Army Training, Sir!

This is why the Defense Department, and the US Army especially, is the most successful government institution in the US.

Facing a decreasing pool of eligible recruits, the Army has started a learning program for dropouts to get up to speed before going to basic training.

Hey, all you crabby leftists with smug bumper stickers wishing the DoD would have to hold bake sales to purchase their weapons take note: This is America's war machine picking up the education system's slack. Yeah, our teachers union dominated schools are failing, but don't worry, as usual, the Army's got our backs.

What other government institution has educated more people, giving them real skills and real-life experience? Has any other government department turned out more responsible, independent citizens?

This is how you stamp out poverty: by giving people a chance to lift themselves up by their bootstraps and earning their place in society. No handouts, no guarantees, just a shot at the pursuit of happiness.

And look at what the US Army is doing overseas. Twenty-something company grade officers are acting as mayor and sheriff in towns they never heard of 5 years ago. Enlisted medics are giving hope to the hopeless. Teenage Privates and Corporals are America's goodwill ambassadors. Majors, Colonels and Generals are nurturing government institutions in foreign lands.

Our victory in Iraq belongs to the US Army, Marines, Special Forces, with Navy Corpsmen and the US Air Force sharing the credit. President Bush is not responsible for Iraq success; US Army grit and determination is. They simply refuse to lose, and they never stop learning and adapting. They were given an impossible mission that our government did not prepare them for, but they gutted it out and gave us all a lesson in bravery and perseverance.

If only the rest of the federal government could serve the nation like the Defense Department and the US Army has.

Hooah!