Background: Rep. Charles B. Rangel has written an article for CNN.com floating the idea of reinstating the military draft.
Does anyone remember the draft? Show of hands? I didn't think so.
How about Vietnam? Kent State? Nothing there either.
How about Vietnam? Kent State? Nothing there either.
Alright, here is the Cliff notes version of how the military draft worked in the 1960's. When males in the U.S. turned 18, they were required to register with the Selective Service. Once they were out of high school and weren't going to further their education and were reasonably able-bodied and did not have obscene tattoos, they were classified as "1-A". That's the big one, folks. That means that one is about to be contacted by the military and forced to enlist. Those drafted were sent into the military for a 2-year hitch and stood a better than even chance of serving in the infantry. Many of us chose a different route, opting for a longer hitch in the military in exchange for having a lower probability of being in the infantry.
The Vietnam era draft was an airtight lead pipe cinch for the politicians. Eighteen year-olds were subject to the draft. These same individuals were not eligible to vote (as the voting age did not change from 21 to 18 until 1971). Therefore, those of us who were drafted had no say in our fate. As the Barry McGuire song used to go: "You're old enough to kill, but not for voting". That's incredible as I look back on it but, like a lot of things 50 years ago, we accepted them without question and just did our duty.
As with most things, there was a silver lining to the draft: it brought the Vietnam war home to the U.S. Every one of us had friends and/or family who were among the more than 303,000 who returned physically wounded. Many of us knew one or more of the more than 58,000 individuals who came home to be buried.
All of us were affected by the war in one way or another. We internalized the war, it made us sick to our stomachs, nothing about it made sense. And, due to the fact that we were all affected by the war, Americans took to the streets and protested. Draftees fled to Canada in defiance of the U.S. government. Those of us who served kept asking "why?" with no response from our military leaders. Probably because little of it made sense to them either.
Let's fast forward to the wars in the Mideast: Iraq and Afghanistan. Where are the protests? Where are the draft card burnings? Where is the outrage at having spent over $1,400,000,000 (that's $1.4 trillion -- so far) on wars whose justification is questionable, at best?
In short, protests and outrage have been conspicuously absent.
Which brings us to the point of this posting. Only if the misery of the wars declared, paid for and perpetuated by our elected officials is truly brought home to the people of this country, will Americans do what they must do as citizens and elect leaders who will work toward peaceful solutions with other countries.
I hate the draft and always have. It forced many of us to give up years of our lives. Some gave it all.
But it is probably the the most effective thing that we can do as a country to minimize our involvement in future armed conflicts.
Readers, enjoy your day.
The Vietnam era draft was an airtight lead pipe cinch for the politicians. Eighteen year-olds were subject to the draft. These same individuals were not eligible to vote (as the voting age did not change from 21 to 18 until 1971). Therefore, those of us who were drafted had no say in our fate. As the Barry McGuire song used to go: "You're old enough to kill, but not for voting". That's incredible as I look back on it but, like a lot of things 50 years ago, we accepted them without question and just did our duty.
As with most things, there was a silver lining to the draft: it brought the Vietnam war home to the U.S. Every one of us had friends and/or family who were among the more than 303,000 who returned physically wounded. Many of us knew one or more of the more than 58,000 individuals who came home to be buried.
All of us were affected by the war in one way or another. We internalized the war, it made us sick to our stomachs, nothing about it made sense. And, due to the fact that we were all affected by the war, Americans took to the streets and protested. Draftees fled to Canada in defiance of the U.S. government. Those of us who served kept asking "why?" with no response from our military leaders. Probably because little of it made sense to them either.
Let's fast forward to the wars in the Mideast: Iraq and Afghanistan. Where are the protests? Where are the draft card burnings? Where is the outrage at having spent over $1,400,000,000 (that's $1.4 trillion -- so far) on wars whose justification is questionable, at best?
In short, protests and outrage have been conspicuously absent.
Which brings us to the point of this posting. Only if the misery of the wars declared, paid for and perpetuated by our elected officials is truly brought home to the people of this country, will Americans do what they must do as citizens and elect leaders who will work toward peaceful solutions with other countries.
I hate the draft and always have. It forced many of us to give up years of our lives. Some gave it all.
But it is probably the the most effective thing that we can do as a country to minimize our involvement in future armed conflicts.
Readers, enjoy your day.
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