The article is called "This Man Wants Your Children: Army Recruiter Chad Christenson" and I only wish it had been mentioned on the cover. Reading over the 10 pages of small magazine type, I wondered why there aren't more stories about these recruiters, the young men and women they sign up for the Army, and their good-will toward defending our nation.
I urge you to read it. Here are some snippits about the recruits Christenson works with:
From the beginning Alt has known the job he wants: infantryman. Christenson
warns him that in this position he may have an 80 percent chance of going to
Iraq, but Alt is untroubled. "This just makes sense to me," he says, speaking in
a calm, clear voice. "I want to fight for the freedom that other people, like my
two grandfathers who served in World War II, gave me.
"I'm not afraid," he continues. "The Army will train me in the M16 rifle,
M9 pistol, M249 light-machine gun, all kinds of grenades and grenade launchers.
I want to go to war. I want to do my duty." Since making his initial inquiry in
late April, he has begun following the news from Iraq on TV. "It's personal
now," he says.
One recruit tells him:
"It's a moral thing with me," he says. "After what happened on 9/11, I
can't live with myself if I don't go to war."
A Honduran-born recruit living in Texas with his American-born wife and two kids on a green card says this:
"First I need to get my citizenship, Pleites says. "It will mean a lot to me to
be able to vote and to defend the country."
Even a 41 year old woman works with Christenson to lose the 20 lbs she needs to join the Army.
Before poo-pooing my sappy tribute to women's periodicals, consider there might be something worthy of your time in these ladies' magazines afterall.
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