How does CAP avoid this nonsense?

[Johnny Yuma]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-jones/americas-child-soldiers_b_4450935.html

Did a real hit piece on JROTC, their heads would probably explode if they knew about our special activities.

[AngelWings]

You don't. That's the way it's going to be. Everyone is entitled to speak their opinion and publish it, regardless of if it is positive or negative. It sucks, we all know, but the media is allowed to state their opinion and we would look foolish trying to stop them.

What matters is that we keep our image looking good. It's like the people who say that soldiers are baby killers, they're not going to change and any arguments you can provide are going to brushed off. Ignoring it truly works best, and not feeding into it makes us look like professionals. All we need to do is make sure our mission stays the same.

[ol'fido]

Just goes to show that a left wing writer on a left wing website can put a negative spin on anything that looks military, conservative, or patriotic.

[a2capt]

Come on, really, it's the huffandpuff, blowhard post.

[Johnny Yuma]

I agree, my question was actually how CAP's been able to avoid these bozos?

There are a number of social justice/antiwar type groups out there who really have it in for JROTC. Huffpo's just a outlet for their looniness. We do a whole lot more than JROTC and I'm surprised they haven't come after CAP like this. not just the cadet program, but ES as well. Imagine how they could twist the JFK and Fossett searches into some rich white guy pay-to-fly nonsense?

[NIN]

Come on, really, it's the huffandpuff, blowhard post.

They don't even bother to buy ink by the barrel. Just electrons by the bushel.

What a horrible screed.

[Ozzy]

It's pretty much the same thing I heard a few years ago... JROTC turning kids into mindless baby-killers and cannon-fodder... It's all a load of dung and BS. That article however compared JROTC to the Hitler Youth.

As for your question, there isn't a way we can really avoid them. If they have an agenda they are looking to push, they'll select the info they want that represents their views and discard the rest. What we can do though is continue and follow our values... let the haters hate.

[Devil Doc]

JROTC is not to "Recruit" soldiers or "Train" Soldiers. JROTC Mission "To Motivate Young People To Be Better Citizens"

[NIN]

JROTC is not to "Recruit" soldiers or "Train" Soldiers. JROTC Mission "To Motivate Young People To Be Better Citizens"

Hush you. It doesn't fit the author's predefined narrative if you come up with such facts.

[AngelWings]

I agree, my question was actually how CAP's been able to avoid these bozos?

There are a number of social justice/antiwar type groups out there who really have it in for JROTC. Huffpo's just a outlet for their looniness. We do a whole lot more than JROTC and I'm surprised they haven't come after CAP like this. not just the cadet program, but ES as well. Imagine how they could twist the JFK and Fossett searches into some rich white guy pay-to-fly nonsense?

Whoops!

I'd say we're more dynamic. We can pick and choose how we brand ourselves to certain audiences, whether it be ES professionals, flyers/aviation club, a corporate organization, a cadet organization, or a volunteer service organization. I think that works as a buffer. Who wants to write a negative piece about a bunch of SAR guys, pilots, and community service? While less so, it'd be like targeting a fire department. It'd be bad for views and it'd be reception, especially when our name has been in the media multiple times for helping out SAR missions, disasters, and the like.

JROTC doesn't have this luxury, because everything ties back to the curriculum taught in the classroom.

[RiverAux]

JROTC is not to "Recruit" soldiers or "Train" Soldiers. JROTC Mission "To Motivate Young People To Be Better Citizens"

Riiiiight.  The DoD is not spending millions of dollars on a citizenship program.  Its certainly not like its portrayed in the piece, but it only about recruiting no matter what they say. 

[Shuman 14]

Come on, really, it's the huffandpuff, blowhard post.

Concur, ignoring the Huff-n-Puff is simply the best thing to do.

[Brad]

This smear campaign by the left-leaning hug-it-out-be-friends-with-everyone-give-everyone-a-prize crowd has been going on for at least a decade now back when I was marching the pad as a JROTC cadet, if not longer. I've learned to ignore it. Sure the article gets me riled up, and the stories I hear about legislation out in California to flat out ban JROTC from schools, keep recruiters out, and other agenda items pushed by an insanely overpowered PTA drives me mad, but I usually end up closing the tab halfway through the article, if that, say a few choice words about the author and his/her views to myself, then I move on with my life.

It's a free country, and journalists have a right to opinion pieces as guaranteed under the 1st Amendment, provided it is not flat-out libel, slander, or violates any of the other boundaries as identified by the Supreme Court. Freedom may not always be in line with your views, but that is the ironic beauty of it, it allows for multiple viewpoints.

[Panache]

This smear campaign by the left-leaning hug-it-out-be-friends-with-everyone-give-everyone-a-prize crowd has been going on for at least a decade now back when I was marching the pad as a JROTC cadet, if not longer.

Oh, much longer, I assure you.  My dad told me stories of getting spit on after he returned from Vietnam and was in his Army uniform.

[LSThiker]

Ran into plenty of these people.  Did not matter whether it was at National Blue Beret, air shows, recruiting events, or in schools.  The opinions of these people are already formed and most, as with many other topics, people are unwilling to listen to reason (good song by the way). 

Riiiiight.  The DoD is not spending millions of dollars on a citizenship program.  Its certainly not like its portrayed in the piece, but it only about recruiting no matter what they say.

While generally true, JROTC is mostly about recruiting.  However, I would not say "only" about.  The military spends plenty of money on non-military items that do not primarily focus on recruiting.  Although you could make the argument image is recruiting and the bettering of society improves recruiting arguments.  Then again I think we can run that line of thinking for just about anything (i.e. is volunteering selfless or selfish; does a company really return a product because they care or is it really about sales). 

I know from experience my SROTC program would allow any college student to take its first two years of classes (essentially foundations of leadership and military tactics).  The instructors never tried to recruit from those classes, but were more of trying to smooth the image the military had on campus.  It was essentially agreed upon that they were not allowed to actively recruit from those classes.  We had plenty of non-ROTC cadets join us for PT in the mornings because we were the only diverse workout class (meaning we did not focus just on running, walking, or strength training).

Even outside of the ROTC image, there are plenty of other items.  One of our airports, the entire fire department was run by USAF firefighters until BRAC and sequestration.  Civil Support Teams were used to clean up an ALF attack against one of my campuses animal testing facilities.  The DoD spends billions of dollars on scientific research that really has no immediate product development or function for the military.  In fact, they are about to, if not already, surpass the NIH in funding. 

My point is, the military actually does spend billions of dollars on non-recruiting programs for simply improving society

[JeffDG]

There are people out there, and many of them seem to choose "journalism" as a profession who are skilled in being offended.  That's their job, to go out and find slights, real of not, which they can then spill ink to complain about.

Here's another example:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/16/as-norad-gets-ready-to-track-santa-critics-are-tracking-norad-saying-video-is/

A children's advocacy group says an animated video on the NORAD Tracks Santa website injects militarism into Christmas by showing fighter jets escorting Santa's sleigh.

[a2capt]

Next, PeTA will complain that animal cruelty is involved because reindeer are being overworked.

[Eclipse]

The answer to the OP is "We can't."

People can always make slanted assertions, and the only way to combat them is by insuring them that what they are asserting
isn't actually true, then their opinion, while annoying, is also irrelevant.

The nice thing about these types of trolls is that the only power they have is to push very superficial buttons.
Anyone with the attention span and lack of facts to believe this kind of nonsense, is also not going to be
in a position to do much about it besides "like" or "respost", neither of which means much of anything except background noise.

That site is about nothing more then eye-share and selling soap.

[LGM30GMCC]

People can always make slanted assertions, and the only way to combat them is by insuring them that what they are asserting
isn't actually true, then their opinion, while annoying, is also irrelevant.

One of the reasons we cannot tolerate crap like FMJ-esque training, or the RAWR WE WANT GUNS AND TO GO BLOW UP TERRORISTS type rhetoric we do see from some of our cadets. By all means we can still make things challenging, but if we take cues, or allow others to take cues, from media-portrayals of that kind of crap then we start to become exactly what we say we aren't.

Is it harmless fun to be having people yelling 'Blood makes the grass grow, KILL KILL KILL'? Maybe in our eyes but in a public setting is that something we want out there? Probably not.

This isn't to say we shouldn't still have close ties with the military and actual orientation and information. That's fine, but there is a difference between that and the kind of crap some people seem to want.

[jeders]

I agree, my question was actually how CAP's been able to avoid these bozos?

Mostly because no one seems to know that CAP exists, whereas JROTC is present in just about every town of any significance. And if it's not present, it is known about.

There are a number of social justice/antiwar type groups out there who really have it in for JROTC. Huffpo's just a outlet for their looniness.

Which is so sad when you consider that for so long she was a right leaning individual, or so she claimed.

We do a whole lot more than JROTC and I'm surprised they haven't come after CAP like this. not just the cadet program, but ES as well. Imagine how they could twist the JFK and Fossett searches into some rich white guy pay-to-fly nonsense?

Don't give them any ideas.