[ithacaartist]

Tom,
Absolutely no offense taken; this boils down to semantics and definitions, in context. BTW, I am about as far from the 20+ retirement military as I could be, save for growing up near Fort Drum (Camp Drum, formerly--and Pine Camp before that) and subsequent freshman year in Army ROTC at Clarkson. I was 19, in the first lottery for the draft, and my birthday came up #327. Since the Selective Service was no longer breathing down the back of my neck at that point, I let go of college for a few years before resuming. Yes, I escaped being cannon fodder, but I consider that I also might have missed a lot of potentially positive experiences by not being conscripted. Vietnam messed with the heads of many that I know, changed their lives, at least, and not necessarily in a good way. I'm curious as to how I might have been a different person having followed another path. And I think the first time I heard the term Lifer was in context of people who would never get out of prison. Or factory work.