Exploding Aardvark

Carla Bloomer agrees with Tom that poor children have few options, but rankles at the suggestion that selling military service to a child is an answer to the problem. And she didn’t even know this was an issue until she learned a recruiter had talked to her 14-year-old son and convinced him to sign up.

“He’s not smart enough to make a decision like that at this point in his life,” she says. “That recruiter came in and played to his teenager’s sense of invincibility and know-it-all attitude and convinced him this was the best thing for him to do. In the end, I had to give in and let him sign up.”

After he signed the paperwork, however, Bloomer took a closer look at the contract and was even more disturbed by what she learned. The small print reveals that the $350 monthly stipend her son receives is actually an advance on his $250 per month combat pay and $100 per month hardship duty pay.

“What they’ve done is guarantee that my son will go to war when he’s old enough,” says Bloomer. “They’re paying him for it now so he can’t back out later.”

Her son, Richard, admits he wasn’t aware of the source of the payments he’s receiving, but adds that he’s not worried about it either.

“At least I’m getting paid now,” he says. “Hell, I might get killed my first week out and then I’d get nothing. At least I can enjoy it now.”

Soldier Boy