I'm steaming. I received a call around 5 this afternoon. The woman on the other end said "This is the U.S. Government calling. We want to speak with young adults age 16-24 about their career plans. Are there any people in your household that age?" I said there were three. She said, "How many are males?" I said two were. She said, "Could I speak with the youngest?" I asked again who she was. She repeated that she was with the U.S. Government and wanted to find out the education and career plans of young adults. We get phone surveys all the time, and I thought this sounded harmless, in fact a laudable development if this Administration was actually paying attention to what its citizens were thinking, so I went and got my sixteen year old, who happened to be the only one of the three home.
More below the jump.
As I got him, a thought crossed my mind, and I said "Don't agree to anything if it's the military." My son listened to a spiel for a few minutes, then said, "They need to have your permission to talk to me." I took the phone and asked the woman, "Is this the military?" She said it was. I said, "I think it's dishonest of you not to tell me you're calling for the military. We're not interested." And hung up. And my 10th grader went back to his video game.
It reminded me of that creepy scene in Fahrenheit 911 when the recruiters were stalking young men in the parking lot. What bugged me the most was that they wanted to start with the youngest, and presumably most impressionable child. The military is desperately searching for recruits because they're stretched way too thin in a war that should never have been fought, and are not treating veterans right after they've served. I honor all Americans serving our country in Iraq or elsewhere.
But they're not getting my 16 year old, no matter how sneaky they are about approaching him.