Why not require readings, like WHEN JOHNNY GOT HIS GONE or the biographical BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY by Ron Kovic?
In other words, parents across America and on DOD bases around the globe need to demand a more balanced view of war in school than they are receiving now-from both social studies, history, and English courses.
ANOTHER AREA AMERICANS NEED TO EDUCATE BETTER IN
Obviously, another area where both parents and youth need to be educated is in the political economics of war.
The area of focus in political economy should be on families and the real costs to family and societies posed annually by the USAs dependence on the intelligence & defense industries in the USA--as well as posed by decisions made by & in life in America's DOD (Department of Defense).
There are now millions or even tens of millions of Americans who are rather directly dependent on the U.S. military- or intelligence communities for jobs for them--and salaries for their families.
There are even multi-generational military families across the continent (and stationed around the world), such as was the case for presidential candidate, John McCain, and his father's family. (This was also certainly true for Jim Morrison, a contemporary of young John McCain, and who was also the son of an admiral.)
This means that many Americans have grown up in a military muscle flapping world all their lives and think relatively little of it-until a loved one comes home in a box, severely traumatized, or is dismembered in war.
KNOWING SUCH MILITARY DEPENDENT FAMILIES
Many of you know the legacy of such military families . The image of them was tragically (and comically) portrayed by the Lt. Dan figure in the film, FORREST GUMP.
I know fairly well one such multigenerational military family who finally persuaded their son into finally signing up for a military career in the midst of 1990s. Let me explain, 8 years earlier that son had left the military family's base home in Georgia at 18 and had rebelled against signing up for the Army (and following the path of his parents),
They were able to do this within a year after the 1991 Gulf War because of the 1990-1992 recession. They also succeeded in persuading their rebellious son to join because of the cultural and educational contexts within which many Americans have been cocooned or embedded since WWII.
However, now with nearly 96 percent of those victims of war coming home alive from major theater hospitals in war zones this 2008, America's traditional military parents (and non-military families) of brave- and dependent- American soldiers stationed around the globe need to ponder the possibility that they will one day have to take care of their kids and their loved ones for years.
Let's count the costs Americans!
What kind of future do we want for ourselves and children?
The AARP article ends with a touching tale and photo of Marine Sergeant Shurvon Phillip and his mother, Gail Ulerie, 48. The author, Yeoman reveals, "Before he was injured in Al Anbar, Iraq, Marine Sergeant Shurvon Phillip told his mother, Gail Ulerie, 48, not to worry about his safety. 'Everything is gonna be all right, Ma,' he told her. 'I'm reading my Psalms.
