Since we brought up statistics, here are just a few that might elucidate my point:

According to the US DOD, 1.85% of military recruits in 2005 nad no high school credentials. 1.37% were Seniors. 7.03% had a GED. 82.66% were high school grads ( clearly the bulk of our fighting force ). And only 5.87% had credentials greater than a high school diploma, with 1.23% holding an associates degree.
Just for your own education you should peruse the obituaries of some of these kids. Their stories are all remarkably similar. They are, by and large, working class kids fresh out of high school, and attending Jr Colleges at the time of their enlistment. They weren't Harvard and MIT grads who just decided the military would be more "fun" than that 6-figure job at daddy's law firm. Most of them were working class, and saw the military as an opportunity to improve their economic situation. Unlike some of you apparently, I don't equate formal education with intelligence. I think the military has some of the brightest, most ambitious kids in America... which makes their needless deaths all the more tragic.