No ARMY Money ?

[Nitro Joe Jackson]

well like i told you guys before, my son is in the army and has done both Iraq & Afghanistan stints now and you would not be-leave the money he had to Shell out before going over there for gear, its a crime and I for one is soooooooooooooo glad when all the ARMY sponsored cars go by the wayside.

[Eric Kitzan]

Do we really want people defending our country because the Army sponsors a race car anyway? I think they should want to join for more personal reasons.

[mopacltd]

What do you mean "he had to shell out a bunch of money" before he left? The Army is sending him in "harms way" and not supplying him with the neccessary equiptment? That is REVOLTING!
Best wishes to your son and thank him for his service.

[Jim Kaekel]

[QUOTE=mopacltd;243651]What do you mean "he had to shell out a bunch of money" before he left?

My nephew, who used to accompany me to the races many times, has been in the army the last couple of years and has experienced the same thing. There's alot of stuff that he's had to pay for out of his own pocket that they sure as hell didn't tell him when they recruited him. He did a tour in Iraq just over a year or so ago, and is getting sent to Afghanistan this summer. I sure as hell don't expect that "Sarge" is going over there anytime soon...he couldn't carry my nephew's "sack".

[mopacltd]

Low pay, a chance to get killed, away from loved ones for long periods of time and now have to pay for essentials! It wasn't that way when I served during the VietNam era.

[Chuck Beach]

I am not defending him but I don't think it is right to trash talk Schumacher just because he has gotten an Army deal. Same thing with Ryan Newman or Mark Martin (once sponsered by the Army). All of the millionaire pros (except Jim Head) get money from some company or organization. I am not saying that it is right for the Army to spend tax payer money on sponsoring race cars but I if they are going to do it (spend advertising $$), better here in motor sports than maybe some where else.

Joe, tell your son we are proud of him defending our country.

[Curt Rees]

I am going to chime in on this one also, since I have a son that has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the National Guard. I asked him if the auto and fishing sponsorships were a plus for recruiting.

He said yes, because the thinking is if the young men/women are intelligent enough to have an interest in building/maintaining and racing automobiles or taking an interest in the fishing industry, they are a good prospect to serve well in the military. Beats the hell out of recruiting the bums standing on a street corner smoking dope!

If you want to go after somebody, go after the politicians for causing all these messes. We are going to be in another one in Libya soon, because of OIL! If we would start developing our own resources, they could swim and drown in it, and I could care less!

#5457

Curt Rees

[Julie Jordan]

If I was a Congressperson the question I would be asking is how does the dollars spent on motorsports correlate with recruitments? All departments of the military have recruiting budgets. They have recruitment fairs all over, buy billboards, tv ads, etc. If sponsoring motosports is a successful means of advertising for them then I say it's ok to continue. I've seen the Army "compound" in manufacturers row, it's very impressive and staffed with military members. I suspect it's a good program for them.

I fully support our troops and believe they should be fully staffed. However, I think that issue and army sponsorships are two different subjects.

[Alan Roehrich]

Just a thought here folks, and by no means am I a fan of the government spending an extra nickel, and having friends and family serving, I'm disgusted by the idea that they have to pay for any piece of equipment they might need or want as well. I'm no big fan of fuel racing, or the Schumachers.

The Pentagon gets a certain amount of money to spend on recruiting. The sponsorships are paid from that fund. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of ways they can spend recruiting money. But they WILL get their recruiting budget, and they WILL spend it. Whether or not motorsports sponsorship is the very best way to spend recruiting dollars is something that few, if any of us have any knowledge of. If Congress manages to ban recruiting funding from use as motorsports sponsorship, you can bet it will be spent elsewhere, it's not going to be saved.

Further, you can bet that this bill is political grandstanding. Nothing more, nothing less.

Don't be fooled by a bunch of rhetoric. And don't think that if the bill passes, the money won't be spent elsewhere.

[Dave Crouchet]

Personally id rather see the money put in a fund for injured soldiers, widows, widowers and to the families of the fallen soldiers.

Joe, please tell ur son we all thank him for his duties as a soldier.