Don't denigrate people who enlist
A U.S. Marine on a joint patrol with an Afghan soldier points out a location in the distance during a patrol in Nawzad, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan. (April 26, 2011) Credit: AP
In response to the letter about people with little opportunity volunteering for Army service ["Killings prompt questions," June 24], I would like to say that the U.S. Army and all branches of the service do get well-educated young men and women fresh out of high school today. Not just the losers, as the reader was trying to argue.
The military not only offers great programs for those in the service but fantastic education packages upon discharge. I am a Vietnam vet, and therefore from the draft age.
If you have medical problems, the Veterans Affairs hospitals are there for the vets and are the best in the country. They have drug rehab and civilian readjustment programs to help you fit back into society.
George B. Blanchard, Rockville Centre
How dare the letter writer insult our brave military, past and present, because one bad apple resorted to murder? The deed was heinous and despicable but not because he was an Army veteran.
The writer states that students who graduate by the skin of their teeth go into the Army because they have no other option.
Tell that to the thousands who will spend the rest of their lives living with a disability because of their service, defending your freedom to write such an insulting letter. Tell it to the thousands of families who lost a loved one.
Graduates of West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy have sent young men and women to war; these are no high school dropouts.
Rosemary Cain, Massapequa
