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> As much as I love my country, at this point were there even a hint of a draft I would be the first to drive my teenage boys to the Canadian border -- a concep

by cat199 9y ago

> As much as I love my country, at this point were there even a hint of a draft I would be the first to drive my teenage boys to the Canadian border -- a concept that would have astounded and enraged a younger me. Easier said than done for someone like me who never enlisted, but my take is having a draft would actually reduce the ability to wage war on a whim, since war would actually have the potential to impact more well off and politically connected people...

MrZongle2 9y ago
Certainly, reinstating the draft would be a massive shift in how we've done things since the mid-70s. There's no guarantee that it will ever return, even if it was needed. But at some point, if you really do have a military-industrial complex pushing for eternal war (I'm still not sold on how much weight this faction actually carries relative to the incompetence or malevolence of a handful of high-level advisers) and you're facing not only increasing public skepticism but a decreasing pool of qualified enlistment candidates, you've got to up the ante. My kids will likely never be in danger of being drafted into the military. I've already advised them against joining it of their own free will, which I think is somewhat unfortunate. I regard most of the time I served to be well spent in terms of building self-confidence and marketable skills, in addition to the (older) G.I. Bill. But the country I served -- and the military I served in -- ain't the one around anymore. Edit: oh, and a draft doesn't really endanger the children of the rich or connected. Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" (1969) wasn't a revelation. Think Mark Zuckerberg's child will ever be drafted? The children of most of the people who have personal assistants in Washington DC? Hah.
- UncleEntity 9y ago
  IDK, my uncle got drafted during Vietnam and ended up as an embassy guard in Berlin -- guess it helped that my grandfather worked for some California senator...
- chrisbennet 9y ago
  The Vietnam draft had a loophole for upper middle class kids - the college deferment. What sense did that make other than to exempt rich kids from going to war?
Nelson69 9y ago
I think impacting everyone is a big part of the idea. I'm all for every possible tactical advantages if we're risking the lives of our youth and I don't know that a full vote in both the house and senate in order to wage war is the right thing but I'd absolutely support some sort of constitutional amendment that created a tax and draft for any military engagement that lasts more than 30 or 60 days or something. We have to pay for that stuff and we have to staff it. The real costs of Iraq and Afghanistan will play out over the next 50 years. Vets already commit suicide at a staggering rate. We already under treat post traumatic stress. We under treat most emotional issues. We over treat "pain." The divorce rate among soldiers is something like 2 to 3x the national average. The people that go and do the fighting don't exactly make up a nice normal looking slice of our national demographics either..

by cat199 9y ago

MrZongle2 9y ago

Certainly, reinstating the draft would be a massive shift in how we've done things since the mid-70s. There's no guarantee that it will ever return, even if it was needed. But at some point, if you really do have a military-industrial complex pushing for eternal war (I'm still not sold on how much weight this faction actually carries relative to the incompetence or malevolence of a handful of high-level advisers) and you're facing not only increasing public skepticism but a decreasing pool of qualified enlistment candidates, you've got to up the ante. My kids will likely never be in danger of being drafted into the military. I've already advised them against joining it of their own free will, which I think is somewhat unfortunate. I regard most of the time I served to be well spent in terms of building self-confidence and marketable skills, in addition to the (older) G.I. Bill. But the country I served -- and the military I served in -- ain't the one around anymore. Edit: oh, and a draft doesn't really endanger the children of the rich or connected. Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" (1969) wasn't a revelation. Think Mark Zuckerberg's child will ever be drafted? The children of most of the people who have personal assistants in Washington DC? Hah.

UncleEntity 9y ago
IDK, my uncle got drafted during Vietnam and ended up as an embassy guard in Berlin -- guess it helped that my grandfather worked for some California senator...
chrisbennet 9y ago
The Vietnam draft had a loophole for upper middle class kids - the college deferment. What sense did that make other than to exempt rich kids from going to war?

Nelson69 9y ago

I think impacting everyone is a big part of the idea. I'm all for every possible tactical advantages if we're risking the lives of our youth and I don't know that a full vote in both the house and senate in order to wage war is the right thing but I'd absolutely support some sort of constitutional amendment that created a tax and draft for any military engagement that lasts more than 30 or 60 days or something. We have to pay for that stuff and we have to staff it. The real costs of Iraq and Afghanistan will play out over the next 50 years. Vets already commit suicide at a staggering rate. We already under treat post traumatic stress. We under treat most emotional issues. We over treat "pain." The divorce rate among soldiers is something like 2 to 3x the national average. The people that go and do the fighting don't exactly make up a nice normal looking slice of our national demographics either..