Answer To America’s Civics Crisis: Should we bring back the draft?
First I would like to say this is not a fact based article or essay. This is purely my subjective opinion and preference for why I believe there were benefits to having a military draft in place. What I am about to write about is perhaps one of the most unpopular opinions to hold in the 21st century. If you ask most anyone today they would say that you are an authoritarian or “war monger”. How could you support forcing anyone to fight in war, when you yourself are not a veteran of war? What if it were your own children? I’m going to attempt to make this argument as sensible as possible. Something is noticeably absent from this nation’s economy in the 21st century, and that is the idea of civic engagement. I myself am an American with many left leaning views on politics, and yet if you asked me what are we missing today I would tell you military conscription.
I may not be the only left leaning mindset that believes in what I am about to tell you. Cenk Yugar from the Young Turks also holds a similar viewpoint. I also want to say that I have never served in the military in any way or form. It would have meant I would see direct combat. The United States is one of only few developed nations in the world that does not have some form of conscription. In almost all of Europe and Asia and South America, you will be serving in the military at one point in your life in some form. This will most likely not include combat roles. You will be serving the infrastructure of your country and it will bring you pride. This is why I support the idea of a draft. The draft did one thing, it provided an outlet for Americans to serve their country in noncombat rolls. What do I mean? Without further ado I believe we should dive into the history of what the draft actually really was. It’s often brought up in criticisms of the Nixon administration, arguments about the 1960s counterculture, and the general consensus today is that eliminating it was the right decision. To understand my argument for bringing back conscription, you have to understand the history of how it was implemented under various administrations.
Before We Ended The Draft
The United States “draft” as we know it is what shaped the United States of America we all know and love today. It was first setup and required in 1862, to bring soldiers into the Union Army by Lincoln. This was better known as the Second Amendment, which actually had meaning about keeping a well regulated militia, necessary to the security of a free state.
Joining the military was the first signs of becoming a man. It was that first sense of adulthood and responsibility that every American, no matter how privileged would join as a civic duty. The idea of a military draft was rather a great democratic equalizer. This was a time period when even celebrities had to serve. It didn’t matter your background or how wealthy you were. If you were an American citizen, you served your country. Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, actor Ronald Reagan, Tom Selleck, and Jan Michael Vincent just to name a few who participated in the nation’s old draft system.
Rock Stars Who Served In The Military
22 famous people who served in the military
Directly above is a photo of President George W. Bush. He joined the Texas National Guard in 1968 where he spent two years in flight training and another four years in part-time service. He was honorably discharged after the war after having never served combat. This is the kind of service I would like to highlight without adding criticism. This was at one point a very common path of service, and rather unknown for those who today believe that all the military does is wage wars. That begs the question, are the line cooks and graphic designers burning down villages?
At Height of Vietnam, Bush Picks Guard
Before the 1970s because we had the draft, we made it a point not to federalize the National Guard or Army Reserves. That was my grandfather. To avoid getting drafted out in Vietnam, he served in the National Guard in 1964. He was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. However he only had to commit to one year of service, and then once a week he would report to a station in Boston for a class in the Guard at the local barracks. This is where he learned a trade that he still holds today at 73 years old. Today he receives veterans discounts at every store because he served our country for four years. He wasn’t super macho rambo man with muscles. He was just an average person that was given an opportunity through the military, with a steady paycheck that raised my mother and bought a starter home.
At that time he was already married and had kids by the age of 23. He gets military benefits today. He got educated in the field at a company he still works at today. He never saw combat once because during that time the National Guard was never federalized, and it was also a time when we had four times as many military bases on American shores than we do now including shipyards which have mostly gone away. That was during a time when the military accepted everyone more or less. It was more considered a place for high school dropouts and “get out of jail” cards. A common phrase used to be “10 in the pen or 4 in the corp”. Can you believe that? Marine Corp used to be considered an option for criminals to get out of prison? Military used to be a way to avoid jail sentences, where they would say you have a choice of serving a sentence or joining the Army and serving your country. Sometimes you didn’t even need to serve in combat, and if you were not serving a jail sentence you could join the National Guard or Reserve. Jerry Garcia was perfect example of this.
The Causal Effect of Military Conscription on Crime and Labor
“According to McNally, in 1960 Garcia used one of his last paychecks from the Army to purchase a 1950 Cadillac. This was Jerry Garcia’s first car. He “stole” his mother’s car, which triggered a juvenile delinquency charge that led to his enlisting. In the Army itself, Garcia ended up in the motor pool, and apparently drove missile trucks around the base where he learned to drive.” — Hooterollin’ Around Magazine
More or less the military today is considered a career choice all together rather than as a form of public service requirement. When we had the draft, combat and other forms of serving your country were a gift for Americans who were at the lowest point of their life. Did you ever wonder why on monopoly boards there is a get out of jail free card? Well your draft card in the 1950s and the 1960s would have been just that. It was a way for those in poverty to lift themselves into a respected future and away from drug addiction, but unfortunately we don’t have an outlet today to not violently serve your country. Ending the draft changed this. It must be remembered that with our draft system under Roosevelt, every able bodied American male aged 18 to 35 received a free four year college education and housing paid for by government when they returned. This included over 8 million Americans who were automatically put into the middle class. It also encouraged Americans to get a college education, because you could also avoid the draft and military if you were attending college. There were many ways to avoid fighting in a war that we don’t talk about anymore. President Bill Clinton didn’t dodge the draft, he got a deferment because he was attending school. This was at a time when public colleges in many states were practically tuition free, and military would even pay for your education when you got back.
It’s popular to say this and history has been rewritten many times, but there was no excuse for spitting on and burning draft cards other than if you disagreed with the war being fought. There were so many avenues to avoid combat. The history books make it sound as if Vietnam veterans were forced to go to Vietnam. Some were indeed forced and we will get to that, but most soldiers voluntarily went because they wanted to serve their country. 97% of soldiers that fought in Vietnam were volunteers or ran through selective services under LBJ. Of the 9,087,000 military personnel who served on active duty from 1964 to 1975, less than 3% were drafted under Nixon’s Lottery. We conveniently leave that part out of history books. However even those numbers are inflated, because only 38% of draftees were actually selected to transfer over to Vietnam and the rest were never deployed even though their numbers were called. Remember that is 38% of 3%. You would even have to break it down even more, because not all those that went to Vietnam fought in actual combat situations. DCAS files report that draftees from 1964 to 1975 accounted for roughly 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam, and that was out of 2.7 million Americans that ended up serving in Vietnam. So that means out of the 9 million who were on active military duty during Vietnam, only 17 thousand were actual causalities that fought in combat which is a pretty significant observation. Please remember this is during war time as an example of a worst case scenario at the height of the Vietnam War.
The same can be said for many wars and using the largest war in world history WWII as a worst case example, we can observe there were a reported 291,557 American causalities that died in battle. That seems like a lot which it certainly is, but in comparison to the more than 17 million American that served on active duty in some capacity during WWII that starts to draw a bigger picture. The most dangerous battle of Normandy of the 156,000 allied forces that stormed beach on D-Day, there were 2,500 confirmed casualties. Many have the unrealistic idea that all the military does is bomb villages and shoot civilians and draw blood. It ignores the thousands of careers and educational opportunities which exist for those enlisted that do not involve ever dropping a bomb or shooting at someone. With modern military tactics and warfare and technology there is significantly less causalities than past warfare. Consider at the height of the Iraq War from 2003 to 2007 there were under 3500 casualties out of the 2.7 million that served in that war. In the modern era there are regularly less than 20 reported casualties a year in Afghanistan. Modern warfare increasingly involves robotics and drones and less men on the front line. Instead of ten thousand charging into an open field, it’s now one person with a joystick sitting on an office chair. The overwhelming majority of those who serve are not involved in direct combat decisions and this is increasingly true. Why? The most powerful peace initiative came to be the understanding of mutual destruction and the development of the atom bomb that brought a new era of peace.
What you probably oppose is the idea of the “lottery draft” which took away deferments. Towards the end of the Vietnam War the Guard and Reserves started to become overcrowded, and that is when they started getting more selective about who they allowed in. This is where the draft fell apart, and the “fortunate ones” started finding it easier to avoid combat. That is perfectly fair criticism and this brings us to a perfect time to begin this debate. Let’s transition over to discussing the beginning of our modern military and how this drastically changed the way our democracy operates.
Modern Military Age
The year would be in 1969 when President Nixon introduced the Lottery Draft program for Vietnam, removing for the first time in America’s history the exemption from the draft from students pursuing STEM degrees. Nixon also ended what was called occupational deferments for STEM, farming, or manufacturing jobs in 1970. That was if you were already a productive member of American society with an established career, you had a deferment because your fight was keeping the workforce alive at home. At the same time Nixon made the decision to end the Apollo manned space flight missions and as a nation we would never return to the moon again, removing the photograph of the Earthrise a lasting artifact of human exploration from the oval office. All of a sudden our nation took away the incentive for young and bright students of the country to making the deciding factor of serving their country either through the military or through a field in engineering and science, and we instead began to farm out to other nations for workers. It could be argued that in that era was the first actions that moved us away from being the leaders of science, as we were one of the few democracies to introduce such a draft program. Today there is zero incentive to serve the country’s industrial base, and we saw this observing the college entry rates.
When Nixon Stopped Human Exploration
“The college entry rate of young men rose from 54 percent in 1963 to 62 percent in 1968 (the peak year of the draft). Moreover, both the college entry rate and the number of inductions dropped sharply between 1968 and 1973 as the draft was being phased out” — Berkely College
Nixon’s idea for the draft was so horrific that it resulted in bipartisan support for elimination of the draft entirely. Military conscription does not have to be that way though like in many other parts of the world where it is still a great success at uplifting citizens in poverty. Nixon’s lottery was a complete and utter failure of military policy during that time, and removed the encouragement for Americans to pursue higher education. This also went hand in hand with a more relaxed and working class background and dress code. Such as beard growing contests, the allowance of long hair in the United States military under a Supreme Court ruling. By eighteen years of age you were given the freedom to drink and smoke, and ships and Army bases would frequently have fashion shows where they would invite on board scandalous looking women in revealing clothing. The military is substantially more selective than it used to be especially during the Vietnam War about who they want to serve and who they give the opportunity to collect a paycheck.
It all started in 1971 in the state of New York. The Suffolk County Police Department started cracking down on police officers that were starting to grow beards and long hair. After all it was the 70s, and that was in style. The new dress code took place August 1st, 1971 by Police Commissioner Eugene R. Kelley. It said that police officers must wear their hair “neat, clean, trimmed, and “without touching the ears or the collar.” This was in attempt to take on the new war at home. For a lot of police officers were coming back from Vietnam, and police units were encouraged to take on a “para-military” or “quasi military” uniformity of appearance. To confront groups like SDS, Weather Underground, and Black Panthers. As longer hair was now being used as a symbol for rebellion and communism. Well the Suffolk County Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association started a country wide protest movement against new restrictive dress codes, and told police officers to start wearing their hair long and growing a mustache. This also spread throughout the Navy and Army during Vietnam.
The police union president Thomas Dwen first in 1971 ended up filing a lawsuit against the police department in Brooklyn court, but was dismissed until it made its way to the circuit court of appeals in New York. The state of New York ruled in 1973 in Kelly v Johnson, that the Suffolk County Police Department was found in violation of the 14th amendment. That hair dress codes could not be enforced.
U.S. Court Rules Police Have a Right to Long Hair
“The Court of Appeals went on to decide that “choice of personal appearance is an ingredient of an individual’s personal liberty” and is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Discipline, although essential to an effective police force, as it is to the military, is clearly of a different type,” according to the judge, who added that the Police did not need the type of “instant unquestionIng obedience” required in the military.” — New York Times (8/23/1973)
This gave officers and military the freedom across the country to now disobey their police department, because they were now constitutionally protected under the 14th amendment. So that is why for most of the 1970s, almost all police officers and military started wearing long hair and growing facial hair such as beards and the signature long mustache. It was a new era of freedom.
“We are very glad now that we have the right of other citizens in other occupations to wear their hair in style with the times are as they prefer to wear it individually.” — Police Union
This not only happened in the United States, this spread to militaries around the word. In the 1970s the German military for 15 months allowed soldier to grow their hair for as long as they liked, in an attempt to reflect the changing attitude and times. My basic point is that, military service was more approachable at one point in time. The military in this century has become very selective in regards to who they allow in. Let’s discuss this.
In 1973, Richard Nixon declared a permanent end to the draft for the first time in America’s history. This would have a Nixon shock
U.S. military draft ends, Jan. 27, 1973
We used to have a lot more options for serving in the military before the 1980’s, which included serving domestically not overseas. When we removed the draft we also removed hundreds of military bases across the country under the Nixon administration, eliminating close to 50,000 federal jobs in the United States in April of 1973. Including Westover Field in Chicopee, Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, and Boston Navy Yard among many of the Army and Navy shipyards which were closed down during the oil crisis.
“In Massachusetts, the economic impact of such a move will be enormous, even if it occurs gradually. It was brutally unfair in not giving the congressional delegation from the two states advance word on the cuts. — House Majority Leader Thomas P. O’Neil (1973 statement)
In 1977, President Carter within the first days of his presidency pardoned draft evaders from prison and destroyed their criminal records in what was known as “blanket amnesty” for those who evaded their call to action.
For what is was worth, the unintended consequence of doing this was that it ultimately destroyed the idea of independent militias and the definition of war. It was an extremely unpopular decision at the time. Senator Barry Goldwater famously called it “the most disgraceful thing a president has ever done,” while then-director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars described it as sadder “than Watergate or Vietnam itself.” The general public seemed to agree. Since the draft was ended, there would be no more reason to declare wars anymore. Since we didn’t have to open up a draft anymore, we could just circumvent the army and use our National Guard and Reserve. Since Desert Storm, our national guard has been in a permanent case of federal control. NPR says below what the consequences have been.
International Guard: How The Vietnam War Changed Guard Service
“During those conflicts, joining the guard was seen as a way to avoid the draft; during America’s recent wars, the guard and reserve made up nearly half the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“Wars were going to be quick — and quiet. But, Wiest says, after the draft ended in 1973, the Army had little choice.” — NPR
The big thing was that pardoning draft evaders took away any leverage groups such as the American Deserters Committee had for pardoning dishonorably discharged veterans from Vietnam. Part of the original opposition to pardoning draft dodgers, was that you don’t pardon evaders before you pardon dishonored veterans that disproportionally affected lower income communities. Where as the draft card burners made up of predominantly upper middle class and white college students. More than 800,000 Vietnam Veterans were given less than honorable discharges during the war either because of drug addiction or mental health breakdowns. These veterans were not considered for a discharge upgrade until the year 2014. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans were stripped of their rights to access VA medical care, military scholarships to colleges, and military pensions in older age because of the precedent that Carter set first. This continues to affect veterans to this day.
Vietnam-era soldiers eligible for discharge upgrades
“A Harvard University report in 2016 found that more than 125,000 veterans have received other than honorable discharges since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.” — Army Times
Today we are one of the only developed nations in the world without military conscription. We are one of the only developed democracies where a vast majority of its citizens believe the military is something we should reduce or disrespect instead of belonging to your very own community as a nation or identity. Ironically one of the original arguments against the draft was that wealthy affluent college students could avoid fighting out in war, where as those in working class families were destined for military service. Regardless of conscription or no conscription, if that is the argument then it would also be true in an all volunteer Army. You can break up and find any numbered data or statistics to back up an argument, but the matter of the fact is that every single poor family in America cannot afford a college education with the current prices that are being charged by universities. It makes the military that much more enticing to working class families as opposed to those in the upper wealth class and switching to a volunteer military did not change this. You don’t often find recruiters walking around Yale or Harvard.
Another argument that was originally made for ending the draft was that it was going to stop the wars. Well that is partially true in that we no longer declare wars, and instead pursue military conflicts without going through Congress. Remember a draft could only be invoked through Congressional power. The largest war fought in world history WWII was fought for less than four years. The United States has now been occupying Afghanistan for three decades. Ironically the developed nations around the world that have military conscription are among the most peaceful with least amount of poverty. This has led to the privatization of our military in the form of “blackwater” agents. The United States is more tempted to even support what are known as proxy militaries to circumvent declaring any wars through Congress. They are called PMC’s, and I recommend that anyone who want a better understanding about them read P.W. Singers book Corporate Warriors.
The creeping privatization of America’s armed forces | Opinion
“Since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the number of global PE firms has increased from just a few hundred to more than 6,500, and the assets they manage have increased from under $500 million to more than $4.6 trillion. Their only purpose is to make very high returns on risky investments by drastically cutting costs and boosting revenue because they want to move on to the next investment as quickly as possible, and all of this is done out of the public’s eye.” — Newsweek Magazine
This is all fine when applied to ketchup and automotive companies. But what about when applied to private military contractors?
This destroyed military access. As consequence, branches of the military today are far more selective about who they choose from educated backgrounds. Why would they take on a drug dealer with a bad attitude, when they can hire a private contractor with a factory of already trained men?
Just in the year prior in 1976, the dress code ruling was brought all the way to the Supreme Court for another look. Now read carefully, this is the sole reason why law enforcement and military can no longer wear long hair. In a 6–2 ruling, SCOTUS decided to reverse the decision made by New York.
Hair Codes for Policemen Upheld by Supreme Court
“Delivering the majority opinion, Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist said that people who worked for government agencies had “no absolute constitutional right” to wear any hair style. Police departments, he said, could enforce grooming codes if there was a “rational basis” for such regulations.” — New York Times (4/06/1976)
So starting in the year 1977, people who worked for government agencies no longer had a constitutional right to wear their hair long and grow facial hair. So departments and military started adopting much stricter dress codes in 80’s, and by the 1990’s that was pretty much forgotten history.
During the 1990’s the military started developing very discriminatory requirements that either hurt or help you chances of being accepted into all branches of the military especially Coast Guard and Navy. In theory we become a racist and sexist exclusive country club of the “best” of society based on selectivity, rather than as a means to lift yourself out of crime and poverty or obesity as an opportunity given to every American to serve. This was in the form of racial quotas and appearance tests, and also past history of medical records in regards to diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorders. Just read some of these publications about what is happening now.
Race Quotas Divide Military, Bush
“Tell that to West Point, where numeric targets by race are set at 10–12 percent black and 25 percent minority. West Point does not have to meet those targets, but the Army thinks because its rank and file exceeds 30 percent minority, a diverse officer corps is critical to military teamwork. — CBS News (6/06/2003)
“How come numeric targets used to find minority students are unconstitutional at the University of Michigan, but essential at West Point? Do we really want our country to go down this path?” — Bush Administration (2003 Statement)
Further mainstream publications discussed the new mental aptitude tests which are discriminating and putting harsher education guidelines on who will and can be accepted into serving their country.
Why ADHD Restrictions for Military Service Are Unfair
“The problem with the military’s guidelines is that they label and discourage a population of people at the outset. Each branch’s waiver customs may well allow for consideration of the person. But as written, the military is arbitrarily enforcing a blanket policy on people with IEPS.” — Attitude Magazine
Why is it so hard to join the military now?
“Up until three or so years ago, enlistment waivers were relatively common, especially for the Army. The services would routinely waive disqualification factors, such as criminal history, minimum ASVAB scores, and even age to meet their monthly recruiting goals. Three years ago, about 20 percent of new Army enlistees had a GED instead of a high school diploma, and the Army even operated a special course to help potential enlistees get a GED. Those days seem to be gone. Very few waivers are now being approved. Why should the military take a chance on a waiver, when there are hundreds of applicants, waiting in line to join, who don’t need one? — Balance Careers Magazine
On top of that the requirements have become more strict and more intensive. Roughly 80% of military recruits today are turned down. With less federally employed in the military today after we consolidated in the 1970s, we also began massively cutting military salaries and benefits paid to recruits. Many enlistments are demanded to work longer hours with less benefits as the government struggles to find volunteers that meet stricter standards. I’ll tell you a story about this. When I was growing up I was obsessed with nuclear technology. In my early 20’s I was real interested in joining the Navy and becoming a Nuke, because I’ve always wanted to work in a nuclear power plant as an operator. I did not want to go the college route because I was not interested in engineering and was not brilliant at math. Navy was extremely intriguing path I looked into and I was very close to joining.
Many veterans and active military I talked with warned me it was be a huge life commitment. In other words it wasn’t just showing up, getting free training, turning a few valves for a few years and leaving. That area of the military in particular is about saying goodbye to your social life and family for the next decade. With all the watches, training sessions, and work shift, you will go on average one to two days without sleep. I learned this involves 10–14 hour days not including duty which was every third day where you have to be on board 24 hrs then work straight into the next work day, creating the 36 hour work day. If you join the Navy on average you have 1 full weekend a month when in Port. 120 hour work weeks when IN PORT! The Navy is actively trying to cut out a lot of the extraneous sea time.
So essentially if you have any family, any responsibilities outside of the military you can kiss that goodbye for 6 years of full commitment. On top of that you will be listed in reserve for another 2 years, where you can be called back at anytime. I truly believe more would want to join the military if it didn’t mean they would not see their family for a decade. If you actually had real vacations, and could get the optimal 8 hours of sleep that everyone needs to stay healthy and keep their mind observant. This would require more manpower and more shifts and would cost the military more because they would need to hire more people. This has become the norm in many branches of the military with reduced freedom to travel and more strenuous hours. There actually is a downside to downsizing manpower of the military. They say oh but you’re getting paid more. They don’t get it. Money isn’t everything. Less men and downsizing is not good.
Very rarely from what I am told is anyone granted leave regularly. In other words the military will grant you 30 days of guaranteed vacation a year, but very rarely will you get to use it. Command encourages leave during stand-downs, the crew does not. Recruit leave (for when you graduate RTC) used to be automatic, but then it was prohibited for all but a few special circumstances. Especially when you’re the new guy, and in the military a “new guy” is someone who is on his first tour. It can get very political. You probably won’t go home for Christmas, which means kiss family goodbye for the decade. That’s honestly why a lot of families end up buying a home on a military base today known as “military brats”, or even moving all your relatives in homes close to where you are stationed. It’s a huge commitment to make now. When in the past there may have been a large numbers of military bases located around the country closer to your home, today there are only a handful of shipyards left that handle nuclear submarines. You will have to move frequently and farther away as we closed down many of the local bases that once existed.
That’s why it’s so recommended to join when you are young, single, no responsibilities to look out for. I am 25 years of age right now. That means I would have to serve until I was 44 years of age to retire including another 6 years of reserve when you could have to go back. If you started at 18 you could retire at 38 with pensions which is a little better. Even if I wanted to do one tour right now I would not get out of the Navy until I was 32 and would be on reserve until I was 38 years of age. That would be 32 years old with no relationship with any person or job history outside of the military, no history of owning property, and I would leave with zero benefits. Both my parents and grandfather would most likely have passed by the time I get back. They are already pushing 60. My grandfather is 80. These are family members I am in the process of taking care of which is a huge responsibility. If I did start up a new career after coming back home, I could be forced to leave my family and occupation at any moment if I was called back to serve. This makes me respect current members of active duty even more. It’s a huge commitment that basically signs away your life for a period of many decades.
Quitting is not an option either. You just can’t just decide one day that you can’t handle the responsibilities or stress anymore and abandon your ship or base. If you give up and run away you will go to prison. It’s extremely hard to be granted a deferment unless you convince them that they want to get rid of you. They will do everything in there power to push you to extreme limits because they are paying you good money and giving you all the benefits that military members get. Although raising salaries has been used as an excuse to decrease manpower and push for longer hours. That’s why they make you go through basic training to make sure you can handle it. The military really is no joke and that reputation is not a lie. You are giving away a good chunk of your life to the military industrial complex. That’s why people who stay committed and keep reenlisting are so highly respected, and why reenlistment benefits and salaries are so high. Some people don’t get through basic training let alone commit their lives long enough to become an admiral of a ship or Army General. Way too many don’t have a grasp for how much commitment it truly takes. The military is your new family and that is how it operates today.
A huge factor was my prior history of Attention Deficit Disorder and medication for most of my life. In elementary school and middle school I had an IEP where I was placed in special education with learning disabilities for my supposed disorders. The military today does not look on too kindly to this situation, despite critics wanting the military to be more lenient like during the draft era of conscription. I’m pretty sure my grandfather would be diagnosed with attention problems today had he grown up in a different era. I quickly came to the conclusion talking to a recruiter I wouldn’t be accepted. I learned if you are serious about getting an education through the military, it’s a decades long commitment today. It’s definitely not the same atmosphere it once was and my relatives agree. They don’t want people who are not serious about making the military their lifelong career. I’m sure military members reading this would agree, it’s nothing to joke about. If you are raising children, getting married, your wife is pregnant, or you are watching over a sick relative the military is not a place for you. It’s an amazing experience for the right person, for those who want to leave their current life situation and start a new. You have to have the right mind for it and have the ability to pick up information fast. For those who have no other responsibilities in their life or no other future dreams. That’s why I recommend after talking to many recruiters over the years, if you want to join the military don’t wait until you’re in your mid or late 20’s. Start while you are young so that when you do leave the military your life is not already more than half way over.
We can look at how military conscription works in other countries. Denmark service lasts 4 months. Sweden lasts 9–12 months, which also includes “Conscientious Objectors” that are given alternative community service requirements where they are given a paycheck and education. Norway lasts 19 months where they are given healthcare and leave with military pensions. Switzerland lasts 5 months where each citizen undergoes a mental evaluation before they are trained in automatic firearms handling. Brazil is 12 months. Finally Russia, the monster of the Far East have a military draft of 1 year. Would that be a good idea for American citizens?
So you ask if I support a military draft? I do support a draft, if in consequence our National Guard and Army Reserve would be federalized less often. I think we should write laws in some form that bring back a mandatory conscription in a way to serve your country, but keeps direct combat overseas optional. I think that would be a good compromise. We could even bring back Civilian Conservation Corps and involve Peace Corps as well. When we had conscription the solider after enlistment were given access to college education, healthcare, housing and job training that large swaths of Americans don’t have access to today. Not to mention it’s a huge resume builder for jobs. Any job recruiter that reads you served in military will give you almost an automatic leg up on someone who hasn’t fighting for the same position. It was tradition. It was honor. It meant respect. It taught important lessons and life skills. This is a serious problem today in America, a lack of community and civic involvement. We should give Americans back the opportunity to serve their country in the form of a right rather than a privilege. Unfortunately the opinion I hold is not a very popular one today.
The Strange Disappearance of Civic America
“Membership records of such diverse organizations as the PTA, the Elks club, the League of Women Voters, the Red Cross, labor unions, and even bowling leagues show that participation in many conventional voluntary associations has declined by roughly 25 percent to 50 percent over the last two to three decades. Surveys show sharp declines in many measures of collective political participation, including attending a rally or speech (off 36 percent between 1973 and 1993), attending a meeting on town or school affairs (off 39 percent), or working for a political party (off 56 percent).” — American Political Science Association
I not only believe that a draft would protect our means to force declarations on war, I also believe that it can provide a great way to serve your country and lift yourself out from rock bottom like it did for my grandfather. Isn’t that an amazing way to end poverty? Allow you to serve your country in honor. Give you a uniform and food and shelter? Leave with a trade and eduction? A lot of veterans go on to work at NASA, college professors, hospitals, and some of the largest American industrial and engineering companies like in every major nuclear power plant in the commercial sector. The ability to serve your nation should be granted as a right to each and every citizen, as that is how you engage involvement in your own country. I believe it was a huge disservice to our workforce economy in closing down majority of military bases around the country during the 1970s. In consequence it has become much more difficult to be accepted into the branch of the military. Moving towards an all volunteer military was really code for privatizing the military and working around Congress for war power, something that Nixon administration was interested in doing. People take for granted how beneficial military research and training bounces back into the private sector. There are many mainstream news publications who have published similar op-eds.
Want to end America’s forever wars? Bring back the draft
“To the dismay of anti-war liberals and leftists, the volunteer military has not reduced war but instead facilitated easier commitment of US troops to conflicts abroad. The end of the draft severed most Americans’ obligations to the military. Fifty years ago, with a draft in place, critiques of the military were commonplace and uncontroversial. Today, few citizens, much less elected officials, dare critique the military. Civilians defer to the military because they have been taught that those distant troops “fight for us” and that those who haven’t “worn the uniform” have not earned the right to comment on the military.” — Vox Magazine
If Americans want to know why we don’t have the same passion in the streets for opinions about the wars which are being waged like in the last century, perhaps it’s because Americans are so disconnected today from serving. I think we have a few generations of Americans who have never served their country before in the military, including myself which I am not proud of. It’s a shame because I believe wearing the uniform makes you a humble human being and teaches you respect, and I think our country would be better off if we promoted civic duty at home instead of discouraging it by rewarding wealthy draft dodgers of our society. By giving every American the guaranteed right to serve their country without seeing combat which overwhelming majority of the military does not. I think it would also help in reducing crime and poverty like it did in the past. Something to think about.
