I hate Alec Baldwin.

WTF.

I am writing this to express disgust with the media. The media and hollywood types are so stupid they don't even see when they are doing they're own cause a dis-service.

A brave girl, Resha Kane, enlisted in the military and passed basic. For some reason, the New York Times decided to do a Page 1 story on the sendoff she received "when she was sent to Iraq." Noting that she just turned 18 and figuring , as I am wont to do, that she hadn't yet finished her training to be considered able to be sent overseas, I dug a little deeper. Sure enough the NYT was making a big deal about an 18 year old soldier being sent to her training base in the states to PREPARE for going to Iraq.

And knowing what I do about the military, there is a better than average possibility that she currently has NO IDEA where she will be sent anyway.

So, where was the NYT when my two kids were sent to their training bases?

But I digress.

Alec Baldwin read the NYT story and was moved to help the girl out, so now he's volunteered to add onto the $37,000 Gi Bill the girl so she can complete her education.

Isn't that precious.

My biggest beef with all of the coverage came when I read this paraphrased quote from the girl, "Kane, a chemical operations specialist in the Army, said she wants to be a biochemist but is not sure what university she wants to attend once she leaves the military in three years."

GOD DAMN IT.

I can't believe that even now we still have idiots like this thinking that the military is just a ticket to a free education. Don't you dorks realize that this is serious shit and you will probably have to kill people and maybe be killed yourself in this endeavor? I'm all for recruitment and firmly stand behind our military and their mission, (if not necessarily the overall play-calling from the top.) but these kids need to be realistic. The military doesn't give a shit about your future education. They expect you to do as you're told and hope you will live to talk about it so they won't have to recruit your replacement. If that attitude seems cold and calculated, so be it. There should be no room for touchy-feely bullshit in the military.

Now, with Mr. Baldwin seeming to say that paying for a college education is a good reason to join the military, (beyond the fact that we are sending too many people to college these days anyway), he is encouraging more naive kiddies to treat recruitment as a college fund. Given his views of this administration, I'm surprised if he was intending to be a recruitment tool.

I had hoped that the current conflict would have weeded out the less gung-ho of the enlistees, but it would seem I set my expectations too high.