As an Army (and Vietnam) veteran, and the son, grandson and father of veterans, I am proud of my own military service and don't believe that the military is at all evil. Those who choose to be in the military must forfeit one basic right...the right to choose what wars they fight. This may be unfortunate, but it is true. At the same time, the US military has very strict rules that obligate a soldier to disobey an illegal order, and there is a significant number of individuals, and their commanders, who have been prosecuted under military law for not doing so.

Recruiters, who are basically salesmen, have a hard job. Sometimes, like the guy at the used car lot, they say things that just aren't true. A friend of mine was once the commander of an Army recruiting unit in Wisconsin, and he told me about bringing charges against recruiters who had strayed from the truth. Why wasn't that recruiter in Iraq? Probably he (or she) had just returned and was looking forward to a return trip in the near future.

I read The New York Times regularly, and it is an excellent source for factual news. Unfortunately, their op-ed pieces, which I also read and generally enjoy, tend to be somewhat less balanced. Looking at the specific points that Freda highlighted (not all of which I could actually find in the article, but I only skimmed it):
*National Guard recruiters in schools teaching students how to throw hand grenades, using baseballs as stand-ins Is the issue recruiters in schools or the hand grenade bit? The former is questionable, the second isn't - soldiers do that.
*promising students jobs as musicians The military has musicians - this is an established Military Occupational Specialty, and that is all they do. My question would be, is the enlistment contract invalid if they don't get that job?
*offering incentive packages and flashy equipment So? Enlistment bonuses for some military specialties just went up to $40,000.
*going into schools, into the library, in the lunchrooms contacting the most vulnerable students and recruiting them to go to war. Again, is the issue recruiting in schools? This has been going on since at least the 1960s.
*holding gym classes, handing out free T-shirts and key chains, dou8ghnuts, telling kids the classes were mandatory Did the recruiters tell the students the classes were required? I'm inclined to doubt that. "Come to the class if you want a t-shirt."? More likely.