Lets keep things helpful and courteous.

I agree. No problem.

Just signed up to remark. I can see the military being considered a cult . . they're funded by the government, not the public. They recruit kids with promises of a 'free education' and often make remarks leading the recruit to believe s/he can choose where s/he wants to serve or can go home, and even worse - not have to serve in any war torn areas.

Take all that and add in secret prisons created to mock justice by putting them just outside the USA, like in Cuba, or in countries where torture is normal and you have a very cultish organization. Let us not forget, almost nobody in this nation wanted a war in Iraq, but the president as the commander ordered it anyway . . so much for not being privately controlled, publicly funded. If this site can consider Amway a cult then why not the US armed forces lead by the President?

CreatorRob:

No the US military could not be defined as a "cult."

See [www.culteducation.com]

Also see [www.culteducation.com]

The US military does not have a David Koresh or Jim Jones as its defining absolute authoritarian leader.

Instead, there are officers responsible to a chain of command and that command is ultimately responsible to the president who is elected and accountable to Congress.

Whether or not the Marines are a "cult", it's still a very scary story! Those types of aggressive recruitment tactics are unacceptable.

Gulab Jamon:

Whatever your opinion about the recruitment tactics of the Marine Corp. this is not a topic closely related to this Web site.

The concern here is about cult recruitment tactics though, which would be on topic.

yr boyfriends in Iraq.......WE INVADED IRAQ.......my cousin died in the marines..............bus and US military are destroying iraq

The Hitler youth were children. A seven year old Iranian who blows himself up for Allah is a child. But there does come a time when society has the responsibility of acknowledging a young man as a young man. An individual preparing to celebrate his/or her eighteenth birthday has earned the right to be called a young man/woman. To do otherwise is demeaning.

Yeah, this is pretty stupid. Next someone will say our police force, our politicians, our local franchised baker is harbouring a cult. Within the structure of these organisations there is always the possibility of change.

With regard to Keir's query about Star22's comment, it makes perfect sense what she said. My interpretation is that her boyfriend is a soldier fighting for our right to continue talking about anything we like (as long as it adheres to the guidelines of the particular forum). That's freedom of speech. You've got that in your constitution, don't you? Funnily enough, we Australians don't - it's just a given in this modern day and age of Democracy.

Personally, I am a pacifist, but I can accept the idea that many believe that we must sometimes use violence to uphold our rights. One of the ways I make sense of that is having enough police presence on the street to curb the sometimes chaotic behaviour of others. I mean, if I go out of a night I expect to be relatively protected. I expect crazy drivers to be punished. What are the options? And, what are my taxes for?