A+ | A - | RESET
Fixed | Wide | Full | Reset

GenerationWorkplace.com

Where generations come together

  Advanced search
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
September 06, 2010, 09:25:59 AM

Login with username, password and session length
Featured Articles
Generations in the News
Definitions
We're Growing!
Links
Friends
Pages: [1]   Go Down
Author Topic: Techniques the U.S. Military is using to attract the younger generation  (Read 1276 times)
0 Members and Guests are viewing this topic.
HeatherDAugustine
AdminVirflex
Newbie

Posts: 24
« on: February 20, 2008, 03:13:29 PM »
In the article, "Military Recruiters Try to Be Hip; Kids Roll Eyes: Military recruiters are using pop cultural knowledge and text messaging to connect with a younger generation." from Alternet.com Aaron Sarver describes the various techniques U.S. military recruiters are using to attract Millennials to military service including:

    * educating recruiters in popular music, culture and slang
    * teaching recruiters how to text message and use emoticons
    * the use of recruiting messages that appeal to the parents of the Millennials



This last point really knocked me for a loop when I read it.  I've seen the "You made them strong, we'll make them Army strong" army ads but it didn't dawn on me until I read this article what the Army was up to.

This is a very interesting phenomenon (recruiting via parents) and I'm still sorting out what I think about it.

What do you think about it?

Link to the full article:
http://www.lists.alternet.org/story/70307/?page=1

Note:  The above article contains some overused, unflattering generalizations about Millennials.  My apologies to my Millennial friends.
Logged
MartaL
Newbie

Posts: 3
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2008, 10:42:37 AM »
Times certainly have changed.  I married a man who lost his life in military service in 1969 (during Vietnam but actually related to Cold War issues).  We felt proud and protective of our country back then and service to the country felt like a noble endeavor.

I can understand why young people today might be more reluctant to stand up for the U.S. And yet as with any country, we need to be prepared to protect ourselves even if it is difficult to understand where the real threats lie because of political coloring of the situation.  Ideally military service could include less fighting and more support of the U.S. infrastructure and community service - but we would be prepared in case we did need to protect ourselves.

The reluctance of the younger generation to enter military service is a real problem.  I guess the military is trying anything they can think of to solve it.

It seems there is a responsibility we all share to work toward making the U.S. a place we can be proud of again.  When I look at what's on TV these days and the way other countries must picture us now based on TV and movies - it seems like a difficult task indeed to turn our culture around.  I hope that's just my age speaking - I don't want to be pessimistic.
Logged
Joe D
Newbie

Posts: 2
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2008, 11:36:39 AM »
The thing that really bothers me about this article is the fact that educational opportunities via the G.I. Bill are disappearing and that recruiters are lying about this to prospective recruits. If there's one thing a veteran deserves, it's an education. That's the least our country can do for them. But in the age of no pension/retirement /health benefits it's par for the course. It's very disappointing that our young people who risk their lives in the military can't count on what was a deserved benefit from their service, education and a chance to better themselves.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.4 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC
Corto design TinyPortal v0.9.8 © Bloc
XHTML | CSS