IN RESPONSE TO MY EARLIER POST ON OLDER SOLDIERS, Ed McNamara emails:

Thanks for the link to the WaPo article Glenn. I ship out to Fort Benning as an active duty Infantry rifleman on January 9th. I’ll be 41 in May. I’ve been trying to join since 9/11 but the army cutoff at the time was 35, and I was already past that. They finally raised it past my age and I signed up. I’m in the best shape of my life and looking forward to a most exciting adventure. The idea of serving in an institution that was once headed by Gen. George Washington is still sinking in.

I’ll be posting to my ‘blog as much as they let me, probably not much during basic training.

Probably not. Good luck, Ed!