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Allegations of Recruiters Kidnapping Children
I don't even know what to say about this story. It somehow seems like the kind of thing you would read in a tabloid and mentally blow-off, but it was NOT in some rag. It was in the widely respected Seattle Post Intelligencer. Feel free to push this story out to the lamestream media:
For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the white letters USMC on their caller ID soon spelled, "Don't answer the phone!"
Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of calls to Axel as soon as the mellow, compliant Sedro-Woolley High School grad had cut his 17th birthday cake. And soon it was nearly impossible to get the seekers of a few good men off the line.
With early and late calls ringing in their ears, Marcia tried using call blocking. And that's when she learned her first hard lesson. You can't block calls from the government, her server said. So, after pleas to "Please stop calling" went unanswered, the family's "do not answer" order ensued.
But warnings and liquid crystal lettering can fade. So, two weeks ago when Marcia was cooking dinner Axel goofed and answered the call. And, faster than you can say "semper fi," an odyssey kicked into action that illustrates just how desperate some of the recruiters we've read about really are to fill severely sagging quotas.
Let what we learned serve as a warning to other moms, dads and teens, the Cobbs now say. Even if your kids actually may want to join the military, if they hope to do it on their own terms, after a deep breath and due consideration, repeat these words after them: "No," "Not now" and "Back off!"
"I've been trained to be pretty friendly. I guess you might even say I'm kind of passive," Axel told me last week, just after his mother and older sister had tracked him to a Seattle testing center and sprung him on a ruse.
The next step of Axel's misadventure came when he heard about a cool "chin-ups" contest in Bellingham, where the prize was a free Xbox. The now 18-year-old Skagit Valley Community College student dragged his tail feathers home uncharacteristically late that night. And, in the morning, Marcia learned the Marines had hosted the event and "then had him out all night, drilling him to join."
Then Axel's mom went out of town for the day, and that, she alleges in the next paragraphs, is when the recruiters kidnapped her son, and forced him to sign recruitment papers.
A single mom with a meager income, Marcia raised her kids on the farm where, until recently, she grew salad greens for restaurants.
Axel's father, a Marine Corps vet who served in Vietnam, died when Axel was 4.
Clearly the recruiters knew all that and more.
"You don't want to be a burden to your mom," they told him. "Be a man." "Make your father proud." Never mind that, because of his own experience in the service, Marcia says enlistment for his son is the last thing Axel's dad would have wanted.
The next weekend, when Marcia went to Seattle for the Folklife Festival and Axel was home alone, two recruiters showed up at the door.
Axel repeated the family mantra, but he was feeling frazzled and worn down by then. The sergeant was friendly but, at the same time, aggressively insistent. This time, when Axel said, "Not interested," the sarge turned surly, snapping, "You're making a big (bleeping) mistake!"
Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and another recruiter showed up at the LaConner Brewing Co., the restaurant where Axel works. And before Axel, an older cousin and other co-workers knew or understood what was happening, Axel was whisked away in a car.
"They said we were going somewhere but I didn't know we were going all the way to Seattle," Axel said.
Just a few tests. And so many free opportunities, the recruiters told him.
He could pursue his love of chemistry. He could serve anywhere he chose and leave any time he wanted on an "apathy discharge" if he didn't like it. And he wouldn't have to go to Iraq if he didn't want to.
At about 3:30 in the morning, Alex was awakened in the motel and fed a little something. Twelve hours later, without further sleep or food, he had taken a battery of tests and signed a lot of papers he hadn't gotten a chance to read. "Just formalities," he was told. "Sign here. And here. Nothing to worry about."
By then Marcia had "freaked out."
She went to the Burlington recruiting center where the door was open but no one was home. So she grabbed all the cards and numbers she could find, including the address of the Seattle-area testing center.
Then, with her grown daughter in tow, she high-tailed it south, frantically phoning Axel whose cell phone had been confiscated "so he wouldn't be distracted during tests."
Axel's grandfather was in the hospital dying, she told the people at the desk. He needed to come home right away. She would have said just about anything.
But, even after being told her son would be brought right out, her daughter spied him being taken down a separate hall and into another room. So she dashed down the hall and grabbed him by the arm.
"They were telling me I needed to 'be a man' and stand up to my family," Axel said.
What he needed, it turned out, was a lawyer.
Five minutes and $250 after an attorney called the recruiters, Axel's signed papers and his cell phone were in the mail.
My request to speak with the sergeant who recruited Axel and with the Burlington office about recruitment procedures went unanswered.
And so should your phone, Marcia Cobb advised. Take your own sweet time. Keep your own counsel. And, if you see USMC on caller ID, remember what answering the call could mean.
I can't wait to hear the excuses for this latest "recruitment activity" by the government. Who needs the draft when the agents of the government can just kidnap kids from their home while their parents are out?
To call or e-mail your members of congress and voice your opinion about this matter, click here for contact information for your senators and click here for contact information for your congressmembers.
[Editor's Note: Please remember to leave a comment for Congress on the previous thread.]
Casey,
Suggest you add one more link . . . to send info to all the troops in Iraq about that "apathy discharge".
Off topic but worth seeing:
House Judiciary Democrats to hold hearings on Downing Street minutes
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/House_Judiciary_Democrats_to_hold_hearings_on_Downing_Street_mi_0609.html
I am not even surprised by this for some reason, most likely because when they came by and called about my daughter who passed in dec. when i explain to them, they ask me if any other teens live in my house? How wonderful our government has become, do not know what we would do without all this compassionate conservatism!
Glad Chris Matthews is covering the important stories.
He's talking to Russell Crowe tonight.
Maybe Crowe will talk about the Downing Street Memo, and why Dubya reminds him of Cometus, in Gladiator.
Casey:
How far removed are we from the former Iraqi regime when we forcibly abduct young people to "recruit" them as soldiers? Just wondering
Cyrano:
Check spelling. Dubya would remind Crowe of Comatose, the Gladiator.
Moyers is on Matthews tomorrow night.
Matthews is gushing all over Crowe. Says he loves the violence in Cindrella Man. He apparently has no problem with the hatchet job Opie did on Max Baer in the movie. Ron Howard is apparently unable to make three dimensional movies. Matthews has no problem, which explains why he let Rove's henchmen slander John Kerry night in and night out during the campaign.
I noticed in the news last night they reported a story about two men that were arrested yesterday in California for allegedly plotting terrorist activities on native soil. Could be, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is an "elevated terrorist threat" here in the homeland while Dubya's approval ratings are going down and there is potential heat on about the Downing Street Memo.
If people start to think, it's time to scare those active brain cells right out of 'em. Terra.
For the record, Russell Crowe came out against the Iraq War, which should tick off all the wingnuts who have decided the film Gladiator is a tribute to their martial aspirations. I bet most of them served in the same branch of the military as Perle and Wolfowitz.
Senate Democrats will not allow a vote on President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador unless the White House hands over records it has already asked for, Minority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday. "If they want John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, give us this information. If they don't, there will be no Bolton."
(Please tell me there will be NO deals!)
Posted by: monkey at June 9, 2005 07:50 PM
I agree this country can not afford anymore deals!
Go, Harry!
Could be that guts are returning to our party...
Please...Please... Please...
I have emailed a complete copy of the Downing Street Memo to the New Mexico Representatives and Senators with a question as to what they are doing regarding the questions raised by the Memo.
I hope that each and every one of you are doing the same in your state.
Posted by: Ray S at June 9, 2005 09:42 PM
I am, Ray. Thank you.
Truth Shall Prevail
I glanced at that headline (CA terrorist thing) at work - couldn't really do internet there - & had same thought. There is always something "scary" around the time something is up their sleeve & I suspect this time it's because the Patriot Act is up to be renewed.
Re the topic of this thread:
When my son was a Senior in high school, a Navy recruiter just wouldn't leave us alone. I had to be very very firm and repeatedly. I had to tell him he has not ever to call again and I had to do this repeatedly and in many many ways. I also had to screen the phone calls and hope that he never directly got in touch with my son, who had no interest in joining. I knew how these guys operate though. I had friends that died in Vietnam at that age - they were promised they would only go to Germany and they were given different training than they were signed up to receive. Then they didn't come back at all.
I'm glad to say that high school students in Seattle are becoming very active in trying to keep recruiters out of their high schools. They've been out with protest signs - I missed photographing it because it was during my work segment of my week. Proud of them though.
Wait--I thought rendition was for the bad guys.
Rendition--recruitment
disassemble--dissemble
lets call the whole thing off.
You know the fluff story about how W & Kerry both had mediocre grades when starting University?
Know who else did? Dominic De Villipin, the brilliant French politician.
Then there was me - I took 4 courses - drawing, design, art history & sociology. I once came to my morning class in pajamas - there were over 300 in the class & the instructor said, "Miss? Will you please refrain from doing your toiletries in class?"
Google search
Impeach Nixon 69,900 listings
Impeach Clinton 213,000 listings
Impeach Bush 536,000 listings
Granted, the internet wasn't around ..
Ray S.: Good call for action. Will do.
Bob Evans: I'd be happy to. Do you have a link? Like maybe the recruiter's names, followed closely by maybe the lawyer's name and e-mail addy?
Dianne,that's a no brainer class Bush took compared to what JK had on his plate. Bush is still in a campaign mood..nothing changes as far as he can see. He did learn cheerleading well,don't you think?
I got called a lot when I was in high school by the recruiters. My mom never trusted the intentions of young, fit soldiers wanting to take a teenage girl out for lunch, dinner, etc without any chaperones. I think them signing me up for service was the least of her worries!
I managed to shut them all up though because all the recruiters were hard-selling money for college...I told them I was already accepted for college overseas and asked if their money would cover that. No? So sorry...
What's ironic is that when I did finally join some 5+ years later, I had to harangue the recruiter for three years before he'd let me in. Depends which branch you choose and whether you go officer/enlisted I guess!