My neighbor girl leaves for basic training May 10th.

[elehhhhna]

This poor kid works at a bix box store--she's 22 and not too bright--never diagnosed exactly, she's "slow" bt kind and trusting.

They're training her to drive a truck.

This child can't stick a landing on her own 2 car unobstructed driveway in a small toyota with out having at least one tire on the grass.

She would be well served by a peacetime mil career but we fear she'll end up in Iraq (or Iran), where her naive, simple nature could be dengerous to herself or others.

Her Mom thinks/hopes she'll fail & bust out of basic.

Freep neighbors are quiet but alarmed (we NEVER thought they'd accept her--she has pretty bad scoliosis).

So it looks like this war's coming home to our cul-de-sac.

[EstimatedProphet]

1. SCOLIOSIS?!

And she's going into the military?!

FOR GOD'S SAKE!

[TomInTib]

5. My thought, as well. A truck driver with scoliosis...

well, at least they have state-of-the-art road surfaces in Iraq.

[trogdor]

8. Sure.

I used to work at a reception station in the late 1980's. We would get all kinds of people in with all kinds of problems. We'd have people come in from Colorado who would have athsma attacks the moment they left the air-conditioned bus and breathed their first lungful of humid smog and pollen-ridden South Carolina air in July. We'd have people with epilepsy having seizures their first night in the Army. We even had one joe carrying a box of insulin vials asking one of the drill sergeants where he could have it refrigerated. We had unrehabilitated crack addicts, people with various (and obvious) disqualifying learning disabilities, personality disorders, and all sorts of other stuff that should have been discovered at the MEPS, long before being allowed to board a bus for Fort Jackson.

Happens all the time, and recruiting was GOOD in the 80's.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Ohhhhh. I am with her mama and hope she'll wash out, but if they

are even considering taking her it's a very bad sign. :( *prayers and good karma headed her way*

[cap]

3. she's going to be in a convoy in Iraq....

she's going to be a target. Hate to get too depressing. If she's "slow" this is not a good idea.

[elehhhhna]

6. yeah but they told her they can't send women into combat so she's safe

I'm not kidding. They bamboozled her at the recruiters office. She's naive but feeling headstrong & rebellious so despite her Mother's advice, she joined.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Just like the old saying

We're not examining eyes any more, we're just counting 'em.

[NNN0LHI]

7. When I was a kid our neighbors figured out a way to pass the...

...responsibility of their drug addicted, mentally ill son off on the military. They really couldn't handle him any more. He died in a military psychiatric ward after several years. It was really tragic.

Don

[Tulum_Moon]

9. They take everyone now!

To keep the war machine going forward. Maybe they think no one will notice.
Growing up in the 90's it seemed all the "bad" kids at school were told to join the military! "That will straighten out you troubled young men and make you a man"!
I am noticing it! And so are all of you on this board!

[NNN0LHI]

10. They took everyone then too. It was in the late 60's. Vietnam was raging

I grew up with this next door neighbor kid. I remember him as a very polite easy going kid. He was older than me but I remember him being a track standout at the high school I attended after he graduated. His photos are still on the wall of our high school. I seen the photos hanging in the entrance foyer while attending a basketball game there a while back. It brought back childhood memories. He excelled as a high-jumper and pole-vaulter. Best of state quality.

Don