r/technology • u/bil_sabab • 11d ago
E-girl influencers are trying to get Gen Z into the military Social Media
https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/57878/1/the-era-of-military-funded-e-girl-warfare-army-influencers-tiktok4.3k
u/oblivijan 11d ago
I joined for her. She wasn't even there!
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u/Tormen1 11d ago
“YES DRILL SERGEANT BUT WHERE ARE THE E-GIRLS”
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u/fr0st 11d ago
"The Taliban are holding them hostage! Go extract them from their base at once!"
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u/snarkshsha 11d ago
Careful that's how area 51 got invaded.
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u/Trezzie 10d ago
And have we heard anything about Area 51 since then? No? Because it was obliterated.
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u/tubetalkerx 11d ago
Thank you Soldier! But our E-Girl is in another base!
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u/cyrusm 11d ago
"THE ONLY E-GIRL IN THIS SPACEFORCE IS MY BOOT UP YOUR LILLY ASS!!!! NOW OUT THAT AIRLOCK, MAGGOT. 20 LAPS AROUND THIS MOON. HUSTLE! HUSTLE!"
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u/Murazama 11d ago
"Are the E-Girls on the darkside of this moon Sir?"
"YES PRIVATE, NOW GET OUT THAT AIRLOCK BEFORE THAT AIRLOCK BECOMES YOUR ASSHOLE."
seen in background out the airlock window: 5 soldiers doggy paddling desperately to get to the darkside of the moon, unbeknownst to them they were never going to reach it, their Drill Sergeant had learned to utilize their thirst for E-Girls as motiviation.
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u/cuisinedossier 11d ago
starting to think the employer might not have potential employees best interest in mind
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u/CarlCarbonite 11d ago
Neither does Reddit. There’s an ad for goarmy on this thread for me.
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u/RawScallop 11d ago
I'm a 36yr old female and reddits been suggesting I join the army for the past year.
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u/AspiringChildProdigy 11d ago edited 10d ago
I have twin 18 year-old boys in their senior year of high school. Over the past year, I have fielded upwards of a dozen phone calls from the various branches.
One was this past summer, a single day after congress voted down the burn pit legislation. Recruiter got really uncomfortable when I brought that up and asked why I would ever encourage my boys to join the military.
Edit: I literally just had another one - from the navy this time - call me. Seriously, do these people ever give up?! Or do they think the boys aren't getting the messages because I always answer the phone? (Just a tip, military people, maybe don't call the mom's cell phone if you don't want to get the mom every time.)
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u/whereisyourwaifunow 11d ago
you'll need 90% VA benefits eligibility to know the answer to that question!
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u/The_Cons00mer 10d ago
Pfft. My boi just got 100%. Now he’ll be living the high life. Never work again. Just sit back and relax in his wheelchair
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u/getdemsnacks 10d ago
"Your body has parts your Country can spare By the way son here's Your wheelchair"
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u/Halflingberserker 10d ago
Never work again. Just sit back and relax in his wheelchair
"Some people have all the luck."
-Congress, probably
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u/facthanshotfirst 10d ago
I used to work for a VA attorney. It taught me about the reality of how the military breaks down individuals to mold them into the perfect soldiers. And then upon retirement, there is often a lack of support for reintegrating them back into being “normal” or civilian life. And on top of that no support from the VA from all the ailments you have now from being fed into the military machine.
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u/Ragnarok314159 10d ago
Upon leaving there is no support. I was in for ten years and then one day got a letter in my mailbox (after my second deployment) that just said “thanks for your service, force reduction. You are out on this date”
That was it, and there was nothing I could do. They never even sent me honorable discharge fancy certificate, but had one from my DD214. It was amazing. This was in 2009 when the economy was shit and burned through all my savings before landing a job.
I ended up getting 100% P&T last year after the VA losing my paperwork three times from 2010-2013. Still work full time, but life sucks. Don’t ever join.
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u/Oh_IHateIt 10d ago
I know a guy, a customer at work, who was forced out of the military by his supervisors so that they wouldn't need to pay him benefits. He had PTSD, but he wasn't allowed to go to a psychiatrist (military or private) because they would have to give him benefits if it was officially diagnosed. Messed him up and hurt his family too.
Fuck anyone who says "we support our veterans". It's a vile lie. The military is a business, not a charity. The above quote really means "we support the money our veterans make us"
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u/Ragnarok314159 10d ago
He needs to take his DD214 and go into a VA, get registered, and file for benefits. The benefits can be filed for online, and the assessment is done through civilians now.
Once he gets in the system he can go see a VA doc, or see outside care. Just has to tell the VA that it is for PTSD and they approve it, then can go wherever he wants.
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u/Ragnarok314159 10d ago
And if he needs help message me. Also r/veterans is a pretty solid place for angry vets. I got some help there as well.
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u/mysecondaccountanon 10d ago
Ha, myself and my parents got a lot of phone calls, emails, and us students were even approached and basically like followed in school when they’d come in person. It literally feels like stalking and harassment I swear. Best part is, I’m trans. When they started asking, I wasn’t even allowed in the army. Even with my own views on the army (how I dislike the military industrial complex, etc), why would I want to join a place that had banned people like me until like a couple months prior?
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u/IraqiDinarSalesman 10d ago
At age 16 I filled out the forms they sent me with a crayon, saying I was 11 years old, and asking for Navy coloring books. Never heard from them again. With all the comments I’ve seen about crayons on Reddit I’m surprised the Marines didn’t come over to enlist me, lol.
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u/TexacoRandom 10d ago
One trick I used in high school was to schedule a meeting with a recruiter. Then I didn't show up. He left me a message saying I must have forgot and if I was serious, to call and setup a new meeting. Never heard from him again.
Yeah, in retrospect, I guess it was dickish and immature, and I wasted his time, but he wasted my time with the constant phone calls before that.
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u/__-___--- 10d ago
Nah, you were right and not hard enough in my opinion.
That guy is a predator taking advantage of kids like you so they get used as cannon fodder before they're mature enough to understand what they signed for. Fuck that guy.
I'd ban my own brother from my life if he took such a job. Wasting that guy's time wasn't hard enough but at least that's time he couldn't spend talking an other kid into it.
Kids should totally rebel against that. If that happened in my country when I was in high school, we would have put all our energy into trolling them. I don't know why you guys tolerate that.
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u/magicnerd212 10d ago
The recruiters are going really hard. They missed their numbers last year by a large margin.
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u/AspiringChildProdigy 10d ago
So should I feel bad that I walked up to my son and asked, "Hey, ______, do you want to talk to the military?" without muting or moving the phone, and then when he said no (also audible to the recruiter) told them that he was in the shower?
I'm really fucking sick of them calling my cell.
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u/magicnerd212 10d ago
You should have just said your kids aren't interested. Saying they are busy guarantees they will call back soon.
I'm in the military but not a recruiter however, talking to people who were recruiters, there are somethings you could tell them that would put you on a "do not call list." Just tell the recruiters they have a major disqualifying medical condition. Diabetes, auto-immune disease, ADHD that requires medication, etc. Or that they have a criminal record. That should remove you from their list but it is by branch so you'll have to tell each branch recruiter. If your kids suddenly decide they are interested and want to join, it won't affect them at all.
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u/AspiringChildProdigy 10d ago edited 10d ago
I have. Repeatedly. Even told them it was my cell and please stop calling it. Asked the boys if they are interested when they were within earshot of the phone, to which they laughed and said a firm, "No," which would have been completely audible to the recruiter.
Had one guy low-key lecture me while I was at work telling me that this was an amazing opportunity I was keeping them from and that he "wasn't just saying that" because his "recruiting numbers were already amazing" (he was less than amused when I said, "Cool! So you don't need my boys, then, right?").
It was like he thought I was actively keeping the boys away from the phone but I told him I was at work, it was like 11:30 on a goddamned weekday, and school was in session.
(I'm pretty sure that one was the marines, so the logic tracks, there.)
(Sorry to any actual marines, I'm just teasing. )
I'll give the adhd thing a shot. Thanks.
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u/foxscribbles 11d ago
I’m a woman in my 40s and Reddit spent most of last year trying to sell me drugs to fix the curve in my penis.
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u/Enjoying_A_Meal 11d ago
Ymra Eht Nioj!
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u/Luis12345 11d ago edited 11d ago
Why would anybody ever assume reddit has their best interests in mind?
They'd start showing you ads for assisted suicide if it meant they got a cut of your organs. It's a business after all, not your fiduciary.
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u/demilitarizdsm
11d ago
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nothing new about I'm cute so go die in a fight
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u/madogvelkor 11d ago
In England in WW1, groups of women would give white feathers to young men out of uniform to shame them for being cowards. It got bad enough that the government started giving out badges to civil servants and government workers as well as to wounded former soldiers to show they were serving the nation, or had.
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u/yesgirlsusereddit 11d ago
My grandpa always felt ashamed because he couldn't go fight in WWII like his brother did. People gave him a really hard time about it but he was a farmer and the country needed the food supply, so only one of the brothers could go
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u/PerpetuallyOffline 10d ago
Imagine shaming someone for not contributing to the war effort because they're growing the food that everyone needs to survive.
That's crazy on many levels.
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u/recycled_ideas 10d ago
They gave one to a Victoria Cross recipient because he was in civilian clothes. The guy was literally on his way to receive the medal.
The Victoria Cross is the UK equivalent of the Medal of Honor but they've given our less than half as many in a slightly longer time frame.
There's a lot of crappy white feathers given, but probably this is probably the worst.
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u/HibachiFlamethrower 10d ago
Americans who “support” the military are always like this. It’s funny though because everyone who was giving him shit was also at home not fighting in the war.
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u/The_Void_Reaver 10d ago
It’s funny though because everyone who was giving him shit was also at home not fighting in the war.
I bet there was a rather significant overlap between people giving out white feathers, and people who refused to turn their house lights off during German bombings.
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u/AnAutisticGuy 10d ago
If it makes you feel any better, your grandpa grew the best corn. The very best.
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u/canada432 11d ago
Also the practice stopped when it got a hell of a lot of bad publicity once those “cowards” started coming back with missing limbs and shell shock.
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u/lacosaotra 10d ago
It was the rich people who pushed for the public shaming of young men. They weren’t handing feathers to sons of the wealthy.
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u/1-760-706-7425 10d ago
It was the rich people
Class warfare through regular warfare.
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u/Iagos_Beard 10d ago
You smug faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go
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u/samv_1230 10d ago
I thought shell-shock wasn't exactly understood at the time, and PTSD afflicted veterans, were actually called cowards for the way they behaved?
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u/ExcelTurnsMeOn 10d ago
While "shell shock" -- the term PTSD wouldn't be used until the 80s -- wasn't exactly well-understood, it was mostly recognized as a legitimate medical condition. Most doctors thought that the shockwaves from exploding shells were causing brain damage, hence the term. A few doctors even proposed a psychological mechanism, although this wouldn't really begin to catch on until near the end of the war.
Some British soldiers had their symptoms dismissed by medical professionals and were occasionally even court martialed for "cowardice", but this was not particularly widespread and evidence indicates that shell shock was mostly recognized as an issue that would naturally occur during wartime. That's not to say that PTSD was actually being properly recognized and treated (treatment mostly consisted of letting soldiers take a break for a few days), but for the most part shell-shocked veterans were not called cowards.
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u/samv_1230 10d ago
In the medical community, it certainly was taken seriously, quickly, but I'm talking about public opinion, like the opinions of the girls with the white feathers. The prevailing opinion was that these men who had often not suffered from any physical trauma were sufferers of cowardice.
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u/Consistent_Ad_4828 11d ago
All for a fight between rich cousins that led to ten million deaths.
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u/LisaNewboat 10d ago
A tale as old as time - rich men fighting with the lives of poor men.
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u/ZJB03 10d ago
Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do we always send the poor?
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u/Grandfunk14 10d ago
Oh he had some bone spurs...
Yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth!!
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u/helios210 10d ago
Always appreciate a good SOAD reference.
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u/aenonymosity 10d ago
Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor, yeah
No more warpigs have the powerrrrrrr
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u/FR0ZENBERG 10d ago
A lot of the worlds problems can be attributed to insecure rich people.
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u/thisisstupidplz 10d ago
Honestly the majority if not all of humanity problems can be traced back to unchecked greed.
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u/Present-Industry4012 11d ago
I was just thinking about that.
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u/bowtothehypnotoad 11d ago
“Perhaps the most misplaced use of a white feather was when one was presented to Seaman George Samson, who was on his way in civilian clothes to a public reception being held in his honour for having been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Gallipoli campaign.[14]”
Big oof
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u/bbpr120 11d ago edited 11d ago
Pratchett included it in Jingo, one character (Nobby Nobs) had plans to make himself a night bed out of them.
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u/_far-seeker_ 11d ago
Isn't that the same guy that has to have an official document to prove he's human, rather than an Igor?
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u/bbpr120 11d ago edited 11d ago
That's Nobby, the person that not even Death (as the Hogfather) is sure what he is
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u/WitELeoparD 11d ago
You mean the one who was disqualified from the human race on account of shoving?
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u/waiting4singularity 11d ago
One example was Private Ernest Atkins, who was on leave from the Western Front. He was riding a tram when he was presented with a white feather by a girl sitting behind him. He smacked her across the face with his pay book and said, "Certainly I'll take your feather back to the boys at Passchendaele. I'm in civvies because people think my uniform might be lousy, but if I had it on I wouldn't be half as lousy as you".
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u/SaltLakeCitySlicker 10d ago
George Sampson was wounded in Gallipoli. Went back to the the UK to recuperate + receive the Victoria Cross. He was given one while wearing civvies.
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u/marksman-with-a-pen 11d ago
My great great grandfather in Canada was ineligible to join the army during ww1 because he had lost his left hand in a farming incident when he was younger. Some women threw white feathers at him when he was coming out of a barber shop causing him the throw up his hands and block it since he didn’t realize what they were throwing at first. He had a Prosthetic hand, and when they saw it they totally panicked and apologized profusely, assuming he had lost it in the war.
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u/Lightning-Dust 11d ago
Oh yeah, Downton Abbey taught me that history lesson lol
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u/testylawyer 10d ago
I liked it when Irishman Tom proudly took the white feather to so he wasnt gonna fight in that bullshit British war.
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u/huskypotato69 11d ago
I'd give them a black feather right back. Go die in a ditch yourself, you nasty bitch.
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u/waiting4singularity 11d ago
Norman Demuth is quoted as saying:
"Almost the last feather I received was on a bus. I was sitting near the door when I became aware of two women on the other side talking at me, and I thought to myself, 'Oh Lord, here we go again'. One lent forward and produced a feather and said, 'Here's a gift for a brave soldier. I took it and said,'Thank you very much- I wanted one of those.' Then I took my pipe out of my pocket and put this feather down the stem and worked it in a way I've never worked a pipe cleaner before. When it was filthy I pulled it out and said, 'You know, we didn't get these in the trenches', and handed it back to her. She instinctively put out her hand and took it, so there she was sitting with this filthy pipe cleaner in her hand and all the other people on the bus began to get indignant. Then she dropped it and got up to get out, but we were nowhere near a stopping place and the bus went on quite a long way while she got well and truly barracked by the rest of the people on the bus. I sat back and laughed like mad."
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u/FriendlyAndHelpfulP 11d ago
For those who aren’t aware: Norman Demuth was discharged from the war at age 16 as “medically unfit to fight” after surviving a grenade blast in the trenches.
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u/InspectorG-007 11d ago
I guess Call of Duty isn't cutting it anymore?
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u/blank_slate_000 11d ago
Join the army! It's like a battle royale!
Kids like that stuff, right? Right?!
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u/drumstyx 11d ago
Yvan eht nioj 🎶🎶
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u/FredThePlumber 11d ago
Live by the cat girl, die by the cat girl.
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u/AlsoIHaveAGroupon 11d ago
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u/AlesusRex 10d ago
I like how the modern guy is like half the size of the WWII guy lmao
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u/OneAsparagus69 10d ago
The average American WWII soldier was 5'8" and 150lbs, so yeah, WWII guy would definitely look more like WWIII guy....
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u/KingGorilla 10d ago edited 10d ago
I think the youngest American WWII soldier was 12
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u/Watermelon_Jack 10d ago
MY MAN GOT MARRIED AT 14 AND GOT DIVORCED AT 17 what the heck
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10d ago
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u/InnocentTailor 10d ago
Yeah. Footage from the world war times didn't have super-duper bulky men running on the battlefield. They were mostly skinny lads in loose-fitting clothing.
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u/Gumburcules 10d ago
They were mostly skinny lads in loose-fitting clothing.
If you ever go to the WWII Museum in New Orleans you'll see a ton of actual WWII uniforms on display and it's noticeable how many are surprisingly small.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps has actual uniforms from the Revolutionary and Spanish American wars and those people were tiny!
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u/dangerbird2 10d ago
guy on top died at 40 from lung cancer
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u/HoppersDream 11d ago
This could be the plot for a Metal Gear game. "War has changed..."
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u/Archie_Slate 11d ago
Damn it, Otacon, get a grip
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u/biohazard1775 11d ago
“Do you think OnlyFans donations can bloom on the battlefield?”
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u/anobathroaway 10d ago
Unrelated to the thread but I was just recently thinking about what a cringe inducing character Otacon is in MGS1.
Love can bloom? My dude what are you talking about you're acquainted with Wolf for like 6 hours and she's probably said like five words to you in that time.
Then she dies and he's there wailing like she's his lifelong lover and oh god that scene is supposed to be moving except for his goofy ass. Imagine you're fucking dying and some weeb you don't even know is next to you blubbering I loVeD YoU
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u/johnleguizamospest 11d ago
It kind of was. In MGS Peace Walker you were sent a message from a sweet young girl named Paz (translates to Peace) and she wanted to free Cuba.. (spoilers:)..
turns out she was a double/triple agent.
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u/Ordinal43NotFound 10d ago
Proceeds to fight said girl in her underwear piloting a bipedal mecha on top of an off-shore platform to the tune of banging J-Pop song
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bear_58 11d ago
“Co Ed showers…would you like to know more? Everyone’s doing their part.”
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u/ASuarezMascareno 11d ago
So the army is paying people with young followers to promote the military? Same old army.
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u/Cheshire_Jester 11d ago edited 10d ago
That’s the thing, nobody really knows. It’s all speculation. Are they “really” in the military? Is this a “Psyop”? Are they being paid to do this or is this on there own?
And that’s part of the issue, it isn’t really clear what the motives and incentives are for this type of content. For some folks, it might be that they’ve been recruited to make Public Affairs content because of their following, for others, it might be that they got into the military and the controversy around this type of content drove engagement up so they’re just playing into it. And the mystique itself drives further engagement.
If this is a Psyop or a DOD built recruitment drive, it’s the slickest one a bunch of green suiters have ever put together, by lightyears. PSYOPs folks are hilariously unimaginative and tone def in my experience, and Public Affairs Officers can’t help but take something that’s naturally interesting and putting just the most boring, cringy, or embarrassing spin on it sooner or later. So if these people are being employed to make uWu recruitment videos, they’re being given an unusual amount of latitude while the brass shows an unusual amount of restraint in not fucking with their content.
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u/somethingreallylame 11d ago
The article says that the main subject of the article is employed by the us army psyops division.
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u/Pipe_Hitting_Loggie 10d ago
Holy shit this is fucking stupid (the article not what you’re saying).
Lujan is part of Army Reserve Psychological Operations Command, she’s essentially a glorified photographer. Reserve PSYOP has no selection process, no specific qualification course, and does not conduct military information support operations (MISO) within the United States.
Also the idea of PSYOP teaming up with recruiting command is ludicrous, the amount of red tape to get to that would be insane not to mention PSYOP command would want nothing to do with that.
The reality of the situation is that this is a teenage E-4 being a teenage E-4 who was bored during a field exercise, she just happens to be attractive & have a sense of humor she and got popular for it (and is now cashing out, props to her). She actually did get picked up by what looks to be 101st Public Affairs but you can tell the moment that happened because the content immediately started being way less fun and in-touch with GenZ, it has ‘corporate Army public sensitivity’ all over it.
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u/ASuarezMascareno 10d ago
To me, it doesn't sound all that different from taking part in Top Gun's shooting and setting up recruitment desks at the theatre where the movie was playing. Which worked, the navy had record recruitment numbers the summer of Top Gun.
Maybe the specific media is different, but the times are different.
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u/Eastboundtexan
11d ago
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If you join the military because of a tik tok e girl that’s on you homie
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u/MoreGaghPlease 10d ago
Always need a new tactic for going after At Risk Male Youth
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u/ExileInParadise242 10d ago
The Church and State fair isn't as fertile a recruiting ground as it used to be.
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u/amnesiac2323
11d ago
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yvan eht nioj
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u/corpse_eyes 11d ago
Subliminal, liminal, superliminal
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u/RppOB 11d ago
What is "superliminal?"
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u/AzrielK 11d ago
Off topic but there is a fun video game called Superliminal where objects sizes are based on your perspective.
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u/SleepBurnsMyEyes 11d ago edited 11d ago
A neighbor of mine is an army recruiter. He says these kids don't even qualify. They have mental issues like anxiety,depression and ADD which disqualify you immediately/weight issues/drug issues/can't pass the asvab. I don't think Gen z cares about the military. Should be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run. I'm guessing they will have massive bonuses like never before to get people to enlist.
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u/ytperegrine 10d ago
It’s already starting. None of the US military branches are meeting recruiting numbers needed to sustain what we have.
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u/darexinfinity 10d ago
It's crazy how peacetime has been the greatest deterrent for teens to join the military.
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u/nowthengoodbad 10d ago edited 10d ago
No, we've all seen how our country does Jack for vets. Why put our lives on the line, potentially suffer injury, ptsd, or other permanent issues, and then a shit life on the way out for politicians and wealthy people who don't do a damn thing for us?
My brother was sent over seas immediately after 9/11 for 8 years. Came back out and the GI bill was helpful for school but he also came back out far more quiet than he was when he went in (he was already a quiet and peaceful person before...)
I'm really not sure why, But the TV says that you were wrong Now here we are ... I'll blow your fucking head off For my country
Or pick any other song that actually nails this down with their lyrics. We have people who never served a minute running the country.
I'd rather be a draft dodger than fight for these people.
Moreover, how many vets have ascended to the worlds wealthiest?
How many of those Forbes top billionaires were vets?
That's an extreme example but let me be clear, service doesn't give you a leg up except in areas that you really don't want a leg up in.
Until we fix the politician issue, not a single further American should serve. Then we need to fix how our armed forces are treated both during service and after. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we give them dandelions and marshmallows, but give them dignity. Give them something reasonable to work with and don't just dump them out in the cold after their service.
I don't think that it has anything to do with peacetime, I think it has more to do with the internet and being able to find out how pervasive these vet issues are and how crappy the politicians and wealthy are. More information means making more informed decisions. If I know that corrupt politicians will still be in charge, still riling people up for an insurrection or to undermine our country, are still committing insider trading and reeling in insane amounts of money because they make the rules around the companies that they're investing in, yet they're just enriching themselves and doing no good with that money, why in gods name should I fight for them? Some deluded notion of heroism or patriotism?
Nah. Only got one life to work with, let those politicians be on the front line to earn their wealth, power, and place.
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u/Send-Me-Goodies 10d ago
I don’t know about recruitment, but while you’re in, you can get mental health counseling and ADHD medication (depending on the job) without issues.
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u/iampatmanbeyond 11d ago
I mean who's gonna marry the strippers and finance chargers at 27% of we don't keep feeding the DoD the souls of lost teenagers?
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u/Paizzu 11d ago edited 11d ago
Those teenagers are growing up, getting promoted, obtaining a DUI, beating their wives, and financing new Dodge pickups.
Edit: There's nothing I loved more than having a spotless driving record as a junior enlisted and still having to sit through weekend "safety" briefings by an NCO with multiple DUIs on record.
"Yes, my correct POV tire pressure will prevent ISIS from invading my base in Bumfuck Nowhere, USA!"
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u/Fereldanknot 10d ago
More like sitting through pre weekend safety brief from a 1sg with 3 DUIs on his 5th marriage.
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u/Tinfoilpain 11d ago
Why is it always chargers???? There’s so many cars
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u/iampatmanbeyond 10d ago
It's the easiest car to fool a teenager that it's fast even if it weighs more than an suv
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u/red_riding_hoot 11d ago
I don't know exactly what did it, but after reading this I have permanent brain damage
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u/ApplesauceCreek 11d ago
after reading this I have permanent brain damage
I feel sad and dystopic.
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u/Zero1030 11d ago
Maybe the internet was a mistake can we go back
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u/brotbeutel 11d ago
Sometimes I genuinely feel like the world would be a better place if technology peaked in the 90’s. At least when it comes to social types of tech like the internet.
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u/wubrgess 10d ago
The internet was better when there was a minimum bar to access.
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u/Gorge2012 10d ago
Internet 1.0 was a seemingly limitless place and most people didn't do it for the money.
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u/Steven-Maturin 11d ago
"Lujan, who’s actually employed by the US army psy-ops division'
so a digimal white feather campaign.
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u/Rafaeliki 11d ago
White feather campaigns were meant to shame people into joining.
This is more just trying to trick horny kids into believing that they'll be spending their time in the military with Instagram models.
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u/killer_k_c 11d ago
The people that perpetuate E Girl culture don't have a steady paycheck.
People in the military do have a steady paychecks so it just kind of makes sense.
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u/Reasonable_Ticket_84 11d ago
People in the military do have a steady paychecks so it just kind of makes sense.
Yea but the privates tend to blow their paychecks on an expensive new car when they sign up and end up in debt for awhile.
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u/elRigs83 11d ago
I love how the GQP call healthcare, housing, guaranteed pay and three meals a day socialism but it's also the militaries top recruitment tools
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u/jdmcnair 11d ago
In fairness, that's the primary reason to take any job, not just the military, right?
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u/SaborW 11d ago
How else would you get people to join an all volunteer force if the benefits of it were available to everyone.
It probably wasn't set up this way intentionally, but it has become that way and there's not going to be a push to change it in part because of it, either
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u/Gonkar 11d ago
That's deliberate. Desperation is how they get kids to sign up to go die in their wars of profit.
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u/forsberg2110 10d ago edited 10d ago
What the fuck is an E-Girl and why are guys attracted to girls who look like Rudolph the Red nose reindeer.
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u/Odd-Turnip-2019 11d ago
Welp, I'm too old for the army and Marines but a year away from the USAF cutoff point.. after meeting with the recruiter they rejected me before I even got to the ASVAB, because you can see 2" of an anatomical spine tattoo above a t shirt collar line on the back of my neck (having laser removed currently). So...
I guess beggars CAN be choosers
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u/MomDoesntGetMe 11d ago
The Air Force doesn’t need bodies lol that’s been the most sought after branch since it’s conception. Curious on if the Space Force will be dethroning it though.
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u/WintryInsight 11d ago
I was under the impression space force was just a way to make it easier to budget military space satellites? It's just responsible for sat coms and communications through it to the army. I doubt they're sending guns up to space anytime soon
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u/Voodoo_Masta 11d ago
I must be old because I have no idea what an “E girl” is.
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u/Practical_Cartoonist 11d ago
Right there with you. Back from my Internet research mission, here's what I've found out:
(Someone young correct me where I'm wrong)
E-girls are a subset of social media influencers (girls who get rich by having a lot of followers and promoting brands). Traditional (can I use that word here?) social media influencers try to show off real (rich) life: exotic vacations, beaches, cool cafes, restaurants, cars, etc. E-girls are different and don't show off anything in real life except possibly their own bedroom.
"E-girl" is also an aesthetic. Because E-girls aren't showing off anything in real life, they're only showing off themselves. But the "themselves" they're showing off isn't how they are in real life. Instead, it's an anime version of themselves. They wear impractical anime clothes (practicality doesn't matter when you don't leave your bedroom), have anime hair, anime makeup (very very very heavy makeup, with obscene amounts of blush, fake freckles, etc.) and do unrealistic anime poses like ahegao.
They presumably all have double lives where they look and act like a normal people, but that side of them never shows itself in their social media persona.
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u/Tayslinger 11d ago
Sort of yes. So e-girl also includes a sort of “chronically online, but hot” aesthetic. Cosplay can be a big component, as can highly artificial color/lighting (dyed hair, neon or “bisexual lighting”, etc.). Gaming is a big part of the subculture, obviously tying into the streaming aspect of the influencer. Games aren’t strictly necessary, but will often still inform the aesthetic. It’s an evolution of the Alt-girl style that grew out of pastel goths.
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u/madogvelkor 11d ago
Now it's mostly girls who stream online in the gaming space, with a colorful and somewhat eclectic look. They often have a lot of male followers who give them money and gifts. There's often some anime influences on the aesthetic too.
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u/tkburro 11d ago
it is a trip; 20-25 years ago, attractive people did not do technology. there was no such thing as young attractive women being into “e stuff.” the cool popular kids pretended to not even know how to turn on a computer because computers are for nerds.
i think youtube and facebook/myspace changed it all. as soon as there was a relatively easy to use, socially-relevant function there, the internet and tech became attractive to the popular people.
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u/hour_of_the_rat 11d ago
I didn't understand any of the tiktok trends mentioned.
No, don't explain them to me.
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u/s1far 11d ago
TikTok is all about seeing shit you don't want to see, so your request is denied.
E-girl, an abbreviation of "electronic girl", is a subculture and stereotype of young women who are "online," meaning they are entrenched in internet culture, specifically the anime, gaming, K-Pop, cosplay, Discord, TikTok, and Twitch communities, although enjoying all of them is not necessary.
In the summer of 2019, Belle Delphine's emerging online prominence helped bring attention to the e-girl subculture; Business Insider described Delphine as "a symbol of the first wave of e-girl".
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u/diesel_rocks 11d ago
Clearly, their audience is exactly the kind of people you need to win a war...
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u/2legittoquit 11d ago
I mean, 90% of people on the ground in a war are random 18-25 year olds, most of whom aren’t the brightest (if my friends are any indication).
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u/nonamee9455 11d ago
"Cosplay commandos are posting nationalist thirst traps to mobilise the SIMPs"
Wat
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u/Ubiquibot 11d ago
I remember the commercial that helped convince me to join the Air Force. It was a bunch of people sitting in a big, dimly lit sci-fi looking room doing cool sci-fi stuff. I thought about it every time I was mopping a bay or scrubbing a latrine.
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u/timeslider 11d ago
"Cosplay commandos are posting nationalist thirst traps to mobilise the SIMPs" That's not a title I was expecting.