Posted on 05/31/2018 9:11:16 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Memorial Day in Norwich has come and gone.
For the record it was wonderful to see retired Army Colonel James Cushman, on his own two feet, as the Master of Ceremonies. The crowd was better than average in numbers and the Norwich High School madrigal choir could not have been better at singing the National Anthem.
As the 2018 speaker, Dr. Edward J. Erickson – a multi-war Army veteran – gave his remarks, one couldn’t help but notice the faces in the park were all very familiar. That is because it is the same people in attendance, year after year. Everyone at the Memorial Day ceremony is a local military veteran, the family of veterans’ or one of a handful of patriotic citizens. Dr. Erickson was truly preaching to the choir in West Park on Monday.
The gathered audience strained to hear the voices from the public address speakers, not because the volume was too low, but because the traffic on Route 12 was as busy as if it were any other Monday. The noisy traffic included several tractor-trailers making deliveries, which would have been much quieter a decade ago because most businesses closed for business back then. That was once the custom for such a solemn holiday. (During the ceremony, a Byrne Dairy tractor-trailer driver did shut down his motor at the red traffic light, and he is rightfully commended.)
As time passes, fewer people have a connection to the military, and fewer yet care about or dare to enter the armed forces. This divide between the population and those in the profession of arms is the reason there was so much traffic on Route 12 last Monday; the dangerous military mission is far from most people’s thoughts.
After the ceremony, the discussion turned to the growing gap between the military and the populace. One war-time veteran offered a solution to this issue: “Bring back the draft.”
While forced conscription seems like it would be a social equalizer, most volunteer soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines will tell you they’d rather not serve next to someone who doesn’t want to be there, especially in combat.
After I took some time thinking about mandatory military service for everyone, I realized it might actually be helpful for certain aspects of our country. The first thought that comes to mind is the interaction between many cultures. Presently the military does a great job of blending together volunteers from different backgrounds with a common goal of mission accomplishment. But just think if everyone had to serve at least one tour of duty in the military––and everyone should include women between 18 and 25 years of age.
An idea that has floated around since the War on Terror began, is for all “able aged” people to serve two-years of active duty or six-years in the reserves. For those who want to attend college full-time, there would be an R.O.T.C. commitment attached to federally funded college loans. Volunteers would be the first to fill the combat-likely jobs with draftees in the supporting positions, and draftees only filling empty combat spaces during times of war.
Speaking of war, our country has a tendency to go to war more often when volunteers make up the military. Some call it the “they asked for it” mentality. So with draftees in the ranks, our service members might stay at home more than they deploy.
Years down the road, as the draftees come of age, we all would reap the benefits of having elected leaders with a shared experience in their background. Maybe that would end some of the “us-versus-them” ranting that has infused everything in our lives and caused political gridlock over the past years. It would certainly be a breath of fresh air to have mutually respectful discussion and negotiations between politicians which was once the norm when the majority of those in office were WWII, Korea or Viet Nam veterans. Having conscription back in our country’s routine might also counter some of the anti-American activities that are flourishing on some of the college campuses around the country.
It is highly unlikely the politicians in Washington will make changes to our current Selective Service System anytime soon. We should all hope there is no world action looming that would require conscription in the meantime, because considering the remote control technology of war today, we probably would not have time to get the first draftees into uniform before it was all over.
No. Not after all of the social engineering that they’ve done to the military.
We might not be able to avoid a draft in the near future.
“and everyone should include women between 18 and 25 years of age.”
And that homo, commie propaganda won’t stop a draft, when it’s needed. It won’t get women drafted, either. And dried up, old political/regulator hags won’t be getting their kids.
Joe Angelino could go back to Italy and try to get the government to draft women.
Nope. Not with the military being run be militant atheists, homos, trannies, etc.
The head of the Air Force Academy is a lesbo with a wife. There is a wiccan altar. Mattis is cool with it. Your kid could have to literally be forced to submit to the will of a homo or tranny.
Lt Spenser Rapone the West Point communist was just promoted.
And then there is that amendment...” “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
I guess it isn’t involuntary servitude. It’s just forcing someone into a job involuntarily for a few years...or maybe for the rest of their lives.
The draft in the Vietnam war didn’t stop the commies from demonstrating in the streets. Until you outlaw commies they’re like rust, they never sleep.
Bad idea
The modern armed services are highly trained and tech savvy. A draft dilutes that. Plus you will end up with the folks who shouldn’t ever be on the service at all taking up valuable training time and resources
Based on what?
As far as I can tell it is only the lefty dems calling for this nonsense
A government that pisses away thousands of lives and trillions of dollars in military campaigns in Third World sh!t-holes while allowing a decades-long invasion across our own southern border has no business compelling anyone to serve in the military.
Bring back the draft?
Not only NO, but HELL NO.
I worked with folks in the USAF that joined up to avoid being drafted into the Army/The Crouch.
Best day of my left was when they released all of the ‘draftees’
Look yo “Conscript Syndrome”
I wouldn’t want to serve and didn’t want to serve with a draftee. They don’t want to be there and when you need them they might not be there. Besides what the high schools put out now are mostly useless to serve. 1971 to 1978. My number said you may go, so I decided where to go.
I think what worries them is the more or less right-leaning nature of the volunteer military, and the knowledge that they would not obey orders to confiscate civilian arms and fire on us. That always deflates their arguments that firearm owners would not last against attack helos, etc.
They appear to think that a military made up of more inner city types would be more representative of them. They would then be much more accepting of orders to shoot US civilians.
The Crouch?
I don’t want a draft now, although it’s necessary to keep the system ready for when needed. But I am definitely against drafting women.
1) It's one to thing to go to war, but it's quite another to volunteer for it. An eagerness to partake in the activities of war is not necessarily good. Our fighting forces should try and avoid being comprised largely of those who join for inappropriate reasons.
2) A lot of our current issues arise because increasingly greater segments of our nation have no family members who have ever served. This reduces the stake that our nation as a whole has in the necessary evil of war, and it also reduces the overall empathy for those who serve.
3) A draft will reduce the need to entice non-American aliens to serve due to manpower shortages.
4) Currently, the Southeast comprises the bulk of those who volunteer to serve. This is a remarkably unfair allocation of military personnel relative to the whole country.
5) The military is currently host to an immense bureaucracy. A draft ensures that we get non-bureaucrats.
And more.
I say force women to register for SS and we’ll see where the country stands. Make the libs put there money (or their daughters) where their mouth is.
I predict the majority of the country wouldn’t stand for our women to be draft eligible, and the left would lose any favor they had left overnight.
MY point in post #12. Liberals are uneasy about a military that does not share their politics.
There money = their money
The Rats want this as disgruntled snowflakes will be drafted, subsequently causing chaos and dissention, so that the Rats will ride to the rescue, making political hay where there was none before. This is all calculated out.
He doesn’t sound very intelligent. He sounds like one of those guys who thinks he knows what’s best for everybody else, and how they should live their life. Him being a soldier doesn’t cut any ice with me, or a lot of people.
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