Ricky Schroder, who played the little Aryan kid on Silver Spoons, is now a professional propagandist working on behalf of the U.S. military-industrial complex, just as you would have guessed.

The U.S. Army knows damn well that most people don't enlist due to patriotism or politics, but rather because they saw that one fuckin' rad commercial with the dude on the tank, which was fucking epic, did you see that shit blow up? Therefore the Army knows they must attract young Americans to their deaths with engaging advertising campaigns. And what better way to engage slack-jawed young television addicts than to produce an entire feature-length 10-episode reality program based on people who are joining the Army? Because joining the Army is a great step for your personal #brand. From the NYT:

“Starting Strong” follows 10 young men and women visiting Army installations like Fort Bragg and Fort Sam Houston, finding out from soldiers about different military occupational specialties — jobs, to civilians — and considering whether to join the Army. The spots are being produced for the Army by Mr. Schroder and his company, Ricky Schroder Productions.

"You know who we should get to produce our stealth Army recruiting campaign for unfortunate non-media-savvy Americans? A 43 year-old former child television star," U.S. Army commanders presumably said to one another at some point in the recent past.

You never know where this crazy trip called "life" will take you.

[NYT. Photo via]