A lady in town shares the continuing saga of her daughter, who's in the Army. They don't have a lot of money, these folks, and high school is the most formal education this family has. Her daughter enlisted for some job training and some income to go with it.

After her enlistment was up, she wanted out very badly. She came home on leave and started looking for work. The Army offered her a reenlistment bonus she couldn't resist. So, after three months of hearing about Daughter coming home, we heard she reenlisted and was being sent abroad again.

She has a 3-year-old, who's currently staying with Grandma. The long-distance relationship aspect of Daughter's first tour undermined her marriage. The reenlistment was the proverbial last straw. So, of course, now she needs the money even more.

I've met this lady's daughter. She's a fine young woman, smart and brave. She loves her country. But I can tell you this: she went the first time not out of pure patriotism or because she always wanted to be a soldier, but because she saw it as a career move. She went back for the money. This is not the citizen-soldier model that we usually think of. This is a legionary.

But of course this is just one story. To get a true picture, we would have to interview everyone.