"My children are in the service"

[sagehen]

>No, it certainly meant "in the military" when I was growing up (and I
>still hear it from olld-timers like myself) - EA, 61, Floyd County,.
>IN, WC (now whatever class LIng Profs are), M.
>
>dInIs

"... in the service"  has always meant /in the armed forces/ to me since
WWII, living in the Midwest, Pacific NW, California (north & south),  and
Northeast.
In fact, "in the military"  is what sounds odd to me: unfinished, like "as
far as" without its complement. But I'm an old fart and accustomed by now
to the involuntary  occasional shudder at developments in the language
used, e.g., in newsreading and other reporting on NPR.
A. Murie