Good piece on what to tell a wanna be soldier

[Pluvious]

Fred, pulling no punches...

"A Grand Adventure"
http://www.fredoneverything.net/GoingToWar.shtml

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A friend recently asked me what I would tell a young man thinking about enlisting in the military. (He had in mind his son.) I would tell him this, which I wish someone had told me:

Kid, you are being suckered. You are being used. You need to think carefully before signing that enlistment contract.

...

And of course the military is a man’s world, and it is an adventure, and it does beat being a mall rat—until they put you in combat. Driving a tank beats stocking parts in the local NAPA outlet—until they put you in combat. Days on the rifle range, running the bars of San Diego far from home and parents, going across the border into Mexico—all of this appeals powerfully to a young man. It did to me. It beats hell out of getting some silly associate degree in biz-admin at the community college.

Until they put you in combat. Then it’s too late. You can’t change your mind. They send you to jail for a long time if you do.

_________________
"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units... Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country."
-Colin Powell, "My American Journey", page 148

[GoldenOldie]

1. What I told my first-born grandchild via his Mom.

Our grandson Nick had always talked of a career in the Navy and we supported this choice because we have always been professionally and socially connected to the military work and lifestyle. We are proud to claim friendships with some very remarkable military men and women and have found them to be of the highest integrity and honor therefore we blessed our Nick and vowed to give him all our support.........that was UNTIL, AWOL/Deserter George W. Bush became The Commander-in-Chief of the military and he ordered his troops into a war based on his lies and deceit.

Nick graduated highschool this past spring and had been accepted into college. He spent this summer working in the Florida Keys as a camp counselor and became certified in deep sea diving and boating and came home and told his Mom that he was considering enlisting so that he could have his college paid for and that he wouldn't have to depend on them paying his tuition and college expenses. Needless to say his Mom was upset and so was I when she told me.

I told our daughter, to tell our beloved Nick, that if Rush Limbaugh could get out of serving his country during Viet Nam because he had a boil on his ass, surely the US military wouldn't take him, if he a a granny foot up his ass. Haven't heard Nick talk about enlisting lately and he is now extremely busy with his college studies.

[calimary]

2. THANKS for this!!!!!

I'm going to print it out and give it to Patrick - a handsome, smart, terrific young man of about 19 or 20 who's in karate class with my kids. My daughter told me recently he'd confided in her that he was seriously considering joining the military because of the benefits it promised. I've been just frickin' HORRIFIED by this. I've resolved to talk to him, but we keep missing each other at the karate school. Plus, not sure what I'd say - for all the information I have and all the venting I've done here and venting to my kids and my friends. For some reason, I'm not sure how I'd word it with him. I've known him since he was 14 and got his black belt with my daughter - then 10. In that time, his mom died and he and his dad have become strained in their relationship. They don't have a lot of money and so far he hasn't found a good-paying job anywhere. I have watched this kid grow and evolve and mature and become a wonderful, remarkable young man. But I NEED to do an intervention of some sort - as another mother who cares about him even though he's not technically my kid.

I will print this out and give it to Patrick.

I am VERY grateful for this. More than you know.