Military Draft
In arguing against reinstating the military draft in the United States, several things come immediately to mind. First among those, for anyone who has learned anything at all about the Vietnam War, is that the draft can be devastating to society, causing upheaval at home as well as the return of bright, strong young men in body bags. David Halberstam, a journalist of considerable experience, wrote a book, The Best and the Brightest, about the sacrifice of these young Americans for precious little, if any, gain to this country or any other.
Moreover, that war lasted for years, ending in horrific scenes of people running through the streets of Saigon trying to leave any way they could. In the end, there was a Communist takeover despite the loss of all those young Americans.
In an article called "Thinking About the Draft," William Galston wrote:
In the wake of September 11, the United States has undertaken a range of new and expanded military commitments, especially in Central Asia and the Middle East. The military occupation of Iraq is likely to last longer, and require larger forces, than civilian leaders in the Department of Defense had predicted prior to the war."
In short, Iraq appears to be going the way of the Vietnam effort; it would be senseless to draft young Americans for a repeat of the Asian mess two generations later. An apt current phrase to apply would be "different day, same old stuff."
Galston makes the point, also, that the Vietnam era draft was "widely regarded as arbitrary and unfair, and it was held responsible for dissention within the military as well as the wider society."
Allied to the problem of the draft in terms of societal upheaval in the current time period it its effect on the next generation. The...
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