i'm going to go out on a limb here

and state for the record i think the "upper class" of our country has lost touch with what it means to be a responsible american. big words, but that's how i feel. i remember a couple of years ago a kid went into the marines, and it was so foreign to his father that dad ended up writing a book about it. it became something of a novelty, and dad/son appeared on quite a few talk shows and cspan books discussing it. the fact that a well to do kid with "everything to live for" (not my words but a commentator's) would join the military was seen as a tragic waste by many of dad's contemperaries. let me share with you a little quote from the Oct.2004 Smithsonian Magazine. the article was about a harvard educated lawyer/professional baseball player by the name of Eddie Grant. he joined the military in 1917. the quote is as follows:

"I am going to try to be an officer," Grant wrote to a friend. "I don't know how much of a success I shall make at it. I had determined from the start to be in this war if it came to us, and if I am not successful as an officer I shall enlist as a private, for I believe there is no greater duty that I owe for being that which I am - an American citizen."

why is it that the "elite" have such a hard time understanding this? why was such a big deal made, and derided when Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar football contract to enlist in the army? i think it's because we as a society have forgotten that as citizens, we have a debt to repay to the country for the wealth, security, and freedoms we enjoy. those carry a heavy freight.

there are still those in our society that "get it", and to them, i salute. but if you look at the makeup of today's military, the one thing that stands out is how few of "the elite" actually join. i heard on the radio the other day a few statistics, which i don't remember exactly, so i'll paraphrase. the overwhelming majority of college graduates that join the military come from state schools, with just a tiny tiny fraction coming from the "elite" ivy leage schools. perhaps full citizenship should only be granted to those willing to sacrifice for the common good of the country. seems a bit like a heinlein story line from Starship Troopers, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

who can honestly say that our way of life is not threatened by the actions and machinations of the islamo-terrorists? i, for one, were i 30 years younger, would be there. i may have done my service in submarines during the cold war, but that doesn't mean i don't still wish there was something i could do to further our successes we've seen in the middle east. i have grandkids, and i don't want them to grow up with the modern day equivalent of "duck and cover", which was at least a monthly drill in school when i was growing up. our big concern was a nuke from our enemy in russia. will they be holding the same kind of drills aimed at surviving a terror attack? i hope not.