Let me tell you about one of America's young people, none of whom i am disappointed in.
Jesus is now 23, i guess. He is married and expecting a child. He is married to his high school sweetheart. He grew up in one of the most violent and gang-ridden neighborhoods in Northern California. He was a drug dealer, a fairly successful one for his age. He decided that he wasn't going to survive in that life, and he didn't want to die. He loved his girlfriend (now his wife), and didn't want her to lose him. So he enlisted. He was sent to Iraq. While he was there, he completed an online undergraduate degree from a respected university. He saved all the college money that the military owed him and paid for it himself. He also saved from his pay and bonuses. He is home and ready to enter a Master's Program with enough savings to pay for it without dipping into his military college money, which is 55K. He can pass that money on to his child, which is his plan.
The rest of the story is the five stars Jesus has tatooed in his arm. They represent the five people he had to kill to stay alive in Iraq. Two of them are children. Jesus looks at those stars every day and lives with the deaths on his soul -- his words. So he got out of a life of crime and poverty. The military helped him, but look at the price he had to pay. He is OK. He is healthy and bright and driven. And he does not deny what he did. He lives with it. He is a good human being. These are our youth. These are the people who represent us overseas. i, for one, am extremely proud of them.
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