Very good point re service in the military.

If Obama says anything about the military even remotely resembling what you just said Jim Webb will fall on him like a ton of bricks and the Obama campaign will end immediately.

Your comments about the men and women who voluteer for the military is a perfect example of the "elitist" attitude displayed by Obama and his supporters.

Please read Jim Webb on why people volunteer for the military. Please reflect on why John Kerry is not a candidate this year. Please don't help Obama. If people get the idea he thinks like you do about why people volunteer for the military, he is toast.

I don't see why people are denied the right to be bitter, poor, etc. seems like Hillary reserved all rights for drama for herself (be it tusla, 9/11 fears about Chelsea, mean treatment of the press). We all little folks down in small towns are just fine - resilient, hopeful, hard-working... That's why I won't trust her to decide whether I am poor enough to get subsidised health care or I'm resilient and good to sell me to insurance companies.

Billy,
I speak from experience within my own family and community. We have sent a family member to Iraq, and my daughter has lost a friend to this war. I don't presume to speak for Obama or his campaign.

I'm not sure what bothers you so much about the fact that people join the military for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is economic. Military service has always been a both a career option and a stepping stone to other careers. The Army itself uses this fact as an incentive to recruit in it's ad campaigns. As I said, it doesn't in any way diminish the service or sacrifice of those who join. But is it wrong to wish all young people had choices within their communities - in addition to the military?

This war is wrong for any number of reasons, but the fact that the same small percentage of Americans are being asked, over and over again, to go back to Iraq is one I find particularly odious. And if that makes me "angry" in your eyes, so be it.

Billy, Why do you think the original poster's position regarding the disproportion of military enrolees in small town vs. big town is as you say the "loser's" choice. I can not find this word in any of his/her post but you mention as an attack against this position?

I too have had more than one family member who served in the military over in Iraq. My father is retired Air force and many of my friends have fmaily members who serve. I also work in the defense industry and realize as I would imagine you do, if you have a son that has served as well as being a veteran yourself, that people join the military for any number of reasons let alone just patriotism or college education. I do know that my family member who did serve did so out of his want of getting a college education and immidietly after his enlistment was up decided to get out and go to school. This is just one experience and one story and I would imagine the reasons for joining are as diverse as the people that make up our military. You can not ignore tha statistical anomolies nor can you ignore the rationale, to get ahead you must have a college degree, which is ingrained in many Americans. If say you have a population which has a tough time affording a college education or a young adult on his/her own then I would say the miltary is one way to go. And looking at the connections you can make within the military community it does not all seem like a bad bargain. Of course when their is an actual war and the real life threat of possible combat decisions become alot tougher. I am sure that many of those who join out of patriotism or machismo are balanced by the many that serve for less than noble reasons. I hope that you agree?

I have to say - of my high school friends (close friends and fellow Boy Scouts), every single one that chose to serve in the Armed Forces did so because they a)needed money to go to college or b)wanted a way to get the hell out of their hometown.
I turned down an opportunity to go into the Navy, in the nuclear program, for a number of reasons. But the only thing they really tried to sell me on was the money - in 1987 dollars, it was a big fat wad of cash.
And if it weren't a big reason that people are enlisting, the advertising wouldn't mention the economic benefits so prominently. Period.

This post and the discussion resonates with my experience in my small town.
Last summer I gave some part time yard work to a couple of local high school students who couldn't find jobs and didn't have transportation to the nearest city where they might do better finding jobs. They were just wanting enough money to pay for cell phone cards and movies and such. Both were from families hard hit financially.
Watching them as volunteers in a couple of community projects really impressed me, so I dug into my household budget as best I could to give them some work.
Military recruiters are quite active at the community high school and make a concerted effort to sign up these kids and especially to entice them with signing bonuses. [I remember how that concerted effort was done a few years earlier when my youngest son was still in high school--a couple of calls per week to our home from a recruiter, and even for another two years after my son went to college on a scholarship]
One day, one of these 16 year olds mentioned that he was thinking of signing up, to be effective upon reaching the age of 17, which birthday was approaching. He was sort of emotional about it and had a kind of torn and wistful expression on his face as he talked about it. A couple of weeks later, he told me he had signed up, and it became absolutely clear to me that he was persuaded by the sign up bonus plus the promise to be financed through college. For his own young psyche, I believe he had to keep himself focused upon money and promise of college. For this young man, I believe that the idea of 'serving his country' by serving in the military was not his motivation, though I saw him serving his community as a volunteer.
Billy Glad and his ranting can never convince me that the military doesn't target these small town kids, knowing how much more vulnerable they are than kids in cities who at least can work in fast food restaurants.