I thought this might make for an interesting conversation, or a side thought. I hear it on the news almost every day, I hear it on the web, even in conversations with those that aren't in the military and this always seems to come up.

First off I cannot vouch for any military other than the US military, as their situations may be very different. However the US military is an all volunteer military. No one forces you to join, and you are even asked if you are being forced to join on one of the initial interviews. There are five branches of the military you can join. And on top of that there is a job selection process to where you get the option of choosing your job, depending on the needs of the service, and also your score on their placement test (asvab). If someone signs up to be infantry in the Army, they are well aware of what they are getting into when they sign up, keeping in mind that they weren't forced, and they have some control over the job they pick.

On top of that, the fact is that a large majority of our forces in Iraq have volunteered to go overseas. Where I serve, EVERYONE that has went to Iraq has volunteered to do so. People want to help to do their part over there. Some of the larger forces that are in Iraq were told they were going to deploy, but still they volunteered for the job, and were aware of the fact of what they were doing.

Another fact of this is that the media, and people in general tend to think that the government is sending "boys and girls" to their deaths, and thats simply not the case. Men and women are over there. There is a huge rank structure which includes older men and women just as well as the younger new recruits, who at the very least should be considered men and women.

Its a very sad event when someone over there dies serving their country, but the simple fact is if they didn't believe in what they were doing they wouldn't be over there in the first place. So pretty please, with sugar on top, when you hear someone say "bring our boys and girls home" think about the volunteer situation.