Our military is spread too thin to cope with yet another theatre of combat. We have an all-volunteer Army. That sounds good but history has taught us that draftees make the best soldiers. My own experience as a draftee during the Viet Nam War showed the draftees with a higher educational level and intelligence testing scores. On the average they were older, more mature and far less likely to end up in the stockade.Having a strong military is a deterrent to aggression for countries like Iran and North Korea. Imaging the fix we’d be in if both of these countries took advantage of our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan and began aggression. America would be caught with its pants down.
The draft is always healthy for America because loads of eligible candidates arrange to be full time students to avoid the draft and returning veterans use the GI Bill to educating themselves all to meet the demands of our employers.
At the time in 1968 I hated getting drafted but in retrospect would not trade that experience away. My service time was rewarding. Being a medical corpsman in Germany gave me some of the best enjoyment of my life. I earned no medals other than the one they gave me for simply showing up. I saw no combat but I am as proud of that service as anyone could possibly be. I never felt a need to embellish my military career.
The draft is good for our economy, most young soldiers and the national defense.
Comments
This is a very different world. If anything, our standards of who gets into the military should be raised..a lot. So should the pay.