America's upper classes have gone AWOL

rjrzoom57
Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:02:14 +0000

usna09mom,

thank you,

As far as my comment goes about population and the limitations of opportunity; at the outset of WWII there were about 130 million people in the US. Today we have something over the 300 million mark. There are also about 82 million kids in the US under the age of 20, roughly 4 million kids at each age level. If our goal was to give just 10% of that population a chance to enter military service at their 20th birthday; that would drive an annual influx of ~400, 000 men and women into our armed services. Contrast that figure with the current size of our military. I believe the total number of men and women currently serving is about 1.4 million across all services with about the same number in reserve/guard positions. If you wanted a majority of young adults to serve, (even if they all left after just one tour) you’d be dealing with over 2 million.

While I do wish more young men and women had the chance to serve, I also recognize the mission of our armed forces is not helped in any way by a large turnover in personnel. Given the technical nature of more of the jobs in all of the service, it is costly and time consuming to develop skilled personnel, so we also have to focus on retention.

The one other point that has been raised and in many ways may relate to the topic of this thread; everyone is on “equal footing” in terms of their contribution to this country so long as they are a productive part of economy. It is important that everyone contributes, and as we have discussed, not even one can wear a uniform. It may be unfair in the minds of some, but I would not try and equate their contribution.

Some people referred to situations such as this under the heading of political correctness, I don’t know if there really is a best way of describing it; but we have become a nation in which we have to couch our observations about people in such as way as to offend no one in any way shape or form and in doing so we diminish the real contribution of those who we should recognize. Is it wrong to tell a young man or woman that is working in some job here a home, that their contribution is different and not equal to a young Marine on patrol in Iraq or anywhere else in the world? If you tell a person coming out of a wealthy household; don’t bother considering military service, working here as a commodities broker making 2 million a year is the same thing as the job of that Marine, what message have you sent, to that Marine and to that broker?

If military service isn’t something special, that we as a nation hold in high regard, I guarantee fewer and fewer young men and women will step up and serve, regardless of their economic status. If the only motivation is money and not a willingness to serve out of patriotism and desire to be a part of something special, then you will have an army of mercenaries, or as we call them today; security contractors.