U.S. starts to recruit children for future combat duty (HOAX article)

[Dover]

This is unbelievable.
Aren't there laws against this?

Anyone familiar with this news source?
Tim Schmitt, the journalist/author writes for "Pointblank", a Des Moines alternative newspaper.


U.S. starts to recruit children for future combat duty
Tim Schmitt , Iraqwar.ru April 15, 2005


In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty.

Colin Hadley spends most of his days after school skateboarding or
playing Halo II on his new X-Box with friends. He sleeps until noon or later on weekends and rarely, if ever, does any schoolwork outside the classroom, where he pulls down solid C's and a few D's - just enough to get by. He's the typical 15-year-old American boy: cocksure in demeanor, certain the w! orld revolves around him, and confident that life is going to serve him well.

And he's the new "target of interest" for U.S. military recruiters
who've begun signing up boys as young as 14 for military service,
which they will be required to begin when they turn 18.

"It's a sweet deal," says Hadley, who boasts that he bought his X-Box
with the enlistment bonus he received after signing up last month. "I
don't have to do hardly anything for three years, but they're paying
me now."

Hadley's windfall was made possible under the Pentagon's
"pre-enlistment program" that was quietly authorized last month in an
effort to ensure the number of military troops available for combat
remains steady for at least the next few years. The conditions of the
program are simple. A young man who is at least 14 years old and has a parent's permission can enlist in the U.S. military, but will not
report to duty until he reaches the legal age. Th! e future soldier
agrees to remain "physically and mentally fit" and to undergo annual
physical examinations at the Military Entrance and Processing Station
(MEPS). In exchange, the government provides him a $10,000 sign-on
bonus that is paid in yearly installments of $2,500 until the age of
18, at which time any remaining balance is given to the recruit.

And while waiting to report to duty at 18, the new recruits are paid a modest stipend and allowed access to funds granted veterans for
education. Because combat duty is a requirement of enlistment, the
program is currently open only to young men, and it has been
authorized for only three years, so Congress will have to renew the
program again in 2008...cont'd

http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/46616

[funflower]

1. Such a contract would be unenforceable

although I don't doubt they are trying to convince such youngsters to "enlist."

[NAO]

2. This has to be a joke - give X-boxes to 15 yr olds as pre-enlistment bonus

If this is true, it's the absolute sickest think I've ever heard.

[booley]

3. I fell for this too

apparently it's a joke.

Fortunatly

[nine30]

4. Great ! Hitler's youth army now in the US !

[napi21]

5. Well, I'm not a lawyer, but I doubt this contract can be held binding.

I seem to remember, in Corporate Law classes, that anyone under the age of 18 are not able to execute a binding contract. Maybe sone lawyers here can clear this up, but something doesn't smell right here.

[tinrobot]

7. Consider the source

The site has a .ru domain (Russia)

I'll wait until I see it reported elsewhere before deciding.

[coloradodem2005]

6. One's signature doesn't mean anything until they are 18.

I don't think any such contract would hold up.

[Dover]

8. I received this article from a friend via email, so don't know its origins

or anything at all about the web site. It's got to be a joke.

Problem is, it's certainly within the realm of possibility with these creeps.

[norml]

9. According to this, it's a hoax. I almost posted it a few days ago.

U.S. start to recruit children for future combat duty
In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty.
Tim Schmitt , Iraqwar.ru






Update:

Apologies

Snop.com < http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/recruit.asp > is absolutely right: this news story is false. The article is a spoof.
We made a blunder and we apologize for it: our only excuse is that we've taken the article from a reputable website that had mistaken it for a true piece of information.
Uruknet.info


April 15, 2005





snip




http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m11136&date=16-apr-2005_08:03_ECT

[Dover]

10. Hmmm...a joke? NOT FUNNY !!!!!!

Thanks for the snopes

[norml]

11. Yes, and Tim Schmitt was apparently taken in too.

Never underestimate your ability to be conned. Think about it. If it was an official recruiting program, wouldn't you find something about it on an official recruiting web site? Recruiters don't keep their recruiting programs secret.

[norml]

12. I almost posted this, on our forces fighting the G.L.A. in Kazakhstan.

The Countdown BeginsBy Brad Cook
Two weeks ago, I found myself embedded with U.S. forces in Kazakhstan. Despite official talk that this is a “mop-up operation” against the Global Liberation Army (G.L.A.), the missile that just hit a U.S. military base in northern Europe puts the lie to that spin. It was a warhead of the chemical-laden G.L.A. variety, and right now tensions are understandably high among the troops stationed here.

Right after filing his report about the strike, British News Network correspondent James Seymour high-tailed it out of here, but I decided to stick around and see what I could learn. After scrounging around a bit, I discovered that the U.S. military is rolling out some new hardware for this campaign, hoping this time to put an end to the G.L.A.

Leading this new line-up are the Sentry Drones, mobile ‘bots that can patrol the perimeter and keep an eye out for the bad guys. When upgraded with a nose-mounted 20mm machine gun, they’re effective against infantry and small vehicles. U.S. troops are also rolling around in Microwave Tanks, which can disable electronics and zap opposing soldiers the way a microwave oven might. In addition, they brought in Avengers, laser-equipped vehicles that can “paint” air and ground targets, giving nearby forces a better chance to take them out.

U.S. troops are also employing fire bases, small structures equipped with 155mm cannons for dispatching air and ground attacks. They can hold four soldiers ready to tackle anything that makes it through the barrage.


snip



http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2005/04/generalszerohour/