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The draft only existed for the poor. We sent young poor men to fight our wars with the draft
Who would keep the sea lanes open or discourage a tyrannical take over of the Korean peninsula or, long before now, of Taiwan,I'm a vet with combat experience. Knowing what I know today about US foreign policy and how we treat the rest of the world I would not join again. We need to scale back our military to defense of our borders and territorial waters, like every other nation on the planet.
If that is important to the world the world better step upWho would keep the sea lanes open or discourage a tyrannical take over of the Korean peninsula or, long before now, of Taiwan,
Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia? Japan and Germany are not rearming now because the U.S. earlier withheld permission as conquerer
or occupier, but in reaction to tyranny displayed by Putin and Xi.
There are a lot of claims about Trump having a medical deferment. Now that Biden is the President, I do not hear a lot of belly aching about Joe Biden's 5 student draft deferments and then after that being given a medical deferment for allegedly having asthma as a teenager.There’s a lot of claims about Bush’s air national guard service and Bush never wanted to defend himself, but it’s worth noting that flying in an active Air National Guard sector during the Cold War was not a plush assignment. Bush qualified for the F-102 Delta Dagger, an air type was was incredibly dangerous. We literally lost 25% of the delta daggers ever built in accidents and many pilots died because of its difficulty to fly which is a testament to Bush’s competency as a pilot, furthermore many members of the Air National Guard did go to Vietnam, but usually only senior pilots. The F-102 was an interceptor and not useful for service in Vietnam.
So the narrative of Bush avoiding Vietnam and shirking military duties is largely a ficticous account. Bush did leave the ANG early, but when he left the F-102 was being phased out of service and he didn’t have enough time left in the guard to make it worth the military’s time to qualify for another airframe and in any event many pilots wanted to stay in the service so when Bush requested to leave early it was granted, if you have 10 pilots, and only 5 can be requalified and 9 want to stay in and 1 wants to leave you discharge the 1 under “convenience of the government” and it makes your life easier
I served 23 years in our military and oppose the draft outside of a declared war. Why haven’t you included that option?We here in Austria have the military draft, you Americans don’t (much of NATO countries either).
I was drafted at age 18 and medically examined for fitness, which I passed.
But I didn’t serve in the military draft and instead opted for the alternative civilian service.
About 45% of each year group of males serve in the military draft, 40% serve in the alternative civilian service (Red Cross, retirement homes, charity organizations, social workers etc.) and 15% are ruled unfit to serve (too fat, mentally ill, diseases etc.)
What would you do / did you do ?
Not close to being true/accurate.We need to scale back our military to defense of our borders and territorial waters, like every other nation on the planet.
Not close to being true/accurate.
The choices are ridiculous.We here in Austria have the military draft, you Americans don’t (much of NATO countries either).
I was drafted at age 18 and medically examined for fitness, which I passed.
But I didn’t serve in the military draft and instead opted for the alternative civilian service.
About 45% of each year group of males serve in the military draft, 40% serve in the alternative civilian service (Red Cross, retirement homes, charity organizations, social workers etc.) and 15% are ruled unfit to serve (too fat, mentally ill, diseases etc.)
What would you do / did you do ?
Which is clear discrimination AND sexism. Both of which are Unconstitutional, not that the Draft is not already Unconstitutional.Women have never been drafted in the US.
Yeah... like if the US was attacked by an actual nation, defending your family and land... not for some assholes trying to make money from Rebuilding nations or Oil or the Military Industrial Complex.I volunteered and served 23 years; if I was truly needed, yes, I would serve again.
The maximum age for enlisting in the Army is 42. I enlisted when I was 28. You can enlist any time you want. You don't have to be drafted to enlist. So why haven't you?
Stop trying to defend W. Like Clinton and Biden, he did everything possible to avoid the draft.There’s a lot of claims about Bush’s air national guard service and Bush never wanted to defend himself, but it’s worth noting that flying in an active Air National Guard sector during the Cold War was not a plush assignment. Bush qualified for the F-102 Delta Dagger, an air type was was incredibly dangerous. We literally lost 25% of the delta daggers ever built in accidents and many pilots died because of its difficulty to fly which is a testament to Bush’s competency as a pilot, furthermore many members of the Air National Guard did go to Vietnam, but usually only senior pilots. The F-102 was an interceptor and not useful for service in Vietnam.
So the narrative of Bush avoiding Vietnam and shirking military duties is largely a ficticous account. Bush did leave the ANG early, but when he left the F-102 was being phased out of service and he didn’t have enough time left in the guard to make it worth the military’s time to qualify for another airframe and in any event many pilots wanted to stay in the service so when Bush requested to leave early it was granted, if you have 10 pilots, and only 5 can be requalified and 9 want to stay in and 1 wants to leave you discharge the 1 under “convenience of the government” and it makes your life easier
Well if he flew P-3s he must be unimpeachableStop trying to defend W. Like Clinton and Biden, he did everything possible to avoid the draft.
“After graduating from Yale in 1968, President George W. Bush used his family connections to allow him to enlist in the Texas Air National Guard for a six-year stint as a pilot. He did this because it became clear that President Johnson would not activate the Guard to go to Vietnam but would rely instead on the active forces to fight that bloody conflict. Therefore, it became almost impossible to get into the Guard in 1968, especially for someone like Bush who had a low score (in the 25th percentile) on the pilot test, and also had an arrest record. Moreover, in Bush’s last two years, his attendance at Guard meetings dropped off, he lost his pilot certification but, unlike most of these, he was not recalled to active duty.”
Dodging and deferring: Trump wasn’t the only POTUS to avoid the draft
During their visit to Arlington Cemetery on Inauguration Day, the author of this commentary said he wished Biden and the former presidents who were granted draft deferments during Vietnam thought about those who went in their place.www.militarytimes.com
And don’t bother trying to discredit the article’s author. He flew P-3’s in Vietnam.
If it was to defend my actual family, nation, neighborhood, way of life, etc then yes... even at 50 I would fight.I would refuse if they used the same deferment process as in Vietnam.
I was 28 and they called me "pops" We had a guy who was 35 and he was "gramps"Damn. I felt old at 23 turning 24, when the rest of my company in Basic was about 18. There were two Vietnam vets in their 30s retreading though.
I was 28 and they called me "pops" We had a guy who was 35 and he was "gramps"
PropsIf they will have me, yes. I would serve.
Before we deployed to Iraq in 2007 with the 1st Infantry Division, Combat Aviation Brigade, we were gifted with a 41 year old private. And he was a damned good Soldier. Sometimes age really is a number.Jesus. I'm 36. I would be "Great Gramps" or "Methuselah".
Deploying Nukes will lead to Mutually Assured Destruction. Either Pooten is bluffing or is crazy enough to commit planetcide, if the latter, he can do it any time the voice says go.we are too racially polarized for a draft.......the only way a draft might work is direct battle on American soil.....which imo would be unnecessary due to the fact that we are all armed to the teeth and actually have the ability to defend our nation in that regard........if WWIII comes the nukes will decide who wins......Putin apparently is crazy enough to use them
You look a lot older.The American selective service system is for men aged 18 to 26. I am 29 and so I am past age for drafting and thus a moot point. But if a war started and the age was changed I would go if selected for conscription. At this stage though I am too old for the current draft and would likely end up serving in other ways like working in a war industry.