I came here to talk about the draft

[balmofgilead]

Props to anyone who got the reference in the subject line.

DISCUSSION QUESTION:
What do you think about the idea of a military draft, both a) in general and b) specifically now?

Random pieces of information:

1) I personally am opposed to the current war stuff going on in Iraq (Is it still a war? Did we "win"?), which prompts me to cursorily condemn the idea of a draft.

2) Someone recently told me that they believe a draft would/could be a good thing.
Their logic was as follows: if there's a draft, people from all walks of life will be fighting (including children and relatives and family friends of the warmongering politicians and businesspeople), and this will cause The People In Charge to act more moderately/responsibly and give more thought and consideration to what they're doing. The assumption was that the military currently consists largely of poor people and minorities, and that The People In Charge may (sadly) view these people as more expendable than, say, middle-class white people.

3) There are more things I could say, but instead I'll shut up and see what people say/think.

Comments

[archgirl06.livejournal.com]

Well I am personally against the draft (not that it effects me -- neither my brother or I can be drafted due to illness). However, even the people that 'volunteer' now for the army (+ etc) sometimes don't really have a choice. They join ROTC to get money for college (actually one of my classmates is in Iraq now) or they eventually want to be aerospace engineers or do something related but not directly within the active military.

I think it's completely unfair to send people that are going to school over to Iraq. However, I think what your friend said was bs because 1. The People In Charge will create enough loopholes for their people not to get drafted and 2. A lot of people over in Iraq are national guard members (have other professions) or students (so, in fact, even if they are minorities, some of them are educated)

Not that the 'war' should be happening in the first place, but I would be the first person to complain if they reinstated the draft. I have lots of friends that I don't want to die.

[notfadeaway.livejournal.com]

I agree with the above post, especially considering the information we know about Bush & Cheney during Vietnam - The People In Charge are capable of bending many rules for themselves. Vietnam provides a very applicable lesson, I think, for draft conversations: it was an unpopular war, bitterly opposed, with a frightening draft. Those who could fled or got out of service. Those serving--students, professionals, etc.--were not treated particularly well, came home to a cold country, and now have incredible psychological wounds. Because of that, I couldn't personally support a draft.

Also, it seems fairly clear that current folks in the army didn't truly feel they had many choices. There is even a mainstream debate going on about the "back-door draft" that turns reservists into full-time military, complete with required tours in Iraq. I'd like to see an official answer your question: did we "win"? Maybe after the "elections" next week?

[tobeginagain.livejournal.com]

Um, I think I'm going to go out on a limb and here and be all unpopularlike. I think a draft (bear with me here) of a different sort might not be a bad idea. We've got a whole lot of people here in the US, our military sure doesn't need everyone, but we could take some ideas from other countries. (The only two I can think of right now are Israel and Germany, though I'm sure others have similar systems.) I know one of our presidents, maybe it was Bush post-9/11, suggested widespread volunteerism, and I think it's not that bad of an idea.

Most European high school graduates take a gap year/s before beginning university. In Germany nine months of those are served either in the military or in alternate civilian service - volunteering. In Israel, religious women complete their 'draft requirements' with national service - volunteering. If a similar system were in place, with widespread if not mandatory year of volunteer service I think a lot of things might be improved.

Obviously this is a vast system to be implementing in our huge nation, not that it ever would, but I think it would be really neat if all 18 year olds had a choice to either volunteer for their country at home or abroad or served in the military. Our nation, however, seems way to individualistic and self-serving to institutionalize some form of altruism. But wouldn't it be neat if it did?

(Oh, and check out wiki/conscription.)