Civil-military relations
Some of my best friends are veterans. -- Yeah, okay, I just wanted to say that, but of the six or eight people I hang around with at law school, three of them are ex-military: two Air Force guys and an ex-Marine gal. The ex-Marine (Coco; not her real name) is starting a student group on campus for military sorts: the Law School Armed Forces Association. Now, Coco is also the assistant treasurer for Amnesty International, so she isn't exactly a hard-right stick-up-her-ass military sort. (Ha.) So she was asking for things she could do to make her group not only a success but hopefully accessible to students who aren't, say, necessarily military-friendly.
In the course of this she managed to mention that she'd been asked -- recently, like at law school -- how many babies she'd killed.
?!
Now, I know there are a fair number of hard-lefties who disagree painfully with the military. I'm one of them, usually. But here's what I'm not -- a hard-lefty who doesn't know the difference between the decisions made by the top brass in the military and the individuals who are in the military.
I also think it's a class issue. I know, because I'm not a fool, that an extremely large number of people who go into the military do so because it's the best option they have -- whether for a job, or to get out of town, or to get someone to help them go to college. They don't usually go because they have a choice between that and something like, you know, a full scholarship to Harvard or something. Sometimes these kinds of choices aren't obvious to, you know, upper-middle-class kids whose parents paid for everything.
Yeah, there are some people in the military who are there because they like to fight/kill/beat up things (*coughs* or drive tanks *coughs*) but it's just as stupid to assume that someone went into the military for that as it is to assume that someone is in law school because zie wants to be an ambulance-chaser. Vast majority? Don't. Aren't.
And there are a lot of people who go into the military because they actually WANT to be in the military. They still probably don't 'like' to kill things. It's more likely that they like to, say, fix airplanes. Or fly 'em. Or mess around with computers. Or something else mundane like that. *sigh*
Next topic: Berating a JAG recruiter because of DADT.
Don't do it. The poor JAG recruiter didn't have anything to do with it. Also, yelling at her about it is not terribly likely to change anything at all. If you feel the need to protest the JAG recruiter, write a letter to the administration.
It's kind of like yelling at an adjunct because they keep raising tuition: pointless, and not very nice to the adjunct.
I'm a fan of protesting, but I'm also a fan of knowing what fights to fight, and protesting DADT by yelling at a recruiter when support is waning fast anyway is not effective. More effective? Staging a demonstration outside, writing letters, sending money to people who organize demonstrations, etc. You know -- practically anything but coming into a recruiting meeting for people who want to be JAG officers and yelling at the recruiter.
Also, you don't know what the JAG recruiter's personal opinion on DADT is. You could be preaching to the choir.
So Coco is planning a panel on DADT, co-sponsored with OUTLaws, and a Meet a Military Person mixer, so people can ask things like, "Why did you join the Marines?" and get a real answer (in Coco's case, because she wanted to see the world -- and she actually can say that with a straight face and I believe her -- you'd have to meet her to understand).
We'll see how it goes.
In the course of this she managed to mention that she'd been asked -- recently, like at law school -- how many babies she'd killed.
?!
Now, I know there are a fair number of hard-lefties who disagree painfully with the military. I'm one of them, usually. But here's what I'm not -- a hard-lefty who doesn't know the difference between the decisions made by the top brass in the military and the individuals who are in the military.
I also think it's a class issue. I know, because I'm not a fool, that an extremely large number of people who go into the military do so because it's the best option they have -- whether for a job, or to get out of town, or to get someone to help them go to college. They don't usually go because they have a choice between that and something like, you know, a full scholarship to Harvard or something. Sometimes these kinds of choices aren't obvious to, you know, upper-middle-class kids whose parents paid for everything.
Yeah, there are some people in the military who are there because they like to fight/kill/beat up things (*coughs* or drive tanks *coughs*) but it's just as stupid to assume that someone went into the military for that as it is to assume that someone is in law school because zie wants to be an ambulance-chaser. Vast majority? Don't. Aren't.
And there are a lot of people who go into the military because they actually WANT to be in the military. They still probably don't 'like' to kill things. It's more likely that they like to, say, fix airplanes. Or fly 'em. Or mess around with computers. Or something else mundane like that. *sigh*
Next topic: Berating a JAG recruiter because of DADT.
Don't do it. The poor JAG recruiter didn't have anything to do with it. Also, yelling at her about it is not terribly likely to change anything at all. If you feel the need to protest the JAG recruiter, write a letter to the administration.
It's kind of like yelling at an adjunct because they keep raising tuition: pointless, and not very nice to the adjunct.
I'm a fan of protesting, but I'm also a fan of knowing what fights to fight, and protesting DADT by yelling at a recruiter when support is waning fast anyway is not effective. More effective? Staging a demonstration outside, writing letters, sending money to people who organize demonstrations, etc. You know -- practically anything but coming into a recruiting meeting for people who want to be JAG officers and yelling at the recruiter.
Also, you don't know what the JAG recruiter's personal opinion on DADT is. You could be preaching to the choir.
So Coco is planning a panel on DADT, co-sponsored with OUTLaws, and a Meet a Military Person mixer, so people can ask things like, "Why did you join the Marines?" and get a real answer (in Coco's case, because she wanted to see the world -- and she actually can say that with a straight face and I believe her -- you'd have to meet her to understand).
We'll see how it goes.