Letters: On-campus military recruiting

April 2, 2009 by Letters 

To the Editor,

Last week, as many people may have seen, the Army had a large setup by the library with what I understood to be some type of flight simulator and a rock climbing wall. I may have missed it if there were any additional “attractions” but I was too busy looking, in shock, at the line of students waiting to ride the simulators.

If you would have asked me what I thought of this three weeks ago, I would have probably had some type of opinion but not quite as strong as I do now. On March 15th, a friend of mine who I attended high school with and eventually became better friends with during a summer back home, was killed in Afghanistan in a roadside bombing. After reading through all the articles and watching all the news pieces, I learned that when he joined the Army National Guard, his parents were told that he would not have to leave the state of Illinois if he didn’t want to. They were lied to. Chris was on his second deployment when he was killed.

As I stood looking at the line of students, all I could think of was watching that news piece and hearing his mother say “that was a lie”.

This was all a lie too. Flights simulators. Rock climbing walls. Since when did joining the Army become a day at Gameworks? With all the mixed emotions that this entire scene brought out in me, I thought it was a better idea to walk away. However, a part of me has not been able to let this go.

Coming from a background in marketing, I understand the need when it comes to recruitment. However, with any type of marketing, there comes an ethical and moral responsibility. You would expect that a group such as the Army, one that recruits individuals to fight for our country and often times risk their lives in doing so, would hold themselves to the highest standards of moral and ethical recruitment methods. Masking reality into a carnival-like spectacle, that I am guessing moves from campus to campus, is far from it.

Risking your life for this country is many things. It’s honorable, respectful, and incredibly admirable. But what it’s not, is fun and games. And sadly, the Army seems to be hoping that we won’t know the difference.

Samantha Krerowicz, 

MBA Student