Today one of my friends from school left to Ft. Carson Colorado then to who knows where. I don't think many people realize how worried you get about someone when they join the military and you don't know what they are going to do. We haven't found out if he's going to Afganistan or Iraq or what. The sad part is he turned 18 like 2 weeks ago.

I would just like to share that and I can now say that I now realize how young some of our soldiers are.

S!

S!
I hope all goes well for your friend.


Not to make light of it but I thought you might need a laugh.
I found this gem my email recently


Draft Men Over Sixty !!

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New Direction for any war: Send Service Vets over 60!

I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists.
You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing backwards.
Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys.
You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.

For starters: Researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds.
Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.

Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry' We are impatient and maybe letting us kill something that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.

An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10 am. Old guys always get up early to pee so what the hell. Besides, like I said, 'I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical S O B.

If captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser.

Boot camp would be easier for old guys.
We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food.
We've also developed an appreciation for guns.
We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.

They could lighten up on the obstacle course however.
I've been in combat and didn't see a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any pushups after completing basic training.
Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too.
I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.

An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start up a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.

These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way..

Let us old guys track down those dirty rotten coward terrorists. The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple of million ****ed off old farts with attitudes and automatic weapons who know that their best years are already behind them...

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Wheels

nice wheelsup,well said.Over 50 where do I sign up

I can see it now...Grumpy old men having to stop to urinate every two minutes while on patrol.

Blood_Splat, there are medications for that now; their advertisements have almost crowded Viagra off the TV...

The original poster need not worry too much for a while; his friend has to make it through Boot Camp first at the very least, and most folks spend quite a bit of time after that in training for their military specialty. Chances are that if he is sent to Afghanistan or Iraq, it won't be for at least 6 months or more.

Instead of worrying, the best thing you can do is write or correspond with him faithfully, even when his schedule doesn't allow him to write back often; knowing there are people back home who care about him will be very important to him. Your friends stay your friends even when they're far away.

cheers

horseback

I am not sure what your friend is doing in the military, but if he is going to Ft Carson, then there is really nothing to worry about in my opinion.
If he were going to train at Benning (infantry), or even Sam Houston (medic), then there is a good chance of your friend being put in harms way at some point in the future.
What is going on at Carson these days anyway?

My 19 year old son is in Ft. Sill right now, doing his basic training. He is in week 3.

My 20 year old son is shipping out to Ft Sill on November 16th to start his basic.

They will both be doing their AIT in Ft. Leonard Wood as Combat Engineers.

I am a very proud papa.

I'm honestly not sure whats going on at fort carson right now. I haven't gotten ahold of him recently but I'll call in a week or so when I have the chance.