The Few. The Proud. The Geriatric.

I have always had the utmost of respect for the Chelsea Pensioners, but I doubt anyone would dream of recruiting them for anything more than a history seminar.

The US Marines, however, tend not to discriminate and have actively sought at least one special person for her unique skills.

Sonia Goldstein was flattered by the nice recruiting letter asking her to consider becoming one of "the few, the proud." But at age 78, she believes she's just a little old to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Maybe not. The Marines have a lot of things for people to do. And, hey! They say they can turn anybody into a great Marine. Well... except for this guy. He's too busy to be a Marine.

The letter told her the corps could use her unique language skills, but also warned that life as a Marine would test her physical and mental abilities "beyond anything you've ever known."

There ya go! The Marines know. They need you, Sonia. I'll bet it's the Farsi. The Corps likes to be ready for anything. Y'know... like Iran.

"There I am with my walker. I can't maneuver from here to there without it," said Goldstein, who added that her only language is English.

Walker? That could pose a bit of a problem. I suspect you may not be able to apply for Force Recon.

Don't let the language thing worry you. The Marines need English speakers too.

"I'll do whatever I could for this wonderful country we live in," she said. "But you know, this is kind of stretching it a bit."

Sonia, if you join, perhaps if you join, we can make a case for recruiting this guy. That'll kind of make up for those half-dozen deferments he got back during the Vietnam thingy.