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Title: Americans owe it to their strained military to reconsider merits of the draft
Source:
Waco Tribune
URL Source: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/conten ... /11112009waceditorialfull.html
Published: Nov 11, 2009
Author: Waco Tribune
Post Date: 2009-11-13 20:01:40 by scrapper2
Keywords: conscription talk, Obumski, grunts needed, Obamacare costs $
Views: 785
Comments: 55
Veterans Day 2009 finds our nation not only feeling anxiety about new battles looming in Afghanistan but grieving over the dead and wounded of Fort Hood, victims of what officials say is a gunman troubled over the horrors conveyed by war-weary soldiers, his mission as an Army psychiatrist about to deploy to Afghanistan and his failure to resolve Muslim beliefs and inner demons. But beyond these issues, what does this all mean for our nation’s all-volunteer military? As we prepare to again honor those who have served in the so-called “war on terror” as well as other conflicts in other climes, is it not finally time to ask if we as a society are truly doing right by those we send to war? Has the time finally come to reconsider military conscription? Talk with soldiers at Fort Hood and you’ll find some on their third or fourth deployment. Some claim they’re proud for yet another opportunity to serve their country abroad. Others dread it — not just out of concern for their safety but because they miss time with family, time at home. Meanwhile, more and more of the veterans health system is devoted to treating those suffering severe mental trauma — an issue Central Texans are especially aware of as the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center redoubles its efforts to determine root causes of and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Last year, a Rand Corp. study indicated one in five military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffered some sort of depression or PTSD. The report said many don’t seek treatment because they fear the stigma might harm their careers. The study estimates that treatment of those returning with PTSD or depression can cost our nation as much as $6.2 billion in the two years following deployment. That covers both direct medical care and costs for lost productivity and suicide. Official data also show that soldiers from Fort Hood have had the highest rate of suicide among U.S. military installations since 2003. Some Army officials tell The Washington Post they don’t know how much more strain our Army can take — which, for all armchair generals out there, is probably one good reason the president is carefully weighing any troop surge in Afghanistan. So do we have enough troops in our all-volunteer military if we’re having to send the same troops back into the faraway fray time and again? Is it fair to go to the same well repeatedly? We think not. Manpower studies by retired Marine Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, indicate that of the 1.4 million men and women on active duty in our military today, only half are not in overhead jobs and are thus deployable. That’s why the same troops with battlefield expertise keep going back. Some military officials say today’s all-volunteer Army is vastly superior in quality and focus than that assembled decades ago through the ranks of both enlisted and draftees. But other evidence suggests our military, including reservists and the guard, has become exhausted and demoralized by constant deployments and the scourge of stop-loss policies. Beyond that, military conscription arguably makes better Americans of our young, gives them an investment in country unlike any other and teaches them valuable qualities such as teamwork, attention to duty and the meaning of self-sacrifice. Americans like to scoff at how people in other lands address matters, but we should think twice of criticizing the Israelis, who bring something dynamic to their nation through the draft. Do they as a nation have a spark of patriotism, resolve and national engagement that we lack? Do we as a people have enough pride in country and concern for our military to even consider returning to the draft?
Poster Comment: "Beyond that, military conscription arguably makes better Americans of our young, gives them an investment in country unlike any other and teaches them valuable qualities such as teamwork, attention to duty and the meaning of self-sacrifice. Americans like to scoff at how people in other lands address matters, but we should think twice of criticizing the Israelis, who bring something dynamic to their nation through the draft. Do they as a nation have a spark of patriotism, resolve and national engagement that we lack? Do we as a people have enough pride in country and concern for our military to even consider returning to the draft?? I hope the Nesters, DUers, and kossacks are happy. For "free" flu shots and annual physical exams,[ 30 pieces of silver] they sold out the lives of American young men ages 18-26.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 19.
#1. To: scrapper2 (#0)
(Edited)
Utter nonsense... I give you Maj. Hasan as prime example.
I give you Maj. Hasan as prime example. I couldn't agree with you more. I spose the idiots making these remarks would say the current crop of dumbed down high schoolers is far superior to those a few generations ago that led the world in math and science. If their arguments hold anything, it is the fact that they are so mind controlled and are easily abused with tour after tour in the mindless wars we are engaged in. Sophisticated weapons being operated with manuals printed as comic books so they can understand or hope to understand how to operate them. Vhastly superior my sister's cat's ass!
No offense, but I think you two are disputing a minor point in the larger scheme of things. Who cares whether volunteer enlisted are any less or any more capable on the battlefield than conscripts? The larger issues are: 1. that conscription is involuntary servitude of a selected age group and only of one gender at that 2. Afghanistan and Iraq and Vietnam and Korea and WWI and WWII are all useless wars that had nothing to do with the defense of America. To trigger conscription to fight in Afghanistan so that Obumski can fight his war(s) on the cheap while continuing his Greater Good follies stateside - Obamacare and AmnestyCare - is despicable.
I think you missed the point (you call minor) entirely. The kids fighting today are not really volunteers in the true sense of the word. They have been dumbed down in our public school system and have been shortchanged, more than likely for the rest of their lives. True volunteers would be just that. Even those who are officers are serving either to get the money to go to college, or to pay back to uncle those dollars used to go to college. The real grunts as you call them, are left hopelessly adrift going from one hamburger flipping job to another. The only way they can even hope to advance in our society, is to volunteer (used loosley) for a stint in the military. With all these stinking useless wars, started by the rich, or their rich kids, to make themselves even richer, the grunts have to serve repeated tours of duty in war zones. Cynicom is dead on right. It is a matter of down right cowardice. The rich kid hides behind the "these aren't just wars or they don't serve America's interests", and goes on living the good life while he and his rich friends tee off on the golf course. Where we have gone totally astray is allowing the few fat cats to call the shots for the many who have to put their lives on the line. You bring back the draft and you'll see the rich kids heading North or South again to avoid putting their asses in harms way. Furthermore, if we had a general populace that wasn't dumbed down, propagandized to hell and back, wasn't so cowardly, and a government that wasn't being infiltrated by so many neo-con jews and women who haven't a clue, we wouldn't be engaged in these useless and criminal wars and the general population would take up arms alright and would fight a war against the real enemies destroying America and the ones sending "volunteers" off to endless mindless wars.
I agree with your entire post ... especially the part quoted above !
In none of the wars 1980 back to 1914 did government have alot of neocon Jews or women - we had mainly white Christian oh so intelligent men in government - and still we engaged in stupid wars.
#20. To: scrapper2 (#19)
For at least the last 20 years of that period we had Henry Kissinger telling the presidents what to do.
What?????????? Scrap, you cannot be serious. I wont go to the trouble of naming dozens of names back to 1914...
Bullshit. Wanna change this absurd remark ??? www.sweetliberty. org/issues/israel/calendar.html Go to the above webpage ... and scroll down to pages 15 and 16 of the Jewish Calendar Booklet ... and read for yourself the Jewish Neo-cons of that era ... and don't ever shit yourself again. While I would NEVER say the "JEWS" dunnit ALL ... I'd be hard pressed to give em a pass. And by the way, every administration since GEO. WASHINGTON has had its NEO- CONNIVING JEWS.
There ... I'll post it for ya ! Now read the JEW NAMES ... placed there by other (influential) JEWS.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestSome military officials say today’s all-volunteer Army is vastly superior in quality and focus than that assembled decades ago through the ranks of both enlisted and draftees.
#3. To: Cynicom (#1)
Utter nonsense...
#4. To: LACUMO, Cynicom (#3)
#7. To: scrapper2, Cynicom (#4)
Who cares whether volunteer enlisted are any less or any more capable on the battlefield than conscripts?
#9. To: LACUMO (#7)
Furthermore, if we had a general populace that wasn't dumbed down, propagandized to hell and back, wasn't so cowardly, and a government that wasn't being infiltrated by so many neo-con jews and women who haven't a clue, we wouldn't be engaged in these useless and criminal wars and the general population would take up arms alright and would fight a war against the real enemies destroying America and the ones sending "volunteers" off to endless mindless wars.
#19. To: noone222, LACUMO (#9)
(Edited)
Furthermore, if we had a general populace that wasn't dumbed down, propagandized to hell and back, wasn't so cowardly, and a government that wasn't being infiltrated by so many neo-con jews and women who haven't a clue, we wouldn't be engaged in these useless and criminal wars and the general population would take up arms alright and would fight a war against the real enemies destroying America and the ones sending "volunteers" off to endless mindless wars.
Replies to Comment # 19. In none of the wars 1980 back to 1914 did government have alot of neocon Jews or women - we had mainly white Christian oh so intelligent men in government - and still we engaged in stupid wars.
#21. To: scrapper2 (#19)
In none of the wars 1980 back to 1914 did government have alot of neocon Jews or women
#25. To: scrapper2 (#19)
In none of the wars 1980 back to 1914 did government have alot of neocon Jews or women - we had mainly white Christian oh so intelligent men in government - and still we engaged in stupid wars.
#26. To: scrapper2 (#19)
End Trace Mode for Comment # 19.