Sunday, November 05, 2006

A Letter to My Nephew

A letter to my nephew, who's in the ROTC at the University of Kentucky.

2 November 2006

Dave,

Here are some stickers that I found in our guidance office. I know you're not at West Point, but a cool sticker is its own reward.

How is your semester going? Taking any good English classes?

I was wondering what your reaction might be to the John Kerry thing. Besides the obvious political problems you might have with him, I found his remarks interesting. First off, I wonder if the comments were a botched joke about Bush's intelligence deficit, as Kerry said. The way it came out, about the lesser-educated shouldering the load in Iraq, was too convenient, I thought.

I wonder how many of the guys on the ground in Iraq would consider themselves "smart." I don't think everyone over there is "stupid," or whatever the language was that Kerry used, but I do think that lesser-educated kids who find themselves in the military do find themselves with the worst duties. Maybe that's walking some sort of shitty patrol or poking around for roadside bombs. Granted, there are my misgivings about why people are over there anyway. That said, I think it's a real shame and I feel bad that some people -- I think we can agree on that word, "some," right? -- who lack some degree of education are over there doing the dirty work. Maybe it's just the way the world works. Everyone has to know their roll.

Hope things are going well for you.

Sincerely,

UJB

Posted by Unclejbird @ 8:54 PM