The Army in the Marketplace: Recruiting an All-Volunteer Force by Beth Bailey

I found myself surprised by much of the article by Beth Bailey. Most likely because I'm pretty uneducated about the military. For example, I didn't know that the draft was in effect from the 1940's on, I didn't know that morning reveille had been abolished or that inspection standards had been relaxed. Probably because the only knowledge I have of the military comes from movies and television depicting the army, or what my friend Nate told me about his very short stint at The Naval Academy. (He quickly realized that Annapolis was not the place for him, and after making that decision... it took two weeks to deactivate, doesn't sound like the military is all that more relaxed to me) All of these things reinforced the idea that the military doesn't care about a persons individuality in my opinion. So I was surprised to learn all this, and what it means to me is that the advertisements and recruiting techniques employed by the military might be falling short today. Granted we live in a time of war and increasing displeasure with military action, but I feel like most of our generation does not know that military is slightly more relaxed or that any of these changes even happened. I know when all my male friends turned eighteen they had to sign up for selective service, an event that truly angered many (and I completely understand why... interesting that women still don't have to sign up). More recently talks of enacting another draft have even further angered our generation. Even though the military continues to run advertisements I think a majority of our generation is still anti-military. Watching the MTV Video Music Awards I was astounded to see the program was funded by the military, and then even more astounded to watch the military recruitment ads during commercial breaks. The military really is targeting the younger generation. MTV is the probably one of the most popular high school television shows and their funding just serves to amp up their image in the eyes of teenagers everywhere. The more I read for this course, the more I recognize these ads that before never would have made me think twice.
The other thing that I was thinking about as I read Bailey's article was my Dad. My Dad served in the Navy, at some point in the early 70's (I've never really asked him, which leads me to my next point) So I emailed him this morning to ask why he joined and what the political climate towards the military was at that point. I have however heard my dad tell stories about the navy. He never actually served in combat but he did get to experience Europe. He tells stories about spending time in Madrid, ALL the time. So I guess the Army advertisement about the "16-month tour of Europe" was pretty accurate.
The entire article just got me thinking about military advertisements and how prevelent they are in society, but that generally I don't even notice them. For the next week or so I'm going to try and keep track of how many times I see military ads in my daily life, I think it'll be interesting because up to this point, I really never stopped to think. I'll also update you all on my Dad's response.