The Pentagon Invades Your Life

I had no idea. Absolutely none. The first few examples that Turse gives in his article of examples of companies with Department of Defense (DOD) contracts didn't shock me. When he managed to fill five pages with examples I was shocked. Here are the ones that really got me: M&M Mars, Hershey, ESPN, Walt Disney, NASCAR, NFL, X-Men Comic Books, Apple, Google, Starbucks and Budweiser, and thats only a partial list of what's actually out there. I just don't understand. Why would half of these companies have DOD contracts? Starbucks? Do we need better coffee in Iraq? I guess I understand for some of them, its about advertising the military. Since it's an all volunteer force now it's more important to sell a product, but for others I'm totally at a loss. 

Before reading this article I obviously understood that the Pentagon gives out DOD contracts. But I thought it was for companies like Blackwater, Lockheed Martin and Bechtel, privatized military forces. Not companies that make everyday products for civilians. This just reinforces the idea that militarization is occurring all around us, without our knowledge. This part is made especially clear by Turse's character Rick saying "Thank god we never supported this war" Without any knowledge civilians are supporting the war. Everything we buy seems to be directly connected to the Pentagon and by extension the war in Iraq. So, basically, in order to protest the war people would literally have to live off the grid. 

The whole article just left me confused. I don't know how to react to this really. I'm astounded by the number of DOD contracts and the span of companies that receive them. And a little sad that people who don't support the war, can't seem to not support the war after all.