Done Our Part
Every now and then, someone in the media cries foul regarding the number of so called "Poor" people in the military. Several months ago this attitude took on a more personal meaning for me. A friend I was having lunch with insinuated that it was somehow wrong that my sons had not gone into the military as his had done. Because of this, our family was not sharing in the support of the military effort fairly when compared to minorities, and lower income groups in general. He was unaware that my oldest had served six years in the National Guard.
I agree that lower income groups (black and white) are overly represented in the military. However, I disagree with the premise that it is a bad thing.

The liberal establishment and left leaning media, proclaim that it is not fair. When they see "The Rich" send their children to college, or manage to land them a spot in the local National Guard unit. All the talking heads cry discrimination and racism.

What they fail to understand is that most families are poor at one time or another. One or more generations from all families, were in the lower income groups at some point in their history. To measure and assess the fairness of a thing like this you may have to look over several generations to see whether or not each group has pulled their share of duty.

My maternal grand-father served in WW-I. He had a high school education, but no skills and limited prospects when he enlisted in the Army. He went overseas, saw some action, and came back in one piece to land a job on the Pennsylvania Railroad. He eventually became a conductor. He never became rich, but he made a decent living, and raised a family. I may be biased, but I’m glad that he did.

My father was the product of a broken home. He left home to work on the farms of New Jersey at the age of 14 during the great depression. He had an eighth grade education. As soon as hostilities broke out in WW-II, he joined the Army Air Corp. He was assigned as a cook in Burma. The Army taught him a trade, and when he came home he too raised a family. To make ends meet, he worked two jobs. (No welfare) My mother worked as an LPN in the local hospital. My brothers and I took care of ourselves because mom and dad worked all the time. We did ok.
Still no college people in my family, only the military to serve as a way up for both my father and grandfather.

Now it’s my turn. At seventeen I made a foolish decision to leave school in the 11th grade. Guess where I landed? The United States Air Force. They gave me a year of electronics training, sent me to radar school, and insisted that I study for, and receive a High School Diploma from the State of Connecticut. Pretty good for a drop out. When I left the service I landed a job with a large multi-national Fortune 500 company, and attended some college thanks to the V.A.
I never actually graduated from college, but thanks to the training I received, I was promoted to several management positions during my career. The military made it possible. I became the first generation in my family to move into the middle class. I could not be considered rich, but I am not poor. I am what you might call - fairly well off.

Now we come to my two sons. One went in the local guard unit, mainly for the college benefits. The youngest never went into the military. We had reached the point as a family where college was possible without military benefits. My position and income enabled me to serve as a believable roll model. A successful parent, encouraging his children to stay in school. They both attended college, and both graduated. One from Auburn, and one from the University of So. Ala. They are the first in four generations of our family to graduate from college. After four generations, my family had at last reached the point where children were expected to go to college. Join the "Army" was no longer the preferred advice it had always been in my family.
This is how it is with most of the families the libs accuse of avoiding the military by sending their children to school. It has taken most of us several generations to move into what you would call the upper income groups. If our children’s children go into the military, it will be as officers, not enlistee’s. And there is nothing wrong with that. The military needs officers too. It is in fact the American dream. Generation after generation, we all hope to move up. It is equitable, and expected that each group take their turn. Each group rises to their level of capability, hoping to improve the lot of their children. Most of us make it eventually. Thanks in no small part to the United States Military.

Some look at this as if there was some conspiracy to make only poor people send their sons to war. Not so. The poor, and less educated among us, take advantage of one of the best chances they have for improvement. All of us have done our part. It may not have been in this decade, but everyone at one time or another (as a family ), have served our country. The poor will always be with us, but they will be from different families, and different groups. Each generation serves as it needs to, or as it can. Then they move on. A new group takes a turn serving the nation while looking for a way up. Eventually they discover the military, and like so many before them, begin a journey that leads to new opportunities.


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