The U.S. Military: The 1%
Today, UCLA held a very moving Veterans' Day ceremony. It included marching drills by ROTC students, speeches by dignitaries, and a fly-over by an F-18 fighter jet. (The photo is of Lt. Colonel Ajax Peris, the commander of the UCLA Air Forice ROTC, teaching my son how to salute.)
The main speech was by Staff Sergeant Joshua Webster, who served four tours of duty in Afghanistan and after his service enrolled as a freshman at UCLA. "It's a little weird," he said, "looking around the room and realizing that every other student is a decade younger than you."
He also noted, "We military people are a different breed. With apologies to the Occupy Wall Street crowd, there are about 3.5 million of us, while the country has about 350 million people. We are the one percent."
God bless Staff Sergeant Webster and the one percent. God bless UCLA, including Chancellor Gene Block, for such a wonderful ceremony.
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May '10
Re: The U.S. Military: The 1%
What a fantastic irony. The capitalistic inclinations and business acumen of one percent is the only thing keeping this economy solvent. And another one percent, through their patriotism and sacrifice, is protecting the freedoms to make it possible for the other one percent to do so.
It's also interesting to consider...the names that ABC posts every Sunday morning of our slain soldiers also lists their home towns. They're almost all from the heartland of America. Flyover families must be doing something right to raise these courageous young men and women.
Edited on Nov 9, 2011 at 5:01pmMay '10
Re: The U.S. Military: The 1%
Bravo, UCLA -- and, of course, our armed forces.
Edited on Nov 9, 2011 at 4:58pmJan '11
Re: The U.S. Military: The 1%
My wife works at a university here in Milwaukee and is involved with some campus veterans organizations. She has also been so impressed with these people and the sacrifices they have made. I'm heartened to know that the universities aren't quite as hostile to these very admirable people as there were when we were young.
There is hope for us and these guys are leading it.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 3:35am