Post by snipsnsnails on Jul 7, 2013 23:30:42 GMT -5
Yeah, and what if there's nothing nefarious going on here? What if she headed down to pick up some free brochures to cut them up and decoupage the letters that spell out "Be All That You Can Be" over the cake table and Mr. Soldier offered to pop in and say hi to the kids?
I just think it's beyond weird to go to an armed forces recruitment office for kindergarten bday party ideas. Why not pick up an Oriental Trading catalog, get a few camoflauge hats, some squirt guns, and set up an obstacle course in the yard that includes a slip and slide, a limbo pole and walking across a wood beam. I don't see any reason to have a Marine recruiter (or 'outreach person' or whatever) come to get a bunch of six year olds all het up about the army.
But then they'd be playing war, suesue! And that means they'd grow up with no empathy and be raging killing machines because you introduced them to camo and squirt guns!
PLUS the fact that we have no fucking clue what actually took place at this birthday party! We have a short email from someone who knows someone who frkls deemed worthy to stick her nose up at.
Now I really am bowing out. Because its almost 1 and this is infuriating.
Post by sparkythelawyer on Jul 8, 2013 8:47:29 GMT -5
I think having the recruiter come by is a bit much, how old are these kids? Otherwise, the army is a noble profession and an "Army Themed" party for a kid is fine in my book.
MH is a recruiter who has killed people (not recruiting, at least yet, he's pretty new). Don't worry, if any kids try to talk to him, or be in awe of the fact that he grew up in a trailer park and is now doing well for himself in pretty much the only true meritocracy in this country, he'll scream and run the other way. Under no circumstances will he do anything nice for a little kid obsessed with the military, which is what going to a party would be, since they're not allowed to recruit children. Too bad, they're so malleable with their little unformed brains. He would never try to create goodwill in the community by giving so freely of his time. Luckily he's already stopped volunteering at the super kid friendly military museum, giving up his Saturdays for two years when he already worked insane physically exhausting hours. Because it was kid after kid there. What does this do, what does that do, what is physics? Can't parents be more responsible and teach their kids to regard service members as Dalit or something?
For the (serious) record, recruiters have to fill their time somehow. My husband's office has a mission of 3 contracts per month. My recruiter is on vacation because his mission is so low. I would have died (of happiness, not because the blood hungry recruiter killed me) to have a real live service member at my birthday party as a kid. Instead, on the weekends surrounding my 6th birthday, I was probably on a street corner holding an anti Gulf War sign because my parents are (in my father's case an actual one) hippies, and that's what we did in the summer and early fall of 1990. So be careful y'all. You might be working hard to teach your kids that service members are evil, and then they'll go out and marry one, and maybe even try to become one.
Don't worry, I'll go back to the spouses of killers board now. I was just lurking for a few. We're all talked out over there on this subject.
Post by speckledfrog on Jul 8, 2013 9:30:52 GMT -5
Obstacle course, I'm good with. Mock boot camp, I'm good with. Pamphlets? No. Recruiter? No.
I'm not anti-military. Both of my brothers served, one with the Marines and one with the Army. They both joined in times of war and they both saw action overseas. I am proud of them. I know they did a service to this country. It's not a path I want for my child. It's too dangerous. It's too scary. It's too damaging. Both of my brothers have PTSD. My youngest brother is 27 years old and sleeps with the light on.
Having a recruiter at a party and passing out pamphlets is propaganda. Just because you like the military doesn't make it no so. A recruiters job is to recruit. Of course he isn't putting the hard sell on a 7 year old. Sure, it's just community outreach, but community outreach is done, in part, to promote good will for that organization within the community. It's inappropriate for a child's party.
I can understand why being opposed to it is offensive to people in the military or who have loved ones in the military. If you can't understand why it's tasteless to others then you have your head too far up your own ass.
If it's something the kid is into I don't see why it would be a bad thing.
My kid is gaga about fire fighters right now so I if I went down to the station to get ideas for decorations or whatever and a fireman offered to come to the party and talk about his job I'd definitely let him.
You can ask. My Dh is a ff and his truck just went to a pool party for the fourth to show the truck and talk about fire safty. I know his department stresses community involvement and outreach so that if kids are ever in a fire it's not as scary when th firefighters come in.
Why not police? Would you have a problem with an officer coming to your kids school then too? My dad came to our classes all through elementary school. I wasn't aware this was controversial. lol.
Let's face it. With a few notable exceptions, most of our military involvement since the civil war has not been defending US soil.
Absolutely understood. And my husband will be one of the first to say he believes Iraq, at the minimum, was a mistake.
It still creates a reaction in me though when people think that the only thing my husband does is kill people. And I know that I'm probably too close to it all to not have an emotional response to it, but it still hurts when my husband gets pegged as a killer and only that. Like when he was called a "baby killer" when all he was trying to do was buy an energy drink at a convenience store. He's done more community service in the military than anything. He's fired his weapon at exactly zero living things in the 7 years he's been in and two deployments to Iraq as infantry (unless you count camel spiders, but I equate those to demons). There's more to the military than just killing. Especially in peacetime.
My issue is actively trying to get 18 year olds to go out and be killed.
The "all volunteer" military means that we aren't as invested as a country in the actions our military take. Plenty of the country has no personal connection to these wars. Kids are being sent out to die for decades at a time (and destroy other countries - but that decision is at a much higher level than the kid). And we are breeding ill will around the world.
I can think all those things and respect individual military members. They often join for patriotic reasons and are interested in making our world a better place. I just deeply disagree these wars accomplish that. I'm in favor of teaching my kid to respect servicemen and women, but question the actions and motivations of the military as a whole (and especially hawkish civilian leaders who are happy to risk others without having lived the realities).
You know people in the military do other jobs than go to war. I can think of deployments to Haiti, New Orleans, and New York City. I think it's a bit of an overreaction to demonize this recruiter, and this mother. How far does this go: policemen, toy guns, water guns, video games, GI Joe?
Also I must admit that t hurts my feelers to here that children shouldn't be exposed to the military. You know my husband has sacrificed a lot for the Army, even though it is by choice. It's not about agreeing with everything that the military does, I certainly have huge issues with how the Army does things, but how many people agree with every policy at their jobs? Service members put up with it a lot of times because they feel a higher calling.
We can respect and appreciate the military without wanting our preschoolers exposed to boot camp and war games. It doesn't really matter if you get it.
We can respect and appreciate the military without wanting our preschoolers exposed to boot camp and war games. It doesn't really matter if you get it.
But is that what happened? I mean again how far does it go? Can my husband go to career day for kids or is that wrong?
It feels really offensive because its coming across as military people shouldn't be around kids.
Don't know what to tell you. Nobody even remotely implied that. War is not a party theme. No amount of you being offended is going to change my mind on that. I can't imagine any service man or woman who has seen people die wanting their kids to think it's fun and games. It's absurd to me.
Ok, so we have no idea what actually happened at the party, lol. There are a lot of assumptions happening here. I seriously doubt 5yr olds were recruited, ffs.
Exactly. Also I doubt she went to the recruiting office for brochures. They generally have a lot of giveaways like dog tags, rubber bracelets, etc.
Don't know what to tell you. Nobody even remotely implied that. War is not a party theme. No amount of you being offended is going to change my mind on that. I can't imagine any service man or woman who has seen people die wanting their kids to think it's fun and games. It's absurd to me.
But you do understand that war isn't the party theme, yes? It's an obstacle course. And the military does more than just fight in wars.
But you do understand that war isn't the party theme, yes? It's an obstacle course. And the military does more than just fight in wars.
I don't know about anyone else, but when I have seen little boys "playing soldier" I have only seen them pretending to "fight" and "shoot" and "battle".
I have never seen them pretending to drop humanitarian aid.
Yes, as adults we know that the military does some things that do not involve war, but little boys don't really idolize that part of it.
Thank goodness this recruiter is going to this party to teach the kids all the wonderful and helpful things the army does! And to get them excited to run through obstacle courses!
Seriously, there's a much better chance that this is what the recruiter will be doing there- not, you know, recruiting children.
But you do understand that war isn't the party theme, yes? It's an obstacle course. And the military does more than just fight in wars.
But if it's just about having an obstacle course, why the need to go to the recruiting office or have a military member come to the party?
I don't know about anyone else, but when I have seen little boys "playing soldier" I have only seen them pretending to "fight" and "shoot" and "battle".
I have never seen them pretending to drop humanitarian aid.
Yes, as adults we know that the military does some things that do not involve war, but little boys don't really idolize that part of it.
But are they playing war because someone from the military told them about it?