Couldn't have said it any better NKowi.

I think what he meant is that a lot of the guys (not all) join the armed forces to get college scholarships and other benefits as well as a career because for many of these folks there are no better job opportunities. Recruiters especially prey on high school students of low-income families, and instill in their minds a rosy picture of life in the armed forces to get them to sign up. Of course many people who join do it because they want to defend this country, but it's certainly not the only reason out there.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

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That is not what he meant, some people cannot fathom the fact that people have a willingness to serve their country. There was a poll posted here awhile ago that killed the myth that military recruits are poor and dumb. Everyone in my family has served or is serving we are far from poor or middle class and college educated. There are many more like us.

Read this if you dare:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda05-08.cfm

Put simply, the current makeup of the all-vol*untary military looks like America. Where they are different, the data show that the average sol*dier is slightly better educated and comes from a slightly wealthier, more rural area. We found that the military (and Army specifically) included a higher proportion of blacks and lower propor*tions of other minorities but a proportionate num*ber of whites. More important, we found that recruiting was not drawing disproportionately from racially concentrated areas.

Perhaps more could be done to dismantle the claim that an all-volunteer military relies dispro*portionately on ignorant, black, poor, urban young citizens in America,

I do not disagree with the article, except that it is dated. The data is from two cohorts - the 1999 and 2003 recruit cohorts. A new study should be done between the 1999 recruit cohorts and 2005 recruits cohorts. I will not be surprised if you will find a much different result. The 2003 recruit cohorts include a lot of young man who were/are inflamed by the 9/11 event, and joined the armed forces for that reason. Time has waned that as we all know. Sons of friends of mine joined the armed forces in 2002/2003, but their siblings now of age will not do so now.

This may be true but doesn't make what GD posted any less preposterous regarding the 'free ride theory', which is what MedMech was responding to. I guess it is moot now that it appears that GD has been banned again.

I guess when you go crying to mommy once too often, mommy gives you a good swift kick in the a$$.

Certainly not a overall look and just my own observations, but I live in the area of Fort Huachuca and see a lot of it's personnel. Home of the Army's Electronic Proving Ground & the Army Intelligence Center /School. Maybe they're kind of the nerds of the Army, but they are a great group and a much better bunch than I remember when I was in during the draft era. Maybe the girls more fall more into that disadvantaged group people are trying to paint the whole bunch as, but like I said it's only my first impression type of thing.

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85 Jeep CJ7
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"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius

You are right. The armed forces are recruiting a lot of smart (nerds?) people from colleges with good pay and incentives. Most will not be in the field, but involve in intelligence, data retriving, analysis, etc, etc.The competition for college graduates with the correct training are intense. Warfare and weapons have changed a great deal, and there is a great need for people to understand, and use them, maintain them, and improve them. We need to move with technology, and there is where we are the best despite what many think.

Nerds of the Army man if anyone dared to say that

We said "NO COMMO FOR YOU TWO WEEKS" .

Fort Huachuca, is HALO school, Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, Psyc Ops and advanced commo school and a nice base and a great place to relax.

What are you talking about? The article is from February 2006 and so is the poll.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

He means the article MM linked to.

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05 F650GS

Maybe he meant what he said and said what he meant.

Bot

...an elephant is faithful, 100 per cent.

[I didn't mean anything by this post, I just felt like completing the sentence.]

That's my take, what an ass.
Paul
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98 E300