<p>My intent was not to rationalize. I was trying to make an observation, that, like it or not, is true. As I said, this war is primarily a ground war and is therefore fought in its majority by the Army and the Marines; we didn’t chose for it to be this way, it’s just the way it is. I’m not trying to say that the Air Force or Navy have no place and are not involved at all; as stated before, members of both branches have gone out of their way to bring their skills, someties changing from their trained duties, to lend the Army a hand. Everyday I see AF EOD specialists and JTACs, as well as Navy EWOs and Civil Affairs officers. Both have had plenty of fine young Americans who never came home. My argument was not for the sake of allowing other grads to play professional sports while the Army takes the brunt of it; I was simply speaking of the few exceptional cases who may have that opportunity.</p>
<p>I did some research on Kyle Eckel and you’re right, it does bear no weight in this argument as he was separated from the Navy. I was not aware of that. I had no idea of any of the negative events that surrounded him after his graduation and I apologize for ignorantly bringing hime up as somewhat of a “***, the Navy has guys do it, why cant we?” issue.</p>
<p>USNA69, I knew there was no way I could make my last post without causing some controversy. As I said, I’m not trying to lower the accomplishments of any other service; they’ve done a remarkable job adapting and allowing us to fight as a combined team over here. My attempt was not to rationalize anything for the sake of sports. Again, I apologize if I came across like that. Thank you sir for your service to this Nation and for your continued efforts to aid those looking at pursuing a career in this, the most sacred, of professions. We are all one team.</p>