Grandma, 41, Among Army's Older Recruits

[RamboLiberal]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060819/D8JJH3080.html

Margie Black had wanted to enter the military as a teenager, but having her first child at 19 put off her ambitions. So when she learned the Army raised its enlistment age, Black, now a 41-year-old grandmother from West Columbia, Texas, didn't hesitate to join. The decision took "about 30 seconds," she said.

On Friday, Pvt. Black worked on her marksmanship skills here, while her 21-year-old daughter was at Army basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

"I'm taking it one day at a time," Black said. "If I do that, I can handle it."

Older soldiers like her are showing up more often at Army training bases across the country since Congress gave the service approval earlier this year to raise its enlistee age limit, which had been 35, to just under 42 years.


Margie Black


One of the Army's oldest recruits, Russell Dilling,42, right, greets his 19-year-old son Robert,


Pfc. Kimbery Brown,37, left, and her 18-year-old son Pfc. Dereck Noe, right, of Boone NC., embrace...

[niyad]

1. one would think that age would give them enough sense NOT to enlist

for bush's illegal, unjust and immoral war.

[thereismore]

2. Margie looks young for 41. nt

[PinkTiger]

3. Darwinian...

Dontcha think?
Of course, I have to admit, that when I was 18 I enlisted in the Army, and that was during Vietnam.
But I was a woman, and not a nurse, and had no plans to see any action. Today, this is totally different.
Of course, I should have been thrilled to go "in country." Just like so many of these poor people, I had no idea about war's horrors.