"I would grab a rifle and get in the trench and fight and die," Clinton proclaimed, according to a report by the Canadian Press news service

Clinton wrote Arkansas ROTC Commander Col. Eugene Holmes, explaining that he couldn't serve because he "loathed the military."

Her husband then interjected helpfully, "Because we all love the military so much."

"So I walked into our local recruiting office, and I think it was just my bad luck that the person who happened to be there on duty could not have been older than 21, was in perfect physical shape.

"So I sat down and I said, you know, I wanted to explore. I didn't know whether I thought active duty would be a good idea, reserve--you know, maybe National Guard, something along those lines.

"I was already a lawyer. I thought there were some roles I could perform, and I was going on and on, you know, trying to justify my existence. And this young man looked at me and he said, 'How old are you?'

"I said, Well, 27."

Hillary then described his reaction:

"He looked at me, and in those days that was before I learned how to wear contact lenses. I had these really thick glasses on.

"He said, 'How bad's your eyesight?' I said, 'It's pretty bad'.... And he said, 'How bad?' So I told him. He said, 'That's pretty bad.'

"And he finally said to me--he said, 'You're too old. You can't see. And you're a woman.' And then he went on--and since this is the birthday of the Army, I will tell you what the rest that he said was--this man--young man was a Marine. He said, 'But maybe the dogs would take you.'"

The former first lady says she then thought, "This is not a very encouraging conversation, so maybe I'll look for another way to serve my country."

"I would grab a rifle and get in the trench and fight and die," Clinton proclaimed, according to a report by the Canadian Press news service