Weekend humor: Counter-counter-recruiters are organizing!

Holy shit, hundreds of counter-counter-recruiters mobilized yesterday in “900 recruitment centers in 50 states.” Is this for real?

Via Crosswalk.com:

(CNSNews.com) – Ahead of Armed Forces Day, May 19, pro-military groups around the country Friday showed their support for military recruiters who they said “take the brunt of the attacks of the anti-war protesters.”

“Recruiters could do with a little bit of extra love,” said Kristinn Taylor, spokesman for Gathering of Eagles. “They are Americans. They are good, moral decent people, who are upholding the best values of our country and defending our country with their lives.”

Taylor was joined by Bill Dozier, assistant director of Veterans of Foreign Wars, at a recruitment office in Washington, D.C. He said supporters would show up at 900 recruitment centers in 50 states.

“The reason why we’re here is to show support for our troops,” Dozier told Cybercast News Service. “We’re here to appreciate those who are on the forefront.”

“Recruiters have really been getting it all around the country from the peace protesters,” Taylor said, calling the protesters “violent and anti-American.”

“Recruiters get attacked, their vehicles get torched, tires get burned, rocks get thrown through the windows,” he told Cybercast News Service. “The Pentagon plays it down, but it has been going on around the country.

“You’ve got anti-war groups that are organized and trying to keep recruiters out of high schools and off college campuses,” added Taylor. “They are playing the race card, and trying to say that minorities are being preyed upon to join the military out of desperation – which isn’t true. The military is a great career for anybody.”

Dozier said recruitment efforts are currently “much harder. Today it’s getting out of hand.”

“The military had enough staff to fight three wars, or three different fronts, but when the president (former President Bill Clinton) turned around and started reducing the number of staff and personnel in the military, we could not fight three different fronts,” he said. “There was not much attention put on the Guard and Reserves till Afghanistan.”

Dozier said it is difficult to draw people to the armed forces, because finding a job following military service can be difficult. “Coming out of the military, they still have a military obligation,” he said. “Employers won’t want to take on Guard and Reserve personnel.”

He added that the federal government should do more to help veterans find jobs.

“The country owes that to the people that serve and defend our country and our ways of life, so that we can live free. It’s not that you’re doing them a favor. You’re giving them a little payback for defending us,” he said.

But Gael Murphy, a spokeswoman for Code Pink, told Cybercast News Service that “while we feel it’s important to recognize those who serve in our military, we regret how the administration attempts to justify and glorify this unjust war.”

“We are opposed to the aggressive recruiting tactics used by the military to fuel this unpopular war,” she said. “We are disturbed by events that glorify war or present war as a game.

“Take the recent week honoring public service on the (National) Mall that was primarily used as an opportunity to put military equipment and arms on public display, and included handing out rubber grenades to children and painting their faces in camouflage,” Murphy said.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, added, “We should be focused on getting our troops out of an un-winnable, unjustified war in Iraq, and keep focusing on that until they come home.”

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