Should Congress re-instate the draft?

Question

I would like to know if you think yes or no, and your reasoning behind your thoughts. Serious answers only...please.

I have asked this question before, but I recieved too many rude comments.

I am not looking for any insults, I will report those who are rude.

I don't think it's rude for people to not agree with me...that is their right. It's rude to call names and be patronizing.

Answer 1

GOD FORBID! Thank you for serving our country boldly.
As with all the others who have with considerable thought signed up without a draft to defend our freedoms.
Yes or no is difficult. Should, could, would? If Iran gets more hostile they may be forced into some difficult choices. Their President is highly volatile and they are more radically divided
than the US, separated on the ground levels that contain militant elements. I read Iranian newspaper you can Google. Their propaganda is worse than ours you just sift thru it. I got some good sites this week to look into also.
There are alot of red flags and support to the notion they have nuclear weapons brewing and are unstable enough to us them. Some feel it's connected to different religious belief. At the point when which ever Commander-In-Chief decides we are at at the highest level of risk they may have to re-instate the draft. How that is gaged we are not told exactly.
Personally, I feel it should be handled differently than the choice to occupy Iraq. I believe in going there. Not so sure how the operation was run. I also strongly believe that a suicide bomber is a weapon of mass destruction. 911
is evidence of that (hate these old/new theories but it is election season...). I don't like what happened with Vietnam. I helped to bring back Desert Storm guys on Continental. They had no idea what to expect.
We send a horrible message we are divided internally.
This current Congress, oh heck, they have taken their positions to levels I can not believe. But... they can not
sit on their personal agenda and watch while US shores
are attacked again. I wish they would take your question to a national VOTE. If you can get people off their behinds to get to the polls. Most prefer to just complain . Like you see on here. I would love to poll how many of these folks vote. I ask and answer at length important ideas. Been told I ramble, well yes I do. If it reaches one extra ear to stir up a thought beside a simple freeway to Match .com I do it.
Many thanks to you. I hope it was not too much. Good luck.
I am also active in the Media format because I am tired of
retread, compromised canned news. Like these pop singers kids spend millions on. But, hey I had every album and poster in my day and Donny Osmond was my Idol. We have come a long way baby! *roadside bombs are the highest cause of civie and our forces fatalities & injuries, fact-suicide bombers
now do some math the people in Iraq are killing innocent citizens because they are mad the American's are in their country. Doesn't add up and if it does that means these folks are crazy, more than we thought.? Recycling the forces has prevented a draft. No wonder the top world scientists come from India, Korea & Iran. ALOHA

Answer 2

Why? So a discredited administration can collect more cord-wood to feed a fire that never should have been started in the first place?

Our professional (i.e. non-compelled) military is the finest in the world. All the more proof that, if it can't be accomplished with them, it can't be accomplished.

Of course, I do agree with one poster above who states that a draft would be great if it tagged "the spoiled rich kids" and, by doing so, ultimately forced the hands of the Powers That Be to end this mess double-quick. But unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Never has; never will.

The wealthy and powerful do not allow their children to enter harm's way. Just look at the military history of George W. himself, who dodged the draft by accepting a gentleman's commission with the Texas Air National Guard...

a "tour of duty" for which, owing to his family pull, he was not even required to show up (his records with the Guard reveal most of his stretch as simply "absent", while you or I would have been hunted down as AWOL).

No. A reinstated draft is not the answer. The last time a draft "worked" was WWII; and the only reason it worked then is that most of us were already lining-up to enlist. Because, perhaps sadly, there IS such a thing as a "just war"--and I join an entire nation in thanking you for your service--but this war just ain't one of them.

Answer 3

No. The draft is an egregious civil liberties violation. A free society doesn't just take eminent domain over people. The draft requires that people conform to a martial culture and that they unequivically support the government's current foreign policy. By default the draft is social engineering and many people advocate the draft for this reason. But how far can should state power extend over people's personal lives? Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes believed that the draft was justification for mandatory sterlization.

Answer 4

No! The majority of the country doesn't think that we should be in Iraq in the first place. Congress has no right to drag unwilling participants into a conflict with which they disagree, because the people are their masters; it's not the other way around. That's why Dubya's fiasco in Iraq will ultimately fail. He and his successors can't keep recycling the same old recruits over and over again into an unending conflict, and with the pool of willing participants shrinking, a breaking point will be reached where they can no longer send adequate numbers of cannon fodder there to do their bidding. Considering the way in which this bogus mess was foisted upon the American people, I believe that an even greater howl of protest will arise if Congress attempts to reinstate the draft, even greater than that in the Vietnam era.

You remember the old chant used by war protesters during the Vietnam era. It went something like this:

Hell no! We won't go!

Well I think there will a slight twist to it this time. It will probably be something like:

Hell no! We won't do it until you and your children go!

Answer 5

Yes, but in the context of national service that includes homeland security and public service.

Now, this would not be an equal choice: if you serve in the military you get less service time as well as certain benefits for life; if you do community service you serve longer and get much less. Everyone participates...its our country.

Why, because America has gotten complacent and people are detached. A detached people are easy to manipulate. If everyone participates, the complexion of our "Starbucks, Brittney and American idol centric" society will begin to change. Maybe elections would be less a beauty contest and a vote for 'who you would want to have a beer with' and more about where we are going as a people.

Answer 6

I believe there should be mandatory military service for everyone who turns 18. No exemptions. All young people should be taught the discipline that is needed in life. Today's one parent or two working parent families are out of control. They are producing children who are totally out of touch with reality. They live in a electronic games, UN christian atmosphere that produces tree huggers and cowards. They run their life by the "sound bites" of liberal reporters that wish to replace responsible government . No exceptions! Male-female-gay-handicapped, no exceptions. Not all would carry a rifle but all would learn discipline!!

Answer 7

No, I think we should get out of the region, protect our borders and strengthen our military from within. If a draft was instated you would see protests on the scale of those from Nam...many people are against this war continuing.

On the other hand, I do feel that our soldiers are stretched thin and shouldn't be deploying for the 4th and 5th time..I know that must be hard. My bf served for 13 months in '03 and it was hell for me. So, that's why I want them home, enough is enough. We are kicking the proverbial "dead horse" in the current methodology we are using. We have given enough lives and enough money for this fruitless war.

Answer 8

I think not. First it would be political suicide. I remember Viet Nam and the draft. Can you imagine the antiwar protests and the like if young men and women were being sent to Iraq and being killed or wounded without volunteering for duty?

Second, although the U.S. fights unconventional wars with conventional armies, today conventional armies are antiquated. Both in Viet Nam and in Iraq, the enemy doesn't wear a distinctive uniform. Our troops do, and that uniform serves as a big target. Guerilla wars require guerilla tactics and we seem to not have grasped that fact. Better intelligence, stealth, and fewer troops with a greater influence on special ops seems to me to be the answer.

Answer 9

A draft can be a good thing kinda. When there is a draft in effect the American people get upsets and put pressure on the administration like we seen in Vietnam to end the war more quickly then without a draft.

Answer 10

No.

Not that congress every de-instituted the draft. The draft is done in time of need when military action is necessary and there is insufficient personnel to carry it out.

It is my understanding that currently 70% of the National Guard is on active duty. And I know for a fact that Clinton did some downsizing - a good friend of mine that wanted to be military all his life and finally made a good rank was downsized. So, a draft is not necessary.