Reply #11: There are some, [View All]

[John Gauger]

I'm told, that join because they have no other options. I'm sure as the Iraq war gets worse those that have other options are taking them more and more. I grew up in an affluent suburb in one of the most conservative areas of the country. No one in my high school joined the military if they had any other options. There were a lot of patriotic types, but none so patriotic as they would lift up a rifle and risk their hides for it. I know a guy that's toying with the idea of joining the Navy. He's thinking about it because he wants to get a scholarship so he can be a teacher. While he's not desperate, technically he is joining because he has no better options. But he isn't really that kind that joins for lack of any other option. I have a friend here at college whose brother joined the Army because he was terminally unemployed; it was either that or jail. He got blown up by an RPG, but once he's healed up he's joining again. My friend is pretty upset about it. He didn't really care about politics, and still really doesn't, but he became a pacifist pretty quick after his brother got that Purple Heart. Anyhow, yeah, there are those who join out of patriotism, and if you were one of those you deserve our praise (thank you regardless of why you did it,) but there are those who join out of desperation. I knew a guy in high school who was like the fucker in the cartoon; he supported the war wholeheartedly, but he said, "I have better things to do with my life than get blown up in the military. I know that sounds awful, but that's how I feel." My gov teacher said that that was totally understandable, but I was so pissed I was speechless. I was really surprised, but I guess she has gotten that from her students in the past. My brother flipped out when he heard that (please pardon the language:) "Oh, so the mission is worth someone's life, but not yours. 'Freedom' in Iraq is worth the life of an American, just not you. It's okay for some nigger kid from the ghetto to die, but not precious (name) from the 'burbs. Can't have any whites dying for their Imperial masters!"