[Chainmail]

It's just me, making generalizations again - a whole lot of young men tried to join and couldn't because of some injury or disability and some of those who joined tried to volunteer for combat but were turned down. Just luck of the draw, sometimes.

I was lucky to be accepted in the Marines - nearsighted all to beat heck and I had a broken back from a motorcycle crash - but they took me anyway. The Marine Corps tended to accept volunteers readily and thinned out the less motivated through the strainer of boot camp.

I am certain you would have been a fine soldier - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. In a sense, I'm happy you didn't get into uniform. I saw way too many good, motivated young guys with excellent potential killed. We have that wall covered with their names.

[RedStateRocker]

I still like Heinlein’s formulation betsy: one MUST serve in order to vote, teach (certain subjects), or hold public office (of course the services must take you if that were the case). I’ve fried a few lib neurons when suggesting this as it actually WOULD make for a pool that would be more composed of non whites than anything else that could be done :-)