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How I Learned to Love the Draft
The Atlantic ^ | December 28, 2014 | Joseph Epstein

Posted on 12/29/2014 8:19:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

click here to read article


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1 posted on 12/29/2014 8:19:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Good War is worthy of a Good Draft!


2 posted on 12/29/2014 8:22:38 PM PST by CharleysPride (non chiedere cio che non si puo prendere)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Is the author a Leftist?
I don’t know of any Conservative who is actively calling for a reinstatement of the Draft (even though the basic principle of a militia is a Conservative axiom); AFAIK the Left wants the Draft reinstated just so they can use it to beat up the Right.


3 posted on 12/29/2014 8:25:34 PM PST by ctdonath2 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Bring back the draft.

If a wars worth fighting, everyone should fight it.

If it isnt, everyone will oppose it as unjust.

Thats the way it should be in a democracy.


4 posted on 12/29/2014 8:27:29 PM PST by Regulator
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
All 19 year old American males should be required to serve at least 2 years in the Military; it would turn a lot of boys into men and make America less metrosexual.

Did I purposefully not include females? Yes!

5 posted on 12/29/2014 8:28:34 PM PST by PROCON (Always give 100% -- Unless you're donating Blood.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

6 posted on 12/29/2014 8:28:41 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: CharleysPride

I served over twenty five years in our Armed Forces. No thank you to the draft!!!


7 posted on 12/29/2014 8:29:06 PM PST by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Anyone on the left calling for a draft is likely really desiring anti-draft riots. They are upset that mass protests never broke out against "Bush's War" and realize that the "problem" is that the troops volunteered for it and mostly have joined after the war started. They see sending people to war involuntarily and blaming Republicans is the path to increased power.

Since we don't have the money to support a military large enough to draft every eighteen year old, there will still be picking and choosing who gets drafted. Even in WW II my grandfathers were on the high end of the age limit and were determined to have jobs necessary for the war effort so they stayed home.

8 posted on 12/29/2014 8:30:15 PM PST by KarlInOhio (The IRS: either criminally irresponsible in backup procedures or criminally responsible of coverup.)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

I will take your expert opinion as more informed than my own and admit that a draft is best as a measure of last resort, like war.


9 posted on 12/29/2014 8:34:22 PM PST by CharleysPride (non chiedere cio che non si puo prendere)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Did not read the article (but I might, I like Joe Epstein), but bear in mind that if a draft if reinstated without a lot of other things changing (or changing back maybe I should say) the WILL be drafting women.

I, myself, do not support that.


10 posted on 12/29/2014 8:34:36 PM PST by jocon307
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To: ctdonath2

What does AFAIK stand for please?


11 posted on 12/29/2014 8:35:34 PM PST by Jean2 (ox)
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To: CharleysPride
I will take your expert opinion as more informed than my own and admit that a draft is best as a measure of last resort, like war.

I may get a lot of flack for saying this, but one of the lessons of my life is that we shouldn't be fighting wars as anything other than the last resort.

12 posted on 12/29/2014 8:36:52 PM PST by Steely Tom (Thank you for self-censoring.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Our current force structure would have to be scrapped if we went back to a draft.

Unfortunately, much too high a percentage of 18 year-olds just simply aren't of a high enough quality, educationally, emotionally, or morally, to fight a modern war.

Instead of preparing for combat, a large portion of the Defense budget would go to either correcting the deficiencies of the draftees or finding make work for them to do until their enlistments are over.

"Ceterum censeo 0bama esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

13 posted on 12/29/2014 8:39:13 PM PST by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: Jean2
What does AFAIK stand for please?

As
Far
As
I
Know

14 posted on 12/29/2014 8:40:34 PM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: Steely Tom

True. On another note, UMT seems to work well enough for the Israelis, men and women alike.


15 posted on 12/29/2014 8:41:23 PM PST by sparklite2
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To: CharleysPride

We’ve got enough discipline problems with a volunteer force.


16 posted on 12/29/2014 8:41:46 PM PST by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

then there’s that whole “involuntary servitude” thing.


17 posted on 12/29/2014 8:53:08 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: ctdonath2

The left wants the draft to help discredit the military. By forcing young men to serve, they can be subject to all forms of abuse without being able to say no.


18 posted on 12/29/2014 8:53:25 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Regulator

I agree, for those reasons and more. Many kids straight out of high school could use at minimum, two years to experience working and cooperating in a variety of conditions, not all of them preferred conditions. This would help many to develop better coping skills for temporary set backs or frustrations.

It would take a democrat president to do this unless we got into dire circumstances. I say democrat pres. because most republicans are over cautious about acting against what the polls say is popular. Obama couldn’t give a damn how we felt about some of his decisions, and most of the time, he still doesn’t.


19 posted on 12/29/2014 8:53:30 PM PST by lee martell
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To: lee martell

The draft might work, but ONLY if the methods that were allowed back in the 60’s were in use. That is, the ability of a drill instructor to beat the living s**t out of the snot-nosed punks who don’t want to conform. They’d either shape up or end up dead.

Given the way many of our so-called ‘children’ are these days, many would end up dead. Not saying that’s a GOOD thing, just the way I see it.


20 posted on 12/29/2014 9:04:50 PM PST by hoagy62 ("Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered..."-Thomas Paine. 1776)
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