"cc" <cpasuneadresse@spam.com> wrote in message news:...
>
> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
>
> > > European  "volunteers" or "not volunteers" know it can mean *them*.
> >
> > Care to try backing that up? Is that what surveys of current soldiers
> show?
>
> I've never heard of such surveys, maybe because there are none. It is
> obvious they know and everybody knows.
>
> > It is simple enough to show through the military's own survey, that the
> > soldiers and other Americans are not happy about the situation.
>
> Ignorance....or a sort of hypocrisy from people that didn't want to see
the
> possible consequences last year ? That's not the first time your
militaries
> have reasons to complain.
>
> > Sorry, I don't read that language. Care to explain how they promote
> themselves
> > to potential recruits?
>
> That's not written here, but I can tell you they have many candidates for
> all the offers, especially for overseas positions, even in case of
fighting
> (like Gulf War I) or blue helmets stints.
> That's easy to understand. My cousin is a gendarme (a military that
protect
> us against our inner enemies ! Normally they never go outside French
> territory or colonies.), each time he is affected away from his base, he
is
> paid x% more, depending on how far, plus for certain missions retirement
> points are increased too. For instance, if he goes 3 months to New
> Caledonia, he has 30% more on his paycheck, additional paid holidays to
> compensate the week-ends he spent there, and that period counts as 6
months
> of work for retirement. In case they really fight, get hurt, kidnapped,
> etc, they get even more compensations. They are also given advancement
more
> easily. So the young bachelors tend to volunteer a lot. If they are
> (un)lucky, certain militaries are active in half a dozen of real fights,
> spend a couple years in a dangerous hell, and can earn a full retirement
at
> 35 yr old...or die before. But, they know that.
> What you see on the web site are offers, for each position there is a
> concours more or less formal -from a simple interview to 2 weeks of tests
in
> different subjects on a defined curriculum. They take those with best
> results. You have here the conditions to apply for over 400 different
jobs.
> Each group is described (degrees and/or work experience, you need to pass
a
> fitness test anyway), and they also say what qualities they expect from
you.
>
> They want to attract the fittest persons, especially those with technical
> qualifications, so they say things like "participate in challenging
research
> projects" and give details for each specialty.
>
> >Is
> > the opportunity to fight and die overseas what the recruiters are
> offering?
>
> I've never heard about the existence of "army recruiters" after 1948 or
1870
> (I should check, there was a complete reform)....
>
> The positions and contracts are decided at the level of the ministry and
are
> published
> (in details in an official publication), that's the rule for all the
public
> jobs. Job descriptions are clear. The official offers always precisely
> explain if the position is geographically fixed or you can/will be sent
away
> (and how far, how long, with or without financial/retirement bonification
is
> even precised), if you can refuse or not, the length of engagement, if you
> can quit or not, if you can choose where you'll work, if your widow and
> orphans are eligible for special benefits, etc. A number of contracts are
> for a given location and once that's over, you have no obligation to
accept
> the next propositions, others say you can be sent anywhere anytime and
can't
> refuse, that you are active x years, reservist x years.
>
> I have consulted the details about diplomatic jobs, passed examinations
and
> applied for certain positions. That was cristal clear. I finally refused
the
> offers they made me as they all not only uninteresting, but concerned
> countries in a special situation (Panama, Burma...just in the middle of
> riots, that was as you say :Going there was the only way to know what that
> was like. I wasn't that desesperate to get a job and was too young.).　
They
> didn't hide it, and well you never pass the first examination if you never
> read newspapers anyway. At the interviews , they ask you : "You know
you'll
> work abroad, in difficult countries, you're sure that's not a problem ?
> etc.". The army is not different.
>
> The second thing is about the duty to defend your country. I've even seen
> pages of the GIGN special police or the Legion, there was nothing
> ramboesque, but more "Our job is dangerous, but we are mature responsible
> men....". They don't need brain dead dare-devils.
>
> >Are they offering the chance to ship overseas, fight and
> > maybe die?
>
> Yes, when that's the case.
> A cousin that was hired as civilian staff to do web design has 0% chances
to
> be sent overseas or to fight, she has signed no engagement of that sort.
> Highschool friends that were hired as trying pilot for fighting planes
were
> clearly told the high mortality of that job, even when there is no
> intervention in war. A friend told me that in average, 1 in 10 of the
pilots
> had an "accident"...but for him that's acceptable, as his hobbies,
> paragliding and acrobatic snowboard are not less dangerous.
>
> > Read the US recruitment pages, watch a few recruiting commercials, and
you
> > would know. People tried to recruit me for years, calling me on the
> telephone
> > at home, or sending me pamphlets and form letters. No one ever mentioned
> > fighting, and note that I was still a student when the first Gulf war
> occurred.
>
> OK, their style sucks, but US medias show you the deaths all the time, the
> veterans with the Gulf Syndrome, and current/ex-militaries that
participated
> in all the interventions I listed or spent months guarding an embassy in
> some desert full guerrilleros...
>
> Really the guys that "didn't" know are immature dumbies. I'm sure that's a
> huge disadvantage for an army to have troups of kids and that makes the
> situation in Irak even worse. No wonder the morale is so low, the kids
miss
> their TV and their Mums, they don't even understand where they are, what's
> the history of that country and who are the Iraki ,and the grown-up locals
> don't understand in what teenagers with more guns than cold blood can do
> anything positive for them, they probably fear accidents more than
anything
> else.
> You're asking why they call reservists ? Well, that's obvious, they call
the
> mature ones to do the real job and babysit the brats.
>
> >It was an invasion
> ....
> > Now it's an occupation.
>
> Irak had already been occupied for 8 years...
>
> >Looking back at 20th century history, you'd think US
> > leaders would understand what "Occupation" meant. Tens of thousands of
> > Americans are still in and around Asia.
> >
> > I knew before it started, that Americans would realize their mistake in
> Iraq.
>
> The Americans never seem to realize. Oh yeah, there are individuals that
see
> things differently, but the majority seems to always forget and jump into
> the same trap with the same confidence, optimism, naivity...
> For the French, Indochine and Algeria caused a real change in mentalities,
> the feeling that an area was over and that couldn't be done again. Our
army
> was downsized to maybe 1/10th .The failure of the first Gulf War also lead
> to the same conclusion : we were wrong.
>  If that 1st conflict had not happened, it's likely public opinion and
> leaders would have supported or less opposed the new US project.
>
> But Americans seem to have such a short memory. Just to think the
generation
> that took the Vietnam war in their teeth find it normal that their
children
> sign as military to pay for their studies !
>
> > Iraq is an interesting place with a rich culture and history, a worthy
> place to
> > visit and study.
> ....
> > Compare that to what US soldiers can get in Okinawa, and notice the
> difference.
>
> Maybe in 40 years, that will be like Okinawa.
>
> Frankly, if you really think your army has disgusting recruitment methods,
> why don't you do anything to change that ? Maybe you don't feel concerned,
> as that's not your social class that sends teenagers to the fire.
>
> CC
>