They're right. Gotta watch who's contacting your kids on MySpace.

July 24, 2006 10:30 PM

Semper FiSpace
posted by pyramid termite (24 comments total)

......?

Do you want a cookie or something?
posted by Mach3avelli at 10:37 PM on July 24, 2006

Hey, cool. Reported for inappropriate content.
posted by loquacious at 10:40 PM on July 24, 2006

wowww.
posted by blacklite at 10:41 PM on July 24, 2006

To their credit, it's one of the better-designed MySpaces out there. It would make my day if the Corps had the stereotypical tripped-out black/pink/green setup and a punk-pop song playing.

I guess there's nothing strictly wrong with them recruiting there, but something about this just seems spooky.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 10:50 PM on July 24, 2006

Well somebody's got to sell all those kids to the military. If you can turn a tidy profit while helping America, what's the harm? If MySpace didn't do it another social networking site would step up to meet the demand. The military and the church have enormous budgets but it all depends on continual infusions of new recruits. Did people think the Internet would change this?
posted by nixerman at 11:08 PM on July 24, 2006

Marines ♥ Table Layout.
posted by delmoi at 11:42 PM on July 24, 2006

They've still got Tom as their friend. I wonder if they've talked to him about enlisting.

Also, I imagine someone has the possibly-full-time job of answering MySpace messages sent to that account. Your tax dollars at work.
posted by endquote at 12:29 AM on July 25, 2006

Any wizards able to do a query on how many of those friends are under-18 kids who are "friends" of the marine corps?

That'd be interesting to see.
posted by twiggy at 12:34 AM on July 25, 2006

Too bad they took into account the severe bashing they would receive and turned off the comments section. Join the marines and die for oil sucker! Oops . . . excuse me. I meant: die for Israel sucker.
posted by augustweed at 12:40 AM on July 25, 2006

My dad was a Marine. I don't recommend it.
posted by wsg at 1:15 AM on July 25, 2006

Meh ! Soon Murdoch will contract myspace space to Marines
posted by elpapacito at 1:47 AM on July 25, 2006

Gah! When will I ever learn that all MySpace pages have auto-play audio/video. :-(
posted by persona non grata at 4:04 AM on July 25, 2006

Compared to other recruiting techniques used by our infamous military, this is rather benign.

I guess I look at it like this...

1. We are well on the way to having solid proof that joining the Military means you will die.

2. It appears that there is no way to end the conflicts we are involved in, they will go on forever.

3. Anyone who has a MySpace account, or even LOOKS at MySpace is likely to pull down the gene pool.

4. Darwin wins in this situation, we're all better off in the long run.
posted by HuronBob at 4:51 AM on July 25, 2006

My dad was a Marine. I don't recommend it.

My father-in-law was a marine and a Vietnam combat veteran. Now he's gay.

Enlist and enjoy your communal showers and pretty uniforms, kids.
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:49 AM on July 25, 2006

My father was a Marine in WWII and it worked out well for him. Me? I'm the screwed up one.

I'm not sure this is the "best of the web", but it makes sense the Marines would recruit where the kids hang out. But they're also offering an easy way for the MySpace kids who join the Marines to connect with each other.

Here's an article on the account.

So far over 430 people have asked to contact a Marine recruiter through the site in the five months since the page went up, including some 170 who are considered "leads" or prospective Marine recruits.

The Army initially posted ads on MySpace in January but withdrew them a month later when reports emerged about child predators approaching youths via the site. MySpace has since assured the Army it has better security protections in place.

As for other branches, the Air Force places regular advertisements on MySpace, but doesn't have a profile. The Navy hasn't used MySpace.

posted by ?! at 6:36 AM on July 25, 2006

Eh, big deal. The Marines are entitled to advertise just like anyone else. Like it or not, myspace has become THE place to hang out for many many folks. Hats off to myspace for their successful enterprise.

And whether you support the war or not (I don't), some folks are interested in joining the armed services for whatever reason. It is what it is. We all might as well get over it. :)
posted by bim at 6:53 AM on July 25, 2006

Oooooooooh, the Marines have a MySpace page!




BFD.
posted by mkultra at 6:53 AM on July 25, 2006

Sounds like what they need is a counteractive profile from Dead In Iraq. He could go around pasting the obituaries as comments to users who are friends of the Army. I imagine he could cull some nice photos and video from Ogrish to boot, but I'd give his account about 4 hours before it was nuked.
posted by prostyle at 6:58 AM on July 25, 2006

The Few. The Proud. One of The branches of our armed forces that rejects me because I'm in the LGBT community.

Yey War on Terror. Because the queer folk can't be patriotic.
posted by andreaazure at 7:49 AM on July 25, 2006

So, um, is Tom getting laid like crazy or what?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:09 AM on July 25, 2006

Uncle_Sam writes: THANKS FOR THE ADD!
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:33 AM on July 25, 2006

It's got the angles.
posted by dhartung at 3:02 PM on July 25, 2006

Is this what's mean by "Pepsi Blue" references?
posted by pax digita at 3:20 PM on July 25, 2006

The Few. The Proud. The Willing Stooges. The "I will kill whoever my government tells me to kill in return for a education because I yam poor and hignorant". The "Improve your odds of a buggering and/or a reduction in limb count".

Fuck the troops.
posted by Decani at 4:30 PM on July 25, 2006