I remember the day I found out I got into West Point.
My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me to get out of class. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had opened up my admission letter. She wasn’t crying because it had been her dream for me to go there. She was crying because she knew how hard I’d worked to get in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry officer. I was going to get that opportunity.
That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the following: “Nick, you’re a smart guy. You don’t have to join the military. You should go to college, instead.”
I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won’t.
What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of burdens our military is bearing.
In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years. In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years. Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror. These are unbelievable statistics.
Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military. Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their hearts.
The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You.
You stand there, deployment after deployment and fight on. You’ve lost relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from kids you’ll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional athletes don’t understand. And you come home to a nation that doesn’t understand. They don’t understand suffering. They don’t understand sacrifice. They don’t understand that bad people exist. They look at you like you’re a machine – like something is wrong with you. You are the misguided one – not them. When you get out, you sit in the college classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can’t understand the “macro” issues they gathered from books with your bias. You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that. Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while they ask you to do more.
But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your country will never pay back what you’ve given up. You know that the populace at large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them. Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men and women of this country have done since 1775 – YOU SERVED. Just that decision alone makes you part of an elite group.
Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.
You are the 0.45%.
The .45%
Moderator: Site Admin
The .45%
These are not my words, taken from http://www.rangerup.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but they are a great read!
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt
1/75 2006 - 2010
-Theodore Roosevelt
1/75 2006 - 2010
- garyedolan
- Ranger Hall of Fame
- Posts: 1405
- Joined: December 8th, 2006, 8:05 am
- Has thanked: 9 times
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Re: The .45%
Thank you for sharing a great read.
Gary "28"
Co C (RGR), 75 Inf (ABN) '70-'71
USMA 69; RGR 4-70; RHOF-2011
http://oftheirownaccord.com
"Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be." Douglas MacArthur
Co C (RGR), 75 Inf (ABN) '70-'71
USMA 69; RGR 4-70; RHOF-2011
http://oftheirownaccord.com
"Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be." Douglas MacArthur
Re: The .45%
Excellent!
Ranger Class 13-71
Advisor, VN 66-68 69-70
42d Vn Ranger Battalion 1969-1970
Trainer, El Salvador 86-87
Advisor, Saudi Arabian National Guard 91, 93-94
75th RRA Life Member #867
Advisor, VN 66-68 69-70
42d Vn Ranger Battalion 1969-1970
Trainer, El Salvador 86-87
Advisor, Saudi Arabian National Guard 91, 93-94
75th RRA Life Member #867
The .45%
Wow. A more sobering statistic than any of the tax relates numbers we hear so much in the media today.
C Co 3/75 88-90 (Just Cause)
124 MI(LRSD) 90-91 (Desert Storm)
Repeal the 16th, enforce the 10th.
ΜΩΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
"I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all." Gen. James Mattis
Panem Et Circenses
My safe space
124 MI(LRSD) 90-91 (Desert Storm)
Repeal the 16th, enforce the 10th.
ΜΩΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
"I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all." Gen. James Mattis
Panem Et Circenses
My safe space
- mortar_guy78
- Ranger
- Posts: 891
- Joined: June 11th, 2010, 7:41 am
Re: The .45%
Nice read.
The other day my brother asked me what I thought about the idea of the draft. I told him that I disagree with it for many reasons. On the other hand, I lament the loss of any ambition toward civic duty that characterized a lot of citizens in years past..
My generation sucks.
The other day my brother asked me what I thought about the idea of the draft. I told him that I disagree with it for many reasons. On the other hand, I lament the loss of any ambition toward civic duty that characterized a lot of citizens in years past..
My generation sucks.
HHC 4/64 AR '97-'99
HHC 1/75 RGR '99-'01
HHC 1/508 ABCT '01-'04
C co, HHC 2/1 IN '04-'07
C co, B co 1/24 IN '07-'11
D co 308th MI '12-'15
7th SFG(A) MICO '15-'18
C co 308th MI '18-Present
Keep your mind in hell and despair not.
THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES
HHC 1/75 RGR '99-'01
HHC 1/508 ABCT '01-'04
C co, HHC 2/1 IN '04-'07
C co, B co 1/24 IN '07-'11
D co 308th MI '12-'15
7th SFG(A) MICO '15-'18
C co 308th MI '18-Present
Keep your mind in hell and despair not.
THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES
Re: The .45%
Wow. That statistic is very sobering. Apparently, never in our history have so few done so much for our country.
Guess I need a shirt that says "I am that 0.45%"
Guess I need a shirt that says "I am that 0.45%"
RS 07 and 08-01 (I took the long tour in Florida)
1-508 ABCT
1-327IN
101st Pathfinder DS1
Iraqi Freedom 03-04, 05-06, 07-08
1-508 ABCT
1-327IN
101st Pathfinder DS1
Iraqi Freedom 03-04, 05-06, 07-08
Re: The .45%
well lucky for you.....
http://www.rangerup.com/the45.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rangerup.com/the45.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt
1/75 2006 - 2010
-Theodore Roosevelt
1/75 2006 - 2010
Re: The .45%
Holy fucking shit. Great read. I will be sharing this around.
B Co 3/75
1989-1990
Just Cause Airlando Commando
1989-1990
Just Cause Airlando Commando