Future Veterans Of Future Wars

One might think that all the bad publicity of young American soldiers torn apart by car bombs or other outrageous violence in Iraq would be just about enough to make any young person have second thoughts about a military career, but no. In a Portland, Oregon area Elks Lodge, an organization of young Marines meets involves children as young as eight years old wearing Marine uniforms and being recruited into the military lifestyle by retired members of the Marine Corps.

Certainly the military is necessary for the protection of this country from real threats to the security of the nation. However are children as young as eight years old really about to make mature decisions about the real dangers of involvement in a military career? And does an organization such as the young Marines glorify a dangerous occupation and lighten the real risks involved in such a career?

Another danger is the political use of the military for wars for oil or other abuses of the role of the military as for the real defense of the nation. Does an organization like the young Marines skirt all of these issues as well?

While the young Marines organization is hardly much different than a Boy Scouts group, mainly involved in service activity, still it may present a skewed view of the risks of a military career when political abuse of these defense forces in oil wars like Iraq is a hot issue.

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