Saturday, October 27, 2007

lol soldiers are idiots lol

Ted Rall recently made a cartoon basically implying that the only reason people sign up for the military is (1) to go to Iraq and (2)for the recruitment bonus that they will get "if they live". Therefore, because of those reasons, soldiers(and by extension Marines, Sailors, and Airman) are idiots. And because they are idiots the United States as a whole is better off with them dead because it boosts the average IQ.

There are many reasons why people sign up. Money could be one. Maybe you want to get out of the little town in the middle of nowhere, or the ghetto in an urban area. Maybe your family all did so you did too. Maybe it's patriotism. Maybe you just didn't have any better idea as to what to do with your life(which I suspect is the vast majority). Down on the bottom of the list, however, is "let's go to Iraq and kill kill kill!"

Idiots? Well, the United States Military is better educated than the general population. Almost all the enlisted personnel have a diploma, and once they are through with technical training they are often considered equal to a journeyman in that trade to the DOL. In addition, it's increasingly a requirement for some kind of higher education in order to to get senior enlisted ranks. Hmm. Doesn't sound very idiotic to me. Officers? Much the same, except replace "diploma" with "Bachelors" and "Higher education" with "Masters or PhD."

But remember, to most civilians there is something wrong with folks who sign up for the military. They must be stupid, or foolish, or ignorant. Even with Bushie supporters who want to continue the war, when challenged to join the military if they support the war so much, mumble "I'm more important to the war effort in the private sector". Maybe they really are. Or maybe they are just cowards.

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