Lockdown at Minneapolis military recruiting offices goes unchallenged

So you held a protest and nobody cared. So sad. Get jobs, go to work.

[...] Must be nice not to …. Have to worry about the daily grind, putting food on the table, taking care of your children, making… [...]

My daughter’s former boyfriend told me, a few years ago, that he wanted to join the Army so he could “make a difference.” By going to Iraq, I guess, and he thought that would make a positive change in the world. He was in a dead- end job, too, working at WalMart. Five other boys my daughter knew joined as well, & off to the wars they went.

Last I heard, one of them was in an Army mental facility. The other five have PTSD to one degree or another and the kid who wanted to “make a difference” is back working at WalMart.

I am a military veteran myself, & twenty years ago I became a life member of Veterans For Peace. The Endless Wars have got to stop, and I see zero reason why recruiting offices should be allowed to keep herding young men & women into the Machine.

The only “difference” that the military of this, or any nation, makes is an utterly negative one. Bless the kids who locked down the recruitment centers at Oak & Washington, and at Brookdale by using guts, courage, lockboxes and U- locks! I support them totally.

[...] Society and the Peace and Justice Committee at Macalester College kept the momentum going with an autonomous lockdown at a U of M recruiting [...]

the two lock downs were actually two different groups, with some cross-over of participants. the one on washington was done by macalester sds, while the brooklyn center group was unaffiliated with any organization that includes several non-students.

We have jobs, some of us have two or three, but when you believe in something, you have to act no matter how much of a sacrifice it is.

maddmedic, does it hurt your head to be that confused?

Can I have permission to send these photos to FAILblog.org?

“you have to act no matter how much of a sacrifice it is.”

Quite the sacrifice. The irony of this whole situation is the protesters go to a school that costs 30k a year. I agree that something needs to be done about recruitment offices, and especially their allure to underprivileged young persons, but this self-aggrandizing grandstanding is useless. Leave it to the SDS to make us all look like jackasses.

I think reality is doing a better job than these protesters at discouraging kids to sign up for military stints. With almost 2/3 of our soldiers coming back with mental or physical problems that will either end up A) costing us millions of dollars to give the proper care to these veterans, or B) causing us to ignore the problems to save the millions of dollars. Either alternative doesn’t sound to welcome to me.

What a bunch of clowns. First off, Jordan. Take a good look at the recruiting offices. They recruit officers. Those enlisting there pretty much have diploma in hand. If not, they go to an enlisted/non-com office. They aren’t some “poor kid” from the ghetto with no way out, but I will say, military service for that “kid from the ghetto” would do him a world of good versus becoming a street hood and prison resident.
Next, to you pathetic losers that protested. I don’t have an issue with your protest, I have an issue how you carried it out. You insult every veteran, myself included by forcibly denying access to these facilities. You have an issue with the war, not an issue. But the very people that you prevent walking through those doors protect your right to assembly. I would not have batted an eye had you not locked yourselves to the door.
Frank, thank you for your service. However, you are wrong. This country needs a military to defend itself and project power. Denying access to recruiting offices or shutting them down is an extremely naive’ attitude. You yourself took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign or domestic. Or did you forget that part?

4 years in the Marines would do these dipshits more good then they know. Enjoy your freedom !!!!!!!!!!!

There is something to be said for all “terrorists” alike. Don’t you know who we’re fighting? The children of those who we pillaged in the gulf war. A war that we instigated by handing out chemical weapons and educating Saddam’s forces on how to further produce them. This is not a defence of freedom–no one threatened it! This is a very common pattern of American behavior that must be stopped. Our wars are a result of military foreign aid for the profeit of a few (Cheyney, Bush, Rumsfeld and their respecive commitees to name some). This imperialization is just another manifest destiny constucted from greed, propaganda and fear constructs.

3,000 lost in 01′
This is unacceptable, but so too is the mass of retaliation. The civilian deaths in Iraq and Afganistan far exceeded that by just December!! Not to mention another 3000 soldiers who’s lives were sensisly tossed away(I of course mean no offence and often wheep..). A soldiers life is worth about 6,000 USD to the government. And we need not discuss how much racism this profiteering is contributing to all people in the east..