November 2, 2003- Feeling A Draft
At the beginning of this past summer, the American military celebrated an important anniversary. This was the 30th anniversary of the institution of the all-volunteer American military, and the subsequent elimination of the draft. Prior to that, the American military had gotten its recruits via the conscription routs for generations. In times of war and times of peace as well, the vast majority of the enlisted troops were conscripts, in other words, they had been drafted. This served the Pentagon well for a very long time. It ensured them an endless supply of new recruits and made sure that the military never got too small or too weak. There were always enough troops to do whatever the military was doing at the time. The Pentagon thought that this was a fabulous arrangement, but at times, the people had other ideas about the subject. Over the course of American history, there have been several periods of unrest in the populace over the idea of a military draft. This was especially troublesome during the Civil War, when there were many large-scale, violent riots in the cities of America over the issue. Back then, the military drafted its soldiers mainly from the ranks of the poor and the underclass (sounds familiar doesn't it?), and that was about the only opportunity given to these people (sounds familiar again doesn't it?), and they did not appreciate that fact all that much. So the poor and underclass of America demonstrated violently against the draft, and they were met with equal violence from the Pigs. Many of these poor people ended up being killed and/or maimed by the Pigs, the same fate that awaited them if they joined the military. So America seemed to have death on the agenda for these people no matter what they did, and that made many of them realize that resistance was futile, and just submit to the draft and go along with it. This pattern was repeated during World War 1 to a lesser extent, when the poor once again rioted because they felt that they were being unfairly targeted for the draft. Once again, the Pigs were sent in to show them that if they resisted, they would meet the same fate as the unlucky dead soldiers did in the war for sure, so they ended up letting themselves be drafted and took their chances at coming home alive again. So the draft went on rather unimpeded until the Vietnam Era, specifically the 1960's part of it. By that time, it was becoming clear that the mission in Vietnam was not succeeding ( sounds familiar once again doesn't it?) and that lots and lots of American soldiers were being killed as a result. Naturally, this made potential draftees rather reluctant about actually being drafted and going to war ,so once, again, and anti-draft movement began to take shape. This movement was not without its share of civil unrest, just like the other times that this movement had been organized in the past, but there was a difference this time. As always, the draft was targeting the poor and the underclass in large numbers, but, because there were so many casualties in this war, the draft was branching out from that. In addition to the poor, the middle class was becoming an increasing target for the draft. That did not sit well with them, for they generally wanted no part of the war in the first place. Since they were not the underclass that America sweeps under the rug, they has access to things that made it easier for them to organize their anti-draft movement. When they spoke out, they were listened to and taken more seriously by the American media than the poor were. That meant that they were able to galvanize far more people to their cause and make their point heard much better than it ever had been when others had protested the draft in the past. Because of that, the anti-draft movement grew into a very divisive and contentious issue in American society. It became a movement that affected every part of American society and was a front burner issue every day. Americans were divided among themselves as they never had been since the Civil War days over this issue. As the Vietnam War went on and things got worse and worse for America and more and more soldiers came home dead, the American people increasingly turned against the draft and the military in general. Those that burned their draft cards and ignored their draft orders were now treated as the real heroes of the war, and the actual soldiers were seen as pawns of the Pentagon. The longer that Vietnam dragged on, the more that the Pentagon saw that the draft was now almost universally despised. After a while, the Pentagon and White House realized that Vietnam was a lost cause,and President Richard Nixon put an end to it in 1974 in a vain attempt to stave off the political fall from grace that he was going to inevitably suffer over the Watergate issue. So now the war was over, and why was there any further need for the draft? The Pentagon saw this coming, and they reacted even before Vietnam was officially declared over and said that as of 1973, they would no longer rely on conscription as the main way of getting soldiers for their ranks, that they would go to a strictly volunteer military, meaning that anyone that was part of the military signed up voluntarily and was not drafted in any way. That was just fine and dandy with the American people, because that meant that they did not have to protest against anything anymore. So the American military entered a new phase, where they relied on marketing and the like to entice prospective recruits to join up with them. This worked out very well for the Pentagon, since they ended up hiring the right people to market the military to the people. The military did not shrink in size in any notable way, so troop strength was not affected any. The military went along like the war machine that it is with no noticeable changes with the all-volunteer forces. This has continued for the last thirty years. It has all worked out well, except for one thing. In those thirty years, America has never been in a protracted war of any kind. Most of those years have been spent in peacetime, with shit like the dissolution of the USSR being the wildest thing that happened. The all-volunteer force has worked very well under these conditions because the military offered recruits educational and career opportunities that they could not get in other ways, so that was their main impetus for joining the military, to further their education or to learn a job skill that would become a career. The price that these recruits paid for this was the fact that if a war broke out, that they would have to be the ones that fought it. That happened a couple of times, with the invasion of Grenada and the Persian Gulf war and all, but these were short campaigns without many casualties amongst America, and soon things were back to the way that they were in the military and the recruits got what they wanted without having to pay that big price for it.
That has changed in these last couple of years. America has become embroiled in a big war, one that has become a very long and protracted war. In fact, it has become more than one war, what with the campaign in Afghanistan and the campaign in Iraq, and whatever campaign is next. These soldiers that signed up just to go to school or learn a trade are getting far more than they bargained for now. They have been thrust on the front lines of a global conflict against an ambiguous enemy in a war that has no end in sight. They are being made to do shit like kill and destroy without pity or compassion, and have made many enemies while doing this, enemies that want to kill them forthwith. So their lives are now in constant danger and their buddies are being killed all around them and they don't know if they will ever get back home alive, or, if they do, if they will be even a little bit sane or have been driven totally insane from the war. As A result, many are going to take the option that is afforded them in an all-volunteer military, and not sign up for another tour of duty when their current one ends. There is absolutely nothing that the Pentagon can do about this, as they have to allow the soldiers to make that decision for themselves, as they are not conscripts. The Pentagon is fully aware that a large percentage of their current fighting force is not going to re-sign with them and going to split the scene as soon as they are allowed to. This is sure to affect the Pentagon's ability to wage war a lot. They know that their troop numbers are going to shrink dramatically in a very short period of time. Now if that happens, that would mean that America would have a very difficult time continuing to fight the War On Terror. The Pentagon will not allow that to happen at all. So they have been looking ahead, the same as they were back in the 1970's when they saw that Vietnam was not working out. They are not about to give up on this war and declare it over, America is in this fuckin' thing way too deep to ever be able to do that. Even if they did declare it over, it would follow them around anyway, with guerrilla warfare being employed like it is now. So America knows that they have to keep fighting this war for the forseeable future and then some. That means that they have to keep troop strength up to levels so that is possible. They realize that they can no longer rely on the all-volunteer forces to maintain that strength. So they have quietly started to lay the groundwork for going back to their old staple of culling recruits, the draft. They are starting to revive draft boards, asking citizens if they would be interested in serving on them. Registered voters are getting mailings asking them this ( I have not gotten one as of yet). This is merely the first step towards reinstitution of the draft. Once the draft boards are in place all across the country, then the actual business of figuring out just how they are going to conduct this draft begins. With today's modern technology, the Pentagon will surely want a better and more efficient way of doing it than the ways of the past. They will want a way that gives them more power to prosecute those that disobey their draft orders, they do not want any kind of a repeat of some of the scenes of the 1960's, with protestors burning their draft cards in front of the TV cameras and making a big public statement about it all. The Pentagon will want as near total compliance with a new draft as they can possibly get, so look for there to be some real draconian laws surrounding any new draft. Those that ignore the draft laws, Whatever they may be, will surely be subjected to harsh criminal penalties to make examples of them to the American people. There will also surely be a big-time propaganda campaign accompanying this draft. This campaign will paint a picture of any and all that oppose the draft as unpatriotic and bad Americans, continuing the same tactic that Bush has used to push his agenda ever since he took office. Any trials of those that violate the draft laws are sure to be huge media circuses, with the accused being pilloried and ridiculed in any way that the government can devise. There will be a giant flag-waving, star-spangled campaign employed here to brainwash all Americans into believing that the draft is good for America, and thusly, good for them. Whether or not the American people will swallow this is open to conjecture, but I would not bet against it. Bushy and the Pentagon will push the patriot thing so fuckin' hard that people will be unable to distinguish it from the real issue of conscription. And the ones that will lose will be the young people of America, as they will be the ones getting drafted. They will be the ones placed on the front lines, not Bush, not the Pentagon Generals, not Mr. Businessman. These young people will be the ones that become the targets for the rage and hatred that so many people across the world are accumulating for all things American. They will be the ones subjected to the horrors of war, not those that spout the patriotic propaganda about the draft. As A result, their morale will be about zero as will their will to actually fight this war. That will mean that America will continue to have shitty results from the war. In the Vietnam Era, that led to lots of social division and unrest. The last thing that America needs now is an issue that is sure to fracture the people and divide them against each other. That would be exactly what the terrorists that hate America would want. For as I have said before, they know that the only ones that can truly destroy America are the Americans themselves, and that is what they want to have happen. A Draft would go a long way towards making the sick and twisted dreams of the terrorists a reality. However, since this war is sure to drag on for many years to come, the Pentagon has no other way to get soldiers. That is one of the many reasons that this war is something that has a real possibility of ultimately destroying America and accomplishing what the terrorists wanted, and that is why this fucked-up war must stop soon, but it won't, and the price that America shall ultimately pay for it is going to be worse than September 11th, 2001 ever was.