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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Join the US army - because Iraq's far safer than Miami



mark61
11-07-04, 21:43
Paul Harris in Miami
Sunday July 11, 2004
The Observer

Sergeant Michael Bass strode into the Smoothie King, taking off his cap to reveal his sharp army buzz cut. 'Good morning, ladies,' he smiled to two young women behind the counter of the health drink store.
With easy charm and a lilting southern accent, Bass asked if they needed help with funding their college studies. Then he handed the girls his business card with the slogan, 'An Army of One'.

(...)

But recruiting is now tougher than ever. The grim shadow of the war in Iraq is never far away. With 5,000 US soldiers wounded and more than 850 killed, selling the army is also selling the prospect of going to war - and perhaps not coming back. Iraq has already stretched America's military machine. Reservists and National Guard units have been called up in increasing numbers. Last week, 5,600 inactive reservists were involuntarily recalled to duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, a controversial move that showed the desperate need for extra troops.

(...)

A major part of the recruiter's spiel in Miami is about the problems associated with any major US city. Crime is high in the inner city and downtown is full of empty lots, with streets prowled by the homeless. Sergeant Everett Best is brazen about crime levels when potential recruits worry about going to Iraq.

'I tell them straight up. Miami is the biggest war zone we've got,' he said. 'Every time you turn on the TV we see someone shot.' Bass uses simple figures. Nine people from southern Florida have died in Iraq, compared with 338 murders in the Florida region last year: 'They have a better chance in the army than on the streets of Miami.'

(...)

But there are exceptions. Emily Lugo, 18, went to one of Miami's best schools, Palmetto High. It is in Bass's recruiting patch, but he says its wealth makes it a 'very difficult' place to recruit. But Lugo, a petite teenager of Cuban descent, has signed up for the military police. She was inspired rather than intimidated by Iraq.

'I want to see some action,' she grinned. 'My father straight out hates it. With my mom, when I tell her that I want to go to Iraq, she just walks away saying, "I don't want to hear this".'

Bofko
11-07-04, 22:06
Dit is wel heel cynisch. Grotere overlevingskansen in Irak dan in Miami.... :maf: