[MEDIK418]

Molly, first. . .I'm not your darling. Second, I can't help it if you feel dejected or riled or whatever it is you are because I stated my feelings on the matter. Was I really trying to divert anyone from going to Iraq? Not really, just trying to point out that there are other ways to make money without trying to get youself on the front page of every paper in the world. . . .ok parts of you on the front page. Anyone who can't accept the realization that there's a certain percentage of odds that you will meet a violent death over there is in at least partial denial. That or they don't read the news much.
I stand by the statement that if it weren't for your greed, you would not be where you are, PERIOD!
This is not bagging on you. Every human on the planet has a certain level of greed. If it weren't for that greed, we'd all be content to live in a socialist commune somewhere giving all of what we glean from this earth to the commune. Greed is a fact of human nature. It's the level of greed that drives people to do the things they do. In your case greed is stronger than self preservation. You weighed the odds and chose what you did. I will never believe that you are in Afghanistan because of some misguided sense of devotion to the American way of life. Money! That's it.
I fight oil fires. Is it something I do to save lives and make life safer for everyone? Not really, I do it because I like it. It's fun in a macabre sort of way. Would I go to Iraq to do it? NO. . . Fires don't have a brain. They are predictable and I'm comfrortable with them. They do what I want them to do and I win most of the time. The kind of animals with the dull knives in Iraq and other parts of the Arab world are said to have brains. They seem to have them in sidways but like horses, they do have brains. Also like horses, their brains don't always run in the same currents that human brains do. Fires would be one thing. Fighting fires AND those other freaks aren't worth my time.
I am so very proud of my son's decision to join the military. I am ex-Army and don't regret a bit of my time in service. Did I try to talk my son out of it? You bet I did. I tried every excuse from "don't you think your knees aren't up to it?" "Do you realize how big a target you make?" "did you know there's always the Coast Guard?" (Please no letters from the coast guard, I was grasping at straws back then)
Doug, the kid who is arriving in San Antonio this week, I remember standing in front of the local Subway asking him what he was gonna do if they sent him to Iraq. He made his meanest face and said "I'm ready" You know what, I'll bet money that he felt that very same way until about 3 seconds after his life changed forever.
Don't try to tell me I'm wrong for not wanting these young (or old) kids here or anywhere else for that matter to go in harm's way. You have no idea what you are asking.
molly, keep doing what you are doing. Do it well and be proud of what you accomplish. Just don't think poorly of us who don't like to see people die for no real reason.
Money? That's not what matters. It gets you things and things go away.
That old saying "live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse"?
It's way over rated. You just look worse when you don't die young.