We May End Up With “An Army of One”

The U.S. Army is going all out with TV ads: “U.S. Army. Help Them Find Their Strength.”

Then there’s the spiffy Web site that features drum beat audio that I swear mimics the human heartbeat.

But, if I had a high school grad thinking about the military, I know what I’d suggest. From The Seattle Weekly:

The Seattle Police Department is on a hiring spree, offering some of the best pay a high-school graduate can get. New recruits earn $42,756 a year, plus health benefits considered the best of all city agencies. That’s before newbies graduate from the police academy. Quick and steady raises keep coming so that a six-and-a-half-year veteran of the force makes $65,412.

Compare that with another vocation open to high-school graduates: military service. An entry-level Army soldier earns $14,321 a year, although that doesn’t account for the free room and board. A sergeant with six years experience makes $25,567, exclusive of room and board. No wonder the Army is having trouble meeting recruiting targets.

Dare I mention that Seattle offers a more temperate climate than Fallujah and Mosul? And that there are no landmines (except for the dog poo around Green Lake) or suicide bombers (except the Mariners)?