Americans down on America?

Yours is a very hopeful observation. Reminds me the Helen Keller quote.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

There is a law on the books that grants citizenship for service.

Not sure if that link works, It is Reagan's 1984 "It's Morning In America" re-ellection ad. He was a very inspirational leader.

It worked just fine. Thank you for sharing.

I called you out privately. BOTH of you. Argue the points! State the facts and your opinions of those facts. Yes he stepped out first, weather you were following him or not. But your response to his is the start of a personal bickering match that this site is not meant for. This forum allows Commissioned, Enlisted, and Veterans from all branches communicate and share ideas and experiences. The kind of thing that starts from making it personal is exactly what can destroy this forum. I personally don't want to see that happen. If you can't respect the only way to do that privately was in a text limited friend request instead of airing it publicly think of potentially how many people that out rank you both may have read your PERSONAL REMARKS DIRECTED AT EACH OTHER. Both of you should then ask yourselves if you would have engaged each other that way in formation, both of you leaders, where your subordinates could observe or handled it privately. I fault him for his first statement, I fault you for having the poor judgment to follow his bad example. As for the friend request, my best friends are my toughest critics, we keep each other on point. If you want someone who will always agree with you and not call you out on a oh $&:t move please deny my request. If you want a strait shooter accept it and maybe on day we can share a pitcher over some war stories.

CPL Sannizzaro - the fault was mine. I made a snide comment that initiated the response.

CPL Sannizzaro, straight shooters are the most desirable but you are not that. If you were then you would have read the thread in its entirety and not presumed something. As MAJ Dews states above, HE engaged first by assuming something not in question. I called him out on it. BTW, I humbly accept his apology even though the above comment is not directed at me. Yes, I can appreciate someone being honest. If I make a mistake then intelligently point it out to me without insults, name-calling and emotional verbage. I don't care if it's in public or not since I don't have anything to hide. Do you? I responded accordingly to his public accusation. I did so without emotion and I did so properly using facts and reasonable questions. At NO time was I being disrespectful towards him or others nor did I lose my temper and start cursing him out, which would be very unprofessional of me not to mention we are BOTH still serving. Yes, I will admit I was a bit perturbed and frustrated at first but that is one reason why I like forums such as this because it allows me to step back and think about my response in a cool rational manner instead of just jumping right in like a hothead. Again, I DON'T do that. There are several people on this site, including my best friend, who can attest to that.

As far as putting my response in public, there is a huge difference between stating things HERE and stating things, as you said, in formation or in the work environment. See if you can figure it out. Again, as I stated above, I have NEVER disrespected MAJ Dews nor any other person. I may use strong and intelligent language but I will never do so in a disrespectful manner especially with those who are still active and are senior to me.

I did deny your friend request not because I don't appreciate different thoughts but because you are not honest, as I have explained above. I am friends with many people who DON'T think exactly like me which is great. I DON'T want everyone to think like me but I would like for people to be honest, rational and understand objectivity. My best friend and I agree on a great deal many things but we also disagree on many others. He guides me with things I may not understand as I guide him with things he may not understand but we are honest with each other without relying on emotionality.

Take it as you will. Up to you.

SSG Redondo - the proper response to my comment was nothing. I admitted my part, you now need to stand down and collect. I appreciate this is an online forum, but we still abide by protocol. I've admitted my part, so end it.

Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damns lies, and statistics." I suspect quality of life is not always synonymous with quantity of life. Perhaps there are categories that went unmeasured that would markedly shift our standing in those statistics. I assure you I am not polly anna here, but my concern is the PERCEPTION the dream is dying.

I get that, but when the stats back up the perception, often you find truth. It has become hard and hard to exceed our parents. The recession, rising costs in education, difficulty finding quality & enjoyable employment...all those things alter perception & views of reality.
If I chose to only see the world based on my place in, America is wonderful, but if I allow myself to see beyond my bubble, my perception also changes, and the picture becomes less rosy. When people feel safe, secure, fed (maslow's hierarchy) and become happy or have reached their goals and are content, perception changes.

I agree with you on the cost of education. The debt burden is shackling Americans and we will continue to see importation of foreign grads with lower cost degrees and loss of jobs.