November 7, 2005
Troops Want War
The main opposing response I got to my disdainful blog post about US troops was that many of them sign up for economic reasons, to get grants and go to college, and are not bloodthirsty psychos who want to kill ragheads. Lo and behold, today I came upon a story from the Washington Post:
"Going to war, more than job opportunities and money for college, is the post-September 11 allure for joining the armed services, military officials say. And, in a trend that bewilders and dismays those opposed to the war in Iraq, enlistment numbers are up and recruiting goals are mostly being met or exceeded."
"'There is a sort of vendetta because of 9/11,' says Staff Sgt. Jose Guerreiro, a senior drill instructor... 'We tell [the recruits] chances are they'll be going,' the sergeant said. 'We explain to them that not everybody's going to be kicking down doors up front, but they know combat is likely for all Marines."
"Marine Corps recruit Steven Levine, 17, wants to be a sniper or a member of a 'Force Recon' team, one of the Corps' special operations units...Mr. Levine has to get through boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., and then attend infantry training school, but, he says, it's the 'fast track' to war."
"Ben Norkin...was already enrolled in Navy ROTC at the University of Wisconsin on the morning of September 11. The attacks did not deter him from service, but rather made him more personally committed. Today, he and his shipmates train for a war they joined to fight."
"For Marine recruits, chances of seeing combat are high, and that's why they join. 'I want to see action,' says Christian Parker Dillard, 18, during a rare break in training at Parris Island."
The military is attracting more and more people to its ranks because there is a war going on. These people want to fight and kill. Of course I'm not implying that the entire military is made up of people precisely of this low caliber, but it certainly makes one think twice about how much truth there is behind the myth of the hapless farm boy or impressionable "urban" youth being suckered into invading Iraq. Nobody that is smart enough to know how to use a gun or drive a humvee does not know that they will be expected to kill people when ordered to in a war. Anyone who signs up to a killing organization for a scholarship or a salary barely above minimum wage is nothing more noble than a murder whore.
And, according to this article, that's the less-depraved segment of the military.
Interesting update: The Washington Times today follows up with a story about a Heritage Foundation report that finds
"that a higher percentage of middle-class and upper-middle-class families have been providing enlistees for the war on Islamic militants since the September 11 attacks on the United States...Researchers matched the ZIP codes of recruits over the past five years with federal government estimates of household incomes in those neighborhoods. Contrary to complaints from some liberal lawmakers and pundits, the data show that the poor are not shouldering the bulk of the military's need for new soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines.
"The poorest neighborhoods provided 18 percent of recruits in prewar 1999 and 14.6 percent in 2003. By contrast, areas where household incomes ranged from $30,000 to $200,000 provided more than 85 percent."
This report responds to Rep. Charlie Rangel's idiotic and disgusting call for universal slavery to the military back in 2003.
The conservative think tank's report was put together by an Air Force Academy graduate. "overall evidence 'is at odds with the image, painted by some supporters of the draft, that the military exploits poor, ignorant young Americans by using slick advertising that promises technical careers in the military to dupe them into trading their feeble opportunities in the private sector for a meager role as cannon fodder.'"
Meaning, if you feel bad for the troops because they're dumb and poor, now you can just feel bad for them because they're dumb. Or evil, if that's your bag.
Face it: the military could very well have at least as many upper middle class snots in it as West Virginia dirt farmers. And since "about 98 percent of all enlistees from 1999 to 2003 had a high school diploma" as compared to only 75% of Americans as a whole, we're not talking about complete retards here. They knew enough to get their diplomas. They know they are signing up for war, especially now that there actually is a war going on.
Troops want war.