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President Barack Obama has only been in office a little over a day and he is influencing people to "serve" their government in a big way. CBS reports that "President Obama's call for service is already being felt within the U.S. military. Statistics show recruitment is on the rise and with the slowing economy, many Americans are no longer waiting to enlist."

An upward trend in recruiting is common in times of economic downturns as The New York Times explains: "[a]s a rule, when unemployment rates climb so do military enlistments. In November, the Army recruited 5,605 active-duty soldiers, 6 percent more than its target, and the Army Reserve signed up 3,270 soldiers, 16 percent more than its goal. December, when the jobless rate reached 7.2 percent, saw similar increases in recruitments."

Nonetheless, this spike in recruitment cannot be explained by economic conditions alone. Obama's constant calls for service on the campaign trail and his popularity among young voters are also huge factors. A perfect example of the Obama Service Effect is that none other than Ashton Kutcher is promoting Obama-inspired "service." Yes, the very same star of Dude, Where's My Car? is lecturing our nation’s youth on service to the state. The Baltimore Sun reports:

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher unveiled a Web video directed by Moore called The Presidential Pledge, in which an array of celebrities make service commitments ranging from using fewer plastic bottles to, as Kutcher stated, "always representing my country with pride and dignity." ... In lining up celebrities, "We were greeted by a chorus of courage," Kutcher told the crowd, "because when you make a pledge, you are making a promise. You are holding yourselves accountable."

Kutcher, as pleased as he is with himself, omits that young people aren't only being motivated to just use fewer plastic bottle. There is the rarely mentioned flipside to Obama's constant national service rhetoric: service in the armed forces. A military recruiter recalls that "The day after [Obama] won, I had a kid walk in and he told his mother that if Obama won he would join. So he walked into the office with all of his documents ready to join."

This increased recruitment must be making Obama happy since he has stated one of his major goals is "to increase our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines."

The recent upswing in recruitment also helps to meet another of Obama's goals: the Afghanistan surge. The AFP reports:

The reinforcements of up to 30,000 soldiers are seen as an Iraq-style "surge" -- in reference to the strategy masterminded by Petraeus and which turned around a Sunni Muslim insurgency -- and illustrate a new focus on Afghanistan by Obama's government.

Isn't it odd that the American voters elected a man widely considered to be the peace candidate but who openly encourages military recruitment, expansion of our armed forces and an escalation of a foreign war? It is truly a reflection of both how badly distorted the mainstream media reporting of the news is and how unquestioning American voters have become.
 

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Garo said:

	US Military With the sensitivity training of young American men which is turning the MAJORITY of them into sissies, I would NEVER be comfortable having one of these so-called men in the foxhole with me. The American military is being weakended in more ways than you will ever know and those who serve are TOTALLY BEING USED and AT RISK!
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January 22, 2009
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telefriend said:

	Incredible article This late Dec 2008 update sheds light on the truth behind the "conspiracy" for both borders of the United States to disappear:
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January 22, 2009
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Pat Henry said:

	Statistics in Establishement media How can recruitment be "up" in one day of office? People heard his Inaugural address and ran out to sign up. I think the published stat is propagandized bunk.
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January 23, 2009
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GaryRLewis said:

	... Well I suppose this will help them achieve their goal of having, what was it, 20,000 troops patrolling within the United States by 2011? Of course we’ll need all those troops to ensure our safety from the ‘terrorists’ entering our country courtesy of our open border policy.
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January 23, 2009
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Dan Racine said:

Just horrific These guys are getting desert boots, which points to the fact that they will be probably using them in SE Asia or the Middle East. They will more than likely be on a plan within months (I seen others given only weeks) of leaving basic, and will be no where prepared, mentally or physically, for what lies ahead of them. It is so sad how we are just tossing around human life, especially, young kids who have no clue what they are in for, and the sad reality is that these "recruits" will have their lives ruin from things that are not even combat related (as when I was in Iraq 90% of the major issues that ruined soldiers life were related to drugs, stres, vehicle accidents, and negligence on every level).

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January 23, 2009
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Angus said:

... We dont need to worry about so-called terrorists here up north thankfully we have enough deer hunters with bow & guns. Apparantly enough people are ignorant about the military-industrial complex. Oviously many join for the deciding factor of a secure job and future tuition assistance. Many join for more honorable means to serve patrioticly as a brave member. How can that many join after are gov seems so willing on destroying the lives of our soldiers. We have become like Romans getting giddy everytime they see the emperor or one of his generals. Make the troops proud just as they have made us proud 'bring them home'.

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January 23, 2009
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Peter Steele said:

RE: Obama's Socialism Demands Public Service Adolf Hitler used his Hitler Youth as a means to exhort German youth to public service for the fatherland. Stalin used his Komsomol Youth as a means to get his Russian youth to serve the motherland. Mussolini had a youth corps to do the same. The result was that these socialist regimes through totalitarian governments used the young as sacrificial lambs in war. Hitler said work was joy and he made slaves out of his subjects and condoned abortion and euthanasia with a breakdown of morality. Likewise Stalin did the same thing as did Mussolini. The thing that appalled my late father and me was that American Socialists and Liberals admired these regimes and wanted to be like them as my late father warned the Daughters of the American Revolution as a patriot and military man of this danger. Obama wants to use our youth in public service programs with no regard for the individual desires of our young and I have to warn the Greenwich Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution of this danger. I am against Obama's courtship of Big Labor and Planned Parenthood as this smells of a future dictator and I fear Obama's use of my government to muzzle me and put me out of action. People tell me to give Obama a chance and pray for him but I can't knowing what the 20th Century brought us and the past. For those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it - I don't want our great country to fall into the trap of tyranny and despotism. Democracies are brutal mob rule and usually don't last long as republics are the rule of law and last eternally as I would rather that a future America to be a republic as Benjamin Franklin wanted it. LBJ was a socialist, a Democrat, and gave us the Vietnam tragedy. FDR was the same and gave us the WWII tragedy. BGen Peter F. Steele, USMC [Ret]

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January 25, 2009
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