We Need a Limited Military Draft (Op-ed are getting wild)

submitted by SmockSignalsDeft-Wing Rationalist from military.com

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[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is BS from the get-go:

Since 1775, our nation has used a combination of volunteers and draftees to meet our national defense personnel needs, especially in times of crisis.

Early government leaders didn't believe in a standing army and didn't believe in foreign wars. I'm not even sure they used conscription in the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812 as this writer is suggesting. In the War of 1812, the closest thing I've found in Georgia is that county militias were put into federal service for 6-month stints, but this also qualified them for bounty land and federal pensions.

[–][deleted]  (4 children)

[deleted]

    [–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    Outstanding suggestion.

    [–]risistill me 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    I wasn't going to read Molly Ivins Shrub because the world has moved on, but then I decided to read it anyway. I haven't gotten far yet, but this is my second post from Shrub today.

    Based on another author's book, Ivins concluded that only one child of a member of Congress was wounded during the Vietnam War. Few saw active duty, even if they served--even if they were in Vietnam itself--and many, like Shrub himself, did not serve in the "real" military at all. (Contrary to the belief of some, the Texas Air National Guard, from which Shrub eventually deserted, is not the same as the National Guard.)

    On the flip side, standards for being a member of the military were lowered to an IQ of sixty. And a disproportionate number of those who were in the military due to lowered standards saw active duty and, perhaps not surprisingly, a disproportionate number of them also died.

    [–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    I had no idea they enlisted men who tested in the range of mild mental retardation, that's just abominable. On the other, I'd never heard the numbers but it doesn't surprise me at all. I'll bet they only gave college deferments because that's the only way they could justify keeping the elites' sons from being drafted.

    [–]risistill me 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    that's just abominable.

    Are you against economic opportunity for persons of lower IQ? After all, lowering the minimum IQ for military service was part of the Great Society program. Dying in Vietnam ends one person's poverty and gets a loved one a death benefit, in addition to swelling the ranks of "our" fighting forces. Win win win.

    /s (In my experience, the "/s" always has been necessary)

    On edit: My first post about this should have specified that the 1 wounded number was based on a 1970 report. Ivins doesn't mention whether or not the report covered only one year or the war up to the date covered by the report.

    [–]Friday_The_13thRussian Bot 7 insightful - 3 fun7 insightful - 2 fun8 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

    Why would we need a draft when we have the largest military in the world and aren't at war? Huh, Joe? War declarations are soooooo 1940's, and drafts are sooooooo 1970's.

    [–]MeganDelacroix🤡🌎 detainee 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Joe Plenzler is a retired combat decorated Marine lieutenant colonel who served as the strategic advisor for communication to three successive Commandants of the Marine Corps from 2010 to 2015.

     

    Obviously did a fantastic job.

    Rule of thumb: if you retire at O5 I want to see a missing limb.

    [–]BlackhaloPurity Pony: Pусский бот 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    Recruiting must not be going well. With UPS paying $100K... Why get shot?

    US Media Begins Calls For US Military Draft

    [–]risistill me 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    https://recruiting.army.mil/News/Article/2897062/army-offers-up-to-50k-in-enlistment-incentives/

    All military is not on active duty, or even overseas. This is the story of one of my relatives of a draftee during the Vietnam Era.

    He spent all his military time at a base in Brooklyn, NY. His salary was a pitiful $99 a month. He and his wife--they first married while he was serving--lived on the base--probably the most secure place to live in NYC. There was a laundry in the basement of the building. They got great prices on supermarket items, including filet mignon, shopping at the PX on base. They both smoked at the time and the PX practically gave cigarettes away. Their only expense was their phone bill. She got a job with decent pay in Manhattan. Of course, they got free medical care on the base.

    Through the USO in Manhattan, they got tickets to good to great seats at ballets, operas, movies, Broadway and off-Broadway shows, etc. (The house holds good to great seats until near the last minute, in case some VIPs show up. If not needed, they get donated to the USO.)

    If he wore his uniform, they might luck into free military flights, say from Germany to Paris. (IIRC, Lufthansa gave them a significant discount on a flight from NYC to Germany.) He would also qualify for discounts at US hotels. If he wore his uniform to filming of a quiz show, he might get plucked out of the audience to be a contestant. (That happened twice.)

    The financial downside was the shock they got after his discharge. Being inexperienced, they assumed that they could afford to live better after his discharge, when both of them could earn more than a token salary. Nowhere near, though. Besides, two salaries lasted only until she got pregnant. He was however, eligible for veteran's benefits, which helped greatly in, among other things, getting his doctorate.

    Of course, none of it made up for living with their hearts in their throats every day for two years, worrying if he might get sent to Vietnam. (The reason they married sooner than they planned was that he wanted her to get his death benefits if he got killed, something he did not tell her until well after they married.)