Who Was the 3,000th Soldier?
There's been a lot of writing about the 3,000th death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq. But, take a look at who he was and see if it doesn't really bring home the stupidity of this war and the perceived lack of choices facing some of our youths.
Dustin Donica, 22, an army specialist from the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment....[was] a soccer-loving college dropout from Texas with a weakness for trance music and ham-and-pineapple pizza....
Specialist Donica, known as “DD” to his friends, was brought up in the town of Spring on the outskirts of Houston. He enlisted after a short spell at the University of Texas in Austin.
On his MySpace page he wrote that he wanted to die “young”. But he also said that he hoped to go back to college and that his greatest fear was “the slight chance of re-enlistment seeming smart”. Asked: “What do you want to be when you Grow Up?”, he wrote: “if i knew, i wouldn’t be here.”
There are thousands of alienated teens in our society. They are all prey to military recruiters. Where are their parents?
I have a limited ability to understand, but an appreciation for those who make a rational choice to join the military out of a sense of patriotism or for its benefits. But how many are like this poor kid, simply adrift? As far as I'm concerned, his blood is on his recruiter's hands, for not recognizing that he never wanted to be a soldier, just wanted a place to belong.
"I want to die young" is the tantamount to "I don't care what happens to me." It should be a red flag for treatment, not enlistment.
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