more asian americans signing up for u.s. military

Here's a recent NPR story on the recent significant increase of Asian American recruitment into the U.S. Army. While Asian Americans have typically volunteered at the lowest rate of any ethnic group, something is suddenly drawing Asian-Americans in California into the Army at a remarkable rate: More Asian-Americans Signing Up For The Army.

Why? Education is definitely one of the big draws. The military's education benefits have become particularly appealing in the current economy, especially considering skyrocketing college costs. That's one reason, though the story also offers up another theory:

But Ken Mochizuki, who co-authored a book about Asians in the military, says new Asian-American recruits are motivated by more than education.

"In the present war, they're not fighting against Asians like in WWII or Vietnam," he says.

Mochizuki says today's young soldiers were born after World War II, Korea and Vietnam — all wars in which the U.S. fought Asians. So this generation of Asian-Americans "want to prove their loyalty to this country and [that] they're as American as anybody else," he says.

Granted, increased recruitment of Asian Americans doesn't necessarily mean more Asian Americans on the front lines... The majority are in combat service support, technical support or computer support. Hey, service is service. Stick to our strengths, I suppose.