> All right, I came on too harshly and only put on
>one side of the argument. Say a guy is a really
>devout Christian. Say he's studying to be a priest.
>He should go off and become a priest. But then say
>there's this guy that doesn't know what to do. he
>just graduated from highschool. He's not sure where t
>o go to college. He's not sure if he's ready for
>college. What he should do is go and join the
>Army/Marines ect. An able bodied American man
>that doesn't have his heart set on a certain
>profession and is already really good at it or
>studying it seriously, that isn't married and
>doesn't have kids(though many fathers do go to the
>Army), should go join.

And I say it's still a choice for that person to make. I believe an equally valid choice for that same undecided man would be to enroll at a local community college and try out a few things for a year or so. I'd sooner think the person would get more direction out of doing that than from spending four years as a grunt in the Army.

I think military service is admirable. I do not think it is in any way compulsory except when drafted. Honestly, if you spend four years in the Army during time of peace, what have you really done? Sure, you were there, ready to go fight if needed. But I feel like I'm doing the same thing right now, sitting here at my civilian job waiting for a full-scale war to break out.

If/when I join the military, it'll be to go fight a war. Or, if the military decides my skills would be better suited to duty other than actual fighting, that's what I'll do. But I won't be serving just for the sake of serving and I won't be there to find myself or anything like that.

-- Dave