Joke 'Em if They Can't Take It

John Kerry, like yours truly, is an old-timer.

It was pretty common talk for us in the sixties. Get good grades or you'll be stuck in Vietnam.

You see, there was a student deferment to the draft. You could be classified as II-S as long as you were enrolled in college full-time and carrying a sufficient grade-point average (I've forgotten if it was 2.5, or 2.0, or some other number)

With today's all-volunteer army, students no longer have the draft hanging over their heads.

And yet, and yet, too many kids who can't make the grades in high school and college are joining the military, not for patriotic reasons, but for the money.

My nephew, who couldn't make the grade in high school, has enlisted in the Army. He has been promised "up to" $90,000... a lot of money for a drop-out.

$50,000 is for GI Bill educational benefits after a 4 year enlistment (with a few strings attached of course) and $40,000 in bonuses for critically needed MOS or reenlistment.

Call it a voluntary draft for poor kids.

Too bad that Kerry is such a boob that he couldn't do the damage control here. He had a good point, for an old fart.