Recruiting in high schools

Last night, a local news show broadcast a segment on the Marines' recruiting effort at a San Jose high school. It was an upbeat segment, showing the popular Marine recruiter, with a bar besides him, urging eager students to show how many pull-ups they could do. He knew many of the students by name. One of the students, a Vietnamese-American, said that although he had a 4.0 GPA, he wanted to join the Marines and go to Iraq to pay back the debt he felt his family owed to our country.

These are very noble sentiments, and in the post-election era we live in, where much emphasis was placed on one's military service during the Vietnam war, who can object to this recruiting effort? But it bothers me, maybe because I feel these kids are too young to make an informed decision, or maybe because the war itself seems like a big mistake. How many of our young are we to sacrifice for this mistaken adventure? I am not one to urge an immediate pull-out, but I still wonder how many lives will be lost and destroyed for this cause -- Americans, Iraqis and others of various nationalities.