Major General Michael R. Lehnert, USMC
"When we sent my son to Stanford four years ago, we filled out a form asking for demographic information. One of the questions for the parents said, what is your profession? After it was a list of about thirty professions including doctor, lawyer, congressman, educator, architect. Military was not listed so I filled in 'other.'"You should read the remainder of General Lehnert's speech, HERE.
Presented for your delectation by the Gentleman Farmer at 6:20 AM
Comments on "Major General Michael R. Lehnert, USMC"
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Hired Hand said ... (3:10 PM) :
post a commentIt is really quite a stretch to go from, "many graduates of elite institutions do not enter the military," to "most Americans are only vaguely aware of what's going on," as General Lehnert does.
Many graduates of our country's elite institutions are serving the nation admirably in both the public and private sectors - in scientific research, financial services (ahem), public policy, and many other fields. To suggest that without a government-issued rifle in my hands I can't be as patriotic or understanding of our country's place in the world is unfair.
In 1941, the bulk of our country's best scientific minds built a city in the mountains from scratch, and set out to do what only they were capable of, in defense of the freedom of all Americans and our way of life. At no point did anyone ask, "why is it that only people from Berkeley, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Oxford, Gottingen (and the like) are here?" Of course, this is different, because anyone can carry a gun, but not many people can make a uranium detonator.
But you see my point, hopefully. There are many ways of serving one's country, and most do not involve wearing fatigues. Our country's top college graduates are fighting poverty, disease, and that always-dangerous beast, inflation. I don't need to shoot terrorists to know that I love my country. And I certainly won't suggest that those who do are allowed to love it any more or less. Nor would I suggest that they're "better suited" to the task of shooting terorrists.
We're all on the same team here. Let's not argue over our starting positions.