The following letter is in response to Ramsey Tesdell’s Oct. 17 column, “Uncle Sam Wants You: Military recruiters target the poor and minorities.”

The price of freedom is high. The price of freedom will always be high and providing that freedom exceeds $1.9 billion dollars each day a car bomb is detonated in a marketplace. Unless you, Ramsey Tesdell, have sat with a recruiter and signed your name to the bottom line, you have no idea what freedom costs, what freedom is and what a recruiter’s real job is.

This is an all-volunteer military. Nobody is forced to serve. I volunteered because I couldn’t afford college. Through the military, I learned what it means to serve and what freedom costs. Until you know this, do not bad-mouth a recruiter for finding people who will volunteer to defend the freedom he or she knows.

You enjoy the freedom that is preserved by others and you throw statistics at people telling them there is a problem when you don’t understand the statistics you provided. Here is a little clarification for you and for those other people startled by your statistics.

Your statistic “65 percent of recruits do not receive any money for college.” That is because 65 percent, or more, of recruits do not go to college! Does a recruit constitute a soldier? No! A soldier is a recruit who has passed basic and advanced training. Every single soldier who ever served in the modern military and was honorably discharged receives money for college if he or she goes to college.

You say “only 15 percent of recruits receive a four-year degree.” Are these recruits or soldiers? See above paragraph. Have you counted those persons who have finished college before serving in the military? It’s hard enough to get everybody who enrolled in college directly from high school to finish college, let alone a person who served in the military and understands what sacrifice, duty, honor, privilege, discipline and freedom truly are. When you know what those things are, then the “fantasy land” of college is a bit difficult to deal with.

You claim that “33 percent of all enlisted soldiers are people of color; only 12.5 percent of officers are people of color.” I have no answer for this statistic, but did you know 67 percent of all enlisted soldiers are not people of color? That kind of puts a different shade on your statistic. If you have ever served in a military unit you would realize that it does not matter what color the person next to you is. What does matter is if you can count on the person next to you in a bad situation.

You have a problem with targeting a certain demographic for recruitment and that is understandable; however, this is the real world and people with a higher social and economic status do not need the benefits the military can provide. Most recruits volunteer because of the benefits offered to them, not because they have a deep love for this country. That is also a real world truth. Do not criticize things you do not understand. If you have volunteered, then criticize all you like because you’ve earned it.

Kirt Schmidt

Senior

Construction Engineering