4 ms·

Bring Back the Draft

8 points by kaptain 13y ago

obviouslygreen 13y ago
First off... when did medium.com become the source for 60% of HN front page news? Either most of us are failing badly at taking a broad view of the news or these guys have an obscene amount of spam accounts building karma. Either way, we are losing. Regarding the article... there is no consideration given to lessening our nation's commitment to all its various wars. There is no discussion of whether we should continue to send troops. There is not even the suggestion that -- holy shit -- maybe we should reconsider our current engagements and decide where our existing, and substantial, resources would be better spent. I'm anti-war, but I'm not anti-military. And anti-war is a ridiculous stance that ignores all of human reality, so it's not something I can honestly take seriously and argue in favor of. This ridiculous diatribe ignores both the causes of our current situation and the potential results of sending everyone in the damn nation out to fight, or support, regardless of their skills. Yes, by all means, let's inflate the military and support ranks! Not only will it burgeon all sorts of military posts, it will drain all the service industries those people previously occupied. Another silver bullet with a lead lining, shot straight into the heart of our economy. The author fails as an economist, a strategist, and even a nationalist. Might be a strong contender for President.
jiggy2011 13y ago
I'm sure that if the military had a requirement for a few thousand middle aged bloggers to swell their ranks; they would put up recruitment posters.
javert 13y ago
Get your gun out of my face. And stop advocating the needless killing of Americans and the destruction of billions of dollars of wealth coercively taken from Americans.
joshuaheard 13y ago
So, the government already takes half of my earnings. Now, this author is proposing the government gets years of slave labor out of me, to kill members of foreign cultures the government deems bad. Somehow, I have a problem with this. I have a better solution. Let's only use our military for defense of our country and stop being the world's policeman.
gph 13y ago
How about instead your generation just dies and the rest of us will attempt to change the fact that warfare has become a standard of modern human society passed on from primitive generations. Yea, I know that's harsh, but it's late and that article just rubbed me the wrong way.
- gee_totes 13y ago
  Kudos, I've never read something so harsh and yet so genuinely hopeful. I really hope our generation (you refer to the rest of us, so I'm assuming you're younger than a Baby Boomer (as am I)) finally breaks this cycle of big wars. With the world becoming more interconnected, and the economic playing field beginning to level (read: America can't afford big wars anymore) we just might be able to move on as a species. Another world is possible, right?
Argorak 13y ago
Coming from a county where there was a "draft" until 2011 (Germany), I have to say that his view points is very romantic, at least when it comes to the "nation-building" part. First of all, military service for a small time is a big cost factor: this leads to the military trying to avoid spending, by making less people eligible. In Germany, it happened to multiple of my friends that just before they had to start their service, the military decided not to "pull" them because they made their categories non-eligible for military service. This severly damages the fairness of the service. Had there not been the option of civil service as a replacement, that unfairness would have been even worse: the modern military just doesn't have enough resources to have a whole generation in service all the time. Second, I feel as connected to my generation/nation before or after my service. I consciously did civil service[1] and liked it, though. What I _liked_ about the service was that it forces you to do something non-proitable for a while. Even though I had my eyes on doing something in IT and my "straight" career path would have direcly led me to university, I was caring for mentally disabled people for a year. It is an experience I don't want to miss and gave me a lot of insight into and respect the whole "social support" branch of society, which I still hold in very high regard. It is also an experience I would have skipped if I had the choice. [1]: By which I mean: I did civil service because I saw it more fit for me, not because I absolutely wanted to avoid military.
cecilpl 13y ago
I can't tell if this is satirical or not. This reads like a Swiftian condemnation of the needless wars we're fighting.
cecilpl 13y ago
I can't tell if this is satirical or not...
EdiX 13y ago
Granted, my cohort is too old for combat. No amount of training could put us in the kind of physical shape needed for that job. But we’re not too old to do many of the other jobs the military needs done. Military effectiveness is more than ever about brains than brawn The draft has always been about brawn, not brain. The brain in the military has always been career military, the fact that military effectiveness is more about brains than brawn played a non-trivial role in ending the draft.
frobozz 13y ago
>Bring Back the Draft >And start with people my age ... > if my number came up in a truly level draft — a draft that didn’t distinguish by age or financial station — I’d willingly go to Afghanistan Make up your mind!

8 points by kaptain 13y ago

First off... when did medium.com become the source for 60% of HN front page news? Either most of us are failing badly at taking a broad view of the news or these guys have an obscene amount of spam accounts building karma. Either way, we are losing. Regarding the article... there is no consideration given to lessening our nation's commitment to all its various wars. There is no discussion of whether we should continue to send troops. There is not even the suggestion that -- holy shit -- maybe we should reconsider our current engagements and decide where our existing, and substantial, resources would be better spent. I'm anti-war, but I'm not anti-military. And anti-war is a ridiculous stance that ignores all of human reality, so it's not something I can honestly take seriously and argue in favor of. This ridiculous diatribe ignores both the causes of our current situation and the potential results of sending everyone in the damn nation out to fight, or support, regardless of their skills. Yes, by all means, let's inflate the military and support ranks! Not only will it burgeon all sorts of military posts, it will drain all the service industries those people previously occupied. Another silver bullet with a lead lining, shot straight into the heart of our economy. The author fails as an economist, a strategist, and even a nationalist. Might be a strong contender for President.

jiggy2011 13y ago

I'm sure that if the military had a requirement for a few thousand middle aged bloggers to swell their ranks; they would put up recruitment posters.

javert 13y ago

Get your gun out of my face. And stop advocating the needless killing of Americans and the destruction of billions of dollars of wealth coercively taken from Americans.

joshuaheard 13y ago

So, the government already takes half of my earnings. Now, this author is proposing the government gets years of slave labor out of me, to kill members of foreign cultures the government deems bad. Somehow, I have a problem with this. I have a better solution. Let's only use our military for defense of our country and stop being the world's policeman.

gph 13y ago

How about instead your generation just dies and the rest of us will attempt to change the fact that warfare has become a standard of modern human society passed on from primitive generations. Yea, I know that's harsh, but it's late and that article just rubbed me the wrong way.

gee_totes 13y ago
Kudos, I've never read something so harsh and yet so genuinely hopeful. I really hope our generation (you refer to the rest of us, so I'm assuming you're younger than a Baby Boomer (as am I)) finally breaks this cycle of big wars. With the world becoming more interconnected, and the economic playing field beginning to level (read: America can't afford big wars anymore) we just might be able to move on as a species. Another world is possible, right?

Argorak 13y ago

Coming from a county where there was a "draft" until 2011 (Germany), I have to say that his view points is very romantic, at least when it comes to the "nation-building" part. First of all, military service for a small time is a big cost factor: this leads to the military trying to avoid spending, by making less people eligible. In Germany, it happened to multiple of my friends that just before they had to start their service, the military decided not to "pull" them because they made their categories non-eligible for military service. This severly damages the fairness of the service. Had there not been the option of civil service as a replacement, that unfairness would have been even worse: the modern military just doesn't have enough resources to have a whole generation in service all the time. Second, I feel as connected to my generation/nation before or after my service. I consciously did civil service[1] and liked it, though. What I _liked_ about the service was that it forces you to do something non-proitable for a while. Even though I had my eyes on doing something in IT and my "straight" career path would have direcly led me to university, I was caring for mentally disabled people for a year. It is an experience I don't want to miss and gave me a lot of insight into and respect the whole "social support" branch of society, which I still hold in very high regard. It is also an experience I would have skipped if I had the choice. [1]: By which I mean: I did civil service because I saw it more fit for me, not because I absolutely wanted to avoid military.

cecilpl 13y ago

I can't tell if this is satirical or not. This reads like a Swiftian condemnation of the needless wars we're fighting.

cecilpl 13y ago

I can't tell if this is satirical or not...

EdiX 13y ago

Granted, my cohort is too old for combat. No amount of training could put us in the kind of physical shape needed for that job. But we’re not too old to do many of the other jobs the military needs done. Military effectiveness is more than ever about brains than brawn The draft has always been about brawn, not brain. The brain in the military has always been career military, the fact that military effectiveness is more about brains than brawn played a non-trivial role in ending the draft.

frobozz 13y ago

>Bring Back the Draft >And start with people my age ... > if my number came up in a truly level draft — a draft that didn’t distinguish by age or financial station — I’d willingly go to Afghanistan Make up your mind!