Activism Change

Draft?

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but here it is again. The current ‘voluntary’ system is simply a draft based on income instead of age.  The military needs a certain number of people.  They raise the pay rate and incentives until they get the number of people that they need. This is not really an accurate picture.  I can understand where you are coming from with this line of argument, but do not agree at all.  I have several friends who joined the military because they wanted to, not because of any benefits they might get out of it.  They view the training and the discipline as some of the best available, and chose to enlist or go through ROTC programs.   There are very many people in the gulf now who didn’t join the military out of some suicidal impulse.  They joined because they needed money. Ever consider patriotism as a possible reason for joining?

Of course — but that’s not my point.  I did not mean to imply that all of the military people were in it because it was their best choice economically. That’s obviously not true.  But by the same angle, it is also not true that just because some people really want to be in the military that there aren’t people don’t want to, but ended up there because of their financial situation. The point is that these people have been drafted by a force that you and I don’t see or feel because we have enough money that we could avoid the military if we wanted to. If the military were really voluntary, though, I would agree that there is a huge difference between before and after a draft.  But it isn’t. When was the last time you talked to a member of any branch of the military?  Or even a member of the Reserves or National Guard?  

I talked to my dad last night on the phone.  Does that count?  He was in the Air Force for 23 years.  He retired as a Senior Master Sargent and he works for the Air Force as a civilian now. I’d be willing to bet you’d be surprised at the attitudes you find toward the draft and draftees.  

Sorry – I have twenty four years of experience of talking with military people and living on Air Force bases more than you do.  The opinions of the ROTC college students are not the same as those who really do the work in the military.  In fact, the ROTCs are generally laughed about because they are so clueless about how things really work.  It makes sense…these are kids who are just getting out of a measly 4 years of school who are trying to second guess people who have been in the service for over twenty years. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -There are several people here on campus who are members of the National Guard or the Reserves.  Not one of them has a positive attitude for toward re-introducing the draft.  The comments they make are really quite interesting.   Think about it, though…how would you feel toward people who were assigned to become part of your business/company/staff/whatever without any consideration for their preferences?  They wouldn’t want to be there, and you probably wouldn’t want them to be there, either. About all the additional personnel would do is throw a monkey wrench into the operations system that was in place, since they don’t want to learn it, and are so far behind the rest of the group that is already working together smoothly.  Also, not knowing what to expect from new people will make the experienced people uneasy…after all, they have worked together as a team, and all of a sudden there are new faces thrown in the group.  

That’s not how the military works.  The assignments are constantly rotated.  We were reassigned to a new base every two years like clockwork when I was younger.  The people you are talking about are trained professionals who know exactly what to expect from the new people and each other.  It’s not run like some small business.  Your argument and attempt to distort what I said is based in pure fantasy and conversations with a few people you met who said what you wanted to hear.  It’s too far off base (no pun intended) to start to deal with. Thanks though, — Rodney

Response:

Last time I looked, every U.S. soldier in the Persian Gulf had voluntarily enlisted and had voluntarily signed away a large subset of his/her rights, including the right not to be used as cannon fodder. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but here it is again. The current ‘voluntary’ system is simply a draft based on income instead of age.  The military needs a certain number of people.  They raise the pay rate and incentives until they get the number of people that they need.

This is not really an accurate picture.  I can understand where you are coming from with this line of argument, but do not agree at all.  I have several friends who joined the military because they wanted to, not because of any benefits they might get out of it.  They view the training and the discipline as some of the best available, and chose to enlist or go through ROTC programs.   There are very many people in the gulf now who didn’t join the military out of some suicidal impulse.  They joined because they needed money.

Ever consider patriotism as a possible reason for joining? If the military were really voluntary, though, I would agree that there is a huge difference between before and after a draft.  But it isn’t.

When was the last time you talked to a member of any branch of the military?  Or even a member of the Reserves or National Guard?  I’d be willing to bet you’d be surprised at the attitudes you find toward the draft and draftees.  There are several people here on campus who are members of the National Guard or the Reserves.  Not one of them has a positive attitude for toward re-introducing the draft.  The comments they make are really quite interesting.   Think about it, though…how would you feel toward people who were assigned to become part of your business/company/staff/whatever without any consideration for their preferences?  They wouldn’t want to be there, and you probably wouldn’t want them to be there, either. About all the additional personnel would do is throw a monkey wrench into the operations system that was in place, since they don’t want to learn it, and are so far behind the rest of the group that is already working together smoothly.  Also, not knowing what to expect from new people will make the experienced people uneasy…after all, they have worked together as a team, and all of a sudden there are new faces thrown in the group.   Just my 2 cents worth… -Kurt D. Hoesly

Response:

___ __  The questions posed here have little char marks on them, and _   look mighty inflammable to me.  Hence, note that followups are     directed out of alt.activism, where flames do *not* belong. ___ __  There was actually more activism on the draft in the early _   1980s (when Carter re-enacted draft registration) than there     is today.  There was no impending war then.  There was a focus     of activity, though, since millions of people had to register     at that time. ___ __  The issue subsided shortly thereafter.  Once these millions _   either registered or refused to, the deadline defaulted to     people’s 18th birthdays.  With the actual times of registra-     tions so diffused, the activism against it did also. ___ __  Today there is once again a clear focus for activism against _   the draft and draft registration:  politicians are calling     for a revival of the draft.  Thus, the activism has picked     up again. ___ __  I suspect you’ll find that anti-draft activists are indeed _   the same people who have been protesting the buildup in the     Middle East for the last few months.  But now that there is     talk of reviving the draft, part of opposing the buildup is     to provide the information that draft resisters and consci-     entious objectors may need.     <_Jym_ ::/  o o  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/   |   :: :: ___/ /::: Disclaimer:  "I’m sorry . . . that’s :::  /|  /:: :::`—–’::::::::::::::::  Mr. Caffeine speaking!" ::::`—–’:::

Response:

Filed under: Activism

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