JoeW
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2003
- Messages
- 664
Re: How about the draft??
In considering this question, one has to consider whether the aim is to benefit the military or the benefit of the general public. <br /><br />I joined the Army shortly after the draft was abolished. In my opinion, this was a miserable time for the military. They had not yet learned how to recruit for an all volunteer Army. The military was restrained by the budget cuts of the Jimmy Carter administration. The Army still allowed recruits whose only options were jail or the Army, so we still had folks who didn't want to be there. In short, the quality of recruits that we had was very low, nothing like what I see in today's Army. That's not to say that we didn't have some top notch folks, we did, and I was lucky enough to serve with a few of them. The Army was smart enough not to let the bottom of the barrel on Nuke sites. Even so, I saw folks put out of the military on Section 8s at least every week.<br /><br />I count myself as one of those who came from a very low income family. I guess you could say that I wear that fact like a badge. I guess I'm not completely convinced that a draft would be good for the military. I am sure that it would be good for those folks who get drafted, whether they realize it or not, but is that the primary goal? Well, that's an opinion anyway, and I'm not sure that I'm 100% sure of that opinion.
In considering this question, one has to consider whether the aim is to benefit the military or the benefit of the general public. <br /><br />I joined the Army shortly after the draft was abolished. In my opinion, this was a miserable time for the military. They had not yet learned how to recruit for an all volunteer Army. The military was restrained by the budget cuts of the Jimmy Carter administration. The Army still allowed recruits whose only options were jail or the Army, so we still had folks who didn't want to be there. In short, the quality of recruits that we had was very low, nothing like what I see in today's Army. That's not to say that we didn't have some top notch folks, we did, and I was lucky enough to serve with a few of them. The Army was smart enough not to let the bottom of the barrel on Nuke sites. Even so, I saw folks put out of the military on Section 8s at least every week.<br /><br />I count myself as one of those who came from a very low income family. I guess you could say that I wear that fact like a badge. I guess I'm not completely convinced that a draft would be good for the military. I am sure that it would be good for those folks who get drafted, whether they realize it or not, but is that the primary goal? Well, that's an opinion anyway, and I'm not sure that I'm 100% sure of that opinion.