Population In Service Of America: .45%

[fazer1sniper]

Got this off RangerUp.com

Thought it was prety epic and sad...

"I remember the day I found out I got into West Point.

My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me to get out of class. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had opened up my admission letter. She wasn’t crying because it had been her dream for me to go there. She was crying because she knew how hard I’d worked to get in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry officer. I was going to get that opportunity.

That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the following: “Nick, you’re a smart guy. You don’t have to join the military. You should go to college, instead.”

I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won’t.

What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of burdens our military is bearing.

In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years. In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years. Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror. These are unbelievable statistics.

Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military. Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their hearts.

The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You.

You stand there, deployment after deployment and fight on. You’ve lost relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from kids you’ll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional athletes don’t understand. And you come home to a nation that doesn’t understand. They don’t understand suffering. They don’t understand sacrifice. They don’t understand that bad people exist. They look at you like you’re a machine – like something is wrong with you. You are the misguided one – not them. When you get out, you sit in the college classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can’t understand the “macro” issues they gathered from books with your bias. You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that. Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while they ask you to do more.

But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your country will never pay back what you’ve given up. You know that the populace at large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them. Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men and women of this country have done since 1775 – YOU SERVED. Just that decision alone makes you part of an elite group.

Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.

You are the 0.45%. "

----------

"There are two fundamental approaches in life: strive or blame.

You either look at problems and ask yourself how to solve them or you look at problems and explain to yourself why other forces outside your control have prevented you from succeeding.

Striving is the fundamental aspect of the American spirit. A person who strives sees opportunity, navigates obstacles, and gives back to the community. A person who strives yearns for freedom above all else, because they are confident that freedom favors them and allows their hard work to shine. Freedom gives us complete control over our destiny and assigns us full responsibility for both our successes and failures, and yes, that can be scary at times. But above all else, freedom gives us the opportunity to make of our lives what we can. It’s an amazing gift that exists almost nowhere in this world.

And then there is the other option. We can dodge responsibility. We can blame others for the job we didn’t get, the school we didn’t attend, the game that we lost. We can make excuses for failures, develop an attitude of superiority and profess a grand understanding of the way the system works against us and mock those that strive. Life’s not working out exactly the way we wanted? It can’t possibly be our fault.

Life isn’t fair. Lots of people have advantages they don’t deserve. Congress is corrupt. We have an incestuous political system that is designed to keep the power in the hands of the few and keep us arguing about issues that are at best only minor symptoms of greater problems and at worst completely irrelevant items designed to draw us in to a my team versus your team endeavor to ensure the two-party system remains intact.

But we’re still the richest country in the world and our citizens still have the most opportunity. Our poorest citizens have refrigerators, televisions, DVD players, and air conditioners. While we may not all have health insurance, we all get healthcare if needed. We all have running water. Most of all though, no matter our station we have the freedom to improve it.

I recently wrote about the 0.45%. The men and women who have served in the Global War on Terror. The rapidly shrinking group of people willing to stand on the wall and ensure that this freedom, this absolutely priceless commodity, remains for just a bit longer. There is absolutely no payment your country can ever give to reward you for your service.

I’d like to argue, however, that your value far exceeds the time you spend in uniform. Each of you will get out one day. You’ll have spent 4-30 years striving, for in the military nothing else is acceptable. You’ll be, for all intents and purposes, the only members of your generation who have seen real poverty, real suffering, and real evil. You will have spent years in a world where honor and integrity are essential and necessary elements of everyday life, even as you’ve witnessed the worst of mankind.

And you’re going to be left with a choice.

You can abandon what you know to be true – that you are the master of your own destiny, so long as you’re willing to fight for it – and fall in with the chattel that pine about what could be, should be, would be if only…

Or you can be who we need you to be. The men and women who take our country back. Who lead us as entrepreneurs, tear down the political machine one piece at a time, inspire other great citizens to be equally motivated, and remind them every single day that you breathe that no amount of comfort offered is worth even one minor concession of our freedom.

If you’re wearing the uniform, we cannot possibly ask more of you right now.

If you’ve worn the uniform, you have done more for your country than most Americans will ever know.

And we need you to do more.

We need you to take the wisdom that can only be earned through the considerable trials and tribulations of military service and attack industry and politics with equal fervor.

I hope you’re all eight steps ahead of me and already working down this path, but I realize that a few of you might simply be saying, “I’ve done enough”. And you’re right. It isn’t fair to ask more of you. You’ve already given more than anyone should be expected to.

But freedom is never more than one generation from extinction, and there is no one else.

We are the 0.45%."

That is all, carry on.

[chevysoldier]

That makes me sad yet at the same time proud to be in that 0.45%. Thanks for posting Fazer

IP, I think sad in the fact that very few people understand what the .45% have seen/understand. I know what you mean though, and now I am confused with myself...ugh, maybe cuz its late...

[RSparky]

though this is moving, i'm curious as to the population and enlistment numbers just to compare growth rates...

[fazer1sniper]

I see it sad as compared to the WW2 number. Warmongering is a matter of debate, yes. I personally don't see using US Armed Forces in the conducting of the war on terror as warmongering. Statesmen have not seemed able to negotiate a resolution with militant Islam. They don't desire land, weath, resorces or even peace. Only for you, as a nation, to die. Kind of a tough sell as a peace accord.

[chevysoldier]

Another idea that was touched on is so much is being put on so few. Guys going on 5,6,7, 10, 12 deployments is unbelievably rough on the trooper and the families. Suicide and divorce rates are through the roof for service members. Yeah, everyone that has been over in the Middle East enlisted but seems like fewer people are willing to serve.

[fazer1sniper]

I loathe the idea of a conscript military in a free nation. The draft is not the solution. From first hand experiance the men and women I served with all knew what we were getting into. There is a thousand direction to point fingers and ask "why is this still going on?" We're not the same nation we were when we nuked Japan. We got smart bombs and stuff. Warfare where nobody gets hurt. Political leaders LOVE it. Good TV. War is horrible. But at times in history it is nessisary. This is a rock and hard place for the warriors in the fight.

[drew95gt]

When you figure in technological advances that cut the "man power" of war down substantially, these numbers almost make sense. The armed forces probably wouldn't know what to do if they had 33 million people working for them (if serving rate was still 11%). That would almost be unsustainable from an economic standpoint to have that many people working for the government.

Edited November 25, 2011 by drew95gt

[dustinsn3485]

Its my understanding that the military is cutting back on re-enlistments too...My girlfriends sister is stationed at Quantico and said that they were only re-upping about 40% this year.

[downwithdisease]

while i agree with most of your points, go argue with your good uncle sam. the government is turning able bodied people down. the military is stricter than ever (per my brother who is a marine). i couldnt get in because of a med waiver that passed for similar cases 5 years ago (per multiple recruiters and a friend whose med waiver was 10x worse than mine but he got in). drew has got it right... our gov cant afford the military we have now (see budget cuts across the board in the military. although i hate to see it we are 15 trill in debt and military spending is out of control..see military expenditure compared to other countries). i thank you sir for serving our once great country

[ReconRat]

If current veterans are serving 5 to 12 deployments, compare that to essentially a maximum one year tour in Vietnam. Factor that into new numbers, and current veterans would be somewhere between 2% and 6%. And yet it is not, the burden is simply 5 to 12 times higher for the current generation in uniform.

WW2 had little options, you served till you died, or were wounded too badly to continue fighting.

Edited November 25, 2011 by ReconRat

[John]

I'm tired of hearing "because we're free" being chanted from the NeoCons in this nation. They hate us because they hate. Plain and simple.

if the terrorists truly hated freedom, the netherlands would be toast.

[whitestone]

I was in the service back in the early 70's, did my time and got out when I saw what the Carter administration was doing to the military. After 9/11 I got back into the Guard at 48 so I could get involved again... haven't looked back since. It breaks my heart to see that our government is "negotiating" with the Taliban and Al Qaida while soldiers that are closer to my grandkids age than my kids are out fighting and getting killed. I got back in with the purpose of not letting this thing be passed on to my grandchildren and it's been taken to the point now of "why exactly are we over there at all". Afghanistan (and I've been there) is like taking a trip back to the 15th century... the people, in general, are nice enough though necessarily feral, but the country is for shit. We either should turn it into glass and be rid of it or just leave them to do what they've done best for the last 3000 years... kill each other. Our security efforts would be better served closer to home. As for me, I'm staying in till they kill me or get rid of me... and with the way the military is being gutted now, it looks like the latter.

[BadTrainDriver]

You went to West Point?

Respect!

[chevysoldier]

You went to West Point?

Respect!

I don't know if the OP did, but that was copied from rangerup.com

[serpentracer]

well there is no draft anymore so there's that...

[chevysoldier]

well there is no draft anymore so there's that...

There is, it's just not in effect.

[ReconRat]

There is, it's just not in effect.

Yup, still have to register when 18 or go to jail. (More likely be denied state and federal freebies.) Some schools and jobs won't take men who don't register.

[chevysoldier]

I think I registered at the same time for the selective service and to vote when I was 17 1/2.

[serpentracer]

I don't recall doing that. lol

plus I meant it's not like the old days. they didn't draft people for iraq or afgan. like they did in wwI and wwII. and vietnam. I'm sure there'd be a lot more people in the service

it's kind of weird talking about this subject, I was at the cemetary on thanksgiving to visit my grandma and I recall seeing dozens of WWII vet headstones. including my great uncle. and another great uncle that was in korea.

Edited November 26, 2011 by serpentracer