In a recent article published in the Stars and Stripes newspaper, the author writes about how the recruitment of America’s young men and women has increased enlistments into the Army despite what they see on the evening news depicting conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

snip:
Whether for patriotism, adventure or economic opportunity, recruits are streaming into Fort Benning, Ga., this summer for infantry training and a frontline role in the war on terrorism.

Even as news outlets emphasize the chaos and casualties of Iraq, and a divided U.S. citizenry debates the wisdom of the war there, the Infantry Training Brigade at Benning is flush with volunteers, many of whom can expect to face combat in the coming months or years.

The swell of volunteers is more evidence, officials contend, of the resiliency and vitality of the all-volunteer U.S. military.

I venture to say that an all-volunteer force is much preferable over a conscripted one. I’ve heard the calls for reinstating the draft and I seriously doubt that anyone on Capitol Hill would vote to have his or her son or daughter drafted into the service, but you also won’t find much support for the idea from a professional warrior of our armed forces. Our volunteers are what make this Army the force it is today. Yes, the technology and training are invaluable, but the fact that in each man and woman wearing the uniform you’ll find a citizen of the United States of America who took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies of their own free volition, makes our military unstoppable.

snip:
Some Army officials, like many outside observers, expected a dip in recruiting for the combat arms after U.S. forces invaded and occupied Iraq. That hasn’t occur, Smith said, and he isn’t sure why. [Almost 1,000 U.S. servicemembers have died and more than 4,600 have suffered wounds.]

Or maybe, just maybe they see not Soldiers dying, but what can happen in a country like Iraq or Afghanistan where the citizens are content to be bullied, oppressed, robbed of basic rights and freedoms and realize that if they want to keep America as she is, then serving to protect our way of life is not beneath them, but greater than they. Just a thought.

I will agree with you on one point, IGotMail, that a volunteer army is infinitely preferable to a conscripted army, for many reasons. But that's as far as it goes.

You mention something about protecting our way of life in your last paragraph, and that maybe that's the motivation behind these men signing up to go to Iraq. Where are we protecting our way of life? What we are doing in Iraq is foisting our way of life on another culture. I'd like to know how you'd feel if communists came here and executed a coup and then tried to force us to live as communists, or if Muslims came here and tried to do the same thing. Well, I know your answer to the question, but I also know that you'll give the standard conservative response, which is, "But our way of life is right!" I will grant you that our way of life is right, for us, and perhaps even for the rest of the world. I will agree with you that it's the best system man has yet to come up with. But does that make it right for us to force it on another culture? Iraq didn't ask for us to come help them with this, you know.

It's like the early Christian missionaries, who were so convinced that their way was right that they went around the world trying to convert people to see the light as they saw it. Well, that's a wrong thing to do. Period. It's okay to expose people to your way of life and then help them follow it if they're willing. But it is not right to march into a country and depose its leader, take charge of the country and try to model it after your system. Face it--we're not doing that in Iraq out of the goodness of our hearts, because we think it's better for them. We're doing it because it's better for us to have a democratic regime in power there that's friendly to the U.S.

You also quote an incredibly reactionary newspaper as your source. While I don't dispute their numbers, I do dispute the spin they put on the article. According to the U.S. census data from 2000 (most recent available, and things have almost certainly gotten worse since then because the economy is weaker now), the following are economic statistics for Chattahoochee County, where Fort Benning is located: http://www.dca.state.ga.us/snapshots/PDF/Chattahoochee.pdf

- the average weekly income was $400, compared to a state (GA) average of $622;

- the unemployment rate in the county is higher than the state average (7.4% in Chattahoochee vs. 4.2% statewide);

- more than 14% of the people in the county live below the poverty level (this number is almost certainly higher now)

You may ask what this has to do with the article you posted. Well, the military has historically recruited people from a disproportionate percentage of the population that is poor, uneducated, and from minority groups. With the poor economic situation in the county in which Fort Benning is located, it's no surprise that recruits are pouring in. They will receive as much as $50,000 in education benefits as well as health insurance and a decent salary . . . if they live to come home. It's a gamble many are willing to take, and it says less about their patriotism than it does about their need to make a living. Now before you jump all over me, I'm not saying many of these young men aren't patriotic. They almost certainly are. But they are more motivated to put themselves in harm's way because the military offers them something they're not getting from society--employment, an education, and health insurance.

Recruitment in general is off in the country. The National Guard recruitment is 12% below where it's supposed to be nationwide. The military is wondering where it's going to get the 30,000 new recruits it needs to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. So the Stars and Stripes can trumpet whatever they want about how recruitment is up in Georgia. It's doing fairly well in many lower-class areas of the country. As always.

What have you got against someone who is in the low income bracket going into the military to better themselves?

If you have the proper motivation, there are work and schooling opportunities.

And if you don't have proper motivation, the military will help with that as well..

People of all colors and stripes are entering the military or are in the military. Not just the poor blacks.

I know plenty of white middle class folks with families who are in the military.

You've misunderstood my point. I have no problem with someone going into the military to get the benefits the military provides. My point was that you and the article you quoted were making this out to be a patriotic surge of people volunteering to go get blown up to defend Democracy. So I pointed out that, first of all, we're not defending democracy there (we're attempting to change a people's way of life TO democracy), and the soldiers aren't necessarily signing up to go to Iraq for patriotic reasons, although as I acknowledged, surely some are. I was just addressing the spin you and the Stars and Stripes put on the issue.