The war drums continue to beat and in spite of a strong election-day message last November (06), it looks like our government will not quit its aggression until every soldier deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan is killed or maimed.
There is a limited amount of bodies serving in our military today; recruitments are down in spite of lowering enlistment requirements. It seems there is no alternative save reinstatement of the draft if we are to continue to send troops overseas and in fact, increase that number deployed as our current administration has stated.
No one wants to see the draft come back (fully 1/3 of our population is too young to ever remember what it was like watching friends and relatives reluctantly report for duty and never knowing if you’d see them alive again). There was, however, a positive side to that draft that few talk about today, although it is worthy of mention.
Back in the 50’s and 60’s, during the height of the drafting era, there was a policy that actually had a positive impact on many young men. Often times, if a young man of draft age found himself in trouble with the law, he was given the option of going to jail or joining the Army; an infantry unit was assured. These boys frequently were aimless high school drop outs with no future. In the Army, they could finish their education, serve their country, learn a trade, and if they survived war times, could come out three or four years later a changed man and a responsible member of society. This practice turned around many an aspiring criminal and I believe it could work today.
Perhaps it is time to revisit this custom and potentially solve two problems at once.
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Iraq, draft, reinstatement, young men, delinquents, serve country, solution
About Me
- Cindy Birko
- I'm a salty old dog with an attitude and an opinion about most anything. I represent honesty and fairness and cling tenaciously to the "old school" ethics.
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