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In the US, we have thousands of Navy and ex-Navy personnel perfectly qualified to safely maintain nuclear reactors, and who (as a group) have an extremely impre
by blakeyrat 11y ago
In the US, we have thousands of Navy and ex-Navy personnel perfectly qualified to safely maintain nuclear reactors, and who (as a group) have an extremely impressive safety record.
But we're not utilizing this resource for civilian purposes. Not even slightly.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoOur country as a whole woefully underutilizes our military. It was the Army Corps of Engineers after all that built the roads and bridges which laid the foundation for America's breakneck growth in the 19th century. We should reinstate the draft. Not everybody has to fight, but everyone should serve their country. And, for example, perhaps a few years doing cyber defense for the Air Force will be seen as a more efficient pipeline into tech jobs than college or coding boot camps.
- emodendroket 11y agoRealistically the big reason the draft went away is it engenders serious resistance to foreign wars
- __jal 11y agoYep. It makes it harder to convince the rubes to die for someone else's private gain when you enslave them outright. Works much better if they're desperate due to "austerity" measures, so they choose to sign up.
- icebraining 11y agoRicher neighbourhoods are actually over-represented in the US military compared to the general population, especially since 9/11.
- mikestew 11y agoWe should reinstate the draft. Not everybody has to fight, but everyone should serve their country. We have a word for it: conscription. Along with that comes a bunch of people making a bunch of money, little of which goes into my pocket. I'm going to pass on that generous offer, thanks.
- TDL 11y ago"We should reinstate the draft." No, we should not.
- blakeyrat 11y ago> We should reinstate the draft. Not even our own military wants to reinstate the draft. They prefer the quality of relatively few dedicated volunteers over a quantity of people who don't want to be there.
- sevensor 11y agoI used to work with former Navy nukes, almost all submariners. Nuke training qualified them for very good jobs in the semiconductor industry. I agree it's too bad they couldn't continue to work on civilian reactors.