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There has to be some way to make some of these young folks realize that they might possibly have a little obligation to this country for the great life of opportunity they have here. Many of them do, of course.
Maybe the draft isn't the best way to do it. Sometimes all it takes is a little incentive to make some people take the step toward military service. I know I would have never voluntarily gone in on my own. I ended up doing two years in the Marine Corps and thirteen in the National Guard. Would have stayed for 20 if they weren't throwing out old fat basstids like me right after the Gulf War.

I certainly agree with your post. I am very scared for the youth of today in many ways. Some are very spoiled and feel everything is owed to them. Some have very little and will steal or commit crimes to get what they want. Some just don't care about anything and the list could go on. I worry so much about the lack of remorse in so many young kids. They seem to have no feelings or conscience. I see parents who don't care about their children because their own lives are more important. I truly wonder about some people anymore. I can't tell you how many boys have come here to eat holiday dinners because nobody was cooking at home because the parents were out or hungover. I would like to think the military is the place for some of these boys/girls to find themselves. Others I have seen I don't hold much hope for except to pray for. Then you also see many fine young people who have their heads on straight and you know they will go far in life.

I understand your point completely, and I believe a large number might respond well to the military culture of obedience, discipline, hard work and achievement.

However, if you have ever spent any time in a classroom you will understand that even one disrupter can prevent the other 20-some classmates from learning anything that class period. Under compulsory education, it's difficult to get rid of that person so the others can thrive.

If you carry that analogy to a military setting, you will have training/missions compromised because there's one or more whiner/lightweight in the bunch that distracts the others from sucessfully learning/completing their jobs. Under the draft, that person is there for 2 years and the military must identify and weed those people into non-critical jobs. Under today's voluntary military, that doesn't happen on the scale it would in a draft military.

That said, I also think that trying to instil a love of country at age 18 or later is an impossible task. It's one that rightfully belongs at home and in the K-12 setting. When dis all the books about our country's heros disappear from our public schools ? Why does today's US History curriculum portray us in such a bad light that no child can feel proud of this country ?

IMO until we fix the K-12 schools, there's no hope the military will fare any better.