March 27, 2006
WHY DO YOU THINK THEY'RE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE? (via Gene Brown):
War in their future, Mids choose Marines (Bradley Olson, March 25, 2006, Baltimore Sun)
When it came time for Jake Dove, a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy, to decide how he would fulfill his required military duty after graduation, there was no question about it: Marine Corps all the way."In my eyes it's a perfect community," said Dove, an Annapolis High School graduate. "The idea of being a platoon leader in charge of guys that have done two, three tours in Iraq already, when I haven't been over there - that's an awesome responsibility. I'm eager to take it on."
Despite a war that has entered its fourth year with mounting casualties and waning public support, more and more midshipmen at the Annapolis military college are volunteering for the Marines when asked to choose how they will fulfill the five-year commitment required of all academy graduates.
Shouldn't that "despite" be "because"? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 27, 2006 9:01 PM
None of the active services have had any problems filling their re-enlistment quotas.
Even many seriously-wounded people have chosen to re-up and go back for another tour of Iraq.
The story is a bit different with Reserve and National Guard units, but that's to be expected.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 28, 2006 2:47 AM
Can the appeal of the marine corps have anything to do with their ban on women in combat?
Posted by: erp at March 28, 2006 8:47 AMFrom the article; this makes it news.
"When the assignments were made official last month for the 992 members of the class of 2006, 209 were placed as officers with the Corps - the most in the school's 161-year history. And more would have done so if there were enough openings: an additional 45 who sought the Marines were assigned to other duty when the allotment was filled."