In an early episode of JAG, then-Lt. Harmon Rabb, Jr. (David James Elliott) is jogging in the same park that President Bill Clinton happens to also be jogging in.
That show’s writers often sneaked in subtle jabs at Clinton, and there was even an episode that probably started out with the writers asking if they could fill an entire episode with Clinton bashing (“Contemptuous Words,” first aired November 23, 1999).
But they never made fun of Clinton for being an out-of-shape dumbass too lazy to walk a few yards in Sicily for the G7. For the aforementioned JAG episode, “Shadow,” the editors didn’t need footage of an actor playing Clinton running, they just used actual footage of Clinton himself jogging.
To be fair to pile of garbage Donald Trump, however, military recruiters have been having trouble long before alleged rapist Matt Lauer was trying to make the point that Hillary Clinton was, in his stupid opinion, unfit to be president. You know, because emails?
Obesity is an epidemic in America, and it’s giving recruiters trouble. Madison O’Brien reported for WAND Channel 17 in Illinois on this just a couple of days ago:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - One organization is worried the military will not have enough recruits to serve in the future, unless more schools support healthy eating and physical activity.
The Illinois Director of Mission: Readiness, Tim Carpenter, said this group is committed to high quality early childhood programs and ensuring kids stay in school and stay fit.
"We're an organization of retired military leaders, generals and admirals from around the country," Carpenter said.
A new report from Mission: Readiness, said seven out of ten young adults in Illinois are not eligible to join the military.
"Of the 70 percent that are ineligible, about half of that is due to obesity," Carpenter said. "For kids as young as two in Illinois, we see obesity rates of about 14 percent."
And then, of those who do qualify to serve in the military, how many of them even want to?
When JAG started its run in 1995, there were plenty of conflicts around the world, but America was not officially at war. In another JAG episode first aired in 1999, a hotheaded young aviator complains that he might spend his whole Navy career “boring holes in the sky.”
In the aftermath of 9/11, many felt a calling to serve. But some were perhaps deterred by the idea that President George W. Bush would get distracted and send them all to Iraq and forget about Osama bin Laden (that’s not retroactive hindsight, just ask 2001 Jay Leno).
Although President Obama was not a veteran, he was someone active duty servicemembers could respect (sure there were contemptuous words cases during his presidency, but I’d wager money they were all racists).
Even so, the idea of two ongoing wars surely discouraged some who would not have hesitated to join if they had been born in a previous generation. And the National Guard is no longer a way to serve in the military but avoid actual combat.
And now with Trump, America betrays allies and is still involved in war all around the world. Join the U. S. Armed Forces to salute a traitor who would rather be saluting a North Korean general? No thanks.
Or if you’re lucky enough to be stationed somewhere far away from the fighting, but it’s at a chintzy, gaudy Trump property, so that Trump can gouge taxpayers? The kind of person our military needs would not want to be part of that.
There is a new ad campaign for the military, consisting of ads on prime-time television and a website. It’s not be all you can be, Army Strong or anything like that.
It’s more like, hey parents, the military offers your kids some really cool, specialized, technical careers. Just put aside your worry they might die in some far off land defending Emperor Putin’s interests.