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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Well, this ties in with your last e-mail.  Unfortunately, the various arms 
of the service have spent a lot of time not sticking to truth in 
advertising.  They target poor neighborhoods/schools.  Those kids make the 
news.

The kids who make a choice to join, those who work to get what they want, 
they don't make the news.

So, no one does their homework.

Kirk CHOOSE to go into the military.  No one came knocking on his door or 
bothered him at school, ah cause he didn't attend one <g>  That was his 
CHOICE.  He has the next 20 to 30 years planned.  This was a well thought 
out CAREER decision.

TJ obviously did the same.  Eyes wide open.

However, Kirk and TJ aren't going to be looked at when folks do their 
judging.  They will be considered the exceptions.

People conveniently forget ROTC, forget the military academies, forget the 
number of kids whose parents are in the military and it's a family tradition 
and the Kirks and TJs.  Those make up about 2/3s of the folks in the 
military, or more.

I think DH is right when he says that the average American "only wants to 
smell the bad smells."

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>


> I can't sleep...lot's going on in my life right now..this
> thread/conversation is officially bothering me now.
>
> As you know, my son turned down a 4 year scholarship to join the Navy.
> He scored super high on the SAT(old score 1590) and the ACT tests(lowest
> was 32- two 35's and a 34.  He could have gone anywhere he wanted to go
> to school, IF that is what he wanted to do. He was accepted to multiple
> colleges but choose Berry and Georgia Tech as it was close to home and
> offered him the dual degree scholarship he was seeking.  Joining the
> Navy was not a desperate act for him. He had choices.
>
>
> On this list, we are a bunch of folks who have gone our own way.  We
> have, in varying degrees, separated ourselves from the mainstream-in
> lifestyle, in thought, in the way we school(or not) our kids...all
> around we pretty much march to a different drummer.  Many of us here
> have made a choice of voluntary simplicity.  Those on the outside, they
> will never understand why choose 'less' when you can have more.  They
> just don't see the value in our "lesser" choice.  We see the value, and
> know that even if the mainstream labels our choices as less, they have
> value and in the grand scheme of things, our choices are GREATER, not
> lesser.
>
> So here we are, talking about military service, and I think some folks
> see that service as a lesser choice.  They just do not seem to
> understand that people very often sign up for service because they feel
> a sense of duty, an obligation for continuity, and a sense of pride that
> they can make a difference.  There are many reasons for joining the
> military.
>
> It saddens me to see that we, even some of us on this list, have
> traveled so far down the road of AmericaBashing, that we have lost sight
> of the fact that some people see value in serving their country, whether
> country itself is right or wrong in actions. So many people now see that
> service as a "lesser" choice or a last choice or even an only
> choice(they could have made more money elsewhere,  they could have gone
> to college, there were no other jobs, etc.) when in reality, the
> enlistee only saw the value and the need.
>
> In my history on this list, I have remained quiet on political topics
> until these last few months.  Sometimes I have been in a majority, but
> mostly my opinion is/has been/would be the minority opinion.  I am
> certain things will not change in this thread.
>
> Maybe we should ALL take a step back and remember not to judge and make
> assumptions, be it about Barack Obama or George Bush or all those kids
> who are serving their country.
>
> Bev
>
>
> EarthNSky wrote:
>
> > > Enlistment percentages may be mostly an indication of family
> > > financial status, boys and girls who find no better choice.
> >
> > I don't think of
> > > military enlistment today as an expression of patriotism or as
> > > indicating feelings toward military enterprises or wars in general.
>
> > I
> > > believe that the lowest per capita incomes are in the South.
>
> > > My curiosity was whether the apparently ongoing Southern feelings
> > > about the Civil War would translate into a greater antipathy toward
> > >  war in general. Not sure how that might be measured. Where's our
> > > resident sociologist?
>
> --
> BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
> 34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky
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