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... when your job is to follow orders without question? Forgive me, and I thank you for your service, but your suggestion seems either naive or disingenuous. I've never served in the military and at 42 years of age, it's unlikely I ever will, but last I heard, they weren't big on soliciting opinions from new recruits. Not long ago, I spoke at length with a young Marine machine gunner back from his first tour in Iraq, and one thing he made clear to me was the disgust many of his fellow warriors secretly felt about the war but were unable to express under all manner of punitive threats. One of the reasons I felt it was my patriotic duty to become part of the "focus group" that President Bush so haughtily ignored was that I knew the young soldiers dying in Afghanistan and Iraq didn't have the ability to protest for themselves. I understand the need for soldiers who are ready and willing to do as they are told, without question, and since these young men and women don't have the luxury of exercising choice about their actions, we civilians owe it to them (to you) to speak out in whatever form we feel is most effective to save your lives and sanity. If that's what DeLappe (who, at 43, is also too old to volunteer) is doing, more power to him.
