What’s wrong with this picture?
Posted by Stephanie
View smaller image Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love.”I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school,” the now 24-year-old told AFP.”I was ‘filet mignon’ for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade,” or around 16 years old, he added. Chiroux joined the US army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.
He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq.
On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal war. […]
I’m assuming that’s Chiroux in the front on the left side of the picture.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
he graduate high school when he was 22?
May 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I didn’t catch that one but look at his hair… he’s supposed to be active duty? Is that a military haircut there?
May 16th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
The rest of the AFP story is pretty smarmy, too, as if the military “only” “loves” poor, dumb white trash.
[!#^*(#!(^*] jerks.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
The photo seems to have them all leaning left. Quite appropriate.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Well, I could make some pretty scathing comments, judging by the looks on the faces of those standing around. I mean, look at the guy next to him. He has an expression that sort of says he’d rather be anywhere but there next to that guy. The one on the end doesn’t look any happier either. Mainly I wondered about that haircut because, though he has it slicked back, it’s quite long for an active duty soldier.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Some of America’s finest, no doubt.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Interesting name. I’d guess he was of French derivation. Figures.
May 17th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Ah… this explains the hair and some other things besides.
This could be real interesting.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Those two sure do look like Lenny and Squiggy…!
May 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
suek, you say, “I live in a blue state. For that reason, my vote is unlikely to count…” but this year could be far different because a lot of conservatives live in the states I mentioned in my post.
I lived in Ohio, a state that Democrats are taking for granted. But, Ohio is very conservative, especially the rural areas. I also lived in California most of my life before moving to Texas recently. I can tell you this: if you take the geographical coverage county by county practically the entire state of California would be red. Other states may also fall into this category too though I haven’t pored through the statistics to prove that. It’s just my observation.
John McCain is far from perfect but if he stays on message and keeps the goals of our military front and center I believe America will give him a chance. I doubt if we will see any of the Bush detritus in his administration because, stubborn as he is, he recognizes the deep wounds caused by this terrible divide we have in our country. Red state, blue state all plays to the shallow media mind-set whose 10-second attention span is on a par with the entire MTV mentality.
Before 9/11, what ever happened to Chandra Levy? RIP April 14, 1977 – May 22, 2001. How things change so quickly.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Sue,
Slick and Slimey.
Heckel and Jeckel
May 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
>>I can tell you this: if you take the geographical coverage county by county practically the entire state of California would be red.>>
Agreed. The problem is that all of those counties are outweighed by the two major cities of LA and SF. And maybe SD, though I haven’t heard much about it. What it comes down to is that rural areas are primarily conservative, urban areas are primarily big government. This causes the problem of the population of the cities vastly outnumbering the rural populations - sort of “by definition” - and their votes end up counting more.
Personally, I’m in favor of a new resolution - one that takes the number of people in a district, dividing it by the number of acres in the district, and then apportioning the number of votes a landowner has by the average votes per acre times the number of acres the landowner owns. Give the farmers equality on the ballots!
Yeah…I know. Ain’t going to happen! We could always go back to the old standard of not being able to vote unless you own property…!
May 18th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Let’s reinstate a military draft. That will show the American people how committed we are to liberating Iraq and quelling the threat Iraq posed to the United States. Ooh-rah and Semper Fidelis!
May 20th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
>>Let’s reinstate a military draft.>>
You aren’t in the military, are you! The military doesn’t _want_ the draft. You have a civilian population that is - militarily speaking - defective. They lack character. They are more trouble than they’re worth. Vietnam was the dividing point. The draft worked in WWII. I think we had the draft in Korea, and it worked then. But the 60s generation couldn’t handle it, and our young people have gone down hill from there. We had the draft for Vietnam, and it was terrible for the military. Drugs were a major problem, which caused the expected disciplinary problems plus - in the far east - security problems, and naturally, other problems…like theft, irresponsibility, insubordination. All kinds of stuff. You can’t run a war when you’re at war with your own soldiers. The military does _not_ want to return to the draft. It wants young men and women who volunteer.
Personally, I think it would be good for the civilian population to have a national service requirement, but the military has a specific function, and it isn’t raising the young citizens that inadequate parenting has already spoiled.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Sue,
I agree with all your points about draftees.
The problem is that we have a whole generations of American’s who don’t know what the term “Duty, Honor, Country” means.
The military grew better because all were volunteers, but the x generation was short changed because of the all volunteer force.
If not a draft for military, we need a draft to government service of some kind.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
>>The problem is that we have a whole generations of American’s who don’t know what the term “Duty, Honor, Country” means.>>
I agree. But the experience in Vietnam indicates that you’re aren’t going to take an 18-20 yr old and teach him those virtues. It’s already too late.
About the only solution I have hope for is that the “me me me” generation isn’t going to have many kids. Maybe the religious right who _does_ have the kids will raise young adults who know what “duty ,honor ,and country” mean. If not, then life will not be good for long, and people will have to live in the country they’ve “sown” until a generation comes along that is willing to sacrifice their lives and fortunes to begin again. Then they’ll at least know what _not_ to do…but rebuilding is always harder than starting fresh, because you first have to destroy, and most people have a great reluctance to do that.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Sue - BRAVO!!!
And LOVE the “Lenny and Squiggy” line. I almost fell out of my chair laughing!
