Robert S. (bull-snake) reviewed AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
To a degree I was very surprised. I would not expect a defence of military service in this day and age. When my son signed up for the Army I was hurt. Not because of the military service, but THE ARMY. My dad and sister spent 20+ years in the Air Force. My mother on the other hand reflected our society in general, she was going to break both his legs. She did not want any of her grandchildren in the military. This book shows the fallacy of such a position. If we as a society desire a military then all should participate in the military. The military should not be a place that the society see those that could not 'make it' in the private sector. This position was reflected by John Kerry when he said that if you go to school and make good grades you can go into business and make good money otherwise you go into the military. This book points out that we are becoming a three tier society, the elite, the populace, and the military. Each is suspicious of the other. Well written, well developed, and easy to read.
Leo T. reviewed AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country on + 1775 more book reviews
The authors may be said to be yuppies but she is married to a serving officer and his son unexpectedly volunteered so they were led to examine their own viewpoints and assemble excellent evidence leading to the conclusion that the well-off people of the US now consider one who volunteers to serve is crazy, given the better paying and less problematic opportunities available to them, unlike in the 19th C. and first half of the 20th C. This book could be used in a high school classroom emphasizing reading with interested students reading the Introduction and Chapter Two before meeting for group discussion (10pts), meeting again with each student sharing (10pts) a chapter of their choice (3 through 8) with the group, and meeting one more time to discuss (10pts) Chapter 9 about what should be done. The various proposals to have everyone serve, public work or military duties, is interesting but I don't feel they realize the costs of supervision, etc. in making that happen. Limiting Federal Student Aid to those who serve in some way is an idea I would endorse.
There is a good effort to convey the thoughts of those that serve in both their personal growth as a responsible adult and what they do for our nation. They do call to account parents, teachers, business people, college professors, etc. who denigrate service and note that well-off Americans have no contact at all with those who serve in the ranks. During the recent Second Gulf War and the Afghan War there was no call by the President, politicians, newspeople, etc. urging people to serve (nor to make any sacrifice, even to pay for the war they do not say, but should have said).
Another well researched book is needed to compare those serving among the cohort aged 18-27 (the old draft age) compared to the population of the USA. When a story was published in the LA Times in 1992 laying out those serving in the First Gulf War (which was for oil) by ethnic descent, I compared it to the 1990 census figures for the old draft ages. I found that 66 2/3% of that youthful population was Anglo and they served in the same numbers, and that Blacks were 11% or so and took up almost all the other 'slots,' serving at nearly three times their share of the population of those ages. Latinos served very little compared to their huge youthful population, war being a young person's work, and folks of Asian descent were almost invisible. During the Vietnam Era every company would have a Nikkei guy serving, and there were some Filipinos and even a few of Chinese descent, but their population was tiny during the time of the First Gulf War compared to the huge numbers of immigrants of Asian descent arriving since the Immigration Act of 1965.
Returning from work on the subway, late in the afternoon of 11 October 2014, I was reading a magazine and there was a disturbance several yards away. I heard a light clanking of a small bag of aluminum to be recycled and a loud denunciation by a Latino immigrant of the guy holding the bag on his lap. The latter apparently had a cap on identifying himself as a vet. The complainer moved down the car, sat across from me, and denounced servicemen in general, and expressed his hope that those recently sent to build clinics in Liberia would all contract malaria. The two ladies nearby nodded in agreement. These immigrants don't think anyone else understands Spanish.
The book has no index.
There is a good effort to convey the thoughts of those that serve in both their personal growth as a responsible adult and what they do for our nation. They do call to account parents, teachers, business people, college professors, etc. who denigrate service and note that well-off Americans have no contact at all with those who serve in the ranks. During the recent Second Gulf War and the Afghan War there was no call by the President, politicians, newspeople, etc. urging people to serve (nor to make any sacrifice, even to pay for the war they do not say, but should have said).
Another well researched book is needed to compare those serving among the cohort aged 18-27 (the old draft age) compared to the population of the USA. When a story was published in the LA Times in 1992 laying out those serving in the First Gulf War (which was for oil) by ethnic descent, I compared it to the 1990 census figures for the old draft ages. I found that 66 2/3% of that youthful population was Anglo and they served in the same numbers, and that Blacks were 11% or so and took up almost all the other 'slots,' serving at nearly three times their share of the population of those ages. Latinos served very little compared to their huge youthful population, war being a young person's work, and folks of Asian descent were almost invisible. During the Vietnam Era every company would have a Nikkei guy serving, and there were some Filipinos and even a few of Chinese descent, but their population was tiny during the time of the First Gulf War compared to the huge numbers of immigrants of Asian descent arriving since the Immigration Act of 1965.
Returning from work on the subway, late in the afternoon of 11 October 2014, I was reading a magazine and there was a disturbance several yards away. I heard a light clanking of a small bag of aluminum to be recycled and a loud denunciation by a Latino immigrant of the guy holding the bag on his lap. The latter apparently had a cap on identifying himself as a vet. The complainer moved down the car, sat across from me, and denounced servicemen in general, and expressed his hope that those recently sent to build clinics in Liberia would all contract malaria. The two ladies nearby nodded in agreement. These immigrants don't think anyone else understands Spanish.
The book has no index.
