Posted on 07/05/2010 8:14:02 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Happy Independence Day, Brad Childress.
I was thrilled to read about the Minnesota coach's surprise reunion with his Marine son, Lance Cpl. Andrew Childress, at an Afghan military base on Friday. This is the second year that NFL coaches have visited the troops in Afghanistan (Andy Reid, Childress, John Fox and Marvin Lewis also spent two days in Germany visiting the wounded), and the Marines did a beautiful thing for Childress when he was greeting a line of troops just off the plane in Afghanistan. They put Andrew Childress in the line, and dad simply discovered him while shaking hands and greeting the men and women in uniform. Their bearhug, according to one eyewitness, lasted 60 seconds, a rocking hug that left each man emotional.
The next day, Saturday, is when I spoke with Childress. It was at the end of long day of visiting troops and then attending a Fallen Hero ceremony aboard a C-130 aircraft. I saw one of these on my visit to Afghanistan two years ago. The entire base lines up at attention while the casket of a fallen soldier goes past; the casket is loaded aboard an aircraft and flown to the United States for funeral and burial. So the coaches went aboard the aircraft while the fallen man's friends said their final goodbyes. It was a touching and emotional night for Brad Childress, obviously, because there but for the grace of God could be his son, and it hit home.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
How many kids who grow up on the Upper East Side, or in Greenwich CT, go on to serve their country in uniform?
Of course, Elena Kagan bears at least some responsibility for this. When you make it impossible for military recruiters to recruit the children of the nation's wealthiest and most affluent families, the participation gap becomes that much more difficult to remedy.
I’d have to take exception to that. It’s quite easy to enlist from Harvard, go to OCS or even attend ROTC; the army does it through the MIT program. The problem is that so few of the Ivy League males have the balls to serve. It’s as simple as that.
You could say that about virtually any school. The problem with Harvard specifically is that it freezes out the military recruiters from being able to participate in the on-campus recruitment process as other non-military employers, like BP for example. Yes, BP can fully engage Harvard students at all their on campus, school sponsored employment workshops. The military may not.
Moreover, I attended an undergraduate college that was fully supportive of its on campus NROTC program, and I took advantage of that program. And, the school I attended a graduate student did the exact same. Harvard does not. As you point out, the ROTC program is not supported by the university, and participation is only available via MIT.
An all volunteer force needs recruiters. Without recruiters, none of the branches would meet their recruitment goals. You're right, if the students were so inclined, they could join. But, that could be said of any non-college 18-year old. Unfortunately, absent exposure to military recruiters that non-college 18-year old is MUCH less likely to join the armed forces. That same exact dynamic applies to Harvard matriculants as well.
It's about hearts and minds and the country, vis-a-vis the military, reach those hearts with recruiters; no recruiters means far fewer recruits.
I remember it too. In that brief moment, Rick Monday became an American hero.
Wonderful tear jerking story!
In Boston all college ROTC programs are out of BU, Northeastern or MIT. Harvard is really not different. The fact they cannot recruit on campus may have been a nuisance but any student really wanting to join the service was not prevented from doing so. No recruiter was ever prevented from going to talk to the Young Republicans or Libertarians or any other group that may yield recruits. You’re correct that since we’ve switched to a recruited military it helps to have access to schools. In Massachusetts, the problem is more notable at the High School level.
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