The pros (ain't none) and cons of the draft

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050603/NEWS/506030341/1036

Military Recruiting Begins to Falter

Does anybody feel a draft coming on? Probably not yet. Although it made for great campaign fodder during the 2004 presidential campaign, nobody in official Washington is seriously talking about a return to a Vietnam-era military draft. snip

Next year, the Army will need 80,000 replacements for active duty soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. If current recruiting trends hold, the service may have less than 8,000 recruits ready for basic training.

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[formerrepuke]

1. ...and it's the only job that can't be outsourced to Asia.. (or can it?)

[immoderate]

2. It's certainly been done before.

Foreign mercenaries fought for both sides in the Revolution.

--IMM

[bryant69]

3. The problem isn't the draft

The problem is money. Bush and his gang of morons can't admit that fighting a war is expensive or it might impact the sacred tax cuts.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Postman]

4. There is no shortage of troops....

How many troops are stationed at bases, other than Iraq or Afghanistan, all over the globe?......Thousands.

Isn't THAT empire?

[pansypoo53219]

5. well, one pro is

it would finally wake the fuckin sheeple.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Ya think?

Never underestimate the stupidity of the masses. Bush who should have lost in a landslide won the election...

Don

[Ekirh]

8. The thing is...

If a Draft was to occur many of these chickenhawks who support the war... will immediately be against it and outrage if they were made to go fight the war they so loved to cheer on.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Draft don't work that way except in peoples imaginations

Got money or connections you don't get drafted. Simple as that. Always been that way. Even the Civil War.

Don

[Ekirh]

12. Yah...

That is true as well.

[tabasco]

10. Hell yes it would wake the sheeple !

These sofa-bound hawks support war as long as they are only watching it on tv. It makes them proud to be Americans to watch us blow the shit out of some third world country. If these yellow motherfuckers like college republicans faced the prospect of getting their ass in the grass, they would cry for peace and a reasonable foreign policy.

[seabeyond]

7. pro's.....there are too pro's

my neighbor that voted for bush, because it was other people who were sending hteir sons off to battle to keep her safe, will start reflecting how much danger we are really in, and if it really is necessary for son to go die, and i assure you, the women i know with sons will all conclude, the middle east and muslims really arent that scary

yes there are pro's to draft

[BrotherBuzz]

9. Hackwoth saw a 'pro' about the draftee

"Even when they pissed me off, I had to admit there was something I liked about the draftees who didn't want to be there and made no bones about it. I like draftees in general, even with the attendant problems. Historically draftees have kept the military on the straight and narrow. By calling a spade a spade, they keep it clean. Without their "careers" to think about, they can't be easily bullied or intimidated as Regulars; their presence prevents the elitism that otherwise might allow a Regular army to become isolated from the values of the country it serves. Draftees are not concerned for the reputation of their employer, the Army (in Vietnam they happily blew the whistle an everything from phony valor awards to the secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia); a draftee, citizens' army, so much a part of the history of America, is an essential part of a healthy democracy, one in which everyone pays the price Of admission." - Col. David Hackworth from his book About
Face

[NNN0LHI]

13. Hackworth did a lot of things in his life

Getting drafted was not one of them. Waxing poetic about something one has never experienced is nice.

Don

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. That paragraph seems to imply he dealt with draftees

and saw the difference between them and the "regulars."

[NNN0LHI]

16. Yes. Naturally the draftees would be more prone to dis the establishment

Those who sign up already have bought the bullshit. But I would imagine looking at this from the draftees viewpoint that difference is small consolation for what is about to happen to them. Namely they are going to be flown to the other side of the world to kill or be killed by some guy who just wants Americans to leave his country and quit stealing his oil. Don't sound good.

Don

[BrotherBuzz]

15. Those words were his reflections on draftees in general...

and those words spoke loudly to this dumb draftee after hearing Rumsfeld insult me with his famous bombastic 'draftees added "no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time." statement.

I don't want to see the return of the draft but there is merit to the idea of staging a 'citizens army'.