This is not the type of attention that US Army Recruiting Command was looking for with this ad campaign:
Two weeks ago, the Army’s official recruiting website released a series of animated advertisementsshowcasing the stories of several soldiers on their journey to join the nation’s oldest branch.
One in particular features Cpl. Emma Malonelord, a soldier raised in California by two moms.
Since its upload to YouTube, however, this video’s comment section has been disabled. It currently has nearly a million views, 36,000 dislikes and only 775 likes.
“Beginning May 12 we started noticing a significant uptick in negative commentary,” Laura DeFrancisco, public affairs chief for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, told Army Times. “The comments violated our social media policy and were not aligned with Army values. Out of respect for the safety and wellbeing of our soldiers and their families, we have disabled the comments.”
Hers is one of five stories selected by the branch for recruiting advertisements under the series, titled “The Calling.”
Army Times
You can read more at the link, but Ted Cruz had to comment about all this using a Russian propaganda video:
The recruiting Youtube video is not at only 1k likes and 46 dislikes. You would think they would have turned off this feature by now. Plenty of bot accounts from foreign adversaries are sure to go and troll a US military video like this.
Apparently expats do not have a high opinion of living in South Korea and a lot of has to do with making friends and settling in. From a U.S. military perspective there are so many KATUSAs and other to make friends with on base that this is really not an issue. Additionally it is easier to settle in on base as well when you don’t have to worry about getting cheated by landlords:
Korea ranked 47th out of 59 countries in an index based on a survey to determine the favorability of the living environment and conditions for expats. In the Expats Insider 2021 index released by InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with around 4 million members, those in Korea had difficulty settling in, finding friends and feeling at home.
Korea Times
The community conducted the annual survey in January on 12,420 expat respondents, representing 174 nationalities and living in 186 countries or territories, regarding their satisfaction in areas including quality of life, ease of settling in, working life, personal finance and cost of living.
Korea ranked 13th in general living conditions among 61 countries in 2014, but its ranking fell to 55th in 2019. It bounced back slightly to 54th in 2020 and 47th this year.
You can read more at the link.
I guess we will see what a “flexible” approach to the DPRK means in the near future. Hopefully it doesn’t mean being flexible on sanctions with little to nothing in return:
The new North Korea policy of the Joe Biden administration is designed to be flexible to enable the “best chance of diplomatic success” by learning from past unsuccessful efforts, a senior US administration official said Thursday.
“We are not going to lay out exactly our diplomatic strategy here and now, I would simply say that we’ve tried to design it to be flexible,” the official told reporters while speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We understand where previous efforts in the past had difficulties, and we’re determined to try to learn from those past efforts to give ourselves the best chance of diplomatic success,” he said.
After wrapping up its monthslong North Korea policy review last month, the United States said it will not seek a “grand bargain” with North Korea or rely on strategic patience.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
The real story is not being reported is what President Moon wants from the Biden administration in return for these investments. My guess will be he wants the U.S. to be more flexible on sanctions to jump start his North Korea engagement policy:
The United States is the world’s leading technology and innovation hub, but it is not a leader in the high-tech supply chain, mostly relying on Asian countries for essential items, such as semiconductors and batteries for electric vehicles.
In the face of growing challenges from China, U.S. President Joe Biden wants to revitalize the domestic manufacturing capacity amid the global chip crisis and a looming shortage of batteries, and he is expected to welcome a series of announcements of massive investment plans by Korean companies ahead of and after his summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is some interesting data from a recent study on vaccine hesitancy in the military:
Service members’ decisions on whether or not to get vaccinated vary significantly between different demographic groupings, according to a new military study. In addition to race, ethnicity, and age, researchers found that initiation of the vaccine process varied by branch of service, occupational specialty, and level of education.
Between the four military branches, the Army had the lowest rate of vaccination. Marines were 52 percent more likely to get vaccinated than soldiers. Sailors and airmen were respectively 45 percent and 15 percent more likely.
Black service members were least likely to choose to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, as well as female service members and those with lower ranks and education levels. Research surveying the civilian population also suggests high rates of vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans.
Army Times
You can read more at the link.
