.A SOLDIER.

G.I. Joe was always an acceptable partner for Barbie when Ken was on a business trip to Malibu. Small children have imaginations that breathe hope into their future. Until entering a structured school regimen, children are allowed to be naïve, unadulterated, and adventurous. The innocence of children’s dreams of the future picture a soldier dresses in fatigues with stiff moving limbs and painted on hair. Small plastic army figures sleep in toy boxes across America.

The market on enlisting troops canvases college campuses, high school cafeterias and popular television stations such as MTV. The promise of a better life as a result of better training and education, overshadows the threat of war and the long term commitment to a government sanctioned organization. The GI Bill otherwise known as The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 funds undergraduate, graduate, vocational or occupational education for those enlisted in The United States Military. After discharged from active duty, a soldier has ten years to utilize their G.I. Bill. Education is expensive, and a free one is appealing. Is a free education worth the cost of your life, or more importantly, the cost of your children’s life?

Perhaps the best market for enlisting young and eager future soldiers is in Middle America. Incomes are lower than those on the Coasts, and the thought of financing a move out of a small town comfort zone is daunting. The idea of getting to see the world is glamorous and the government picking up the tab along the way is tempting. The original GI Bill was imposed to democratize the “American Dream” that many lower to middle class white America’s sought after. The military, like colleges and universities has become a melting pot of American mutts; immigrants and native born alike.