So what do you think would be the last thing SR photog Jesse Tinsley, 43, and working on a middle-age spread, would find in his mailbox? An advertisement for a dating service? Nah. Notice that a distant relative has died, leaving him with a small fortune? Unh-uh. By mail, the National Guard promised to give Jesse a $10,000 bonus for college if he'd sign up. Are they that desperate for recruits, wondered Jesse, who wasn't that concerned that Guardsmen are being shipped to dangerous Iraqi right and left. Sez he: "I'm not sure I'd survive basic."

---

---