Imperial Grunts

I have finally finished the book Imperial Grunts by Kaplan.
Even though it has been more than 10 years since I retired, I am glad to know that the same type of people are serving as shown in his work. Too many of my fellow citizens have no experience with the military except for what they learn from Michael Moore or Olver Stone.
Even those like Larry the Environmental Deranger would be better off to learn what is going on today. Like too many, he is stuck in the time warp of the Viet Nam era and assumes that everything is as static as his memories.
The book shows that the modern military is made up of courageous, confident and capable people who are more interested in getting the job done than pondering esoteric theories. It also shows that those who believe that only the bottom feeders of our economy are out there joining the military because of a lack of other economic options are way off base.
It is amusing that in something so intricate as life, some people are willing to categorize others based on nothing other than their own preconceived notions of what the world is like. When you expect the military to be nothing more than vicitms of economic conditions, you ignore the multi variable of patriotism, pride, desire for a challenge, personal development, education, the opportunity to develop some maturity, cultural heritage, desire to serve others and many other reasons that people join the military.
I am looking forward to the next installment of his works.