Monday, March 14, 2005
Person you should meet today - with a difference
On Saturday, I introduced you to some interesting people serving in Iraq, namely the Azeri-born super-translator for the US Army, Mahir Ibrahimov, and the Estonian Army platoon serving alongside the 10th Mountain Division. Then I encountered today's candidate:
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"An India-born Sikh from California is among the women who are set to trade their makeup kits for an M-16 rifle to join the US military in Iraq. Ranbir Kaur, 19, is a part-time college student from the San Joaquin Valley town of Earlimart in California. By the end of summer, she expects to put her textbooks aside and serve as a supply clerk in Iraq."But it's the next para in this article from the "Calcutta Telegraph" that caught my attention:
"The limits of life in a comatose San Joaquin valley farm town spurred Kaur to join the California national guard in late 2002, two days after her 17th birthday and more than a year before she graduated from Delano High. The $3,000 bonus she got for enlisting was another important factor."San Joaquin valley so boring that it's driving girls to join the US Army? Any Californian - or indeed San Joaquin valley - readers out there who want to defend the honor of this, I'm sure, fine locality?
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