Free Brendan Bubar!

November 1, 2005 4:48 PM

Free Brendan Bubar!
posted by mr_crash_davis (24 comments total)

Nothing like a forged application to the Army to bring an estranged father and son back together.
posted by fenriq at 4:52 PM on November 1, 2005

Seems straightforward enough, the kid's been taken out of the program, they're looking at the paperwork and whoever processed it, and they figure he'll be back to hash things out with dad in 2 or 3 weeks. Will we ever know more?
posted by scheptech at 4:57 PM on November 1, 2005

uh, ok. I'm happy this is bringing to light some major issues with the current recruiting system (like, for example, the predatory tactics of recruiters and the fact that we've only made enlistment appealing to the desperate).

But, for fuck's sake, the kid's got a kid of his own. He's got to learn to make a decision and stick with it, instead of whinging and trying to get discharged on what is frankly a technicality.

Living with the decisions you've made, and learning from the ones you regret, is part of becoming a grownup. And it sounds like sonny boy is trying to escape that particular lesson, which only bodes ill for his future as a husband and a father.
posted by xthlc at 4:58 PM on November 1, 2005

xthlc - won't you think of the baby's momma's momma?
posted by AllesKlar at 5:01 PM on November 1, 2005

Kid sounds like an idiot and my money's on him forging the documents. If that's the case, can he be charged by the Army?

Perhaps the recruiter signed it but that seems pretty fucking stupid to me, though it wouldn't surprise me.

Also, the article says there are two signatures on the sheet and one ain't the dad's. So... the other is the mother's, right?
posted by dobbs at 5:03 PM on November 1, 2005

Also, the article says there are two signatures on the sheet and one ain't the dad's. So... the other is the mother's, right?

Ha. The first thing that brings to mind is "I have 30 cents in my hand, and only two coins, one of which is not a nickel." (Whereby, of course, the other coin is the nickel and the one that is not is a quarter, for anyone who hasn't heard that old saw.)
posted by whatzit at 5:18 PM on November 1, 2005

Since when is forging a signature on a government form "frankly a technicality"? The government forms I've had to sign carried warning about felonies called "perjury" and "forgery". The kid was not old enough to sign himself into the Army, so any adult who helped him do so should be brought up on charges, and the recruiter and his supervisor ought to be at least demoted.
posted by davy at 5:29 PM on November 1, 2005

The dad's name is PeeWee?

I thought you had to be 18 to join the army ... wouldn't this then involve some serious forgery, i.e. driver's license, birth certificate, etc? Admittedly, that's probably legally no different than forging your father's name, but.

He has the word of his former wife, who also lives in Columbia Falls, and his son that neither of them signed on his behalf.

Assuming that he's telling the truth, it could be a recruiter that forged his dad's signature. Now that's big news, considering all the other crap that recruiters have already been busted for.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:38 PM on November 1, 2005

They'll probably keep him there until he turns 18 and then execute him for desertion. mmmmmm, dessertion.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:51 PM on November 1, 2005

can someone please enlighten me as to what the shit this word "whinging" is supposed to be, and/or how it's pronounced?


Is this a euro version of whining? and if so, why the g? How the hell did a g get in there??? And further, is the g silent?

inquiring minds want to know...
posted by stenseng at 6:22 PM on November 1, 2005

To whinge is to complain or protest, often repeatedly and in an annoying manner.

It's pronounced winj-ing, i.e. the 'g' is not silent.
posted by matthewr at 6:50 PM on November 1, 2005

Time to send him a copy of the Red Badge of Courage.
posted by klangklangston at 6:57 PM on November 1, 2005

can someone please enlighten me as to what the shit this word "whinging" is supposed to be... How the hell did a g get in there???

Why I Love MetaFilter, Reason #12,537: now the people are whining about whinging!

off-topic: I have spent many a pleasant afternoon in Columbia Falls (although without running into the Bubar family). If you go there, be sure and visit the fish hatchery, home of the wild and wonderful Downeast Salmon Federation.
posted by LeLiLo at 7:01 PM on November 1, 2005

Parental permission slip to join the Marines.

America: where a seventeen-year-old is sufficiently adult to decide when and how to kill people, impose and police martial law, and represent foreign policy interests overseas, but four years too young to buy beer.
posted by ori at 7:25 PM on November 1, 2005

America: where a seventeen-year-old is sufficiently adult to decide when and how to kill people, impose and police martial law, and represent foreign policy interests overseas, but four years too young to buy beer.

...and too young to be tried as an adult, get sentenced to either natural life in prison or death row, and not old enough to legally have sex or get an abortion without parental permission in most states.
posted by TrinityB5 at 7:32 PM on November 1, 2005

uh, that should read:

NOT too young...
posted by TrinityB5 at 7:33 PM on November 1, 2005

personally, i think this kid sounds like an idiot and should have to serve his tour. he wanted in badly enough to get a forged application, so let him stay there and suck it up. now doesn't like it, and is crying like a baby and wants to come home? too bad. he doesn't sound like he's starting off life too well - quit high high school and got his girlfriend pregnant - so a little something like this could be very helpful for him. a stint in the armed forces sounds like a damn good idea. preferably on kp duty - potato peeling and dish washing - for a few years, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan, no need to get killed for being stupid.
posted by TrinityB5 at 7:41 PM on November 1, 2005

Can an American please explain why some grown men in the United States have odd, juvenile nicknames?
Ie. Pee Wee Bubar ... Scooter Libby ...
What is this tradition? Thanks
posted by capilano at 9:14 PM on November 1, 2005

I thought you had to be 18 to join the army

> The Secretary concerned may accept original enlistments of ... qualified, effective, and able-bodied persons who are not less than seventeen years of age nor more than thirty-five years of age. However, no person under eighteen years of age may be originally enlisted without the written consent of his parent or guardian, if he has a parent or guardian entitled to his custody and control.

Ayup, davy: the UCMJ has some pretty strict wording about aiding unlawful enlistments.
posted by dhartung at 9:18 PM on November 1, 2005

I like how Bubar rhymes with fubar.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 9:38 PM on November 1, 2005

Kid sounds like an idiot and my money's on him forging the documents.

My money's on Mom for both signatures.

"That goddam sonofabitch ran off and left us years ago, doesn't pay me any maintenance, hasn't seen you since last Christmas and these fools think you need his permission to join up and get yourself killed?

Well, we'll show those suckers."

(Makes two large x's on paper.)

"There you go kid -- go shoot yourself some ragheads."
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:19 AM on November 2, 2005

How much do you wanna bet that this kid still cares little for his father, PeeWee, and is just making nice to get PeeWee to help him out of the little predicament he got himself into? This kid sounds a little douchey.

But, if it does come to light that the signature was an Army recruiter's (that is what was being suggested in the article, right??), at least that will reveal even more of the shady practices surrounding military recruitment.
posted by Uncle Glendinning at 5:02 AM on November 2, 2005

I hear that the armed forces have decent widow's pay, especially if you got a kid. Maybe his best prospect is to get shot in Iraq...
posted by klangklangston at 5:34 AM on November 2, 2005

Can an American please explain why some grown men in the United States have odd, juvenile nicknames?
What is this tradition? Thanks
posted by capilano

Here ya go, cappy!
posted by Floydd at 8:27 AM on November 2, 2005