"I notice that you picked hospital kitchens as an example rather than an assembly line at Ford. Why is that?"
I've never walked through an assembly line at Ford. I don't know anyone there. But, I've gotten to know a lot of people on the floors of Lockheed, Boeing, McDonald Douglas, etc, and a great many of them are ex GIs. You made it sound as if GIs are stupid and unable to gain meaningful work, and that simply isn't true. It may be true for some that the military was their best option at the time they joined, but a great many of them join up out of a sense of duty.
Pvt England wasn't stupid, and I didn't mean to imply that I thought she was. She didn't present herself very well though. And, the unit she was in, the MPs, typically get the lower end of new recruits. Do you think she'd be unemployable in the civilian job market? I don't.
If you want to call volunteer GIs "mercenary," then I guess doctors, lawyers (except MPH, of course! <G>), and engineers are also "mercenary." And truck drivers, priests, firemen and cops.
Sometime, just for grins, stop in at a recruiting office for any service. (But, if you're gonna call GIs stupid and mercenary, don't stop in at a Marine Corps recruiting office. <G>) Just ask the recruiter what kind of people sign up. If you're lucky, a few of those kids might be there for you to talk to. If you leave that office without being impressed with the caliber of people you meet, I'll buy you a beer. |
