“Join the Army, travel the world, meet interesting people and kill them”

“Join the army, travel the world, meet interesting people and kill them” is an anti-war saying that has been printed on many gift items, such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. “Join the Army and travel around the world, meet interesting people and kill them” has been cited in print since at least 1974 and was a protest against American military recruiting for the Vietnam War.
 
 
Google News Archive
18 August 1974, Pittsburgh (PA) Press, “Money Talks For Recruiter Selling Army” by Steven R. Reid (UPI), pg. B1, col. 3:
As a joke, someone has pasted a printed sticker on a closet door.
 
“Join the Army and travel around the world,” it says. “Meet interesting people and kill them.”
 
Google Books
Kissinger, the Incomplete Diplomat
By M. V. Kamath
Bombay: Jaico Pub. House
1975
Pg. 170:
At the height of the war, there appeared a poster in a San Francisco shop. It read: JOIN THE ARMY, TRAVEL TO UNUSUAL PLACES, MEET INTERESTING PEOPLE. AND KILL THEM.
 
Google Books
Common Differences:
Conflicts in Black and White Feminist Perspectives
By Gloria I. Joseph and Jill Lewis
Boston, MA: South End Press
1981
Pg. 175:
Evoking the actual army advertisement, which promised excitement, travel, training, and social life, the anti-conscription slogan stressed what was left out:
 
JOIN THE ARMY. TRAVEL TO EXCITING, EXOTIC PLACES. LEARN EXCITING SKILLS. MEET EXCITING AND EXOTIC PEOPLE. AND KILL THEM.
 
Google Books
February-March 1982, Mother Jones magazine, pg. 65, col. 2 ad:
Join the Army travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people and kill them.
T-SHIRT, white design hand screened on Black, Navy or Red 100% cotton shirts.
 
The Internet Movie Database
Memorable quotes for
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
(...)
Private Joker: I wanted to see exotic Vietnam… the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture… and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!
 
The LewRockwell.com Blog
January 12, 2012
Join the Military, Travel the World, Meet Interesting People, and Kill Them
Posted by Laurence Vance on January 12, 2012 09:12 AM
Only Navy SEAL Chris Kyle didn’t bother to meet anyone before he killed them. As the deadliest sniper in US history he killed his victims at a distance.