That may not be what Kerry meant to say, but it's what he said - and it's difficult to interpret it as anything but a slam on our troops. He claims he meant to say "you'll get us stuck in Iraq" and was referencing the president. Whatever.
In any event I'm glad it came up, because it gives me an opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about the military. Whether intended or not, Kerry's comments do reflect the belief of many that only the poor and uneducated join the military.
I don't mean this as an attack, but I think that belief is a reflection of one's own attitude toward service. A person who was not raised to embrace "duty to God and country" (as I was) might find it difficult to understand why an individual would volunteer for dangerous work and long hours at low pay unless they had no other choice. The concept of "duty" is simply foreign to them.
So what is the truth about the educational levels of the military? Here are current stats for enlisted personnel in my former service, the USAF:
73% of all Air Force enlisted personnel have some hours towards a college degree.
16% have an associate's degree.
5% have a bachelor's degree.
1% have a master's degree.
.01% have a doctorate's.
That's not too bad for us poor dumb enlisted cannon fodder. Almost three-forths have a degree or are working towards one.
By the way, in a few days, I'll be 50 years old. One of the things I've learned in all that time is that education and intelligence are not synonymous. One need only point to Bush and Kerry, both graduates of Yale, to make that arguement.
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