[tpaine]

I too came from a culture of 'cool'.
-- With one big difference. A military draft.

Instead of two & a half years of a war on terror, we were 10 years into a 'cold war', and just phasing out of a hot police action in Korea.

But of course the ~real~ cool kids knew they had an out.. A way to avoid being forced to serve. With the proper connections, school deferments, etc, you could play your cards right & beat the system.. Many of my contemporaries did.. To their vague shame..

The topic of military service comes up constantly in todays social situations. Those who served, drafted or not, are proud of their service. Those who didn't tend to avoid the subject.

-- I see a need for a voluntary 'rite of passage' type draft in America..
One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote.

[tet68]

One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote.

Read Starship Troopers by Heinlein.

Military service OR a somewhat longer term in social/community service or no franchise.

Interesting read even with out the bugs.

[E Rocc]

-- I see a need for a voluntary 'rite of passage' type draft in America..

One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote.

Extremely bad idea, for four reasons.

1) It puts those who resent being there into the military. There's a reason pretty much every military professional in the US prefers an all-volunteer force.

2) It will get those currently apathetic kids interested in politics in a very non-constructive manner.

3) It allows politicians to skimp on military pay, military equipment, and military preparedness in order to pay for welfare or pork barrel projects.

4) It allows politicians to fight half-ast wars of attrition using an endless supply of cannon fodder rather than fighting wars to their conclusion as quickly as possible.

If you want to play social engineer, don't mess with the military. It's too important.

-Eric

[ovrtaxt]

E rocc Makes some good points in his reply, and let me add another thought.

If some choose to serve America by their contribution to the economy (our wealth is just as influential as our bullets, if handled properly), or by strengthening our moral characteristics by going into the ministry, or by staying home with the kids instead of sending them off to day care, or basically doing what is right, however that happens to play out, then that individual has a say in society.

The ones who live off the labor of others, complain and subvert the destiny of this nation are the enemy within. They unfortunately have more of a say than they ever should.

But nobody can justly project the calling of a soldier onto every individual. I'm much more valuable as a businessman than a soldier.

But don't get me wrong, I'll carry a rifle to defend my country, if it comes to that.

[Euro-American Scum]

The topic of military service comes up constantly in todays social situations. Those who served, drafted or not, are proud of their service. Those who didn't tend to avoid the subject.

It's even gone further than that. Last week the neighbor's grunge, rocker, deadbeat son -- who never comes out during the day because his pupils are so dilated from the drugs, it would cook his eyeballs -- was asking me about Vietnam. He even spoke in marginally coherent, quasi-respectful sentences.

Everything old is new again, I guess.

[optik_b]

"I see a need for a voluntary 'rite of passage' type draft in America..
One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote."

Robert Heinlein supported this point of view in his novels.