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Letters to the Editor
Soldiers choose to fight and will never be forgotten

After reading Monique Bhimani’s article on our soldiers in Iraq being too young to fight, I instantly thought of my 19-year-old cousin who’s out there fighting for our country.

You’re right, 19 is too young to die, but to call him a baby is pure ignorance. He votes and pays his own bills, which is more than I can say for the majority of the students at this school. If my cousin died tomorrow, I will never believe that he died in vain, and I know that he will not be forgotten.

True, he may not have a wife or child or even a brother or sister, but he is a son, grandson, nephew and cousin. Do you honestly think that only a direct descendent would remember why he died?

As his cousin, I’d remember that he was willing to fight and die for everything that we have in this country.

Never has it crossed my mind that all the soldiers on the front line are seasoned veterans. In fact, I’ve always realized that our typical soldier is under 30 and more likely under 25. Even 19 is older than the majority of soldiers who have fought in previous wars for this country. And according to the Brookings Institution, there are presently over 300,000 children under the age of 18, both male and female, forced to fight in approximately 75 percent of the world’s conflicts.

At least in America our soldiers have a choice whether or not to join the military. Therefore, in comparison to the rest of the world, our soldiers aren’t “babies,” and if you think they are, then so are you and why should your words have any validation?

—Dana Szucs, senior graphic design major