Posted on 02/25/2007 8:33:03 AM PST by ContraryMary
"...our veterans should not be gawked at in an attempt by a mother to dissuade her kids from signing up."
It maybe the right thing, if some 17/18 year old can be persuaded by "Mommy" to not enlist, that may be a good thing....
"Even leaving the risk of injury or death our, there are disadvantages to the military life, and it is not appropriate for everyone" you said.
Likewise how many college grads decide teaching or nursing is not the career they thought it would be?
In reality, how many people stay with a job for 4 years. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Likewise....
The cream always rises to the top of every situation.
Some people will react to caring for wounded vets with horror and revulsion. Some people will react by respecting their sacrifice, admiring their courage, and wanting to finish the work they so nobly started.
I think Dear Abby and Cleveland Mom might be very surprised to find out that these two youngsters might fall into the latter catagory. You think Cleveland Mom was hurt and confused before?!?
Here, send her this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790024/posts
70 Year Old Marine kills thug who tried to rob tour bus
Somehow I doubt the Cleveland Mother is real. Her letter sounds much like a seminar caller on Rush who is promoting the Military out of our schools movement. It sounds like Dear Abby was taken hook line and sinker.
My husband was an aviation electronics technician in the Navy. He served honorably and the experiences I gained and the memories I have of those times as a military wife are something I cherish. I've told my kids they should go to college because I believe it will benefit them throughout their lives. What they do after college -- whether they want to be grunts carrying a rifle, sailors onboard a ship, go OCS, or choose a civilian profession -- is their choice, not mine.
I'm Insulted and have told her so.
Thanks. I suspect she's going to get a LOT of mail from readers who were disturbed by her comments.
If one wanted to enlighten one's neo-adult children about things military, then the young people should talk to people on active duty service folks and also to veterans. This could (and should) include wounded vets and wounded personnel currently in the service; but talking with young service people as well as veterans is key.
BTW, it is very interesting to me that anyone running for public office always makes a big mention of military service. The public (with the exception of the Cindy Sheehans and the Dear Abbys) holds veterans in especially high regard.
This, from a Nam era vet and a current Marine Dad.
.
Volunteering at a VA hospital may have the opposite effect of making this mother come to terms with what these brave men and women do for her freedoms every day. Maybe then she will have some pride in the fact that she raised children who are willing to do the same.
Hey, so was I!! Great profession and a great job!!! To this day, I owe the Navy and the training and experiences I received for everything that has happened since I got out of the service. I know that Abby doesn't want to hear that but, I don't really care. I have enjoyed a great life and a great career mostly because of my military service. I'm proud to be a shipmate of your husband's.
That's true, but somehow I don't believe that was Dear Abby's intent.
I remember years ago her column where she said, "I may not agree with you but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This young adults are volunteering to do just that and she is begrudging them. I guess she didn't really mean what she said.
Hey, so was I!! Great profession and a great job!!!
Glad to hear it. He was attached to an electronic warfare squadron and served on the Indy during the Reagan years and served off the coast of Lebanon and at Grenada.
I believe outcome is far more important than intent in most cases.
Ensuring the prospective recruits understand the risks, and don't see the military as some kind of traveling glamour show is not wrong.
Assuming the kids will balk at joining because of the possible danger is assuming cowardice not in evidence.
Dear Abby, You are an old school pinko who's living off the reputation of your mother who wrote the column for a generation before you.
Signed Better Dead That Red Or Enslaved Kufir
Never.
Abortion is a skeleton in the closet of blue blood types who pretend that "it never happened" and that they get a "do over".
How about sending kids to a hospital to gawk at those recovering from car accidents when asking if they can "have the keys" this weekend.
This is a standard lieral technique: Wave Death In Their Faces. Its morbid, vapid and intellectually dishonest.
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