Reply #48: OK I stand corrected

[Megawatt]

He was Korean raised by white parents if the picture I saw of them in the paper is accurate. But whenever the white people don't serve meme comes up it's soon replaced by "well only the poor serve" which happened later in the thread. Finally the meme emerges that the only people serving are those too poor to go to college. Which really does a disservice to service people by presuming their motives with no facts in evidence. It doesn't explain Tillman, it doesn't explain my college graduated cousin who joined as an enlisted man after 9/11, it doesn't explain Brad.

You are somewhat correct that Calif has an inflated housing market but I was remiss in estimating houses in El Dorado Hills at 500K, most probably they are closer to 600K to 1M.

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/InterimSearch.asp?typ=1%2C+2%2C+3%2C+4%2C+5%2C+6%2C+7&mxprice=99999999&mlsttl=&mnbath=0&frm=bymap&pgnum=1&st=CA&mls=xmls&lnksrc=&mnbed=0&js=on&ct=El+Dorado+Hills&zp=&mnprice=500000&poe=realtor&x=13&y=4&areaid=2475

Realtor.com search shows 300 for sale houses in El Dorado Hills - 124 priced between 0 and 500K , 176 priced over 500K

Certainly it is doubtful that people living there can't afford the $943.50 per semester fees that Cal State University of Sacramento was charging in 2001 when Brad would have been deciding to go or not:

http://aaweb.csus.edu/catalog/current/First%20100%20Pages/FEES.asp

Legal residents of California are not charged tuition; however, nonresident and foreign-visa students are required to pay nonresident tuition in addition to fees charged to all students. Fees for auditors are the same as for those receiving credit for a course. Extension and/or Summer Session students, resident or otherwise, pay tuition appropriate to the course taken.

Furthermore the provided link speaks of a note he left his parents which gives an insight into his motivation:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/bsshuder.htm

Bugarin mentioned a quote from Shuder that his parents had discovered following their son's death. It is a quote that sums up everything about Shuder's service and leaves his family with the knowledge that he did not die in vain.

"I joined because it was my dream," Shuder wrote. "I wanted to protect my loved ones. I wanted to protect the United States."

He signed up for a second tour, even though he said he had premonitions of not coming back from the Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

Sorry to be a stickler - I just think what passes for common knowledge about who is in the service and why is not accurate, is demeaning, and doesn't lead us to any greater understanding.