Calling all Chickenhawks: Only YOU can Prevent a Draft
The Army’s new Chief of Staff wants to increase the number of active duty soldiers by 65,000. And he wants this done ASAP. If you're part of the Chairborne Division, you’re probably thinking “hey no problem, they can just raise the enlistment age.” OOPS — been done already. 42 and climbing.
Maybe they could lower their standards for education. Or, heck, physical fitness isn't all it’s cracked up to be. How important is it to be able to do a pushup or walk without getting winded? Or, uh, they could be less picky about drug addiction and criminal records. Check. It’s all been done.
Every 300-pound couch potato with a police record, a drug habit and no education who might want to enlist — probably already has. Uh oh. If you're one of those badass keyboard warriors who wants to keep fighting to the last drop of somebody else’s blood: Uncle Sam wants YOU. Step slowly away from your computer and come out blinking into the sunlight.
If thousands of chickenhawks and Yellow Elephants don’t start enlisting SOON — I predict (don’t shoot the messenger) that President Cheney and Vice President Jeb will bring back the draft in January 2009.
Labels: active duty, Army Chief of Staff, chickenhawk, enlistment age, yellow elephants
posted by Tom Harper @ 7:13 PM
22 Comments:
is selective service an initiative the executive can invoke unilaterally?
if not, it has no chance.
mind you, if president (whoever) did have that authority, it'd be the final straw on this broken-down camel's back. the gop would be one dead elephant. if i can mix mascot metaphors...
>President Cheney and Vice President Jeb <<
Thanks, Tom. Now I'm going to have nightmares tonight.
I hate to say it, but maybe they should bring back the draft. That would surely get people motivated to end this pointless nightmare called Iraq.
In the meantime, if you're under 50 and you voted for Bush - enlist.
Spaceneedl: I don't know whether a president can unilaterally invoke the draft or not. It would be political suicide in any case. Any president or legislator who voted for it would be looking for employment in the real world.
Lizzy: That was kind of a sick joke, I'll have to admit. A draft sure would mobilize the country against the Iraqi war, but I'm still against it. Those days were a nightmare. I enlisted in the Navy, partly because I wanted to travel and partly so I wouldn't get drafted into the Army.
I might be in favor of some sort of universal service requirement. 2 years of working with the Peace Corps, working with inner city youth, something like that. It could be military but it wouldn't have to be. This would bring a lot of sheltered people out of their pampered lives and into the real world.
I think there's already a draft in American, an economic draft and yet they still don't have enough to sacrifice to their war.
I don't think they'd get away with instituting a draft in the U.S. And I think the U.S. Administration would want to avoid it too. They may seem like they ignore history but a repeat of the effect conscription had on the anti-war movement during Vietnam is sure to give any warmongering politician nightmares.
Please, NOT President Cheney. Ick. Bringing back the draft would just be the cherry on the cake of this administration. I think it's the only thing they haven't tried yet.
Benjamin: I think you're right about that economic draft. The debt and financial pressure that so many people are under has affected their behavior. Some people stay at jobs they hate just because they can't afford to quit; others enlist to escape from poverty.
It would definitely be political suicide for any politician to vote in favor of bringing back the draft. And the outcry on college campuses would cripple any future neocon invasions.
Ananke: President Cheney -- yup, that's pretty chilling.
Looks like gang tattoos won't get you out of the service these days. It doesn't pay to be hispanic either.
With all the Iraq supporters there should not be a cause for a draft.
All those folks that agree to this war can simply sign up and visit the country they so willingly want our troops to fight in.
I am sure with the type of fight they speak of on their blogs, this war should be over in a matter of weeks.
I say bring the draft on IF it means Shrub & Co. kids go 1st!! Screw them I detest the air those BASTARDS breathe!
I hope not, Tom. No more draft - it was hard enough during the 60's. Too many of my peers died or got really messed up. I guess we'll just have to work harder to stop the damn war.
I love it when you let them have it -I just love "badass keybboard warriors". That's a gem!
Romunov: That's right, I forgot to mention gang members in the post. Skinheads with Swastika tattoos, just what Uncle Sam is looking for.
Let's Talk: It would be nice if there could be a draft that's only for people who've been shouting in favor of this war. It's way past the time when it's OK to just sit on the sidelines and chant "more war!" without joining in.
Funkytown Fighter: It would almost be worth bringing back the draft just for the joy of seeing the Bush twins (and Jeb's son George P. Bush) and Cheney's daughters all being put through their paces in boot camp.
Kitchen Window Woman: I'm against bringing back the draft. There would be a certain vengeful satisfaction to it, but I remember the previous draft. We're better off without it. Repealing it was difficult enough. If it ever gets brought back again, we'll be stuck with it forever.
President Cheney? Is that worse than President Jeb Bush? Oh my God, that I even have to ask . . .
If I were a religious person, I would pray to God to wake me up from this nightmare, 6 years and counting . . .
Believe it or not I have advocated the Draft and my right wing friends always hesitate and then disagree.
I had always agreed with those that say this is the great equalizer and a way to all men to take some time out and serve their country. It just seems we were a lot less Belligerent when our Government was run by veterans instead of the draft Dodgers who call themselves Hawks.
But then I look at our country and realize there is no way they will have a fair and equal draft. Just like Vietnam when they drafted by Zip code and made so many Deferment Loopholes it wasn't funny.
Interesting though if we do have Draft it will take the Wind of the Hawks who constantly note that our troops volunteered for duty an turn it to another Vietnam Situation where there was guilt because none of the solders had a choice.
Erik
I read your blog aloud to my husband, who served in the 2nd of the 6th Infantry in 1989-1990, and he actually laughed out loud at it. At 38, he's old enough (yet again) to join the military...but not interested.
Folks say that the draft will never happen again. Let's hope that there are enough of us willing to stand up to make it so.
Anonymous: I don't know which is more chilling, Pres. Cheney or Pres. Jeb Bush. Either one would see Canada's population increasing by about ten thousand percent.
Erik: I'm not in favor of bringing back the draft. Maybe, just maybe if it was completely across the board with absolutely no exceptions, period. But that wouldn't happen; the trustfund crowd would always find a way to weasel out of it.
I'd be in favor of a year or 2 of required service if it could be nonmilitary (like I was saying in an earlier comment). Some sort of Peace Corps, inner city volunteer type of thing, or the military if that's what the person wanted.
Mile High Pixie: What, your husband doesn't want to re-enlist? (Just kidding!) I think we're pretty safe from a draft (knock wood). The neocons' military adventures depend on them being able to say "they're all volunteers."
I wouldn't want to see a return of the draft, but if it happens according to the wishes of the American people as expressed by the actions of their elected representatives, so be it. I would be more in favor of some kind of two-year service program that would include (but not be limited to) military service.
My daughters would probably both be drafted. They are 18 and 20. they are both about 5'4" and weight about 100 pounds each, and the older one has had spinal fusion and has mental health issues. The younger one butts heads with anyone she doesn't like, and even with people she DOES like. They would be much more suited to doing something like a Peace Corps, Americorps...
I was just barely too young to be drafted during Vietnam. I was 17 when the war ended, but had I been old enough during the time of the draft lottery, I would have been drafted for sure, because my birthdate was like in the top 20. Some friends and I already had plans to dodge if the war continued past our 18th birthdays. A group of five or six of us had woods experience (and still do), and figured there would be plenty of places we could hide in this area for a long time.
One of those friends was a roommate of mine who had registered. We had a special ceremony on our apartment balcony in which we burned his draft card.
I agree with all of you who say this is something the politicians wouldn't really want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Lots of the conservatives hate the 60's and the cultural revolution which took place at that time... I know they don't want to see a repeat of THAT. Me? I think it's time for that kind of thing to happen ALL OVER AGAIN.
Snave: I think we're both agreed that a military draft would suck, but that some sort of universal service requirement (Peace Corps, Americorps, volunteer work of some sort, or military service) might be the solution. At least a few of the college Republican types might be a little less detached and a little more attuned to the real world if they had to come out of their trustfunded security blanket for 2 years and rub elbows with those yucky working class types.
I'm ready for a replay of the '60s again. Not an exact replay, or the same icons or anything like that, but that same type of mass outpouring. It would be a wakeup call to our "leaders" and it would be cathartic to millions of Generation Y people whose biggest priority is iPods and XBoxes.
A draft would turn the crop of yellow-magnet "patriots" this country is suffering over into peaceniks overnight.
If a draft is the only thing that will get Chimpy's war brought to a swift end, I'm all for it. Let's start with Babs and Jenna.
I'm with Lizzy - if you're under 50 and voted for Bush, enlist! And take the Bush/Cheney kids with you.
I hope the administration DOES try to bring back the draft. Then we'll see who's really for this war. Think of the uproar, the mass demonstrations, the politicians - including McCain - who will have to publicly change their minds about the "need" to stay the course.
Cheney has zero chance of being elected. Jeb, OTOH ...
Jolly Roger: I'm still against bringing back the draft, but it would almost be worth it just to watch all those yellow-ribbon-on-my-SUV types suddenly panicking and flipflopping.
Candace: Without being in favor of the draft, I've gotta agree: if you voted for Bush (no matter how old you are), put a uniform on and get the F$#%#! over there.
As far as Jeb goes, there's a theory that he's still gunning for the White House. He'll probably keep a low profile for the next few years, since his slow brother has soiled the family name. Then in 2012, after America's Britney-and-Lindsay-saturated public has forgotten about George W. Bush, Jeb will run; maybe just for VP so he can get his foot in the door.
The military does not want people serving their country that can think for themselves! The divide in the Vietnam war was between the enlisted people and the lifers!
If you are analytical in your thinking you aren't fit for the military!
Despicable: I sure remember that from the Vietnam War (I was in the Navy from '69 to '73). There were exceptions, but too many lifers were just braindead automatons.
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