Above All

Recently, while watching an NBA playoff game, I saw this advert:



Does anyone else find this sort of thing as odd - or indeed, chilling - as I do? I've never understood the need of the Armed Forces to "advertise" as they are free to recruit almost anywhere they like. I suppose it all falls in line with the corporate model that is the American Way, much the same as the privatization of military contracts has expanded so that the majority of people working/fighting in Iraq are now private contractors/mercenaries, or one can look to the fact that something like 60% of intelligence work is farmed-out to private enterprise (some very notable people are cashing big checks).

But what's with this ad? What's with the Above All tag line? Sounds very "Uber Alles" to me. And just how many countries or non-state actors are capable of blowing a satellite out of the sky? Perhaps three; China, Russia and the US, but that's a stretch. We've been largely unable to create a missile defense after wasting billions over the years on Reagan's Star Wars variants, although geo-syncronous satellites are an easier target. I wish I knew someone with a subscription to Jane's Intelligence Digest... This ad strikes me as fear-mongering more than anything else - something we've had quite enough of over the last seven years, thank you.