Mariscal and Astore- Enlistment

Astore points out that progressives and other liberals who critique the military, only do so because they opt out of really trying to understand the reasoning behind enlistment. The critique relies on the assumption that all aspects of the military are negative and really just rely on the exploitation of the people who do enlist, which are the majority male middle- and working-class elements of society. These people are often racial/ethnic minorities, and the progressives and liberals he's talking about are not. He thinks that it is easy for the progressives/liberals/elites to focus on the economic factors of enlisting and the continuing militarization of our society/culture and ignore any others. His main point is that until you try to understand the real reasons behind enlistment, you will never be able to direct our nation down a less militaristic path. And if your engagement with the military stops after you decide it's bad, you will never be able to understand the reasons for service.

One of Mariscal's points is that economic status is a huge factor in enlistment, a fact that is being manipulated by the recruiters, even though there are many other reasons for individuals to enlist. He argues that until the US government gives young people of lower economic status better opportunities for life and development, more and more of those people will enlist because they have limited options. This also creates more of an emotional burden on the young people who enlist because they enlist for reasons that are not met after they serve. He also explains that those reasons and needs cannot be addressed if, any time reasons for enlistment are discussed, it is seen as a question of patriotism: those who enlist and support are patriotic and those who question reason are unpatriotic. But that forces the discussion into black-and-white terms, which will never get anything solved.

I think both arguments have valid points. In order to understand why less economically well-off people enlist at larger rates, there needs to be an open discussion of the factors, reasons, and motivations for enlistment. Until that discussion happens, enlistees are going to be manipulated, ignored, and forgotten about because nothing can be done to address those reasons. I think that until people are willing to step out of their ideological comfort-zone, there is going to be a large gap between those who want to help soldiers in the ever-changing military and those who refuse to acknowledge the changes and get defensive. It really bothers me that so many people are so ready and willing to dismiss the reasons for enlistment on simple terms, nothing is EVER as clear as those people would want it to seem. I hate blanket statements about how people are thinking (and I know I just sort of made one myself), but how can anyone know what anyone else is thinking, it totally invalidates the principle that everyone is capable of forming their own opinions?

I know that I have a different perspective than a lot of people in our class, which I will share with anyone who wants to come talk to me about it, but I do not want to get into all the reasons why I find this troubling because it's a difficult topic for me discuss in front of large groups of people. So if anyone wants to know my story they can come talk to me about it, but I don't want to be the practically the only one who doesn't have a mostly negative view of the military. This is definitely an emotional issue for me personally, and I don't even know what to say anymore.