You joined the Air Force and went to South Korea and then joined the VFW? Is that right? Excuse me while split my sides laughing.

What a crock. We run a volunteer army that stays fairly well staffed. At least when it is properly managed and our leadership isn’t sending them off to take over entire countries on several fronts. We have plenty of men and women who have made the decision to volunteer for military duty. God bless them all, because they can dedicate themselves to a profession and a way of life that I cannot, even if they at times personally disagree with the actions of their employer.

One of the things I loathed the most when I was in high school was having to sit through school-wide military recruitment programs and being told I had to take a test for the Army. I wasn’t interested in any career with the military at all, so I purposefully decided not to take the test. After all, it had no bearing on my education or my grades, not taking it didn’t hinder my entrance into college, and even if it did, my grades were too strong to make a difference.

What a surprise – after I completely failed a test I didn’t want to take, the military never contacted me again.

Now if the United States was actually under attack, that is, a foreign or domestic force attempted to overtake American soil and become an occupying force, then I have no qualms about taking up arms to defend it with my life. But if you’re asking me to go fight a war in another land, this isn’t an obligation that I should be expected to uphold. The United States has not faced a legitimate threat to its sovergnity since the 1800s. Even the attacks on our ships and planes, and even Pearl Harbor during WWII, did not represent a signifigant threat to the nation.

It is no wonder the military is failing to meet its recruitment goals when our military leaders continue to send our soldiers into situations that we have no business becoming involved in to begin with. It is also no wonder that nobody is interested in joining the military knowing that our government does nothing to respect them. Time and again I’ve seen our leadership make decisions which hurt our veterans and active duty servicemen and servicewomen, and none of them is a bit sorry for it.

Forstand, as I mentioned in my other comment, I do support the military and this, for me, is not about hindering its efforts. There are other means of gaining information…the job fairs at my high school seemed to work fine. That is how the air force originally got my number. And I was probably a better recruitment target because I had, through signing the form, indicated an interest.

I really don’t see the problem here. The Fed is saying ‘if you take this money, you have to comply with certain conditions’ Since education isn’t supposed to be funded by the federal govt at all, I don’t see the big deal.

The army has been trying to recruit me for 5 years now with nary a letup in the stream of phonecalls and letters. First for ROTC, then for Armed Forces Health Scholarship, and I’m sure when I graduate it’ll be for Medical Corps as well.

Strangely enough, I haven’t turned into a ‘mindless automaton’ yet.

For these reasons I argue we should convert the public schools to boot camps. In a society that aspires to Freedom, military service ought to be mandatory. This country was not founded on the shoulders of some candy-ass pamphlet writers, but ruthless war-lords. Let’s start churning them out.

I see a necessary need for the military to have access to this data. I have NO respect for cowards. If you choose to NOT defend this country then I suggest you leave or shut up. During Vietnam the cowards went to Canada; I joined the USAF and went to S. Korea. I feel that everyone has a responsibility to defend this country in her hours of need. 9-11-01 took place on American soil so don’t tell me that it cannot happen in this country. What would you done on those planes? Peed your pants and begged for your life? What would you have done on United Flight 93? Those men were brave who attacked the Muslim terrorists in control of that aircraft.

This list of defenders of this country should include students, illegal immigrants, guest workers (Bush’s idea for these), and citizens of both sexes. If you are a coward then you deserve to have your ass kicked by the bullies and thugs of the world. If it comes to a firefight between me and those attacking this country then don’t get in the way of my bullets; I will shoot through you to get to this country’s enemies.

I apologize to no one for being a Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. Nor for being a patriot.

Some would argue they already are. The transmission style of education where the teacher repeats information from the textbook and students are expected to absorb for the purpose of passing a test really only trains one for an automatic response…to fill in bubbles on tests. You don’t have to think or learn to reason. Of course, that started a long time ago in public education, but it is now getting more ingrained with district funds tied to these high stakes tests.

I personally support the military. I don’t mind recruitment. But when I was in high school, we all went down to the gym for an assembly. Military recruiters along with a gazillion other businesses had their booths set up and we got free stickers, information, pencils and signed our names on little forms or entered drawings like any other job fair.