"X ` Man" wrote in message
m...

On 11/11/11 7:18 AM, John H wrote:

Nope. According to his comments, I was 'stupid', because I let myself get
drafted.

My disdain is for the military establishment generally, the
"corporation," so to speak, and not those who wear the uniform, with
certain exceptions to the latter, you being one of them.
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That's not the impression you leave here Harry. You may not like John or
agree with him politically
or for other reasons, but you've often posed questions like:

"How many innocent Vietnamese did you kill?" and other quips to that
effect.

That's foul ball, IMO. John, me or anyone else that served in the military
didn't make policy.
We did what we took an oath to do. You may disagree with that, I might even
disagree
today, 43 years later and 43 years wiser, but at the time we did what we
were required to do.
It's not a subject to be taken lightly.

BTW ... being Veterans Day and all, I happened to be listening to another
left-leaning spokesperson
going on and on about the military, it's personnel and the disproportionate
number of minorities,
undereducated and economically disadvantaged people that make up the ranks
because they have few other options.
You have also made similar claims.

I decided to do my own "fact checking" about these claims. Turns out, it's
BS.

Here's a few facts I discovered with very little Google effort:

Current active duty military personnel represent less than half of 1 percent
of the US population.
That's a very small number doing the dirty work for the rest of the
population.

Less than 9 percent of the current US population are either currently
serving in the military or are military veterans.
Most people guess around 25 to 30 percent.

Here's one that may surprise you:

Contrary to popular belief or myth, the average person in today’s US
military is better educated than their
civilian peers as a group. One (1) percent of active duty service members
lack a high school diploma.
Over 20 percent of civilians over the age of 25 lack a high school diploma.
BTW ... 95 percent of military officers
hold at least a Bachelor’s Degree; many hold advanced postgrad degrees.

and:

Contrary to popular belief or myth, enlistees in today’s military are not
predominately from low income
families or backgrounds. Eleven (11) percent of enlistees come from the
poorest US neighborhoods. 25 percent
come from the wealthiest US neighborhoods. The rest fall somewhere between.

Eisboch