RIGHT WING COLUMNIST EXPLAINS WHY HE ISN'T IN MILITARY

[From the online National Review comment section]

A READER - [Jonah Goldberg] looks to be of military age. Ask him why his sorry a** isn't in the kill zone."

JONAH GOLDERG - As for why my sorry a** isn't in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give -- I'm 35 years old, my family couldn't afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my a** is, er, sorry, are a few -- ever seem to suffice. But this chicken-hawk nonsense is something that's been batted around too many times to get into again here. What I do think is
interesting is that out of the thousands upon thousands of emails I've gotten from people in the military over the years, maybe a dozen have ever asked this question. Invariably, it's anti-war leftists who believe that their personally defined notions of hypocrisy trump any argument and any position. Meanwhile, the military guys have been overwhelmingly friendly and very often grateful for the support we offer around here.

[A response from the Daily Kos]

DAILY KOS - Well, the maximum enlistment age is now 38, so great news for Jonah and those in similar dire straits. His family can't afford lost income? Well, half of reservists have experience a loss of income due to enlistment. They must make the sacrifice for this war, but Jonah and his ilk are above that. And as for baby daughters...

||| [Sgt. Anthony J. Davis Jr.], the 22-year-old Long Beach resident was killed Saturday in the restive city of Mosul when a passenger car filled with explosives rammed into the 19-ton, eight-wheel Stryker troop transport vehicle he was riding in [...] Michell said the news of Anthony's death hasn't quite sunk in, and she's drawing upon her close-knit family to keep herself together. One of the toughest aspects of his death is the fact that he didn't get to meet his youngest daughter,
Aniya, born two weeks after his deployment in October. |||

Lucky for Jonah, and the rest of his crew, it's getting exceedingly easier to sign up and turn words into action.

Two hundred miles away, in northern Ohio, another recruiter said the incident hardly surprised him. He has been bending or breaking enlistment rules for months, he said, hiding police records and medical histories of potential recruits. His commanders have encouraged such deception, he said, because they know there is no other way to meet the Army's stiff recruitment quotas. "The problem is that no one wants to join," the recruiter said. "We have to play fast and loose with the rules just to get by."

So why don't they enlist? Is it that they think they're too good to serve with the good men and women in the armed forces? Too middle-to-upper class? Too intelligent? Do they think the nation will suffer from their blogging and punditry absence? That they're doing more for the war effort than they could ever do so with a rifle in their hands? Or is it merely cowardice?

Except that "cowardice" is too light a word for those who claim to believe in a just cause, but would rather send others to die in the service of that cause.

After Pearl Harbor was bombed, Americans lined up at military recruitment offices to give themselves to their nation in its time of need. That was the true definition of patriotism, those men spoke truth to our national anthem's "home of the brave".

The cowards in the 101st Fighting Keyboardists are the polar opposite. They lay shame to our nation.