My husband is a Vietnam Veteran and he says that "if" there is to be a draft, it has to be fair. No deferments of any kind save for medical and everybody registers including women. No rich kids playing frat house keg party while the poor kids have to go fight. He would agree with you about not trusting anyone who didn't volunteer.

Even under your husband's scenario, the rich will pull strings to get their kids stationed somewhere away from the warzone.

....keeping beer taps safe from the unwashed masses. When he bothered to show up, that is.

But is there a way to get the warmongers' kids into the game? We've seen this movie before. Republicans beat their chests, show their balls and send the children of other people off to die in their folly.

conservative, if you hadn't noticed.

Anyway, I am against the draft as well. But as long as we have SS, women should sign up too.

Even if you make deferments impossible, the "warmongers" will still be able to pull strings and get their children assigned away from the warzone. So the poor kids go to the meatgrinder, the rich kids spend a couple years in Hawaii, mostly goofing off.

were draftees.

and just a wee bit offended that a "grenadier" wouldn't trust me for that reason. I went where I was sent and did what I was told, just as the mercenaries ("volunteers&quot did.

Thank you for this.

exists and forces young men of combat age to sign up in order to get federal loans and federal jobs then yes, now that women can serve in combat, they should also be required.

I don't want to see a draft. I want SS done away with. But for now, it is still there.

Millions?

Moreover, your idea of "volunteering" is itself weak and romanticized. For many, joining the military even as a "volunteer" is hardly a matter of Cartesian agency.

Your point relies on a kind of unanswerable authority ("I am a combat veteran, and we say...&quot , but it's pretty piss poor once you scratch the surface. hell, it's even profoundly insulting to probably many members of this board who were called to service in Vietnam (or Korea, or WWII) and answered that call with courage and honor.

Not your best attempt.

I want every Marine to my right and to my left to be there voluntarily.

I really don't care that you have a dumb argument and refuse to deal with that, either. Have a good day puffing out your chest.

Because it concentrates both on freedom of choice, and on the effectiveness on a drafted military. People who are there against their will may be unreliable as comrades. You don't know, and not knowing is itself a problem. As the OP said, you need 'implicit trust'.

Here is a capybara being groomed by monkeys:

... then the rules change. For the better.

You knew in the Airborne that the guy next to you would not be a draftee.

the extra $25.00 a month paid for serving in airborne. I have known several paratroops from WWII. they said the extra $25. was what drew them to that service.

You could not be in the Airborne if drafted.

Same applied to the Rangers.

a pfc in 1941 was paid $40.00 a month. Jump pay was an additional $25.00. Volunteers were no problem.

Many of those who volunteer do so because they have no other options.
In that sense they are compelled, even if not legally so.

The lowest two quintiles by income are also the lowest two quintiles by enlistment.

I'd like to see it.

i was in a country where we had 'mandatory' military service

1-2.5 years depending on 'track'

mine was 2.5 + 5 year contract + 2.5 contract (i reupped)

i don't like 'draftees' << -- how are they trained?, how are they treated?


we didn't mind them



the advantage to draftees (and notice i was both a draftee and a pro for a double up contract)
.....you get to use them next year..ie..you have semi trained soldiers for next session and the one after and the one after

And failed, in large part because the opponents said it would subject women to the draft.

So no draft for women. Not till the ERA is passed.

Only when ALL families have a stake will people get off their asses and tell the ptb in no uncertain terms when they're screwing up.
i'm 60 years old, and I remember.

I understand your point of view, but I don't agree that no draft is best.