April 26, 2005
Whew! Back from vacation
After a much deserved two week hiatus, I am back to the grind.
And by “hiatus”, I mean “too lazy to post”.
After a threat of bodily harm by Mr. Unrepentant, I’m back on the clock.
I heard a song yesterday, courtesy of my boy DJ S.Dwyer2000.
Remember that band “Soul Coughing”? You know, the “walk around in circles, walk around circles” song. As is a requirement these days, the lead singer has attempted a solo career. Now, he’s no J. T-Lake, but who is? I digress, back to my original thought process…
So the song by Captain Solo Career is called “Move On”. A reference to moveon.org?
He makes his little jabs about the war in Iraq, but still makes a point to state that “I love my country”. The reason that I mention this song at all is because of one line where he says “what about those boys that you signed up”, referring to the soldiers in our military.
My issue is that people complain and say “what about all the young men in the military, they don’t want to be in Iraq”, and so on.
My question is – was there a draft for this war in Iraq? Did I sleep through it?
Oh…there wasn’t a draft?
So all of the people over in Iraq are in the military because they VOLUNTEERED. Yes, that’s right, every single one of them is there because they wanted to serve their country. And guess what else? We pay them to be there. In many cases, it is their one and only JOB. So I have a hard time with people making it appear as though our military personnel have been forced into service.
People sign up for military service with the expectation that one day, they may be called upon to serve during wartime. I doubt that when some 18 year old fresh out of high school shows up to sign up for the Army, the recruiter sits there and tells him that he’s going to be sent abroad to plant trees and frolic in fields of flowers.
And as far as whether or not they agree with what their mission is…
They chose to join the military. They don’t get to choose their responsibilities.
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Wilson, Glad you are back. Give Brad a soda and tell him to quit brooding. Now, I think some of those kids sign up to get the “free” education. It’s the wrong reason and they need to remember that they made a commiment for that “free” education. If you sign on the dotted line you need to follow thru. Lucy Stern
Lucy –
I know a lot of military people, and each of them said that they thoroughly knew what they were going into.
Quincy, I didn’t say that they didn’t know what they were doing. They just need to remember that they signed a commimment and they need to follow thru. Lucy
I’m doing AFROTC when I go off to college next year…the almost free education is nice, but I’d be doing it regardless of whether or not I got any money.
Just my personal perspective.
Mike, My daughter was recruited by the Air Force the same way. She turned them down, because she did not want to be in the military. Her friend Mark accepted the invite and he went to Baylor University for four years on the Air Force and three days after graduation he went into basic training. Right now he flys fighter planes in Afganistan. He’s a great guy and our prayers are always with him. Lucy Stern
Good for your daughter in making the decision that is right for her.
Also, a point of clarification; I actually had to seek out and apply for a ROTC scholarship, but my point still stands: I would be involved with ROTC regardless of whether they were giving me a scholarship or not.
Lucy –
Most of the military people I know have such a strong sense of honor that they really can’t fathom not doing their duty. I really think this whole thing about many of the people in the military never thinking they would go to war is a myth.