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Old 11-05-2009, 03:05 AM
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pmulcahy11b pmulcahy11b is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Littlearmies View Post
http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/03/70-...litary-duty%2F

"The economic meltdown and rising unemployment, combined with bigger military bonuses and benefits, enticed hundreds of thousands to enlist despite the inevitability most would be sent to war."

One thing that gets me about articles like this is the fairly typical assumption that the record recruitment levels are despite the excellent chance these kids are going to end up in a warzone. It never seems to occur to the authors that the fact there is a war is what is enticing some of these kids to join.
I kind of wonder about that -- we had guys in Basic that the Drill Sergeants managed to peel almost whole people's worth of weigh off of. A friend of mine in Basic, Charles Purkey, lost 65 pounds -- he went through four uniform re-issues in 13 weeks and later went on to become a Ranger. He "caught the fever," and did what it took to be a success in the Army. I don't think the problem with some of these kids enlisting now is fatitude -- its being spoiled and lazy.
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