[Impressment: The act or policy of seizing people or property for public service or use.] ... Forcible enrollment of recruits for military duty. Before the establishment of conscription, many countries supplemented their militia and mercenary troops by impressment. In England, impressment began as early as the Anglo-Saxon period and was used extensively under Elizabeth I, Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell. “Press gangs” forcibly seized and carried individuals into service; frequently subjects of foreign countries were taken. After 1800, England restricted impressment mostly to naval service. The Napoleonic Wars increased English need for sea power and led to the impressment of a large number of deserters, criminals, and British subjects who had become naturalized Americans. (Until 1850, England did not recognize the right of a man to renounce his nationality.) Frequent interception of American ships (see Chesapeake) to impress American citizens was a major cause of the War of 1812. England generally abandoned such forcible measures after 1835.
Now:
For mom Marcia Cobb and her teenage son Axel, the white letters USMC on their caller ID soon spelled, “Don’t answer the phone!”
Marine recruiters began a relentless barrage of calls to Axel as soon as the mellow, compliant Sedro-Woolley High School grad had cut his 17th birthday cake.
...
[T]wo weeks ago when Marcia was cooking dinner Axel goofed and answered the call. And, faster than you can say “semper fi,” an odyssey kicked into action that illustrates just how desperate some of the recruiters we’ve read about really are to fill severely sagging quotas.
...
Clearly the recruiters knew [Axel’s family history] and more.
“You don’t want to be a burden to your mom,” they told him. “Be a man.” “Make your father proud.” ...
The next weekend, when Marcia went to Seattle for the Folklife Festival and Axel was home alone, two recruiters showed up at the door.
Axel repeated the family mantra, but he was feeling frazzled and worn down by then. The sergeant was friendly but, at the same time, aggressively insistent. This time, when Axel said, “Not interested,” the sarge turned surly, snapping, “You’re making a big (bleeping) mistake!”
Next thing Axel knew, the same sergeant and another recruiter showed up at the LaConner Brewing Co., the restaurant where Axel works. And before Axel, an older cousin and other co-workers knew or understood what was happening, Axel was whisked away in a car.
“They said we were going somewhere but I didn’t know we were going all the way to Seattle,” Axel said.
Just a few tests. And so many free opportunities, the recruiters told him.
...
At about 3:30 in the morning, Alex was awakened in the motel and fed a little something. Twelve hours later, without further sleep or food, he had taken a battery of tests and signed a lot of papers he hadn’t gotten a chance to read. “Just formalities,” he was told. “Sign here. And here. Nothing to worry about.”
By then Marcia had “freaked out.”
She went to the Burlington recruiting center where the door was open but no one was home. So she grabbed all the cards and numbers she could find, including the address of the Seattle-area testing center.
Then, with her grown daughter in tow, she high-tailed it south, frantically phoning Axel whose cell phone had been confiscated “so he wouldn’t be distracted during tests.”
Axel’s grandfather was in the hospital dying, she told the people at the desk. He needed to come home right away. She would have said just about anything.
But, even after being told her son would be brought right out, her daughter spied him being taken down a separate hall and into another room. So she dashed down the hall and grabbed him by the arm.
“They were telling me I needed to ‘be a man’ and stand up to my family,” Axel said.
What he needed, it turned out, was a lawyer.
Five minutes and $250 after an attorney called the recruiters, Axel’s signed papers and his cell phone were in the mail.
It must be all those eager volunteers the military is getting.
It’s a very good thing we’re fighting for “freedom” and “democracy.” If we were fighting for anything even slightly repressive, God only knows what might happen.
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Originally posted by Tranplanner
