Paging the US Surgeon General ... Bob Herbert, an Army veteran, has this to say about current Army recruitment policy:

The Army actually has an online video game that it likes to brag is one of the "top five" on the Web. Geared to children as young as 13, it has more than five million registered players.

But war is not a game. Getting your face blown off is not fun. The fundamental task of the military is to fight and kill the enemies of the United States, and fighting and killing is a grotesquely brutal experience. Potential recruits should be told the truth about what is expected of them, and what the risks are.

I can see it now. Stamped in a small white box on the cover of each Army brochure:

WARNING: WAR CAN KILL YOU.

I say that in jest, of course ... but only just.