Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror. In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years.
What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of burdens our military is bearing. I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won’t. That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the following: “David, you’re a smart guy. She was crying because she knew how hard I’d worked to get in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry officer. She wasn’t crying because it had been her dream for me to go there. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had opened up my admission letter. My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me to get out of class. I remember the day I found out I got into West Point. Some brief but very poignant (and appropriate) remarks from Gen David
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