NOT AN OPTION

I bristle at the thought of sending substance abusers into the
military as a way of easing prison overcrowding ("Military an option
to prison," Letters, Oct. 23). These people have chosen to violate the
law. Why would we want to reward that conduct? Do we want to teach a
substance abuser to use machine guns and explosives?

Do we want to burden our military with retraining people who cannot
live within the broad guidelines of civilian life?

I do agree that offenders could be more beneficial to society by not
sitting in cells. Put them to work on road gangs!

At a time when military enlistments and re-enlistments are down, we
need to provide more support and benefits to attract and retain
professional military personnel.

Charles E. Johnson

Pensacola