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Home Front: WoT
Elite U.S. Army academy lures kids with mud and duty
2008-06-27
RTWT. Excerpt:
Kathleen Engle, 16, from Fairfield, California, said she had looked into the Peace Corps and other options but decided on the military. 'I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened and that's when I decided the best thing I could do for my country was this,' she said, playing a video game called 'America's Army'.

'I guess it's going to be hard to kill someone, but if that's your job and that's what our commander tells us we need to do, I'm going to do that in order to protect my country.'
you go, girl.
Mario Vazquez, 17, from El Paso, Texas, hopes to be a neurosurgeon but first he says he has a duty to America. 'My Mom is actually the one that found out about it,' he said of the West Point summer program. 'My mother is from Mexico ... she said it's a good place to get discipline.'

'I owe a lot to this country because of what it's given me, because of what it's given my family, but I also have fears because it's a lot of sacrifice,' he said. 'You put your country before yourself and you sacrifice your family and a lot of other privileges.'

Austin Fullmer, 17, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, said he was attracted by the prospect of moving around the world and seeing new places, and although he would be nervous about deploying to a combat zone, 'it's just another adventure.'

'I didn't quite realize there were this many kids like me,' he said, grinning as he sat in the doorway of Blackhawk helicopter parked in a field.....
Posted by:lotp

#4  I've been supporting concepts like this one for the Service Academies + College ROTC for a long time now - back in my day [1970's Guam], for a Jr. High + Senior High student = young person, besides SCOUTS + JROTC + VILLAGE DRILL-MARCHING TEAMS, there were the USAF's CIVIL AIR PATROL + NAVY SEA CADETS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-06-27 20:55  

#3  'I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them.'

Gustav Hasford was quite a character. He also wrote the following amusing passage:

The South is a big Indian reservation populated by ex-Confederates who are bred like cattle to die in Yankee wars. In Alabama there is no circus to run off to, so we join the Marines.

I don't agree with it, but it's good writing, and funny as heck.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2008-06-27 12:35  

#2  "said he was attracted by the prospect of moving around the world and seeing new places, and although he would be nervous about deploying to a combat zone, 'it's just another adventure.'"

Just like the movie sez:

"I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them."
Posted by: Steve   2008-06-27 08:20  

#1  'I didn't quite realize there were this many kids like me,'

Actually, there are quite a lot. It's just that kid, your viewpoint is not allowed to be publicized. It's very carefully kept off the movies, TV, and every other form of mass media.
Posted by: gromky   2008-06-27 02:25  

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