Posted on 09/22/2004 7:49:42 AM PDT by TexKat
HINESVILLE, United States (AFP) - A black soldier from the impoverished US south, Private Henry Hawkins is only 20 years old but he's about to head out on his second combat mission when the Third Infantry Division returns to Iraq.
When he isn't thinking of the war he will again be part of, he longs for Roxie, the impoverished hometown in Mississippi he left for a career in the military, like his father before him, his uncle and one of his sisters.
He's not really looking forward to being deployed to Iraq, but is resigned to it. "It's my job. I'm proud to serve my country."
And the pay, he says, is really good -- he'll be making about 2,000 dollars a month, tax-free. "I'll save the money so that one day I'll buy a house," he says. He'll start saving as soon as he's deployed, but he won't buy the house until he finds himself a wife.
It may not seem a lot of money, but it's a lot more than he could expect to make in his hometown.
Thirty percent of Roxie's 569 residents live below the poverty line and median annual income is a mere 14,500 dollars.
Like many areas in the southern United States, it has a predominently black population, a demographic group that is comparatively over-represented in the US army. African-Americans make up 13 percent of the US population but 30 percent of the enlisted army.
Hawkins has been in the army since he turned 18, earns about 1,500 dollars a month, and says it's "a job like any other."
While his main job is driving trucks, he currently spends much of his time training for combat, at Fort Stewart, the Third Infantry Division's headquarters in Hinesville, Georgia.
The division, which spearheaded the assault on Baghdad last year, is set to return to Iraq starting in November.
"The only thing we're focused on is getting ready, so we can come back home safely," he says.
Every now and then, he'll head to a dance club in nearby Savannah with his buddies, or watch a game on TV at a sports bar near the base.
But he spends much of his free time playing war games on a computer -- his current favorite is "Conflict Desert Storm".
Iraq, says Hawkins, is much more fun in virtual reality than on the ground.
But he does want to see the world, and says the army gives him a chance to do "some high-risk traveling."
He isn't sure yet whether he'll still be in the United States when the presidential elections are held in November.
He'll probably vote but he's not sure whether to cast his ballot for President George W. Bush or his Democratic rival, John Kerry.
"Sometimes I think Kerry, sometimes Bush."
A soldier from the Third Infantry Division sits on a tank in the northern Kuwaiti desert. Private Henry Hawkins is only 20 years old but he's about to head out on his second combat mission when the Third Infantry Division returns to Iraq.(AFP/File/Yasser al-Zayyat)
"Impoverished US South?"
LOL the poorest state in the South is richer than the richest European country.
And john kerry would have to stand on his mothers shoulders to kiss this young mans butt.
And I'm proud of his (and all the other soldiers') service.
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That caught my eye too... Now the press is trying to convince America that we have an "impoverished" region. Probably part of the campaign against Christianity.
May God protect our warrior.
Technically, Switzerland, Ireland and Luxembourg are wealthier on a per capita basis than Mississippi.
But Mississippi is wealthier on a per capita basis than Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
Well, you probably are right, but at least you got my point.
Mississippi is also richer than Sweden, and we know how the Left adores the Swedish way, and wish we could be more like them.
However Southerners, black and white, are significantly overrepresented in the US military.
Blacks are not 13% of the Southern population. They are more like 33% of the South's population.
In a perfectly proportional army blacks would be significantly overrepresented - but in a disproportionately Southern army, blacks are not so overrepresented.
This is all part and parcel with the draft rumors. The wackos in the Senate like Rangel are trying to use scare tactics while wrapping themselves up in the race card saying the military is loaded with minorities and poor people.
And who says the press isn't in collusion with the Dems?
And, they won't let any blacks or latinos own homes there either.
The average black American is wealthier
than the average Swede.
But blacks can at least buy homes in Mississippi.
I have been suggesting that we give a 20% cut to all of Congress, and take the money to give to our military personnel.
I did'nt know I was impoverished. Am I a victim? Is their a gubmint program to help us impoverished???
Black, white, brown, etc., God bless and protect them all. When I saw and read this article it let me know that time is almost here. My son will also be redeployed with this group.
What is AFP, the source?
What I get from the article is a brave young American male citizen assisting in defending our country. Nothing more and nothing less.
God bless him and protect him.
AFP = Agence France-Presse
left wing rag
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