Do any of you think the Draft would ever be re-instated? How would Americans react to such an action of our Government?
The first Military draft was ordered by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War. In the Union it was legal for a draftee to buy his way out of the military service for the substantial sum of $300. Draftess could also send substitutes in their places.
Since then the United States has used conscription in World War l, World War ll, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. WWll had the largest number of draftees with 11,535,ooo (61% of all troops who served during the war) Of nearly 18 million men examined for induction, about 36% were rejected as physically or mentally unfit for service. Contrary to rumor, most, nearly 70% enlisted in the Vietnam era. The Psyciatric casualty rate in combat for WWll veterans was 26%; in Vietnam it was 3%. However it rose to about 30% five years after the war.
In 1981, the United States Supreme Court ruled that women do not have to register for the military draft because they are specifically excluded from combat, the Congress has the power to establish a male-only draft. The Department of Defense maintains that to this day, women are not serving in combat. I take issue with this stance, as I have attended tons of workshops with women who drove trucks in convoys that were steeped in combat.
How do you feel about the possibility of a Draft, as we are a little short on personel?
It’s actually called the “Vietnam Conflict” as I believe that war was never officially declared in Vietnam. I remember the fear of male college students (and relatives) who didn’t want to be drafted. It is very tough to be ordered into an active war (in which you might die or be severely injured) and especially one you may not believe in. Plus a military force composed of men who enlisted voluntarily, is more likely to be willing to be sent into combat to fight for this country.
Under a different name, “National Service”, “National Police Force”, what have you, I am fairly certain it will happen as the economy worsens and the Dollar begins the headlong rush into competition with the Zimbabwe Dollar, pound or whatever it is for the worst currency in the world.
I find it hilarious that just now the “press” is finally getting around to dropping hints that all that Bush/Obama Government feel-good spending of trillions of dollars, backed not by your taxes, but your implicit pledge to provide $1.00 of of labor for every $ 1.00 denominated Federal Reserve Note printed, is coming home to roost like a thousand ton buzzard.
If that doesn’t sound so bad, just remember, the Federal Reserve Bank, the ‘owner’ of all those Federal Reserve Notes, is owned by all the Wall Street Banks and The Bank of London as were “bailed out” with those hundreds of Billions of dollars of Federal Reserve Notes.
Sweet gig, if YOU can get it. I think it is pretty well locked up though.
This is one of those times that saying “I told you so…” has such a bitter, sweet tang to it. You don’t owe that $1.00 of labor to the US Government, you owe it, via the IRS, to the Federal Reserve Bank and its private owners.
Yes, return to the draft: share the pain and give pause to elected officials, including dim-witted presidents, when they decide to invade other countries.
The only way to re-implement a military draft is to make it across the board: all social strata required to play. No exceptions. If you can’t carry a weapon, you can carry a pencil, push a broom or pick up trash.
During the last draft the upper and upper-middle classes were vastly underrepresented, with the bulk of the burden falling to lower middle and “lower” classes. My class demarcations are somewhat arbitrary but think of it in terms of socio-economic status. The next time our leaders want to gallop off to war, we should make sure all of their families are equally represented. That’s the only way to make it real to them, as well as the rest of the country.
I would support a return to the draft only as one of several “national service” options. Being a VN vet, I enlisted prior to the Marine Corps using conscripts. However, when draftees began integrating into the MC, the level of readiness and morale definitely deteriorated.
If “national service” became mandatory, and military training, pay and post-service benefits could be upgraded to a higher standard than, say, the Peace Corps, then I might be persuaded that conscription is a viable option. If there is no “carrot” at the end of that “stick”, why would anyone choose the military over a Peace Corps tour.
I got a lot out of the military experience, but I’d not care to repeat it.
Well said John. My brother suggested a solution to the benefit offerings. It is so simple, it is embarrassing. Why do we not charge a co-pay to the nations that we defend and “liberate?’ The gig however is that we are defending ourselves and not really liberating them, ergo the tab is ours. Kind of Orwellian language.
I am told, by recruiters, that one of the reasons that a draft would be unlikely, is that the Armed Forces are so high-tech and a large segment of our high school graduates are not of the intellect to be easily trained, and would therefore be to costly. How do you like that? Modern warfare is too expensive! Well we can go with that one all night!
Service of some sort should be required whether it be in the peace corps, military or some sort of home service. The idea behind our military is to train people. The draft shouldn’t affect that. As for our supposedly superior military today in intelligence, baloney. The standards have been lowered to get people in. And if there is a draft, make sure it is representative of our population with everyone being able to contribute in some way. You can’t win a war without support and support services can be done by many people who may have physical disabilities. The only need is to want to serve.
Lets clear up another misconception, we are Viet Nam War veterans, not era. The term era vet comes from the need to divide us up as veterans. This is what our government has done to Viet Nam War vets as we fight them over the issues of Agent Orange and their use all over. It started under Reagan as his admin. falsified the science on Agent Orange and dioxin. Then had the gull to fix the AO lawsuit for the corporations.