GI Mom: 41-Year-Old Mother Joins US Army

Believe it or not, the U.S. Army is currently above its year-to-date recruiting goals (51,615 through June), although with a final target of 80,000, it's going to be a tall order to meet our annual mission-- an average of about 9,500 recruits a month for each of the last three months of this Fiscal Year. Critics have been quick to point out that the recruiting numbers are "cooked"-- and that we've only gotten what we've got because we've "lowered the standard"-- generally pointing to the reduced requirements for high school diplomas over general equivalency, and the fact that we've raised the maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42. I understand why they make these points, but I disagree with their logic-- I've led a lot of (mostly infantry) troops in the service, and whether or not they had high school or college degrees was often not the best indicator of their quality as Soldiers; for that matter, I often found the older recruits to be more mature and responsible than the under-21 crowd that still had a lot of growing up to do.

I mention all of this because of a news wire that crossed my computer screen this week: a 41-year-old Tucson woman has just enlisted in the Army and passed all her initial screening as she ships out to Fort Leonard Wood for Basic Training. But what makes Laurie-Ann Fuca's case so interesting (beside the fact that she's doing something that young men half her age won't do) is that she probably has a better idea than any other recruit about what it means to join the contemporary Army: her 19-year-old son deployed to Iraq just three weeks ago. Fuca, who hopes to become a combat medic (and whose friends "laughed their heads off" when she told them of her enlistment), is actually a Canadian native who has been a US citizen for the last ten years; her father, sister, and brother have served or are serving with the Canadian Forces.  In the article, she says that she always wanted to serve in the military, but was unable because she was a full-time mom. Now she's getting the opportunity to live her dream, and to serve her (adopted) country, to boot. Congratulations, Laurie-Ann, and welcome to the team!

UPDATE: I just wanted to note that Stubborn Facts beat Drudge in noticing this by over two weeks--Tully