Surviving Fallujah . . . Rolling Stone, 03/10/05

I picked up this week's Rolling Stone for the Bob Marley cover story and found "Surviving Fallujah" as well . . . interesting article, worth the read . . .

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7047692?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single1

and just when I thought I'd heard everything outrageous that BushCo could possibly pull, I ran across the following in the article . . . and it's just so wrong on so many levels . . .

II. "The Army hooks you up"

(snip)

"See, all of us have our own sob stories," says Aikens. Probably the most poignant is Bentley's. Bentley is the rare soldier who actually likes being in Iraq. He has two more years left in the Army, and he hopes to be redeployed here again, ideally to one of Iraq's hot spots: Fallujah, Ramadi, Baghdad, Mosul -- "somewhere shit's happening."

Unlike Bandy or Aikens, he never questions whether or not the American presence is helping the people of Iraq, and he speaks often of his willingness to give his life for his country. (Bandy, by contrast, says, "If there's someone out there who's willing to give up your life for your fucking country -- go for it, bud.") The irony is that Bentley was a self-described "leech" who he says "sucked off people's flaws." Raised in suburban Columbia, Pennsylvania, he dropped out of middle school to deal drugs and spent the rest of his adolescence jumping between various juvenile detention facilities and boot camps. The shame this brought his parents, he says, is his biggest regret. "I screwed my family by dishonoring them," he says. "I was a scumbag."

By eighteen, he was running out of options. "You can only take so many hits of acid before you can't walk anymore," he says. Bentley's recruiter ignored his criminal record and asked him if he had a high school diploma. Bentley only had a GED. "The guy was like, 'No problem -- I got you a program,' " he says. The next day, the recruiter drove Bentley to a nearby Christian high school, where he was promptly asked for twenty dollars and then given a test. "And a Bible," he adds. It was an "open-book" test. "I passed it, and they took my GED and gave me a high school diploma." He grins. "Hey, the Army hooks you up."

- much more . . .

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7047692?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single1

for absolutely no fucking reason...and who can we blame?

BUSH!

fucker.

20 bucks..yep. But, the military will take you with a GED, won't they? I know they won't (or wouldn't a few years ago) take people without a GED or diploma, but I think now they accept the GED. Maybe Bentley enlisted before the change? Sad story.
peace