Article

2006-08-20 Home Front: WoT

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by lotp 2006-08-20 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [784 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 A very young (and tough) looking 41-year-old.

Posted by ex-lib 2006-08-20 00:14|| 2006-08-20 00:14|| Front Page Top

#2 This is crap. I hate stories like this.

I'm very happy and proud of the PFC but I was turned away after 9/11 because I was 38 and the cutoff was 34 (I have no previous military experience so I wasn't eligible for Reserves).

They jack up the age a couple of times until it's 42 but of course I'm 43 when that happens. I'm no physical specimen (too many sports dislocated shoulders, etc) but I could do [i]something[/i].

I blame Bush, Cheney, & Rumsfeld. (My wife might say Rumsfeld knows what he's doing by keeping this chickenhawk out of the service!)

God bless and guard the ones who do serve! I salute you, PFC Black.

Posted by JDB 2006-08-20 03:00|| 2006-08-20 03:00|| Front Page Top

#3 I feel your grief, JDB. If the US would allow old farts to take over reserve type duties here, stateside, it would free up those who are young enough to hump it without breaking a sweat. I'd sign up in a heartbeat, if they'd have me.

Congrats to the lucky stiff, PFC Black. *grumble grumble*

Posted by flyover 2006-08-20 03:13|| 2006-08-20 03:13|| Front Page Top

#4 lotp.... must have been some Ivey league types and their sons/daughters in there somewhere, some Georgetown enlistees maybe? Be sure to include them next time along with the ..... other folks that keep America safed.

Posted by Besoeker 2006-08-20 06:57|| 2006-08-20 06:57|| Front Page Top

#5 Besoeker, I can think of three kids off the top of my head that enlisted from the "big houses" neighborhood near me post 9/11 -- one into Marine ROTC, one to Annapolis aiming for the SEALS, and one Army. I know you've got issues, but really!

Posted by trailing wife 2006-08-20 08:17|| 2006-08-20 08:17|| Front Page Top

#6 Military volunteers from the upper- and upper-middle classes have been very low since the 70s. Especially among northeastern 'elites'.

That said, there HAS been a slow change since 9/11. I'm told West Point has seen more applicants from the New England prep schools. This generation isn't the Baby Boomers, by a long shot.

Also been told that the entering class at the Point had the lowest attrition rate during summer training of any class ever. These young men and women signed up knowing they were going to serve in the Long War. A lot of them could have gone to other elite universities, made more money, been 'safer' here at home. They chose to serve.

Posted by lotp 2006-08-20 08:23|| 2006-08-20 08:23|| Front Page Top

#7 A big thank you to the cadets and midshipmen.

As to us old farts, I keep wondering if there's a way to bring back an 'auxiliary' type force, with 40 to 55 year olds, perhaps with previous service, perhaps not. They'd get some training and would be kept stateside or at the rear, but they'd help relieve the pressure on the Army. I'm no physical specimen either (too many twinkies) but if called I could provide medical care somewhere.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2006-08-20 10:04|| 2006-08-20 10:04|| Front Page Top

#8 TW:

Hat tip and Godspeed to your neighbors and partriots. More are desperately needed. I'll stop short of using the terms nieve and stupid, but celebrating geriatric enlistments is way off. The army would NOT be enlisting these brave folks if their enlistment numbers were where they should be. It's a young man's (and woman's) game.

Posted by Besoeker 2006-08-20 10:18|| 2006-08-20 10:18|| Front Page Top

#9 Hey us old guys can be used for something at least it will free up a young one. :)

Posted by djohn66 2006-08-20 12:16|| 2006-08-20 12:16|| Front Page Top

#10 Steve,

Yep, a "Dad's Army" of Home Guard types would be a real help, especially of former servicemen who wouldn't need extensive retraining.

Posted by Ernest Brown 2006-08-20 14:23|| saturninretrograde.blogspot.com]">[saturninretrograde.blogspot.com] 2006-08-20 14:23|| Front Page Top

#11 The Minutemen guarding our northern and southern borders, however intermittently, appear to me to be a self-selected "Dad's Army", no?

Posted by trailing wife 2006-08-20 18:42|| 2006-08-20 18:42|| Front Page Top

#12 I'll be 60 in a couple of weeks. I'm not fat, but I do have many physical issues (thus the 100% disability). I can still read out reconnaissance imagery as well as, or better than, most. I could easily work the northern or southern border, identifying trail networks (did that in Nam), support "centers" (did that several places), and picking out vulnerable areas. Yeah, I'd serve, as long as they let me keep my medications. Quite a few of the "kids" I trained in the 80's are now the leaders in a number of recon units around the world (and I'm VERY proud of them!). I'd even work as an unpaid volunteer, if the organization was properly supported and operated. I'm sure there are thousands of us that would, because we liked what we did in the service, or would like an opportunity to learn new things. Our government needs to get over their fear of indemnity and put us olsters to work for national defense.

As for the "I'm too good for the government" crowd, what have you done lately to make us safer? If the answer's "I don't know and I don't care", then STFU.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2006-08-20 19:43|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2006-08-20 19:43|| Front Page Top

#13 Whahahaha Patriot. Thank God for TRICARE Prime and to hell with the twisted, leftest communist concept of "duel receipt."

Posted by Besoeker 2006-08-20 19:50|| 2006-08-20 19:50|| Front Page Top

#14 I'm 47 and still in the hunt. I can still do what I was trained to. This 41 year old woman will never be a grunt, but she will contribute to the fight and set a example for others to follow. Don't sell her short, and this crap of an old guard is just that. There is a place for us in the fight and it's not running a reserve center or AIT.

Posted by 49 pan">49 pan 2006-08-20 19:55|| 2006-08-20 19:55|| Front Page Top

14:47 Destro in Panama
23:47 Zenster
23:45 Zenster
23:26 JSU
23:20 trailing wife
23:13 Seafarious
23:10 trailing wife
22:51 SR-71
22:50 SR-71
22:34 Zenster
22:24 Captain America
22:15 Zenster
22:06 Azad
22:03 Zenster
22:01 Unimble Elmomort5902
21:59 Zenster
21:53 Zenster
21:53 Unimble Elmomort5902
21:51 Zenster
21:45 Old Patriot
21:45 Zenster
21:43 Zenster
21:39 Zenster
21:33 Zenster
Merry-Go-Blog