[jim]

Originally Posted by skysurfer808

Semper Fi to that.

Maybe we ought to draft a bunch of university professors, and see whether they'll remain athiests while dodging ambushes and IEDs.

Part of our problem as a society is that we've reached the stage where the Virtual is as important to most as the natural. Since the Vietnam Era, the civilian population of this nation is able to see War in their living rooms, and assumes they are living through it. This Media-CNN effect has made War seem more accessible during a time when a smaller percent of the population than ever is bearing the true brunt and cost of military service. Having been overseas in places covered by the American media, I can reasonably assert that the media does distort the true picture of events. Yet how do we percieve events but through the media.

Now professors can run to town with perception and other blather, but when it comes to actually putting one's life on the line (for anything) I can definately assert that most acedemicians have no clue how to handle dangerous situations. The Ivory Tower has become a place where educational bureaucrats bicker endlessly over useless minutiae, while ignoring current events and trends in the name of Education. What I find really ironic is that these 60s campus radicals have formed an bureaucratic clicque dedicated to denying many of the acedemic freedoms they championed in their youth. Another 60s spawned irony is the antiwar movement, which fizzled out once the US Government ended the draft.

As for life teachers I will pick a combat veteran over a professor any time.

Aloha,
Skysurfer808

Very profound Skysurfer, sombre thoughts that we should all dwell on for a while.