My son is prime draft age, is your kid?

[Philosoraptor]

I know there are two sides to this speculation about a draft being re-instated, some say it's a possibility, others say it ain't.

All I know is, my youngest son is 23, and prime fodder for the first war of the twenty first century, and I think I'd die myself is he was wasted for the neo cons gain.

Should we parents be concerned about the neo cons plans for our children's futures?

How would YOU react if one or more of your fine kids was drafted?

[soothsayer]

1. oh, the future draft will go up to age 42 or so, and will include women

I'm pretty sure.

[Philosoraptor]

2. My other son is 35, daughter 36, I guess they're all targets.

Never thought I'd live to see it, I hope history doesn't repeat itself.

[azurnoir]

7. I have a daughter who turns 20 next week

we've been fielding calls from recruiters since she was 17. How many ways can you just say NO

[kdmorris]

8. My daughter turns 20 in October

I know what you mean about fending off recruiters. Last year, SHE went seeking out military recruiters. I have never been so happy in my whole life that she is overweight and they wouldn't allow her to recruit.

She's just having a little rebellion right now, I guess.

[Philosoraptor]

9. My niece arrived in Iraq last week, she's 31.

[azurnoir]

11. I wish her saftey and a swift end to the war.

My SO's cousin got back a couple of weeks ago, thankfully in well and in one piece.

[helderheid]

34. Great. That includes my husband and I.

:scared:

[Swamp Rat]

3. Send him to Brazil

Once you go Brazilian, you never go back. ;) :D



:hi:

[Philosoraptor]

4. Ghhhaaaack!!!111

[Hippo_Tron]

5. So wait how many is a Brazilian again?

Just wondering how far I have to go before never going back.

[azurnoir]

6. That Brazilian thingy

Once you do it hurts like hell if you do it again and itches like hell if you don't, so best just not too.

[MisterHowdy]

22. Now there is milk all over my keyboard.

Funniest pic I've seen in a long time.
Makes me think of Vincent Price.

cheers

[shadowknows69]

10. My step son 1s 18

and they'll draft him over my wife's and my dead bodies.

[Daphne08]

12. Yes, both of them.

What would I do?

I'd be in the street protesting this insane war!

[WildEyedLiberal]

13. No, but I am.

And so are all my friends and cousins. Dammit, we're the one generation that voted for Kerry over Bush, and we're the ones who'd pay the ultimate price for a president we didn't even VOTE for. Hell no I won't go.

[Philosoraptor]

14. America has put up with a lot of crap lately.

But I don't think we'd take a draft lying down.

[rockymountaindem]

36. And yet we still get chewed out for "not being out in the streets"

Well, older generations, maybe "we" aren't out in the streets as much as *you* would like, but at least "we" aren't voting for Republicans as much as "you" older folks are. It works both ways.

[WildEyedLiberal]

58. No kidding

Not to mention that with this "great economy" most of us are trying to figure out how the hell we're supposed to pay off student loan debt, apartment rent, and insurance on our meager 20-30K annual salaries - maybe the people with more economic security should be the ones "out in the streets" since they aren't going to have to worry about getting evicted from their shitty apartments if they don't work the night shift on Saturday.

I swear, sometimes I think some of the older generation 60s-era liberals think we're all a bunch of trust fund kids with 4 iPods and a sports car, to which I can only reply: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[annabanana]

15. . . two sons, 18 & 20

You can't have my kid to prove your point. . pro-draft ghouls

[momzno1]

20. my boys are also 20 and 18

I will go absolutely berserk if there is a draft!
My kids will NOT die in a criminal war against their will - nor will they lose their piece of mind by getting PTSD!

[B Calm]

16. My son is 28 with a baby on the way and working on his masters..

[fasttense]

17. My 2 children are prime age for the draft.

I find it funny that all the radical right families I know don't have their eight sons (8 sons between two families) in the military, yet they continually ask why my son isn't in the military. Well, we are a military family with both my spouse and I having served. I say to them, "I'll send him after you send all your boys." They turn green and walk away.

[Bitwit1234]

18. I have grandsons and grand nephews that are of draft age

and grand neices also. And I am outraged at this administration for one more thing. It is bad enough when our children go off to fight in a just war, but and unjust war like Iraq is heart renching.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. 2 currently draft age, one soon will be there.

The people here who are offering to have my children taken by the government and sent to fight and die in fucked up wars really piss me off. If those folks wish to send their children to die for the kleptocracy, they should get them to the recruiting office.

[OzarkDem]

21. Two sons 17 & 21

Older one probably wouldn't be drafted but the baby turns 18 in another month. We're not far from Canada, the most likely place for him to go.

I didn't go to all the trouble to have them and raise them to let the warmongers turn them into cannon fodder.

[tnlurker]

23. Two

One is 19 the other is 22. The 22 year old briefly thought about joining the army a few years ago. I talked him out of it. Both still get called by recruiters all the time.

[mindfulNJ]

24. daughter 24, son 22 here...

Needless to say I DO NOT support a draft.

[fed-up]

25. My only son is 18 and they will have to pry him out of my cold, dead arms nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. They won't in the history of American Drafts

there is always an only child exception

but I am sure you didn't knows that

In my view, he should serve, stateside, but he should serve

[NaturalHigh]

26. No, not yet.

My daughter is 11, my son 12. With all the cannon fodder that a draft would make available, though, I'm sure we could be at war when they hit 18. For all I know, we will be anyway, and nobody is taking my kids off to fight in it.

[Shine]

27. My son is pushing 14.

I've got a Conscientious Objector file that I started for him back when he was about 8, which chronicles all the various peace rallies we've been to over the years, complete with pictures and articles. In one article he was even published with a quote, speaking out against War. :thumbsup:

It's my sincere hope that a draft never comes to pass in this country, but if it does, I feel I'm doing my part to protect him, as best as possible.

He's being raised as a young man who honors Peace and speaking out for it.

[DeeDeeNY]

28. I think my son may be exempt

because he's gay.

[RebelOne]

29. My grandson just graduated from high school

and he has been beseiged by recruiters. So he is fair game for a draft.

[rockymountaindem]

30. I'm prime draft age myself (20)

Of course, once I turn 21 I'll no longer be prime draft age, but it could still happen.

[WI_DEM]

31. I'd feel terrible if it were for a war like this. I still don't think the draft is coming back 'tho

the politicians are opportunistic and they know that backing a draft is political suicide.

[Sanctified]

32. My Son is 2 and luckily has dual citizenships.

If we are still fighting this stupid war in the next 15 years I am shipping his ass overseas and having him drop his American citizenship.

[blondeatlast]

33. My son is only 10 but goes to a school that is K-8. I knew this would come in handy.

School started for them yesterday and already one of my neighbors asked me if I knew about it--sure enough, I bookmarked this:

FAQ on Conscientious Objector Status...

http://www.serv.net/~techbear/writings/FAQ-CO.html

[blondeatlast]

35. Note this, DU: Objections to "this particular war" does not give you or

your child CO status--opposition to war must be a core belief, so your child can fight a war he/she objects to...

http://www.serv.net/~techbear/writings/FAQ-CO.html

[Lone_Star_Dem]

37. Yes, she is.

And I know that when I hear talk of a possible draft it scares the hell out of me.

The reality is that we cannot be a warring nation without a strong military. That means they need bodies, lots of disposable bodies. And those bodies are not enlisting at a rate anywhere close to enough to create the strong military needed for a warring nation. Something is going to have to give, and the neocons don't want it to be their wars.

If the people of America don't wise up and begin paying attention to who they're electing before they're in office we will have a draft. One more neocon as president and it's all but assured.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. Two nieces and the kids from my brother in law's

previous marriage are of prime military age, also a kid we raised, and who is almost a son to us.

He is of prime age

And the six kids have said in unequivocal terms that the only thing that will make them pay attention to this war is a draft.

[TahitiNut]

40. So, is there something more that can be done ...

... so the nation that our children and children's children inherit is not a plutocracy?

It's NOT about the draft ... it's about a nation that's abdicating it's self-governance!

Is it just fine that our neighbor's kids bear the burden? Is it OK ... as long as it's NIMBY?

Bullshit!

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Most folks don't get it

they truly don't

When they wake up and find out that they are no longer in the same country, they will ask HOW, WHY?

We will know the answer

[TahitiNut]

47. It's the myopia of individual self-interest to the exclusion of a common wealth.

We're infected with the virus of "win-lose" zero-sum thinking ... the politics of scarcity.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. Thanks to ronnie reagan

to be brutally honest, this is the ME generation

[TahitiNut]

49. "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

That was the politics of abundance. That was the clarion call to create an abundance of support, service, and appreciation for others - i.e. a 'nation.' It was assassinated.

"I have a dream" ... was assassinated.

The "resolution" to the Viet Nam war was to treat it as self-interest. Deactivate the draft (as soon as the majority of the affluent elite lost their privilege). So, the issue was framed as "how few can we have carry the burden?" That's when the current 30-year widening of the gulf between the have's and the have-not's began ... and the inequities in this nation have continued unabated since then. Sadly, too few have the perspective of age and experience - and are the "know it alls" who don't respect such a perspective and select only those who pander to narrow self-interest for 'guidance.'

We COULD regard the draft as "us" engaged in an equitable system of sharing the burden of service. Instead, it's framed as "them" conscripting "me" or "mine." In the very choice of framing it this way people CHOOSE to surrender their sovereignty and abdicate self-governance. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy ... we make it more so by accepting that very framing.

We have become a people seeking advantage, not equity.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. That we have

and I should, by all logic, join them,

I guess those ten years of service, albeit somewhere else, completely changed my perspective

That is why I beleive national service will be healthy for this country

And why the Governing Class will not, ultimately, pull that trigger, an engaged population is a dangerous population

[HughBeaumont]

51. Well, for the scenario you want . . .

138 million of us could rise up, abandon our livelihoods, financial situation be damned, and storm the White House and the homes of the uber-wealthy plutocrats like Lee Raymond, Dick Cheney, Larry Ellison, the China Mart Family, etc. The nation as well as the entire world's economy (especially our major trading partners, THANKS to said rich people, China and India) would be thrown into mass upheaval. Thousands upon thousands of us can get nuked and dusted by Blackwater, button-pusher Cheney and the police, all of whom would protect the interests of the "betters". Those that succeed somehow in getting past them and onto the homes of the rich and fascist will find them either suicided or fled to Paraguay. We wouldn't have a nation's capital because it'd be radiated or blood-drenched, as would our major cities.

And then what happens?

Would someone in the population know how to rebuild everything from scratch again? How long would that take? What sort of government would arise? What would stop it from being as predatory as the last one?

Your "blood in the streets" vision would have consequences none of us could even imagine. You think you're dealing with a Nixonesque bunch here? Those guys are long, LONG gone. This is an authoritarian by any means necessary corporatocracy now. They couldn't care less about our voice. They couldn't care LESS about our future. Time value of money models and mercenary economics are how they own and operate. 3-4 million people around the world were in the street. They went to occupy anyway.

At least Nixon, shitty of a president as he was, had a sense of country and legacy. These people don't care about popularity. They never have.

"Spare me the hyperbole" all you want . . . I want you to stop blaming the people for caring what happens to their children. My son is NOT getting sacrificed for the likes of Kellogg, Brown and Root. You think what's happening over in Iraq is a DEFENSE of our country's rights and freedoms?

I want to know how, when we elected a democratic congress to stop funding this war, that it is somehow OUR fault that they instead gave the Failure Fuhrer blank checks?

I want to know how, when I voice my opinion in protest in DC, it's my fault for not being disobedient enough to get an arrest record and a felony tacked to my ass while everyone else watches and turns their heads because of the very real fear of arrest and murder by goons?

I want to know WHY ANYONE, especially ANY CHILD, has to bear the burden AT ALL?

You once said that the worst thing anyone could do at all is destroy a child's hopes and dreams.

How is sending them to fiery mangled deaths by force for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING going to accomplish any kind of dream at all? All because you want to instill in them some appreciation and stake for a country that has nothing to give them except an insurmountable debt, lousy education, offshored jobs and no universal health care?

We TRIED caring. I guess we failed because we chose to go through life trying simply to pay our bills and raise our children right, which is difficult enough as it is. I guess we failed because the US isn't passionate enough to want to turn DC into a gorewash. You frog march politicians and you still have the corporations.

We already HAVE a plutocracy. Some of us are just a little less naive about it's presence.

[TahitiNut]

52. With that perspective, it can only get worse.

Yes, I realize it's a common perspective. That's most of WHY I say it's going to get worse - a LOT worse - before it gets better.

The price to be paid in terms of blood in the streets can only get higher.

Quisling saw it that way ... and the "Lone Ranger" wearing the uniforms of other nations came to the rescue. The Vichy saw it that way ... and the "Lone Ranger" wearing the uniforms of other nations came to the rescue.

Where's the Lone Ranger today? :eyes: (Remember, he was a homeless man.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. I wonder what the folks at Valley Forge

woudl say to this post

For that matter those involved in the Boston Massacre...

Or for that matter what will those present at kent State say?

Hmmm

The cost is just rising, and yes, before this is over there will be blood in the streets

The question is how much

This is not a conflict I want, but it is a conflict that is being brought to us

[JuniperLea]

41. I have three...

27... 24... 22

And the recruiters are in their faces all the time. Once they get a kid's number, address...

[JVS]

42. My kid sucks, I wish they'd draft her to get her goldbricking ass out of the house!

:sarcasm:

[Breeze54]

43. I have 3 sons well within the draft age.

They all have drivers licenses and passports. ;)

[Samurai_Writer]

45. I have two sons, 29 and 26

The 26 year old would be prime draft age. I don't think they'd take the 29 year old, unless they want him to race his wheelchair in the desert.

[ZombieNixon]

46. No, but I'm in the middle of my 20th year right now.

If the draft were reinstated today, I'd likely be one of the first called up. The only thing that might save me would be an only-child exception, which is why I am so dismayed that so many would use my life and those of my friends to prove a point or run an "end-the-war" gambit.

[SeattleGirl]

53. My daughter is 27, my son-in-law is 30.

They would definitely be a target for the draft.

[bunkerbuster1]

54. 11 years off, still

But I can't say I'd be surprised if, in 11 years, we're going to be in some horrific conflict, and that Uncle Sam will be drafting anything with four limbs and a pulse.

[KharmaTrain]

55. My Son Is 20

I never thought he'd face similar shit as I did at his age in the early 70s. I missed the last draft by one year...and hoped he'd never have to deal with this.

Fortunately he's in college...but no guarantee...and I've long had several plans if a draft were to return...options from buying his way out to finding real estate in suburban Vancouver.

[FloridaJudy]

57. My kid is 26

That used to be too old for the draft, but the way things are going I'm damned glad he's asthmatic.