>What went wrong???</p>
<p>Telling someone you will try to put them in a certain area is a far cry from promising them you will do it knowing fully well that you can’t guarantee that it will happen.</p>
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<p>Equating McCains torture with waterboarding isn’t the same. On that note just because McCain was tortured doesn’t make him an expert on the subject. The two links provided had people claiming that torture saved lives…that doesn’t mean it ALWAYS saves lives, but some of the time is better than none. </p>
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<p>Uhhh yes? And if I was going hungry I’d steal. I hope you would too…</p>
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<p>Medical issue</p>
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I’ve actually known of some people who didn’t get the training area they were promised and were therefore released from the military at the recruits request instead. This was for someone promised to be an Air Force navigator who the AF ended up deciding not to put in that job for some reason.</p>
<p>But, I agree with you - unless it’s something in a firm contract, probably reviewed by a lawyer, they shouldn’t take the recruiter’s anecdotes as eveidence they wouldn’t end up in a war zone. </p>
<p>Again though, if they’re that set against going into a war zone they shouldn’t join the military.</p>