a woman walks into a supermarket, and notices a male customer whose zipper is undone. The woman kindly says" excuse me sir,but your barracks doors are open". Not having a clue what the woman was talking about he continued shopping. A few moments later another customer approached the man and explained that his zipper was undone. The man zipped up and continued his shopping. At the checkout he ran into the woman who originally informed him of his zipper.He decides to play into her unusual comment; "excuse me maam, when you noticed my barracks door was open, did you happen to see a soldier standing at full attention?" The woman responded by saying " no, all i saw was a disabled vet sitting on two duffle bags"

I have read a book entitled, "A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair" by Paul Foos for a college class. The book examines the differences between the volunteer soldier and regular army soldiers during the Mexican War in 1846-48. It discusses the treatment of the U.S. soldiers by their officers and the treatment of the Mexican soldiers/civilians by the U.S. soldiers. I'm just a little stuck on something for which I seek guidance, as I am not very familiar with military history. Why distinguish between volunteers and regular army soldiers? Weren't all soldiers at the time "volunteers?" I understand that those in the regular army were soldiers for a living and received pay for their services, whereas the volunteers came from various lines of work (e.g., farming, law, etc.) But, I didn't receive any indication that the regular army soldiers were drafted. Weren't they in the military by choice, or am I wrong about this? In essence, weren't all the soldiers "volunteers?" Thank you.

I want to be able to write to a soldier who is overseas or is injured because they deserve to have something come to them and I know many don't. If you know where to find one please tell me!