Rumors are circulating and tension is growing high among youngadults this fall, as talk of the reinstatement of the draft isgracing not just e-mails or Internet postings, but the face of NBCnightly news. The rumors, which congressional representatives,politicians and said news reporters are both confirming anddenying, are at the very least, grabbing voters' attention. True oruntrue, the rumors are making young people think for themselves andform opinions on at least one aspect of public policy. Something isdirectly affecting our age group, even if it's scaring us todeath.
Vice President Cheney denied the claim this week that theadministration is thinking of reinstating the draft to increasemilitary enlistment. He called it hogwash. I agree. The draft mightincrease military personnel, but it is a completely ineffective wayto increase military efficiency. This "war" we are fighting against"terrorism" is unlike any war the United States has ever fought,especially considering we are fighting more or less by ourselves.Maybe the military does need increased enlistment.
An average citizen cannot be adequately trained to fight thekind of war we're fighting in Iraq with only the two years oftraining the draft provides. It would be next to impossible tosufficiently train recruits in all areas needed to survive andcarry out duties in Iraq. Disarming bombs, flying aircraft carriers-or any aircraft for that matter - and language and culturaltraining alone would take much longer than two years to master.People go to school for four years minimum to learn some of thoseskills. Those skills would effectively curb terrorism. Obviously,manpower alone isn't effective in bringing down the sort of enemythe United States is fighting.
If the United States wants to increase military personnel, theyshould stop discharging homosexuals with the "Don't ask, don'ttell" policy. The military has been kicking homosexuals out of themilitary based on sexual preference alone, and its quite franklyappalling that they would want to draft kids who don't want to bein the military when there are plenty of qualified citizens whowant to volunteer to fight for their country. They're gay. Bigdeal. Get over it. Not to mention that millions of American taxdollars are spent training these men into specialized positions,only to kick them out later because they're gay. No one likes towaste money.
A viable alternative to the draft would be to increase benefitsand incentives for military personnel. They deserve much more thanwhat they're getting in return for their service as it is. Anyonewho disagrees with that should try leaving their families andrisking their lives in a Middle Eastern country where the main goalof the enemy is to kidnap Americans and behead them during a livebroadcast. Maybe it's just not worth it to some people. It's true,you can't put a price on a life, but increase the benefits andincentives, increase the respect, then military enlistment willincrease.
Even if the Pentagon is secretly trying to plan some covertdraft reinstatement policy, I think even George W. Bush is smartenough to see that it wouldn't help him at the polls, and itdefinitely wouldn't help the United States wage an effective "waragainst terror," as it were.
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