Teens see military as highest calling

[thedrifter]

Teens see military as highest calling
By Susan Tuz
THE NEWS-TIMES

RIDGEFIELD — Gabriel Galanski is disheartened that more students from Ridgefield High School aren't considering a career in the military.

Galanski, 17, was recently nominated to attend the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He feels that having come from a "privileged" community, he has the responsibility of serving his country — sort of a payback for the years of education he's received in Ridgefield.

"It's predictable that students here aren't considering it, but disheartening," Galanski said. "This is a top-notch school. People from here will be applying to top colleges with plans to make as much money one day as their parents do. They don't consider joining the military and serving their country."

Paul Cerone, 18 and also a senior at Ridgefield High, joins Galanski in his desire to serve his country. He has been nominated to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Cerone said he finds he often has to defend that decision to his peers.

"It's hard, especially when your friends are asking 'Why do you want to go there (Iraq) and die?'" Cerone said.

"They ask, 'Why do you want to support baby killers?'" Galanski added. "They don't try to understand why this is a vital process for our country. We're sheltered here in peace but that's not the fact for other countries. It's a reality that we have to deal with — there are people who want to harm us. That's a fact of life that isn't going to go away."

Both Galanski and Cerone say that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, demonstrated that this country needs "strong leaders," and that is part of their desire to attend officer training schools.


Galanski has always wanted a military career. He is keeping his options open, but thinks that training in aviation may be the course he follows at Annapolis, if accepted. He sees a career in the Marines as a very real possibility.

Cerone decided on West Point when he was recruited for the academy's lacrosse team and spent time at West Point in the spring. Since that time, all other colleges that Cerone has visited were "eclipsed" by West Point and the possibilities of a West Point education and training.

"My uncle was in the ROTC at Rensselaer University and served in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was in Vietnam. I want to be an engineer also," Cerone said.

Galanski was sold on Annapolis after attending a summer seminar there, where he experienced light military training. He said he met people there who impressed him.

"They are among the best people I've met in my life," Galanski said. "The midshipmen (the students) were outstanding and the officers who interviewed me were a privilege to meet."

Galanski and Cerone have a nerve-wracking wait ahead of them to find out if they will get into the academies. Even after being nominated by U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, they won't know until April if they have been accepted to the schools.

"I'm set that I'm going to West Point," Cerone said. "Even if I didn't get accepted this round and wound up going to another college, I'd go to that school and apply for a transfer to West Point."

"They want to make sure you're morally, mentally and physically capable," Galanski said. "They want you to be of good moral character. You have to show you have integrity and demonstrate leadership skills. They want you to have the right stuff, to use that adage."

Contact Susan Tuz

at stuz@newstimes.com

or at (203) 731-3352.

Ellie

[BOOGIEMAN44]

"It's hard, especially when your friends are asking 'Why do you want to go there (Iraq) and die?'" Cerone said.

"They ask, 'Why do you want to support baby killers?'" Galanski added. "They don't try to understand

I AM SO PROUD TO HAVE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN IN THIS CROUNTY WHO STAND UP AND DEFEND THERE DECISION TO JOIN THE MILITARY, WAR IS NOT EASY, WAR IS NOT SOMETHING ANY ONE WANTS TO DO, BUT SOMEONE STILL HAS TO KNOW HOW TO WAGE IT AND KICK AZZ AS THEY GO, SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE SURE THOSE SNIVELING LITTLE ****S, WHO MAKE STATEMENTS LIKE THIS, STILL HAVE THE FREEDOM TO MAKE STATEMENTS LIKE THIS.

[bigolbronco83]

WELL, SOME KIDS LOOK AT THE SERVICE AND SAY "**** THAT, I WANT TO GO DO SOMTHIN BETTER WITH MY LIFE INSTEAD OF BE TOLD WHAT TO DO 24/7." bUT SEE THOSE THAT DO JOIN JUST DO IT TO BECAUSE THEY WANT TO SERVE THERE COUNTRY. BUT SOME DO IT BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO WHERE ELS TO GO.

[LittleDevilDog]

I know that I'm going to do it to serve my country, and become a brother of the Corps. Since I'm only 14, I have a good 2 years before I can get into the DEP, and then about 3-4 years before I'd even goto 'boot' so it leaves me alot of time to get ready.

I know that in my own school, whenever I talk about the Marine Corps, MOST of the kids laugh have the same opinions as the kid stated in the article above. If it was up to me, I think everyone who qualified should atleast serve a couple years to be grateful for what they have.. but hey, I don't think that's ever going to happen.

Always adds to the motivation when I meet a kid who has the same aspirations as myself or shows the due respect to the Military for what they do every single day for them, especially now in Iraq.

[lovdog]

LittleDevilDog:
Seems you are wise beyond your years already at the ripe old age of 14, and I know what you say is truthful about your classmates feeling the way they do about the military in general. I think alot of the problem is the lack of respect that alot of young people have nowadays - lack of respect for others, their parents, siblings and any authority figure in general. Its kind of sad in alot of ways that this is what the world is turning into - a smorgesborg of disenchantment for god, country and mom's apple pie!! Its hard for the young people to stay focused in their lives with all the bad things that are happening all over the world. Our leaders in Congress and State and Local Government representatives seem to lie, cheat and steal, so they set a bad example, make lots of money doing things they shouldn't do so the young feel that its okay to follow in their footsteps. You see drug dealers running around in a new Mercedes Benz and next thing you know - there are 100 or so in the same neighborhood trying to emulate the "good life", and they don't care who they hurt getting to the "top"!! No one wants to make any commitment or accept responsibility anymore for anything - including marriage, children or mistakes that they make. When I was growing up your handshake was your "bond" - you never went back on your word no matter what!! Now you need a lawyer for everything!
Even our military has its share of problems to deal with today. I don't know if it was any different in any other time in the past since this country was formed - the Revolutionary War - you stood toe to toe with the enemy - the ones that had the most standing after a few volleys - they were usually the winner, Civil War was the same scenario. WWI and WWII at least they started to get some sense about hiding behind something to gain cover!! If you look at our military history you will be amazed at how many men lost their lives because some officer or squad leader was not smart enough to keep his men out of "harm's way"! That why its so important for the younger generations like yourself to make the military better for all of us and hopefully we won't have to fight these god awful wars every 20 years or so.
If you watch the threads from the Drifter every once in awhile she'll mention all of the persons that were lost during some of the wars we fought. I mean, millions and millions of people - gone in a heartbeat!! And alot are innocent persons caught in the crossfire!! Most people in this world just want to live in peace, raise their families, find a good job, and have a nice place to live & food on the table. But there is always some Idiot that just can't leave well enough alone - thats where our military steps in!! If some power hungry country thought they had a chance, they'd take over the U.S. too. Thats why we have to stay strong - have good conviction about our defense of this country. If we didn't have a strong military, how long would it take for the USA to fall? Someone has to step up and defend our freedoms - and fortunately you and others like you will have to step up and defend those who oppose your every thought of becoming a Marine and putting your life on the line - for even the cowards will be hiding behind you expecting you to protect them and their loved ones. Even this war in Iraq now has the country divided morally and politically. Some say get out, some said it was to stop the WMD, others say it was for oil, others say its to take out a dictator, some say its to stop the terrorist aggression and at times you don't know who to believe. The only thing that makes any sense to me on the war is something that our President said a long time ago - "What we are doing in Iraq - is God's Gift to Humanity"!! We fight wars now so maybe when your son is 14, maybe wars will be fought on a chess board instead of having death and destruction the unfortunate outcome. Maybe your generation will be the one to make the difference in the world for the good of mankind - to make it a safe place for everyone to live a peaceful life! I wish you well my friend. SF

[LittleDevilDog]

lovdog,

Thank you, you have no idea how much that post meant to me. I appreciate it. My life is for my country. As long as I'm alive, I'll defend this great country, to the death.

"Welcome Home, Marine!" Thank you for your service. *Salute*

[lovdog]

LittelDevilDog:
One thing I forgot to mention - and you can pass this along to the intelligencia of the student body that dislike anything the military stands for.
I believe it was in the 80's that we came close to a nuclear war, I don't know if you were aware of this? Anyway I believe it was Sweden that sent up a rocket for exploration purposes as I understand. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell the Russians that this was just a standard test firing, thats all. The Russians thought this was the USA firing a "first strike"! They came within 2 minutes of pushing their red button before giving the orders to stand down -pretty scary, isn't it? Twenty years ago there were enough nuclear arms in the world to distroy it completely 26,000 times!! Today, I think only God knows what the ratio is. When Ronald Reagan was in office he tried to put together the "Star Wars" program. This was a series of satellites that would be put in orbit and fitted with lazer beams that could destroy nuclear devices just leaving the ground of the enemy. Russia had at one time contemplated - that if the USA got this program in place, that they wouldn't have a chance to retaliate if the USA started a war with them. They considered even then to cause a first strike before the US had time to complete the systems. Eventually the US scrapped the program and its probably a good thing that they did.
The nuclear bombs that we dropped in Japan in WWII are like a firecracker compared to what is in our arsenal right now, and those bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed everything for a 15 mile radius. Both wars of WWII were started by initially one person - Japan (their Emperor) and Germany (Adolph Hitler) - so all it takes sometimes is one person and 50 million people suffer their aspirations of world domination.
Food for thought, thats all. Why do we need a military and strong defense?
To protect the ones that can't (or won't) protect themselves - pretty simple concept!
Later.

[LittleDevilDog]

lovdog,

No, I was not aware how close it was to that. Very interesting.

Then again, if I knew everything that our government and other governments have, I'd probably wet myself.

See you around. Take care. BTW, shoot me an email, JonathanWGill@gmail.com . You have any messengers like AIM, MSN, etc?

[allthatIcanb3]

Totally respect what everyone posted. I absolutely have the upmost respect for Marines and the other branches as well. I should soon hope to be a Marine, but even at the age of 18 I am not afraid to tell anyone that I am a little nervous of what is to come!

[sempercliff]

So who's going to protect the world from a country which has basically one person in charge who started an unjust war? Not us - because we are that country. Before you already start tearing me to...

[SmokeyBandit]

Well I know I don't have any of the authority you do sempercliff to talk about the war, but I would like to thank you for your service. The way I see it, what about 20-30 years from now? History has shown that evil unites. It's almost a guarantee that Iraq would have gotten together with Al-Queda. Look at Mussolini and Hitler. Al-Queda was getting friendly with Palistinean terror groups which were allies of Saddam. Recognized allies...

Perhaps the President went into Iraq too fast, but in the long run, I think it will be worth it. Blah, what do I know? I just read alot of different books on this stuff...

Just a little something else I just heard on the radio from a military advisor to Saddam, he said the famous WMD's went to Syria. Who knows....

[sempercliff]

I don't know about the WMD's. That horse has been beaten pretty hard so I'll leave it alone, except to say that at least some of the 'intelligence' about what Iraq was doing was intentionally misrepresented. I still think it highly unlikely that Al Qaeda and Saddam would have ever worked together. Saddan was way too secular for Osama's tastes. They had communicated with each other before, but it never led to anything because of Saddam's blatent secularism.

[sempercliff]

On another note, please let me be clear that I don't mean anyone here disresepect. I very much appreciate and respect you for your desire to serve your country. Thank you for that. I just hope we have better leadership in place by the time you're in the fleet.

[NYcityborn]

I want to do the same thing,serve my country,but I always have someone put me down,but I ignore them,because there the ones that dont know what these Warriors are going throught.

[lovdog]

Sempercliff: Thanks for the post and we do appreciate hearing from the Marines that "have been there, done that", and you definitely deserve the right to feel and say whats on your mind and this is a good place to start.
I don't know of too many at this site that can say for sure that the WMD was the primary reason for going into Iraq. The weapons inspectors have been going thru Iraq since 1991 - (UN Sanctions) and found little evidence to prove that Sadaam has the nuclear and chemical arsenals. I wish I was a fly on the wall when the Bushes (Sr and Jr) sat down together and discussed the Iraq invasion and what were the "real issues" to risk American and Iraqi lives for this purpose?? One thing for sure, you know that Sadaam had and used chemical weapons - even on his own people the Kurds and on the war with Iran. As for nuclear?? Well, people can have a nuclear program but you still have to have a way to deliver the devices - jet, rocket, etc. Now, was the real problem caused by our allegiance with Israel - that they were perhaps the future target by Iraq? And we were just heading Iraq off at the pass before this could happen? I mean, there is so much going on nowadays, and we have our nose in everything imaginable. We are stepping on toes, strutting our stuff, telling every country what they can and what they can't do - simply put - poking the hornet's nest but getting the African Killer Bees instead!! Our foreign policy thru the years hasn't been one that we can be proud of - the US has backed some pretty shady people in the past!! The Shah of Iran was one - no wonder the Iranians are ****ed at us!! Battista in Cuba was another. Panama - was Noriega. Thats ok, we just said sorry - better luck next time!! Most of these people we backed just looted their countries, turned their back on their people and some even hid in the US after they were thrown out!! Even Vietman - Thieu got out when his country fell to the north with supposedly 8 million dollars - I guess thats all he could muster up in cash - he probably had the rest in good ol' USA "Blue Chip" Stocks.
The Iraq question will probably end up like Viet Nam did - declassified information that will be released 25 years after this conflict is over.
(i want to continue this later, my son-in law wants to use my computer for a bit)

[lovdog]

(cont.)
The US even backed Bin Laden at one time when the Afghan people were invaded by the Russians and used the US and our technology (like Stinger Missles) to defeat the Russians from their occupancy of Afghanistan. In answer to your question about the USA having one person start this war - well, I agree President Bush certainly provided the catalist, but our Congress voted on this issue to go to war and had majority approval!! Because we live in a Democracy - this is the way it is and should be done! But some of the ones that voted on going to war, now have a change of mind and heart. Its easy to have "hind sight" once the major battle is over and policing action is underway - thats the trouble with most politicians - you can never tell whether they are being truthful or they have some political agenda. After 9-11, we went after Bin Laden and the Taliban. We haven't got him yet, but the Taliban - we really put a hurtin' on them big time, so at least we got a little payback for the death they caused in the US. The action in Afghanistan I believe in eveyones mind was justified. As for going into Iraq when we did - maybe there are other reasons that our government does not want you to know that they thought warranted an invasion at the time? Was the 9-11 Commission told all of the facts? If anything was in the interests of National Security, maybe it wasn't? Won't be the first time information was withheld from public scrutiny.
I finally got a chance to hear John Murtha tell his side of the story on Face the Nation and I'm glad he finally did. He took alot of flak in the last month or so because of the stand he took, but alot of what he had to say made sense. He looked at Iraq from a military standpoint. He did visit Iraq and did get to talk to the troops and alot of the Commanders and still does. Points he made were:
1. We do not have the troop strength to police all of Iraq at this point, and we are spread too thin.
2. Although our troops have done an excellent job in cleansing the country of insurgents, they are still ever present and are getting smarter as time progresses.
3. The insurgents are still coming across the borders because its too vast of an area to patrol with limited resources.
4. Syria, Iran and others still back the insurgents against the Americans and will do what is necessary to expel the Americans in any way they can.
5. Problems are compounded for our Military because now we have three warring factions within Iraq's borders that are fighting among one another for power. Plus the fact that there are some that still harbor ill feelings for other parties when Sadaam was in power.
6. The main targets of the insurgency (whether by foreign fighters or Iraqui) are the Americans - alot of them just hate us for what we stand for.
7. The insurgents are setting back, playing a waiting game with the US forces - they have time on their side and can strike where and when it suits them!
8. Alot of the injuries and deaths are being caused by IED's and booby traps that can be set off by remote locations miles away - even by something as simple as a cell phone. They can pick the target as they please, and alot of these targets are the support units that do not have the "battle hardened" nor the armor to protect them properly. The insurgents strike the weakest link in the chain.
9. Murtha suggests that we just pull our troops back and let the Iraq people get their government going. We need to force them to take their own stand! At least the insurgents won't have the US occupation to use as a reason for the bloodshed. Will we end up with an ally after its over - only the future can tell. Whether this is the right thing to do - who knows!! The wars that we fought prior have some of the same problems that we now face. Korea, Viet Nam, Bosnia, Somalia, Kuwait - alot of good men (and women) lost their lives and the countless wounded and battle scarred are the result. We as military people took an oath to defend our country - right or wrong - against all agressors. You, and others like you will follow orders, carry them out to the best of your ability just like others did before you. We all had our doubts about being at war and the reasons why we were involved and you are no different. Just know that most of us here sympathize with your plight, alot of us have sons & daughters, some fathers and mothers fightng in this war also. We know that what you and others do is not easy, its tough being a Marine in a war that some back here say is unjust and unnecessary. I know how you feel because I have "been there and done that" too - maybe a different time and different place - but just as mixed up believe me. You just keep the faith as much as you can, tell the others still over there to take care of one another and remember - when this is all over - you can hold your head up high, salute your fallen comrades, say a prayer, and know that you did your duty as was expected of the Marine that you are. SF