Comments on: What’s Fair About a Draft?

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 20 Jul 2004 21:28:28 +0000

"Amy, why did you post that? Do you actually think that you are unique or something? There is a word for people like youâ¦.itâs called âSuckerâ and there is one like you born every minute." Hey, I may be a "sucker" but I'm certainly not "uneducated" and "desperate" from an "economically disadvantaged" background who simply can't get a job, and joins the Army out of desperation. That was my one and only point. So thanks for proving it for me, that no, I am NOT "unique or something." Most of my fellow Soldiers are as educated and intellectually apt as I, and many are more so. I'm also not a coward, since I am willing to give my name. Which is a lot more than I can for say for you, someone who hides behinds initials but slings around insults at someone who never insulted YOU. Must make you feel good, I guess. Nonetheless, have a nice day.

By: FTA

FTA — Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:46:50 +0000

Amy, why did you post that? Do you actually think that you are unique or something? There is a word for people like you....it's called "Sucker" and there is one like you born every minute.

By: SFC SKI

SFC SKI — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 15:21:12 +0000

There is a large percentage of my Soldiers who obtained a 4 year college degree before enlisting, they joined the Army to pay back their college loans. Some of them either partied their way out of school or ran out of money. I wonder if anyone considered that part of the equation. Another thing, many Soldiers finish their terms of service and use their GI Bill to attend or complete college, and the career Soldiers usually gain 4 years or more of collge level education, either way, the chance for improvement of education, therefeore employability and earning improves. Would the people who cry about servicemembers being from the low economic end rather that people were just given the mony to go to college?

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 14:43:41 +0000

"One is fairness: When you're asking young people to disrupt their lives and risk dying for their country, that burden ought to be spread across society, not concentrated among those desperate enough to volunteer." Damn, am I tired of being told that as a Soldier who joined the Army out of sheer love of country and a desire to give something back... that I am "poor," "desperate," "economically disadvantaged" and that I joined the Army simply because no other options existed for me. Having been in the Army for 8 years, I would venture to guess that probably only 20-30% join the Army because "no other options exist," not the 100% that the media would have you believe. What about the 60% of the force that has a degree or some higher education? Are we to believe that for 60% of the force, they simply cannot find employment elsewhere? Quite the contrary; educated Soldiers (particularly officers) fetch a pretty penny on the outside. Over the last few years, I've been offered many jobs in the commercial market that pay substiantially higher salaries. But each time I put my resume out on the street and get some offers, I change my mind. Soldiering is my calling, and this is where I am staying, regardless of how much money a civilian job can offer me. Most of us serve out of a patriotic calling, not because McDonald's wasn't hiring the day we enlisted. Desperate? Harrumph.

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 09:04:42 +0000

Perhaps the LA Times (for once) was above publishing such utter nonsense.

Nah...

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 05:59:51 +0000

This is a "Straw Man". Draft has been categorically denied. See: Dems-More stuff to hate the Commander-in-Chief for. See: Mindless Chatter re Social Inequities contemplated by our hated administration.

By: Legal XXX

Legal XXX — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 04:32:08 +0000

"Fairness" of a Military Draft?
Aside from the obvious questions re: the quality of conscripted troops (any cursory reading of US military history shows that regular (volunteer) troops are far and away better at what they do than draftees)--my problem with calls for a new draft ste...