A reader:

“Hey Derb—There are probably a large number of Americans who find themselves in need of new challenges and careers at mid-life. And as the mission of the services becomes more and more holistic (don’t just defeat the enemy but put him back on his feet after you have done so) their disparate experiences in the work world will be directly applicable to the expanded mission of the US Army. To the lib media, however, the whole thing is just the desperation of the Bush administration trying to fills the ranks to fight an unpopular war.”

[Derb] There are questions of military mission philosophy to be addressed. While there are certainly lots of useful things that fortysomething old creakers might contribute to a military endeavor, the notion that every person serving is a soldier who can fight if necessary might have to be dropped or modified. (Possibly it already has been–I’m out of touch.) I don’t know how it is over here, but the British Army proverb is that a man loses his “bottle” [ i.e. raw physical courage] after age 35 and so isn’t much use in combat.