Veterans Day

The conservative claim that most youth enlist due to patriotism and the desire to "serve one's country" is misleading. The Pentagon's own surveys show that something vague and abstract called "duty to country" motivates only a portion of enlistees.

The vast majority of young people wind up in the military for different reasons, ranging from economic pressure to the desire to escape a dead-end situation at home to the promise of citizenship.

Over all, disenfranchisement may be one of the most accurate words for why some youth enlist.

When mandatory military service ended in 1973, the volunteer military was born. By the early 1980s, the term "poverty draft" had gained belief  the belief that the enlisted ranks of the military were made up of young people with limited economic opportunities. 

Recruiters may not explicitly target "the poor," but there is mounting evidence that they target those whose career options are severely limited. According to a 2007 Associated Press analysis, "nearly three-fourths of [U.S. troops] killed in Iraq came from towns where the per capita income was below the national average. More than half came from towns where the percentage of people living in poverty topped the national average."

I will not bring up race in this discussion but it is a part of it. When I enlisted I did so because of limited options. It was either join or be drafted.  I had no money for a higher education or any pull for a guard appointment.

You can thank a vet today but I would have felt a lot better if all of able youth would have been made to join the military to serve their country.  Military people serving 7 or 8 tours is a sin. I think most vets got the short end of the stick and the rest of you got off Scott free.  I have two family members that got deferment after deferment to stay out of serving in the 60's. I have two family members serving that never completed High school. Something is wrong here. So today  don't thank me for serving 4 yrs. because I had no choise.

 . I just wish all citizens my age would have had to carry more of the load. The same is true of today.  Very few wealthy patriots are doing any thing but making more money off of these wars. Don't thank Veterans today but give them a job.or help in some way. They carried the load for the rest of you. I was given the GI Bill that helped pay for most of my school. Thanks for that.