Hypocritical, half-informed comments are uttered in classrooms everyday without any consequence.

When these comments result in death, we tend to pay more attention.

A young man in my class has expressed no desire to invest anything of himself in this war’s outcome, but he wants everyone to know how much he supports it. He openly voices his discontent with anyone opposed to the war by using terminology he plagiarized from a Fox broadcast the night before.

I suppose by now, I should expect it. If five years as a Navy corpsman with an infantry battalion didn’t prepare me for harsh and often uninformed criticism, then the last three-and-a-half years at NIU should have.

I left active duty July 15, 2004, and never considered going back to that kind of life until a recent conversation in class.

Warmongering has become a political party unto itself and its most vocal supporters do not intend to put themselves at risk for their cause.

After joining the Navy in 1999, my first deployment took me to Kosovo. Major fighting had finished, but as a corpsman, it was my job to provide medical care to both the Marines as well as any local nationals. I saw firsthand the gruesome injuries caused by combat.

In 2003, I was sent to Iraq for the first eight months of Operation Iraqi Freedom. On our first night in Iraq, we sustained more than 40 wounded. Over the next two weeks, I saw more death and violence. By the end of my time in Iraq, I decided I wanted to return to school.

My battalion was preparing for what would be my last deployment. I had just been given a new group of guys to train and have battle-ready in three months. I had my work cut out for me. We spent nearly four nights out of every workweek patrolling the swamps of North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune, practicing calling for fire and preparing a new medical evacuation plan.

Several of the men I trained with had been in Iraq and we knew that training hard could make the difference between life and death.

I received my NIU acceptance letter while in the mountains of Afghanistan. Getting any mail overseas is uplifting, but getting a completely new future far away from the hell I was living in was amazing.

Keeping in mind that not everyone in the military or society shares my experiences, I try not to be overly sensitive to criticisms or questions about my military past. I encourage people to ask questions and to get involved, to seek a solution other than violence. But, when I’m forced to sit in a class and listen to a classmate with little or no experience outside school tell me how I should have carried myself on the battlefield or how he or she would have acted, I have to speak up.

During a period in this county’s history when the military has been forced to lower its standards for enlistment to meet recruiting goals, college-bred people could contribute a great deal, both intellectually and morally, to the way this war is fought.

For the overly enthusiastic who want to see what they’re made of, you have the perfect opportunity to do so. How often will you be of war-fighting age during a time of war? If you really believe in this war, you’re needed. The nearest recruiting depot is located in the Village Commons just a few blocks from campus.

For those of you wanting to finish school first, relax. NIU will be here in four or five years, fortunately the war may not be. Come on, Rambo, strike while the iron is hot. As an added bonus, when you return to school you will have the G.I. Bill and free tuition if you are an Illinois resident. That makes school better than free; it makes it profitable.

Troops like me are the ones you claim to support when you paste those ridiculous “support our troops” stickers on your car. However, as well-meaning as your sticker may be, it will never be more than a sticker. Invest something of yourself in it, rather than ranting. Quit sending our troops into the grinder unless you are willing stand beside them.