Page 70 - A Soldiers Exposition

The powers to be, aka our government, will tell us that our soldiers represent a vast cross-section of our
nation and are representative of an average American.

I am here to tell you that this is not the case.

A total of 8.615 Million men served during the Vietnam era and of them, 2.15 Million actually served in the
Combat Zone; so around 540,000 draftees served in the Combat Zone in Vietnam.

Three-fourths of those deployed were from working families and poor youths were twice as likely to serve
there than their more affluent cohorts although most of them were volunteers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_dodger

Forty years after the implementation of the all-volunteer Army, most Americans never give thought to
what it means to serve in our military. They live their life without personally knowing anyone who has or is
serving.

When our soldiers return from service, combat or not, they are expected to re-enter society often without
the community acknowledging their service and the impact that service might have on the individual.

"What if they gave a war and nobody came?
Why, then, the war would come to you! He who stays home when the fight begins and lets another fight
for his cause should take care: he who does not take part in the battle will share in the defeat. Even
avoiding battle will not avoid battle. Since not to fight for your own cause really means; fighting on behalf
of your enemy's cause."

Bertolt Brecht from a poem written in the 1930s