Frequently? If that's true I didn't realize it, and will avoid it in the future. Puerto Rico is not a state but it is a U.S. territory and therefore different from Mexico, Guatemala, etc.

As Alex and I have already said, Puerto Rico is very different from the continental U.S. culturally. Your point is correct, but we aren't talking about Minnesota or Georgia, either.

I guess I am still argumentative, LOL. It's one of the character flaws I am trying to rectify. The singer John Prine may have put it best:

I could have had me a million more friends
And all I had to lose was my point of view

BTW, please remind me which book I said I would send you. Not the C# one from Dietel, something different. I have forgotten. I am going to include the book I am reading now, and encourage you to pass it along to John Baird and any other interested vets here. It is "The Good Soldiers" and it was written by a guy named David Finkel. He spent a year with an Army battalion, the 2-16, that was deployed to one of the most dangerous places in Iraq as part of the surge. There is little or no politics, what are we doing there, etc. It is a grunt's eye view of what it's like to be in a war, a war of a different kind. They weren't fighting armies, they were fighting insurgents, with IEDs everywhere. You never know whether that woman is carrying a baby or a bomb in her blanket. Riveting. Some of them made it back, some of them didn't. I would bet my last dollar that this book will be heard from when the book awards roll around.

The hero -- books need a hero -- is Lt. Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, the leader of the whole bunch. West Point, Army Ranger, rising fast through the ranks, restless at his post in Fort Riley, Kansas. He inspires absolute loyalty in his troops. They will literally face death on his order. He made me want to enlist, if I wasn't 30 years too old <g>. (The average age of the soldiers deployed in the book was 19).

Early in the book, a military friend of Kauzlarich's tells Finkel, "You;re going to see a good man disintegrate before your eyes."

Before deployment each soldier is asked a series of questions, including plans for their disposal if they die. To the question "What do you want buried with you?" Kauzlarich replies simply, "Wedding band."

At the end of the book there are two pages of pictures of the 2-16 soldiers who died in Iraq. Finkel makes you care about them individually. More than once I peeked ahead to see if a particular soldier was among them. These are real people over there, not just statistics. I know you know that. Great book.



>I disagree completely. True, they have a different culture, but not that different. They are U.S. citizens and moving here is no different than moving from state to another. They are Americans. They are NOT immigrants. Mike frequently uses Puerto Ricans in his arguments for illegal immigration and it is not the same thing. Not at all. They need no VISA to come live and work in the U.S. They are as American as you or I. The only difference is they cannot vote for the Presidency. I've been all over Central and South America and Spain and while it is similar to many latin american countries, Puerto Rico is not that much different (as some are) regardless of the native language being Spanish.
>
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>>WHAT?
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>>If you meant "Americans" with regards to the continent they were born in, yeah, Puerto Ricans are Americans (just like Colombians and Canadians).
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>>I've been at their airport a couple of times and have interacted with the locals there, and trust me, gringos, they ain't. Culturally, that is.
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>>For a Puerto Rican to move to the US is very much like for any other immigrant from Latin America.
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>>I don't see anything insulting in his post. Yes, Puerto Ricans are sort of US Citizens (they can't vote, which is what's considered the most important right here), and they're allowed to move freely into the continental US, but culturally someone born and raised here (in the US) and someone born and raised in PR are two very different people.
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>>Alex
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>>>Puerto Ricans are Americans. It is a commonwealth of the U.S.. They are U.S. citizens by birth. Moving to the U.S. is like moving from one state to another. It is all America. They have a distinct and rich culture, but they are NOT immigrants. Your post was actually insulting. Of course they are as American as they come - they are Americans!