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July 14, 2005
Expensive school
Army applying lessons from Iraq, general says
Um... Where, exactly, are they applying these lessons? Anyway, analogy alert!
When he talks to parents about their sons or daughters joining the Army, McNeill said they often say they don't want their children to die in Iraq. Though soldiers are dying in Iraq, McNeill said "the numbers just don't support that (likelihood)" for everyone who deploys there."We killed more people on the highways in Georgia on Memorial Day than we ever had," McNeill said. "I don't see these parents out there trying to stop kids from driving."
So join the Army! You probably won't die in Iraq! You might just be horribly maimed or psychologically scarred!
Posted by Mac Thomason at July 14, 2005 09:47 AM
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Comments
Or you might, like the vast majority, come home not only perfectly fine, but possessed of skills, self-awareness, and funding for higher education. Oh, and the karma points from helping liberate 50 million people and lance the festering boil that is the Middle East.
TANSTAFAAL, but any risk/reward analysis really should mention the reward part.
Posted by: Achillea at July 14, 2005 01:11 PM
Screw it... let's make military service mandatory! Let's send our mighty legions out to conquer the world! Bwahahahahahahaha!!!! USA, USA uber alles!!!!
Posted by: E. Nonee Moose at July 14, 2005 01:15 PM
That's one f*cked up analogy.
Posted by: Susan at July 14, 2005 04:31 PM
Achillea, I'm full time Army, and your post scares the heck out of me. To justify how we got into this by saying something to the effect of, "Well at least you can get some goodies by serving over there" is mind boggling. I'm about to go back over there for the third time in two years. Yeah, I might be getting a few incentives that the DoD gives begrudgingly for going back over, but do you think the families of the people of Iraq who keep getting blown up are seeing these rewards of which you speak? If not, it would seem pretty one sided to me.
Using your logic, in a few years when all of this MIGHT die down, we should find somewhere else to go in case our karma points suddenly drop. Geez. As if we haven't brought any negative karma onto ourselves with all of this.
Posted by: Davy at July 14, 2005 04:55 PM
I'm possessed of skills, self-awareness, and I got funding for higher education without ever having gone to Iraq. Plus, I think I've got my fill of karma for helping feed, clothe, and innoculate millions around the world. Luckily, none of it required belief in a recycled and repackaged Cold War myth.
Posted by: Paul at July 14, 2005 09:20 PM
The best way to avoid the entanglements brought on by zealots, is to have a mandatory draft, where people like Boosh and his navel-pierced daughters can't escape going to Iraq. Virtually none of the policy makers served previously, and their children stand no chance of involvement. A fair draft of all American children would put the brakes on these badass Republicans who thrill at displaying their power through sending the less fortunate to "war".
Posted by: bill at July 16, 2005 11:39 AM