I agree it's a damn shame, but the fact is the Army has failed to meet its recruiting goals for four months now and the Marines are facing the same problem. Parents are discouraging their kids from enlisting in these two branches of the military because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
From what I understand each Army recruiter is required to sign up at least two recruits per month; the top brass have even lowered the quota to help the recruiters out and have upped the ante for college money. The Navy and Air Force are doing fine because your chance of getting killed in Iraq as a sailor or airman is zero to none.
For the record, one of the first casualties in the Iraq war was a young man from Nicaragua who was orphaned at a young age and came to the US (illegally.) He graduated high school and enlisted in the Marines. When he was killed I saw on Fox that he was given US citizenship posthumously.
I have two sons, both of whom are in the Marines. My eldest joined in January of 2003 and my other son in January of this year. I expressed concern to my younger son that he might have to go to Iraq or Afghanistan and he said he knew that when he joined and was prepared for it, so I think my family is doing their part.
The Army and Marines need bodies. You have illegals coming to this country who want to stay. It's like I said before - if you think life in America is great and want to remain here then go fight for your newly-adopted country. Maybe that will get some of them off the welfare, medicaid and food stamps that my tax dollars are paying for.
As a retired airman and out of respect for the four airmen that were killed in Iraq last week I take exception to your assertion. I respect your sons service and I wish that more American men would follow in their footsteps.